AMENDED REGULATIONS RESPECTING AGRICULTURAL LEASES UNDER THE MINES ACT, 1877

Dunstan Times, Issue 898, 4 July 1879, Page 3

AMENDED REGULATIONS RESPECTING AGRICULTURAL LEASES UNDER THE MINES ACT, 1877

(From the New Zetland Gazette of Juno 12.) Whereas hv the fifty—first section of ‘‘ The Mines Jet. 1877 ” herein referred to as *• the said Act ”). it is enacted that it shall bo lawful for the Governor, subject to the provisions of the said Act from time to time to make, alter, amend, and r 1 volte rules and regulations for all or any purposes thereinafter enumerated : Ami whereas by the fifiythinl section of the said Act. it is onaeto 1 that the rules and regulations contained in the Appendices to the said Act shall ho deemed to he the first rules and regulations made under the fifty-first and tif,ysecoud sections of the said Act: And whereas it is expedient that the regulations respecting agri ultuval leases under Appendix 11 to the said Act, and numl ereil three, live, ten, twelve, thirteen, fifteen, and eighteen, should be amended : Know, the oforo, I, lie calcs George Robert Robinson, Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, do hereby order that the regulations under Appendix B particularly referred to above shall he and are hero iy revoked, and the following substitut d in lieu thcreot; J)7(o may apply. 3. Every application must be made hv the applicant in person [previously—or by agent] and the Warden shall not entertain any appli cation u: less he is satisfied that the person is [previously—or is on behalf of some other residents of the Colony of that age] twenty-one years old, and legally capable of being bound by rhe contract into which it is thereby proposed to enter, and is not in respect of the land applied for, or in respect of any part thereof, the agent or servant of or a trustee for any other person. Objections. ■5. Objections that the applicant is not of the full ago of twenty-one years [previously—or that he is not resident in the Colony]; or that ho is in respect of the land applied for the agent or servant of the trustee for any other person, or that the whole or any portion of the land applied for is claimed or owned by any person other than the applicant, or is in the whole or in part auriferous, oris likely to be req ,ivcd for any public purpo.-e, must ho made in writing to the Warden, and lodged at the office at which the application shall have been lodged twenty-four hours at the least before the time appointed forbearing ; and the person objecting must at the time appointed for hearing urge the objection personally, or by counsel or agent. 10. At any time before finally dealing with nny application the Warden may require a report or survey to ho made by the District Surveyor, and in such case the cost of such survey or report shall be paid in advance [the words “ in advance” are now] to the Receiver of Gold Revenue [all the following is new :] cither by the appbeantor the objector, or partly by both, as may bo decided by the Warden. Grant'my Certificate. 12. If no valid objection ns aforesaid bo made, and no reason bo known to the M aiden why the application should not be granted, or

if on hearing such application ho shall ileciilo that a part only of iho land applied for should he granted, ho shall require tho applicant to pay to tho Receiver of Gold Revenue a sum calculated in the case where survey fees have not been by the applicant at tho rate of three shilling [previously—two and sixpence] per aero, and in the case where survey feus have been paid by tho applicant at tho rate of one I shilling and sixpence [previously—one ami three pone ] per aero, of the land intended to be granted; and such payment will cover all charges in respect id'such grant, inclusive of rent, for tho first six months of tho term ; and upon production of the Receiver’s receipt for the above sum to the Warden, he shall give to the applicant a certificate in the form of Schedule B hereto, bearing oven date with such receipt, from which date the commencement of the term of tho lease (if a lease bo granted) shall be taken and computed. Governor's Power to refuse Lease reserved. 14. On issuing any certificate the AVarden shall forthwith forward to tho Governor a duplicate of such certificate, and notwithstanding the issue of the same, it shall he lawful for the Governor wi.hiu sixty [previously —thirty] days from the date thereof to refuse to grant to the applicant a lease of tho laud referred to in such certificate; and immediately upon such refusal being communicated to tho applicant, either personally or by letter addressed to him at his usual or last known place of business or abode, the cortifioi e and any matter and tiling therein contained shall bo and h' absolutely void, and the applicant shall forthwith quit and deliver up possession of the said land, and failing his so doing he may bo proceeded against as a trespasser on Crown lands. Rent. 15. Rent at tho rate of three shillings [previously—2s. GL] per acre per annum shall be payable half-yearly during tho term; and at the time of the execution of the lease rent shall be paid up to the first day of January or the first dav of July, as the case may be, from the date up to which payment shall then last have been made ; and thereafter the rent shall be payable by equal half-yearly payments in advance, on the first day of January a d the first day of July in every year ; and the payment hereinbefore required at the tfiue of granting a certificate shall be deemed to include payment of rent for the first six months of the term, and for the purpose of computing rent every fractional part of a month shall be considered a month, and shall bo respectively charged for accordingly. Conditions of Occupation. IS. Every certificate,and lease sha Ibo subjected to the conditions following that is to say,— L That no sale or assignment shall be made ” ithout a license. 2. 'i hat not less than one-eighth of the whole area shall bo cultivated, or. if timbered land, cleared, within twelve months after the commencement of the term, or one-Lurth of the whole area substantially fenced within the same time. [Che whole of the three following paragraphs are entirely new : —] I>. That the lessee shall, within two years after tho commencement of the term, erect a dwelling-house of a value of no loss than fifty pounds sterlin and tat within the same period he shall begin to reside on the land, and continue so to do until the land becomes freehold. Buildings and residence may he dispensed with in the case of an applicant who resides during the currency of the lease witnin throe miles of the land applied for. Buildings and residence may also bo dispensed with in all easts where tho major part of tho land is declared by tho District Surveyor, to be of a greater altitude above sea level than two thousand feet.