DEFERRED PAYMENT SECTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1476, 28 February 1880, Page 14

DEFERRED PAYMENT SECTIONS.

The following letter from the Land Board, With the opinion of the Board's solicitor thereon was considered at Wednesday's meeting, regarding the applications of H. Daniel and W. Daniel for section 6, block VIII, Tuapeka West, and T. E. Williams, sections 33 and 34, block XI, Tuapeka West. The applications were discussed at a previous meeting of the Board :—

I beg to inform 3'ou that applications have been received for several deferred-payment allotments, the dealing with which involves the legal interpretation of certain sections of the Land Act, 1877, Amendment Act, 1879. The Land Board has requested me to obtain this from you in a formal manner. In referring to section 6, Land Act, 1877, Amendment Act, 1879, 1 find that his Excellency the Governor may group two or more deferred-payment sections together, to make up the maximum area of an allotment, &c. First. Has his Excellency power to group as one llotment one or more sections held under deferredpayment license under Land Act, 1872, with one or more contiguous sections of land now desired to be purchased by the same licensee in addition to those previously held, and if so, under what conditions as to improvement, residence, and power of purchase, &c, would the licensee hold the added sections ? Would an ordinary deferred-payment license have to be issued for them?

Second. Can a holder of a deferred-payment license under Land Act, 1872, together with the holder of a deferred-payment lease, make a joint application under clause 17, Amendment Act, 1879, for any area of land the half of which when added to the area already held by each shall not exceed 320 acres ? Thirdly. Can two holders of deferred-paymont icenses make a joint application in the same way ? "Under deferred-payment license the licensee is required to reside for three years upon the land ; at expiry of this torm he must either lease or purchase. There does not seem to be any provision in the Act requiring his residence on the land during the term of the lease, nor is there anything in the lease itself on the subject. Fourthly. Does section 6 of Amendment Act, 1879, apply to land classified as pastoral, and opened on deerred payments under section 76, Land Act, 1877, as well as to ordinary rural deferred-payment land (see ection 79, Land Act, 1877)? May I request your opinion as early as possible, as the applications will bo dealt with by the Land Board at its meeting on Wednesday next. Pencil memoranda by yourself are returned herewith. J. P. Maitland, Commissioner of Crown Lands.

As to the first question, I do not see how it is possible that section 6 could be used for the purpose of adding to an allotment already taken up under the deferred system. The land would have to be applied for in conformity with the provisions of section 27 of the Act of 1877. How could a man apply for what he had already got ? Or suppose another person applied for the allotment, on the same day, and became the purchaser at the auction, how could the existing licensp be got rid of ? The licensee, if all conditions of the license were fulfilled, might perhaps assign under section 65, but then section 60 would prevent him from obtaining another license, so that he could be no better off, and there is no provision for the surrender of a license. I think that the Legislature clearly did not contemplate that section 6 should be used except for the purpose of grouping allotments which had not been selected.

I will discuss the second and third questious together, as it will be convenient to do so. I doubt whether any such thing was contemplated by the framers of the Act of 1879 as that the same person should obtain more than one allotment on deferred payments. Sections 56 and 57 of the.Actof 1877 are both intended to prevent this. Section 17 of the Amendment Act provides that two or more selectors may make a joint application to hold as tenants in common all allotments of land open for sale on deferred pa} r ments ; and it also provides that one of them only shall be required to reside on the land. I think that under the law as it previously stood there could have been no objection to two persons applying for an allotment jointly. " Selector " could be read in the plural if necessary, and the joint applicants would each require to perform all the conditions. The only effect, therefore, of the 17th section is that the application may now be made as tenants in common, instead of as joint tenants as it formerly must have been, and that one only requires to reside on the jand, whereas both would formerly have been required to do so.

The question is, Can a selector of an allotment on his own sole account join with another person similarly situated in a joint application under the 17th section ? I should say decidedly not if it were not for the definition of the word "selector" in the 4th section of the Act of 1877. It is " a person making application for land," and also "a person having a license to occupy land " under the deferred-payment system, and "license" includes "lease." Two holders of deferred-payment licenses clearly cannot make a joint application, as neither of them is in a position to comply with the condition as to residence, but the holder of a deferred-payment lease— if "lease" means "license" to occupy— can comply with the condition, because he is not bound to reside on the land during the term of his lease. There would seem, therefore, to be ground for arguing that the holder of n, deferred-payment lease and the holder of a deferred-payment license (or any other person) may join in an application under the 17th section, inasmuch as I have shown that they are botli entitled to be considered selectors, and this right is given to selectors by that section. Nevertheless I do not think that it was intended that the section should apply to such a case, and I think that the Board bhould refuse such an application if made, as being contrary to the spirit of the deferred-payment system, which clearly is to confine the right of selection to one allotment only.

As to the fourth question, I think section 6 of the Act of 1879 docs apply to pastoral lands set apart for sale on deferred payments, and that the Governor may group two or more allotments to make up one allotment, if not more thin 5000 acres.

The use of the word "sections" is somewhat puzzling, as the expression used in the Act of 1877, both with regard to ordinary deferred-payment land and pastoral deferred-payment land, is " allotment," and that word is defined in the interpretation clause B. C. Haqqitt.

18th February, 1880.

The Chike 1 Commissioner said that he had spoken to the Chief Secretary on the subject, and had been told by him that the application was against the spirit and intention of the Act when, it was framed, although perhaps the wording of the section of the Act allowed another interpretation to be put upon it. He (the Chief Commissioner) had always been of the opinion expressed by the Board's solicitor in the reply before them, and thought the Board would now have no difficulty in coming to a decision. He had looked at the matter in all lights, and had come to the conclusion that to grant the application would be opening a way for the introduction of abuses. The Board decided to decline the application.