THE The Grey Argus. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1870.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 736, 6 October 1870, Page 2

THE The Grey Argus. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1870.

Wb recently gave a summary of the new Westland Waste Lands Act, as passed by the County Council, but we then stated that in some particulars it might . not agree with the Act as passed by the Assembly, a3 a large number of amendments were made in the Bill while under consideration of the Waste Lands Committee. The amended Bill has since been received. The following is a resume of the points upon which wo were in error, or which we failed to notice : — Assistant surveyors are to be appointed, and removable by the Chairman of the County Council upon the recommendation of the Council, not at the pleasure of the Chief Surveyor, as previously stated. Any reserves may be sold or leased by the GovernarinCounc.il, on two months' notice being given in the County Gazette, and the proceeds shall be paid in to the land fund of the County, or to any person or Corporation having the management of such reserve, and the Governor may vest the management and proceeds of any reserve in truste33. Ministers or trustees of religious bodies may purchase town or suburban land to the extent of one acre of the former and ten of the latter, as sites for buildings for religious purposes or burial grounds, without competition, at a price to be fixed by the Waste Lands Board. In regard to town lands, it is provided that any person who has made improvements to the value of £20 npon any section shall be entitled to buy it at the upset price within three months after it is thrown open for sale ; also, that all town sections, which have passed the hammer, are open for sale at any time afterwards at the upset price to the first applicant. (The whole of the sections at present unsold within the Government portion of tha Borough of Greymouth are, in consequence, now open for sale at £48 per acre.) All suburban and rural lands are to be open to entry by miners, for the purpose of mining for gold, for fourteen years after sale. Suburban land is to be sold by auction, at an upset price of £2 per acre, in blocks of not le3s than one or more than ten acres. Where improvements have been made on any section, suburban or rural, the Waste Lands Board ha* the power to add to the price of the section the value of such improvements, which is to be handed over to the occupant in the event of his not becoming the purchaser. One new feature in the Act is the authority given to the Boarc. to lease land, for the purpose of cutting and dressing flax, in blocks of from 50 to 500 acres, at an annual rent not less than Is.

per acre, and for any term of years. Part IT. of the Act authorises the formation of special settlements upon blocks of land not exceeding 50,000 acres ; but its operation is confined to that portion of the County soiith of the Mikomii River. We very much, question tlie good policy of this restriction, as there is at least one block in the Grey District where it might be advantageous to form a special settlement under the Act. Part 111. of the Act deals with the construction of public works to be paid for in land, and provides that any contractor for any work authorised by the County Council may select .and receive land in payment ai the rate of one acre for every pound which the Chairman of the County Council shall certify to be the value of the work ; but no greater sum shall be paid in land within one year than LSOOO. The contractor may select the land immediately ho has signed the contract, and the Waste Lands Board shall then withdraw the land from sale by proclamation in the County Gazette and one newspaper circulating in the district ; but such withdrawal shall only be in force for twelve months. If any part of lands so granted shall prove to be auriferous, and the grantee has not made any improvement thereon, the County Council may re-purchase it at double the original price, within seven years of the grant.