LAND REGULATIONS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 3, Issue 129, 10 March 1860, Page 9

LAND REGULATIONS.

REPORT OF SELECT COMMITTEE, YOUR COMMITTEE having duly considered the subject referred to them, beg to report : — , H . 1. In reference to the letting of the Crown Lands, your -. Committee would recommend the substitution of a lease in place of the present system of license to 2. That such lease should be granted for a period of fourteen years, but should only apply to lands certified as nonagricultural. 3. That the rent to be charged to the leaseholder should be upon a sliding scale, and that the lands so leased be divided into two classes, the Ist class paying a rental of Hd. an acre for the first seven years and 3d. an acre for the remaining seven years ; and that the 2nd class should pay fd. for the first seven years and 2d. for the remainder of the lease. •4. That in cases where unpurchased agricultural land is contained within the boundaries of a run over which a lease is granted, rent should be paid upon'the same until purchased, at the same rate as for the leased lands, but that such rent should cease to be paid after the purchase of the same. 5* That the classification of runs should

be made by the Board hereHfafter provided for. • 6. That a right of purchase should be given to the leaseholder over such lands as he may improved at a fixed price of 10s. per acre, and that the term "improvement" should be held to consist of fencing and i sowing with English grasses. ! 7. That all lands so leased, and not i improved in accordance with the above terms, shall revert to the Crown at the termination of the lease, and that the Board hereinafter provided for, should decide in all cases of dispute, as to improvement. 10. That a Board should be appointed, to consist of three members. The Commissioner of Crown Lands being one ex officio. And that such Board should act and decide in the different cases for which provision is above made, and that the Board should further decide in all cases of application for the purchase of land, -and other important matters connected with the administration of the Land Department — due provision being made for denning such powers. / 11. They would further suggest that, Ho encourage the location of the workingclasses in particular districts that may be considered well fitted for agriculture, the government of this Province should be authorised to purchase from 1500 to 2000 acres of good land in suitable localities, which could be divided into sections of from 40 to 100 acres each, and offered to the heads of families on condition of actual occupation, subject to the payment of interest at the rate of ten per cent, on the value of the land, which they should have the right of purchasing at any time during a period of ten years at the rate of 10s. per acre. ! 9. That, considering the great power, i both discretionary and otherwise, which is conferred upon the Commissioner of Crown Lands, in deciding the various qualities of land and to what rule and law they may be subject, it is most desirable for the public interests and the satisfaction of all persons whether interested in Crown Lands or not, that the powers at present vested in the /Commissioner of Crown Lands, should be vested in a Board, as hereinafter provided. 8. That the present holders of licenses should be allowed to exchange the same for leases on the terms and conditions above stated. In coming to the conclusions contained in the report, your Committee have been guided by the following considerations : — Relating to Letting of the Crown Lands. That it is notorious that the system at present in force is unsatisfactory to all parties — the public being dissatisfied with the nominal rental derived from these lands, and the runholder equally so with the uncertain tenure of his occupation and the obstacle thereby opposed to any improvement on the lands occupied by him. Your Committee therefore trust that in recommending the granting of a certain tenure to the runholder, and demanding the payment of a sufficient rental from him in return, the justice of the case will be fully met. Right of Purchase. The right of purchase has been only recommended in cases where lands may be improved, and then only at a fixed rate of ten shillings per acre ; your Committee believing that no more than a simple act of justice is proposed in guaranteeing this right, and that if such were not granted a great obstacle would be opposed to the improvement of the country. Classification. With regard to the classification of runs, it is manifestly unjust that all descriptions of non-agricultural land should be placed upon the same footing and pay the same rental ; and although your Committee would have preferred that such classification should, if possible, have extended to 3 or 4 instead of 2 classes ; yet, after careful consideration of the matter, they are of, opinion that great difficulties and expense* would be entailed by so doing. Land Board. In recommending the formation of a Land Board to assist the Land Commissioner, it is considered that great assistance will be afforded to that officer in all cases of a doubtful or uncertain character, and that the public generally will receive with greater satisfaction the opinions of a Board so constituted. Deferred Payments. In recommending the apportionment of agricultural reserves on a system of deferred payments, the Committee have been guided by the desire to assist to the utmost extent the location of agricultural settlers.

LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS BILL. AN ACT to enable the Superintendent of the Province of Hawke'sjßay to levy special rates within Tovbns aud Villages, and other portions of the Province, for the purpose of improving and maintaining in repair, Roads, Streets, and Thoroughfares. XCTHEREAS it is expedient to make ' temporary provision suitable to the earlier stages of settlement, for constructing maintaining and repairing, Roads Streets and Thoroughfares and other improvements, in the Province of Hawke's Bay,— Be it therefore enacted by the Superintendent of the Province of Hawke's Bay, with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows : — 1. Whenever a majority of the persons occupying property liable to be rated under the provisions of this Act, lying adjacent to or having a frontage to any Street Road or Thoroughfare, within any Town or Village or other portion of the Province, shall represent in writing to the Superintendent their willingness to be specially rated for any public work required for the particular improvement of the said Road Street or Thoroughfare, such as the forming or metalling of the said Street Road or Thoroughfare, laying down of a culvert or culverts for the drainage or sewerage of the said Street or R,oad, paving the footpaths or other such works : it shall be lawful for the Superintendent to cause an estimate of the cost of such improvements to be prepared, and then to cause an equitable rate at a certain sum for every foot or chain of frontage where the property has frontage to the Road proposed to be improved, or at a certain sum per section or acre if lying adjacent to and benefited by the proposed improvements, to be assessed and levied upon all real property as aforesaid, and as soon as one moiety of the cost of such improvement shall have been paid in to the Provincial Treasury by the persons liable to be rated in respect of property as above described, the Superintendent shall forthwith cause such improvements to be made. Provided always that no such rate shall be assessed and levied unless the persons making such representations as aforesaid shall occupy at least of the frontage to the Street Road or Thoroughfare upon which the money to be raised by such rate is proposed to be expended, and be the proprietors of at least of the land lying adjacent thereto and which would be benefited by the improvements contemplated. 2. No rate to be levied under this Act shall in any year exceed the following sums : — 3. All rates levied under the authority of this Act shall be paid by the occupier of the House Land or Tenement rated, or in case there shall bs no occupier, by the owner thereof ; but the owners of all property liable to be rated under this Act, let by them to weekly or monthly tenants or in separate apartments, shall be rated to and pay the rates raised under this Act, instead of the occupiers thereof. 4. Every rate levied under this Act shall be paid to some person appointed by the Superintendent to receive the same, by the persons liable to the payment thereof, on a day to be fixed for that purpose by Public Notice, in at least one newspaper published or generally circulated in the Province ; and the day so appointed for the payment of the rate shall not be less than 21 days from the time of giving such notice, and such notice shall set forth the names of the persons liable for the payment of such rate and the amount payable by each of such persons ; and if the rate or any part thereof shall not be paid on the day so to be fixed for that purpose, the same may be recovered in a summary manner before any Justice of the Peace. 5. In case it shall be impossible to levy the rate due by reason of the property rateable being unoccupied or otherwise, the . arrears shall at any subsequent time within years from the date of such rate becoming due be leviable upon any goods which may be found upon such pro-' perty. 6. Nothing in this Act contained shall authorize the said Superintendent to assess; or levy any rate upon any land the property of the Crown, or upon any Public Reserve not let upon lease, or upon any land, set apart as a site for any place of Public, Worship, Education or Burial, or upon any; land in the occupation of any Aboriginal; Inhabitants of New Zealand, unless the same is included within a Grant from the Crown. ' • . „,-.•,,., v ' • • •''..;