AN ACT TO REGULATE THE AFFAIRS OF CERTAIN SETTLEMENTS ESTABLISHED BY THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY IN NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume X, Issue 572, 27 December 1851, Page 175

AN ACT TO REGULATE THE AFFAIRS OF CERTAIN SETTLEMENTS ESTABLISHED BY THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY IN NEW ZEALAND.

Preamble. 10 and II Viet. c. 112. Notice by the New Zealand Company. — Whereas certain terms of purchase and pasturage of land in the settlements of Wellington, New Plymouth, Nelson, and Otago, in New Zealand, had been issued by the New Zealand Company before the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, and the said terms, or part of them, were in force oa that day as contracts between the New Zealand Company and the settlers of the said settlements of Wellington, New Plymouth, and Nelson, and the Association of lay members of the Free Church of Scotland, commonly called the Otago Associa. tion, respectively: and whereas by an Act of the tenth and eleventh of Victoria, intituled •• an id to promote Colonization in New Zealand, and to authorize a Loan to the New Zealand Company," it was enacted, that if the Directors of the Dew Zealand Company should give notice to one of her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, within three calendar months next after the fifth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, by any instrument under the seal of the Company, that they were ready to surrender the charters of the said Company to her Majesty, and all claim and title to the lands granted or awarded to them in the said colony, all the powers and privileges of the said Company, except such as should be necessary for enabling the Director! to receive the several sums of money thereinafter mentioned, and to distribute the same among the shareholders and other persons entitled thereunto, and for enabling the Directors to adjust and close the affairs of the Company, should cease and determine, and all the lands, tenements, and hereditaments of the said Company in the said colony should thereupon revert to and become vested in her, Majesty as part of the demesne lands of the Crown in New Zealand, subject nevertheless, amongst gther things, to any contracts which should then be subsisting in regard to any of the said lands : and whereas such notice as aforeieid was duly delivered by the Directors of the said Company on the fourth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty ; and thereupon, under the provisions of the last-recited Act, all the lands, tenements, and hereditaments of the said Company in the said colony reverted to and became veited in her Majesty as part of the demesne lands of the Crown in New Zealand, subject nevertheless as by the said Act is provided : and whereas it i, expedient that provision should be made fo r enabling her Majesty to amend and alter the pro. ■visions contained in such terms of purchhase and pasturage as aforesaid : be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons in the present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same,

I. Power to her Majesty to make regulation* for the management of the affairs of the Settlements of Wellington, New Plymouth, and Nelson, i* iv*eu> Zealand. — That it shall be lawful for her Majesty, anything in the said Act contained notwithstanding, by instructions under her signet and sign manual, or through one of her principal Secretaries of State, from time to time to make, or to authorize the Governor of New Zealand, or the Lieutenant Governor of any Province in which any ol the said Settlements is or shall be situate, to make terms and regulations for the sale or other disposal of the demesne lands of the Crown within the said •ettlements of Wellington, New Plymouth, and Nelson, and for the disposal of the monies which may be derived from such sale or other disposal of the said lands for the benefit of the inhabitants of the said settlements respectively : provided always that the price at which the said lands within the s&id settlements are now authorieed to be sold, are not altered ; and for the closing and determination of the affairs of the said settlements, and to empower such Governor or Lieutenant Governor to fix and ascertain the boundaries of the said settlements of Wellington, New Plymouth, and Nelson, respectively. 11. The like Power with respect to the settkment of Otago.— That it shall be competent to her Majesty to empower the said Governor, or such Lieutenant Governor, to fix in like manner the boundaries of the settlement of Otago ; and that the demesne lands of the Crown contained in the ! said settlement shall be disposed of according to the terms of purchase and pasturage which were in force with respect to the said settlement oa the fourth day of July, one thousand eight hundred arid fifty : provided nevertheless, that it shall be competent to her Majesty, by such instructions as aforesaid, or through one of her principal Secretaries of State, or for such body as her Majesty may hereafter by any charter of incorporation eatablish for the purpose of conducting the affairs of the Otago Association, acting with the consent of her Majesty, signified through one of her principal Secretaries of State, from time to time to amend and alter the said terms of purchase and pasturage in all or any particulars; and provided also, that the expenses of managing the affair* of the said settlement, both in this country and in New Zealand, shall form a fint charge on famonies to be derived from the sale or other div posal of the demesne lands of the Crown in tha ■aid settlement, and that her Majesty shall be exempted from all further liability to contribute towards the said expenses. 111. Fund held on behalf of tht New Zealand Company for the public purposes of the settlement of Nelson, to be vested in the Commissioners of the Treasury.—-And whereas the New Zealand Company have issued from time to time certain published terms or conditions for the disposal of land in the settlement of Nelson, in New Zealand, by which it was, among other things, provided that the land of the said settlement should be »ld for certain prices, and that the fund to be derived from such sale should be appropriated in certain proportions for the purposes of emigration and the supply of labour, of founding and maintaining the settlement, of religious and educational uses, and of steam navigation, and other public objects ; and whereas many persons have purchased land

under the said terms or condition! in the settlement of Nf lson, and funds may have accumulated from the monies invested in such purchases, which have not as yet oeen applied to the purposes aforesaid s and whereas the New Zealand Company did by its agents and officers superintend and manage these funds until the fourth day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty : and whereas, in consequence of such notice as is hereinbefore mentioned to have been given by the Directors of the said Company on the day last aforesaid, the lands of the said Company in New Zealand reverted to the Crown as aforesaid, upon the condition (amongst others), as expressed in the said recited Act of the tenth and eleventh of Victoria, of satisfying any liabilities to which the said Company might then be liahle under their existing engagements with reference to the settle ment at Nelnon ; and whereas, before the day last aforesaid, a certain sum of twenty-five thousand pounds had been invested by the said Company in the names of Henry AgHonby Aglionby, Esquire, of the Middle Temple, Alexander Currie, Esquire, of Saint John's Wood, James Robert Gowen, Esquire, of No. 187, Piccadilly, George Lyall, junior, Esquire, of Winchester House, and Jeremiah Pitcher, Esquire, of Morgan's Lane, to be held by them in trust for the said Company in the three per cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities, in order to satisfy the amount applicable by the said Company under the said terms to the purposes in question : but the total amount so applicable had not been ascertained, and was then and still is in dispute between the said Company and the purchasers of land at Nelson ; and whereas it is expedient that provision should be made to enable her Majesty to ascertain the amount of the sum so applicable, and to entrust the administration of the fund, when so ascertained, to certain persons who have been nominated (or that purpose by the said Company and the said purchasers of land at Nelson : Be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury, and they are hereby directed to ascertain the sum (if any) which remained due and applicable by the New Zealand Company, and which the said Company were bound to apply to the purposes above mentioned, on the fourth day of July, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty aforesaid ; and that the said sum of twenty five thousand pounds, with the interest which shall have accrued on the same, shall be vested in the Commissioners of the Treasury as a fund for the public purposes of the settlement of Nelson ; and that the said Henry Aglionby Aglionby, Alexander Currie, James Robert Gowen, George Lyall, and Jeremiah Pilcher shall, and they are hereby authorized to transfer the said sum into the names of the Commissioners of the Treasury, or such person or persons as the said Commissioners shall nominate for that purpose, and that the same shall be dis. posed of by the said Commissioners in the manner hereinafter provided ; and that if the amount which may be found by the Commissioners of the Treasury to be due and applicable to the said purposes shall exceed the said sura of twenty five thousand pounds and interest as aforesaid, the surplus necessary to complete such amount shall remain a liability attaching on her Majesty with reference to the settlement of Nelson in manner as in the said Act of the tenth and eleventh of Victoria is expressed : but that if the amount so due and applicable shall be found to fall short of the said sum of twenty-five thousand pounds with interest as aforesaid, then the balance shall remain in the hands of the Commissioner* of the Treasury for the purpose of discharging other liabilities of the New Zealand Company which her Majesty may have become bound to satisfy under the said lastmentioned Act.

IV. Board of Trustees at Nelson appointed to administer the said Fund. — That a board of seven trustees shall be and the same is hereby appointed for the administration of the said fund, including luch surplus (if any) as aforsaid, three of whom ■hall form at any time a quorum for the despatch of business ; and that it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of the Treasury, in such manner as they shall appoint, to pay over or cause to be paid over the said sum of twenty- five thousand pounds, with such interest as aforesaid, or so much thereof as may he found due and applicable as aforesaid and any additional sums which may be found due and applicable as aforesaid, to the said Trustees : and that when such sum or sums shall have been so paid over ai aforsaid all further liability of her Majesty or of the New Zea land Company in respect of such fund and of the amount applicable as aforesaid by the Company shall cease.

V. Power of the Trustees to dispose of the Funds for public purposes. — That the said Trustees shall have power to dispose *>f the said funds for the benefit of the settlement of Nelson to the purpose of emigration and the supply of labour, of religious and educational uses, of steam navigation, and of the construction and maintenance of public works, in such proportions, as to each of the said purposes, as to them shall seem expedient. VI. Mode of conducting Business by the said Trustees. — That the first meeting of the said Trustees shall be fixed at a time and place to be appointed by proclamation by the Governor of New Zealand, or by the Lieutenant Governor of the province in which Nelson is or shall be situate, being authorized thereto by the said Governor, and that such Trustees may from time to time pass resolutions for appointing the time and place of holding further meetings for the despatch of business, and for making rules and regutions for the conduct of such business, and for other necessary puposes towards enabling them to dispose of and distribute the said fund according to the purposes of this Act : provided always, that the Legisla ure of New Zealand shall have power to alter such regulations, by Istvs to be mode from | time to time, subject to the conditions by law required in respect of the Acts and Ordinances of such Legislature. VII. Names of the first Trustees. — That Doctor David Monro, Saniuol Stephens, William Oldfield Cautley, Francis D.llon Bell, Francis Jollie, Alfred Fell, and John Waring Saxton. Esquires, being the persons already nominated for this purpi.se by and on behalf of the Land Purcha»ers of Nelson and the New Zealand Company, shall be and the same are hereiiy appointed the first Trustees for the administration of the said Fund. VIII. Duration of their Office.— That the said Trustees shallj remain in office (subject to the

provisions hereinafter contained as to the filling <ip of vacancies) until the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. . IX. Provisions for filling up vacancies, estab ishing an Audit, and continuing the Trust. — That it shall be lawful for the Legislature of New Zealand, by laws to he made from time to time, subject as to such conditions as aforesaid, to provide for the filling up of vacancies which may have occurred or may occur by the death or resignation of either of the Trustees named in this Act, by election to be made by the owners, or owners and occupiers, of and in the settlement of Nelson, with such qualification or restriction as may in such laws be specified, and to provide in like manner for the annual election of two or more auditors to audit the accounts of the said Trustees, and for the due publication from time to time of such accounts, and for the discharge of the Trustees from any personal liability in respect of the said funds ; and in case the said fund shall not have been wholly disposed of before the Ist day of January in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty five, to provide in like manner for the election of seven new Trustees, to continue in office for three years, subject to the like power as hereinbefore contained as to the filling up of vacancies, and so on from time to time until the said Fund shall be wholly expended for the purposes above mentioned. X. Legislature of New Zealand may authorise that of the Province in which Nelson is situated to exercise any of the powers hereby granted to it. — That it shall be lawful for the Legislature of New Zealand be enactment, subject to such conditions as aforesaid, to authorise the Legislature of the province in which Nelson is or may be situate to exercise all or any of the powers byjthis Act granted to the said Legislature of New Zealand in reference to the said Fund.

XI. As to cast falling within the' 53d Section of the 9 8f 10 Viet. c. ccclaxxii. Grants of the Crown to be of the like force in Conveyances by the New Zealand Company. — That hencelorth in all cases falling within the provisions of the fifty.fr tt section of an Act of the ninth and tenth of Victoria, intituled "an Act to grant certain Powers to the New Zealand Company," a grant or conveyance by her Majesty, her successors or assigns', shall have the like force and effect in all respects as a conveyance by the New Zealand Company has or would have had by virtue of the same Act in case no such notice as aforesaid lias been given and the said Company had continued in the full exercise of their functions ; and the powers by the same Act in reference to those cases conferred on a nominee or nominees of the said Company, approved of as therein mentioned, shall henceforth be exercisable by such person or persons as the Governor or Lieutenant Governor for the time being of New Zealand may from time to time appoint; and that all acts done in pursuance of any such several powers by the party or parties for the time being entrusted with the execution thereof shall be binding on her Majesty, her successors and assigns.

XII. Saving of the Bights of the New Zealand Company under 10 Sf 11 Viet, c 112. — Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect or interfere with the rights of the New Zealand Company in respect of the sum of two hundred and sixty-eight thousand three hundred and seventy pounds fifteen shillings, which by the said Act of the tenth and eleventh of Victoria is charged upon and to be paid to the said Company out of the proceed* of all future sales of the demesne lands of the Crown in New Zealand after such deductions as in the said Act specified.

XIII. Interpretation of Terms — Th atth c words " Governor of New Zealand " and " Lieutenant Governor" in this Act shall be deemed respectively to mean the persons for the time administering the general Government of the Islands of New Zealand, or the Government of any province thereof.