THE SOUTHLAND LAND ACTS. —IMPORTANT DECISION.

Evening Star, Issue 3647, 30 October 1874, Page 3

THE SOUTHLAND LAND ACTS. —IMPORTANT DECISION.

Tn Banco, this morning, Mr .Instn;* (’banman delivered judgment m ex parte (L M. Bell, which is a rue nisi grante.i !y bis Honor at Invcrcargi), calling oo tb- Bnceiver of Laid Uevemie there to sh-.w can ■ why a wiiv of mandamus should not. issue commanding him to receive the pm-clus* money of cci tain lauds a; plvd f n r und(T o provisions 0 f the Southland Waste Lands Act, loud, to which lands Mr Bell, claims to be entit’ed. The facts are shortly these: ©B only 7 Mr Befi’s agent tilled up forms . f application in accordance with the practice of iho Waste Lauds applying for several p.v. c«L of land, 26-in number, which under the provisions of the 261h section of the Act were then open for sa’e at the pi ice of 20s per acre, and the agent •ntered li;c applicant’s name in the “ applicants’ boolf ”as required by the Act. This book determine the order in which the names are called and the applications are disposed of. There was a meeting of the Board on July 8, but in consequence of the press ©f the businesi the Boird adjourned till the lOtb. In the meantime—on the 9th —an Order in Council was made by the Governor in Council under the 26th section of the Southland Land Act, 1860, raising the priee of landfrom 20stoL3an acre, (>f this Order in Council the Board had notice on July 9 by a telegram from the Superintendent, which wa< read out at the Board meeting in the pretence and hearing of the applicant or hisagent. fterthf several applications of Bell had been beard, the Chairman wrote at the foot of each application paper the words “granted,” with bis signature and the date, July 10 ; hat there was nothing ©n the face ©f the paper to show' at what price. Other steps were then taken in accordance with the practice of the Waste Lands Office ; but on applying to the Receiver rf Land Bevenue on a subsequent day, and on tendering the amount computed at 20s an acre, the meney was refused and the usual certificate withk Id, tint officer having had notieo of the increase iu price and considering himselif bound thereby. The principal questions the Court wer.-i called upon to determine were : what constitutes the application ; and whether that application gave Bell a right, under the 26th section of the Act. A minor question was whether that right was strengi.hemid by the proceedings of the Board, or whether it wa< defeated by the ungazetted Order in Council. His Honor in giving judgment, said he could not read the 26th section other than as a statutory engagement to sell at the price fixed (20 ) at the time of application, provided the land applied for did n.=t c >me within any of the specified clauses from the precise terms in which the exemptions were specified; if not within such exemptions the Legislature in tended they should be open to the first applicant. The Board had no discretion ou< side the statute; and the provisions requiring personal appearance, and directing dismissal of the application eo nomine in case of default, showed that the printed form and the entry of the name in the application book constitute d the application. |The whole sense of the Land cts was to open for sale all lands not coming with the exceptions for sale to selection, by the first applicant, which set med the on y mode of clos ng the door against favoritism The Board evidently took the same view in granting the a- plication on July 10, notwithstanding the telegram of the 9 th, informing them of the order in Council. Any other int rpretation would ha e given a retrosjeotive effect totheomer, even assuming it had spoken from its date and not from gazetta!, which would have invaded the spirit and letter of the statute no less than its equity. He thought Bell had done all things necessary to entitle him to pay the purchase-money of the twenty six parcels and to demand the usual certificate. The rule was, therefore, made absolute in respect of the twenty-six applications dated July 27. —Hame decision in ex parte Went" wo-tb.—Notice of appeal has been given His Honor’s decision, if upheld, involves a loss of L 20,000 to the Province.