MORE ABOUT THE NEW LAND ACT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1735, 9 January 1888, Page 3

MORE ABOUT THE NEW LAND ACT.

Besides tho^e central features of the new Land Act with which we dealt m our last issue, there are other provisions to which it is desirable to call attention. One manifest improvement is contained m the first operative clause (Sec. 2) whereby the boundaries of the | Land Districts of Auckland, Hawkes"! Bay, Otago and Southland, as defined m the Act of 1885, are very properly made identical with those of the land registration districts of the same names. The convenience of this is obvious, and the only wonder is that its desirableness should have escaped notice at the lime of the passing of the original Act. It is also noticeable that m determining as between simultaneous applications for the same land, recourse is once more had to the old system of lot. The right- to acquire the freehold of holdings on deferred payments or perpetual lease, which under the old Act could only' be exercised after the expiry of a fixed term of years, is henceforth to be exercisable at any time, upon the completion of the improvements required by the license or lease, and the payment of the full purchase price of the land, or so much thereof, m the case of land held on deferred payment, as has not already been paid. The right of purchase is also extended to the holders of perpetual leases m mining districts under like conditions, subject, however, to public notification of the intention to purchase, and the consideration by the Warden, Commissioner and Minister of objections thereto, and to the proviso 1 that no application to purchase the freehold shall be granted which ( shall interfere with or prejudice * the right of any holder of a miner's right, mining claim, mining lease, or licensed holding, to discharge into any watercourse within the said land any tailings, mining debtts t or waste water. As regards applications for the purchase of unsurveyed land, it ' is provided that such land shall only be open for application after public notification (advertisement), and the Commissioner, on the estimated cost of < the survey being deposited with him, may allow any applicant to have the land applied for surveyed atj his (the applicant's) own expense by a surveyor f employed by the Surveyor-General for ( that purpose, and that an allowance for c the cost of the survey at a rate not ex- a ceeding the ordinary cost of survey of * rural lands shall be deducted from the / purchase money. If the land is before the completion of the purchase reserved or withdrawn from sale, the applicant is to be recouped the cost of survey at the above-mentioned rate, but if the 1 applicant refuse or delay to complete the purchase of the land after survey, he is to forfeit the cost of such survey, \ Holders of deferred payment occupa- - tion licenses under the Act of 1885, which are for a period of ten years, can have the period extended to fourteen years, and the amount of instalments annually payable will be thereupon reduced to one-fourteentb, instead of one-tenth, of the purchase price, and the annual payments already made will be calculated as constituting so much ■] payment In advance as the difference J may represent. The residence condi- ti tion is henceforth not to be insisted a upon m the case of bush lands held on J deferred payments if permanent im- | provements of a substantial nature are 61 effected upon the holding to a value equal to twice the amount stipulated B for m the license. The •' thirds "of the price of deferred payment lands q payable to local bodies are heuceforth to be so payable m respect of lands held upon this tenure within village and special settlements, and such of the moneys so received by the local bodies as are directed by the Act of 1885 t0 be expended m the construction of roads, may, with the Minister's approval, be applied to the supply of water to, or to the drainage pf the lands to be : benefited. Pastoral deferred payment license holders can m future exchange such licenses for leases of small grazing It runs, under the conditions that any such lease shall be antedated to the date of the license surrendered, and that the rent shall be equal to ?^£ per q cent, on the price of the land, the payments made m respect of the license up to date of surrender to be counted s as so much rent m advance as the pay* menrs represent. All applications to - take advantage of this provision must, however, be made before the first day of January, 1890, that is to say, within two years from the present time. The maximum limits of area of small grazing - runs may, m oases where the Surveyor-General certifies that the t land is not suitable for occupation c m lesser holdings, be extended to not * exceeding 20,000 acres, instead of 5000 the present maximum limit, j Another very important provision is \ that of Section 26 which allows any t holder of land on perpetual lease to « exchange his lease for a deferred pay- ' ment license j while by sub-section 2 ' of Sections 27 it is also very properly . provided that no land held on deferred payments, nor any Crown lands of any sort held under any tenure less than freehold shall be capable of being sold for non-payment of rates. The above, with the provisions explained m detail m our article of Thursday, constitute the salient features of the most useful ; and liberal amendments of th.c laws, relating to the Waste Lands of the Crown which has ever passed the Legislature, and if it were only for this one Act the recent session of Parlaimetit must be held to have been productive of excellent results.