THE WASTE LANDS ACT, 1858.

Otago Witness, Issue 360, 23 October 1858, Page 1

THE WASTE LANDS ACT, 1858.

Civ Act to regulate the disposal and adnrinistra- ' tionofthe Waste fynds of the Crown in New Zealand. [Reserved for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure thereon, 19ih August, 18-58.]

Be it enacted by the General Assembly o% New Zealand, in parliament assembled^ and by the authority of the same, as follows : —

•T. The several acts, ordinances, and regulations, specified in the schedule to this act annexed, are hereby declared to have been valid from the time of the passing or issuing thereof, and the said act?, ordinances, and regulations, and the bills specified in the said schedule shall hereafter have the full force and effect of law in the several provinces to which they respectively relate, except so far as the same are

repugnant to or inconsistent with the provisions hereinafter contained, that is to say, — 1. No larger quantity of land than 320 acres shall \>e put up for sale by auction in any one lot, and the upset price shall in no case-be less than ss. an acre.

2. No land after the first day of August, 1860, shall be sold upon credit, except such as it may be lawful to set apart for special settlement by immigrants expected to arrive. 3. The property of choice shall in no case whatever be decided by lot, but in all cases in which two or more applications are made on the same day for any land open for selection at a fixed price, such laud shall be put up to auction at an upset price of the same amount as the fixed price, at which auction only the applicants in person or by their agents shall be allowed to bid. But this provision shall not extend to applications heard before the Waste Lands .Board of the Province of Canterbury. 11. If at any time the Superintendent and Provincial Council of any province shall recommend to the Governor that an augmentation should be made in the price at which the waste lands of the crown within such province shall be offered for sale either by selection or by auction, it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council if he think fit to fix such price accordingly. 111. .Subject to the said several acts, ordinances, regulations, and bills, and in cases where no provision shall have been made in such behalf, it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council in the name and on behalf of her Majesty to constitute such offices and boards, and appoint such officers as may be necessary for the management and administration of the waste lands of the crown, and for the survey thereof, within the several provinces of the colony ; and from time to time to make such changes and alterations, and remove such officers, as he may think fit. IV. All the acts authorised or required to be performed by, and all the powers conferred upon or given to the Superintendents of the several provinces, acting either Avith or without the advice or the advice and consent of the respective Executive Councils thereof, under or by virtue of the several acts, ordinances, bills, and regulations specified in the schedule to this act, shall henceforth cease to be vested in the Superintendent, and shall and may henceforth be vested in and may be performed and exercised by the Governor alone fully and effectually for all purposes. V. It shall also be lawful for the Governor to exercise and perform ever}' power and act which may be necessary to complete carry out or compel the performance of any subsisting .contract or agreement which may have been lawfully made entered into or commenced, under any law in force within any province before the coming into operation within such province of any of the several acts, ordinances, bills, and regulations specified in the said schedule.

VI. It shall be lawful for the Governor under his hand and the public seal of the colony, from time to time to delegate to the Superintendent of any province, or to such other person' as the Governor may think fit, all or any of the powers vested in the Governor by sections 3, 4, and 5, and also by section 12 of this act, subject or not to an3 r limitations or restrictions as he may think fit, and in like manner to reYoke any such powers : Provided always, that any power which may be in any Superintendent at the time of the coming into operation of this act, under any of the acts, ordinances, or regulations specified in the said schedule, shall thenceforth be deemed and taken to have been duly delegated under this act. VII. Subject to the said several acts, ordinances, and regulations, and bills, it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council from time to time to make and revoke regulations for the guidance of the several officers employed in the management and administration of the waste lands of the Crown, and for the management and conduct of the business of any land board or office, and for the settling of ali disputes and differences relating or incident to thesale, letting, disposal, or occupation of the waste lauds of the Crown ; and all such regulations shall be binding and conclusive on all persons whomsoever.

VIII. All fees payable on the issue of crown grants shall be chargeable in the first place with the salary of a Secretary for crown lands, and with the costs and expenses of maintaining a crown grant office.

IX. So much of the 62ml section of the Constitution Act as authorises the Governor to pay out of the revenue arising from the disposal of the waste lands of the crown, all the costs, charges, and expenses incident to the collection, management, and receipt thereof, is hereby repealed, and except the salaries of the Secretary for crown lands, and of the receivers of land revenue, and the expense incident to the maintenance of the crown-grant office, all the costs, charges, and expenses incident to the management and administration of the waste lands°of the crown within each province of the colony shall be regulated by acts or ordinances to bo passed by the Superintendent and Provincial Council thereof.

X. All the accounts of such costs, charges, ' and expenses shall be audited by the Secretary for crowndands, and so far as the same relate to each province shall be from time to time laid before the Provincial Council thereof.

XI. And whereas it is proper and expedient that power should be given to the Governor to fulfil engagements heretofore made on behalf of her Majesty, and also to make reserves for ccrtaiu public purposes within the colony : be

it therefore further enacted that it shall be lawful for the Governor at any time to fulfil and perform any contract, promise, or engagement heretofore made by or on behalf of her Majesty, and whereof there is evidence in writing, with respect to any allotment or parcel of land within the colony; and any crown grant made in pursuance of any such contract, promise, or engagement, shall be valid. XII. It shall also be lawful for the Governor in Council, at any time and from, time to time, to except from sale, and either reserve to her Majesty, or dispose of in such other manner as for the public interest may seem best, such of the waste lands of the crown in any of the said provinces as may be required for the purposes of military defence, or for the construction of, trunk lines of road, or as sites for public buildings for the use of the General Government, or for other purposes of public utility or convenience ; and all such exceptions shall be deemed to have been made whenever the Governor by writing under his hand shall have notified to the Superintendent of the province in which any land so excepted is situate, that the same is required for any of the purposes aforesaid, and such notification shall have been published in the New Zealand Gazette.

XIII. It shall also be lawful for the Governor in Council, by proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette to change the specific purpose for which any land has heretofore been or may hereafter be set apart as a reserve for the General Government, and also to exchange any land for the time being set apart as such reserve for other land of equal value, or to sell any land so set apart, as he may think fit ; and in case of the exchange or sale of any such land to make a crown grant thereof accordingly/ Provided always that in the event of a sale of any such land, the proceeds thereof shall be invested in the purchase of other land, and any land so acquired by exchange or purchase shall be forthwith* proclaimed as a public reserve under " The Public Reserves Act, 1854."

XIV. And whereas crown grants have heretofore from time to time been made in which rights of road through the lands therein comprised have been reserved, and it is expedient that power should be given to release such rights. Be it therefore further enacted that it shall be lawful for the Governor by ■writing under his hand to release, by an endorsement on the crown grant or by a separate instrument, any rights reserved as aforesaid ; and on such release being given, the power to take or set apart any road by virtue of any such reservation shall thenceforth cease and determine: Provided always that any road set apart in pursuance of any such reservation previously to such release sfiall be deemed and taken for all purposes whatsoever to be a public road and highway. XV. The acts passed by the General Assembly of New Zealand, intituled respectively " The Provincial Waste Lands Act, 1854," and the "Waste Lands Act, 1854," are hereby repealed. XVI. This act shall not come into operation until her Majesty's pleasure shall have been taken thereon, and the same shall have been confirmed by her Majesty with the advice of the Privy Council, and a proclamation of such confirmation having been given shall have been made by the Governor of the colony, s XVII. The short title of this act shall be "The Waste Lands Act, 1858."

THE SCHEDULE Contains the following ordinances, &c, of the Province of Otago, declared valid by the act :— Land Regulations, proclaimed by the Governor on the 12th February, 1856. Land Sales and Leases Ordinance, 1856, proclaimed by the Governor on the 27th February,- 1857.

Town Land Sales Ordinance, 1857, proclaimed by the Governor on the 11th January, 1858.