THE NEW LAND BILL.

Western Star, Issue 156, 2 September 1876, Page 7

THE NEW LAND BILL.

Wo are indebted to the Daily Times for the following summary of the Waste Lands Administration Hill, which repeals all existing Land Acts, and provides inter alia : For the contii.nance in force of all existing proclamations, &c., affecting the waste lands in any- case, where at any time heretofore a lease or licence has been granted to hold land on any system subject to the fulfilment of certain terms and conditions, the Commissioners of Audit shall be ihc sole judges whether the conditions of any such license have been complied with, and shall have all the powers and authorities conferred upon any body or person by the Act under which any such license was granted, and shall proceed in the manner indicated on that behalf on such Act, notwithstanding its repeal, to enforce the fulfilment of the conditions of any such license, to obtain possession of any land improvements or money forfeited for breach of such conditions. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any Waste Lands Act after land has been offered for sale by auction and not sold it shall be only open for sale after thirty days’ public notice thereof shall have been given. It nuiy then bo either offered again from time to lime in one or more lots for sale by public auction : or declared open for sale on application, such lots at such prices per acre as the Hoard shall determine, being a price not less in any ease than the minimum price payable for land of the same quality that is open for selection for cash. From and after the coming into operation of this Act, notwithstanding anything contained in any Waste Lands Act, no undefined right of preemption over any land shall be granted to any person, and no new lease or license, or renewal of any lease or license, shall be deemed to create or to grant to any person any pre-emptive right whatever. All rights of pre-emption at any time heretofore granted and not executed shall be exercised previous to the Ist day of May, 1880, and if not so exercised (hey shall be absolutely voidNothing in this section contained shall preclude any Waste Lands Hoard from giving to the purchaser at public auction of any pastoral lease or license the right of purchasing in one block any quantity of the lease or license, not exceeding two hundred acres, at such price per acre as the said Board shall have publicly notified before such auction. Every such right of purchase shall he exercised before the expiration of six months from the clay sf the aforesaid auction, and if not so exercised shall bo absolutely forfeited and of no clfeeti

It shall be lawful for the Governor, from time to tunc, as he shall see tit, to make of any waste lands of the Crown provisional reserves for educational purposes of a public character, and for the endowment of educational institutions of a like character, subject to the disallowance of either Houses of Purlioment.

The existing Land Boards remain in office till September 1, 1877. Members of the Board are not to receive more than one guinea per sitting, and are not disqualified from being members of the Assembly on account of that payment.

The board may, from time to time, with the apjmn ai of I he Governor, select out of any rural or suburban lauds that are open for* sale, or that may hereafter be opened for sale, such blocks or allotments of hind therein as it shall think lit, and set i ho same aside for sale exclusively on deferred payments. All applications for land on deferred pay meats shall be made in the same immnor in every respect as applications for land other than town lands arc directed to be made by the Waste Lands Act of the district, so far as shall not be'inconsistent with the provisions of this Act. The Board shall keep a register of the names and descriptions of all selectors, showing the extent of the land selected at any time in the name cf each person, and sitch register shall be kept in alphabetical order, and extracts therefrom shall be transmitted in eacli month to the Secretary of Crown Lauds in such manner as lie shall direct. No person shall be entitled to select both rural land and suburban. The maximum area of laud held under one stleetO” shall not exceed in the whole, of suburban land ten acres and of rural land two hundred acres in any land district. The price per acre to bo paid for any land taken up by any selector shall be where land is open for selection and sale for cash, then such cash price, and one half thereof added thereto, or where land is required to be put up at auction, then the highest price bid for the laud at auction and one half thereof added thereto. In all cases where it is .provided that land, the subject of simultaneous applications, shall be put up at public auction, then the bidding at such auction shall be limited to the applicants. Any person of the ago of eighteen years ami upwards may become a selector hereunder; but no selector having assigned his interest hereunder shall be allowed to make a new selection under this Act. No person employed by or on behalf of Her Majesty in any land office, or in the Survey Department, no owner of a pre-emptive right, no married woman not having obtained a decree of judicial vouaraiion or a protection order, no person who at the time of making his application has made any arrangement or agreement to permit any other person to acquire by purchase or otherwise the allotment in respect of which bis application is made, or which he has bought at auction, or any' part thereof or any interest therein, shall become a selector hereunder. Lvevy selector, before making his selection shall make and produce a statutory declaration that he is of the age of eighteen years, making the present selection of land under Lise system of deferred payments bona fide for his own exclusive use and benefit, and not directly or indirectly for the use or benefit of any other person whomsoever, and for the purpose of cultivation, is not the holder in his own name or in the name of any other person and is not beneficially interested in any waste lauds of the Crown within the Colony under the deferred payment system to any amount which, added to the acreage comprised in the present application, would exceed two hundred acres in extent, nor has at any time assigned any interest in any laud held by him on deferred payments. In the event of any of the statements contained in this declaration being knowingly false, the selector shall forfeit all right to tbo land comprised in his selection, and all moneys paid in respect thereof, and all improvements made thereon. Every selector shall, either at the Lime of making application! for the land, or forthwith after the auction, deposit with the -Receiver of Land He venue an amount equal to one twentieth of the price of the piece of land, and the deposit of every' selector shall be absolutely' forfeited if he neglect or refuse to take up his license. The Board shall, upon production of the declaration and payment of the deposit,

issue to such selector a license to hold the land selected upon the following terms and conditions, which shall be endorsed upon every license 1. The license shall be for a period of ten years, fo be reckoned from the next first day of January or July following the date thereof, and shall, in addilion, include the period between the date of the license and such day. 2. The yearly fee in respect of such license shall be in amount equal to one-tenth of the price of the land, and shall be payable in equal parts half-yearly in advance on the first day of January and the first day of July in each year to the Receiver of Land Revenue. 3. The deposit paid at the time of application or after the auction shall be in discharge of the license fee duo on the next first day of January or July following the date of license as the case may be. 4. The selector shall, within six months, personally reside on the land, but the Board may, if shall think fit, give permission in writing, dispensing with personal residence for the first eighteen months from the date of the license if the land is wholly or mostly covered with bush. 5. The selector shall, within one year from the dale of Ids license, bring into cultivation not less than one-twentieth of the land. 6. The selector shall, within two years from the date of his license, bring into cultivation not less than one-tenth of the land. 7. The selector shall, within four years from the date of his license, bring into cultivation not less than one-liflh of the land. 8. The selector shall, within six years from the date of his license, in addition to the cultivation of one-fifth of the land, have put substantial improvements of a permanent nature on the land to the value of £1 for every acre of such and. 9. The selector may, at any time after the expiration of six years, upon having complied with all the conditions of his license during the currency thereof, and upon obtaining a certificate from the Commissioners of Audit, as provided in section <ls, acquire the right to a Crown grant of the land on payment of so much of the price thereof as shall remain unpaid. 10. For a breach of any of the conditions numbered from 2 to 8 inclusive, the right of the selector to hold and to acquire the land described in his license shall be forfeited. 11. No selector shall be entitled tc impound, or to bring any claim for damages done on any part of the land held by him, by trespass of any horses, cattle, or sheep belonging to any pastoral tenant of the Crown, unless the land so trespassed on shall have been enclosed wit la a good and substantial fem'e within the meaning of the fencing laws in foi’ce in the district. After due public notice and payment of fee of £2, the Board may tvansFer lessee’s interest. The interest in land on deferred payments of a selector who has not. fulfilled all the conditions of his license shall not, during the currency of such license, be assignable at law or in equity, except under the conditions of this Act, and shad not ho capable of being charged, encumbered, extended, or taken in execution in any manner whatever. At the end of one, two, four, six, and ten years respectively, from the date of the license, or as soon as conveniently may be thereafter, and at any such time or times during the currency of such license as they may think necessary, the Commissioners of Audit shall ascertain, by such means as they shall think most lading, whether or not any settlor has, during the said one, two, four, six, or ton years, fulfilled the conditions of his license. And for this purpose it shall be lawful for tluv Commissioners from time to time, us they shall see fit, to appoint one or move officers to report to them upon any broach of. conditions of license, the value of improvement upon the land, and generally for the purpose of carrying out of this Act. If any selector shall fall to fulfil any of the conditions of Ids license within thirty days after the clay on which the same ought to be fulfilled, and shall neglect or refuse to give up possession of tiie land on being required in writing so to do, the Commissioners of Audit shall apply to the Resident Magistrate of the district for the recovery of the said land in the manner indicated by the 82nd and following provisions of the Resident Magistrates Act, 1867, relating to the recovery of possession of tenements, and the Resident Magistrate shall have jurisdiction in such case, notwithstanding that the value of the premises, or of the license fee payable in respect thereof, shall be of greater value than £SO by the year. And the jurisdiction of such magistrate shall not bo taken away or deemed to be | ousted by any claim of title, question of property, or suggestion of right, whether bona fide or otherwise, which may be raised at the hearing of any such case. If the magistrate shall decide that, any of the licenses have not been fulfilled lie shall declare the interest or the selector to be forfeited, and shall forthwith issue Ids warrant to the bailiff of the Court or any other const able to give possession of the land to the Commissioners of Audit. On recovering possession, the Commissioners shall direct the said land and the improvements thereon to be sold by public auction for cash, at such upset price, time, and place as they shall appoint, but at a price not less than the original cash price, or less than the amount, of the unpaid instalments. The proceeds of such sale shall be applied in the following manner! I. To the liquidation of the unpaid balance of the license fees fer the whole term of the license. 2. To the payment of all costs and expenses incident to the recovery of the possession of the land and the sale thereof. 3. The surplus, after deducting 25 pe>- cent, as damages for breach of license, to the selector, i At the expiration of I lie term of any license, or ( on payment of the price of the land previous I thereto, the Commissioners of Audit, upon being satisfied that all the conditions of such license have been fulfilled, shall certi y to tho Secretary of Crown Lands that in their opinion the selector is entitled to a Crown grant of the land held by him, and a Crown grant accordingly shall in due course be issued to tho selector. And when any land shall have been sold at auction in consequence of death, forfeiture, or under any j of tho provisions of this Act relating to such sales, a Crown grant for tho same shall be issued as soon as may be after the payment of tho purchase money for suyli land. Tho powers of the Land Board in respect to the deferred payment and agricultural leasing systems are not interfered with. The price of land is fixed at 25s per acre for rural land, and 12s 6d for land declared only fit for pastoral purposes, at an altitude of not less than 1,200 ft.