The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursday & Saturdays. TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1898. THE NATIVE LAND BILL.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXI, Issue 3739, 19 April 1898, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail. Published Tuesdays, Thursday & Saturdays. TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1898. THE NATIVE LAND BILL.

The following are the provisions of the Native Lands Protection and Administration Act, which was circulated by the Premier at the native gathering at Waahi : 1. The colony for the purposes of this Act to be divided into districts. 2. For each district there shall be a Native Land Board consisting of the Commissioner of Crown Lands and two Europeans to be appointed by the Governor and two natives to be elected for a term of three years by tho owners of native lauds within each such district respectively. 3. The members of the Board (Europeans and natives) shall be paid such salaries and allowances as may from time to time be appropriated by. Parliament.

4. Tho Commissioner of Crown Lands shall by virtue of his office be chairman of the Board, and shall have a casting vote only. In his absence he may appoint one of the European members as deputy-chairman. 5. A deputy-chairman shall have a deliberative as well as a casting vote. G. Three members, including at least one Maori, shall be a quorum. 7. The Disqualification Act, 1878, shall not apply to the Maori members of the Board. 8. The adoption of this Aot in any district is permissive. It may be brought into force by the Governor on the petition of any 20 or more of the native owners. 9. On receipt of the petition the Governor shall publish it in tho Gazette and Kahiti, and call for objections. 10. If 20 or more of the other native owners object to the petition the matter shall be decided by a poll of all the native owners. 11. On the adoption of the Act in any district all native lands (which means Papatupu and all other lands owned by natives) shall vest in the Native Land Board, except lands purchased by natives from the Crown or Pakehas, or lands in which the Gover-nor-in Council exempts from the Act in cases where he is satisfied that the native owners are themselves competent to administer the same, or lands subject to the Thermal Springs District Act, 1881, the Westland and 1 Nelson Native Reserves Act, 1887, the , West Coast Settlement Reserves Act, 1893, and the Native Townships Act,

12. The Board shall have power to dispose of native lands by lease at such rentals, for such periods, and subject to such conditions as are pre scribed by regulations uuder the Act. 13. No native lands in any district where the Act is adopted may thereafter be disposed of by way of sale, except for the completion of dealings lawfully commenced before passing of the same, or where the lands are exempted, as hereinbefore provided. 14. The Board is empowered to reserve land for, aa far as practicable, the individual use and occupation of native owners, on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit, and also to reserve land for burial-places, schools, churches, and other purposes of public convenience or utility. 15. When disposing of native lands on lease the Board may give priority to applications of natives who are landless, or who may be owners of the lands thrown open for leasing. 16. The Board may agree with her Majesty for native lands to be available for mining purposes, under the Mining Act, 1891, the revenues from all such land in respect of mining being paid by the Warden to the Board for the benefit of tho native owners.

17. The Board may expend money on the formation and maintenance of roads, streets, surveys, and the opening up of land for settlement or any other purpose authorised by the Act or regulations. 18, The Board shall have such

further powers as may be conferred upon it by regulations, and all regulations shall be laid upon tho tyblo of both Houses within 14 dayß after being gazetted if Parliament be in session, and if not in session, within 14 days after the commencement of tho first ensuing session thereof. 19 The Board shall, with respect to native lands vested in it, have all the powers of the Native Land Court as to partition, succession, definition of relative interests, and the appoiutmeut of trustees for native owners under disability. 20. The income of tho Board in respect of native lands shall be applied:—l. To defray costs of administration* 2. Paying off mortgages, charges, and liens that are due. 3. Paying balance to nativo owners according to their relative interests. 21. No native owner may dispose of his interest in any district in which the Act has been adopted, except in favour of another native.

22. No native land within any such district may be seized or sold for debt. 23. The Board may borrow from the Government upwards of £SOOO in any year for the purpose of roading, surveying, and openiug lands for settlement.

24. At the request of the native owners concerned, the Board may borrow from the Government in any year upwards of £SOOO for the purpose of discharging mortgages or other encumbrances to which the lands are subject at the time of the adoption of the Act, and upwards of £IOOO for the purpose of paying then existing unsecured debts of the native owners. 25. The moneys so borrowed from the Government shall be repayable with interest at 5 per cent, per annum by equal annual instalments extending over upwards of 48 years, and the instalments shall be deducted from the income of the nativo owners for whose benefit the money was borrowed. 26. Uncompleted purchases by the Crown and all uncompleted private dealings lawfully commenced, and which could have been lawfully completed but for the passing of the Act, may in the districts where tho Act is adopted be completed through the Board. 27. The Governor-in-Council may make all such regulations as are necessary for the carrying out of the provisions of the Act. 28. The Governor-iu-Council may exempt any native land from the operation of the Act in cases where he is satisfied that the native owner

is himself fully competent to administer the same.