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Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1602, 23 September 1873, Page 2

Of the Westland Waste Lands Bill, as introduced by Mr White, and in the shape in which it was first sent to us, we have already given the salient points. According to the copy which we have now received — that is to say, as passed by the House of Representatives on the 11th of September— the Bill underwent several alterations, or, at least, extensions at the hands of the Waste Lands Committee. One alteration is the reduction of the upset price of the right to depasture stock, from threepence to twopence per acre per annum. The extensions, as has been already indicated, relate principally to leases of mineral lands and occupation licenses for a variety of mining and manufacturing purposes. With regard to the leases referred to, it is enacted that, with the assent of the Superintendent, the Board may grant leases of land supposed to contain minerals other than gold, on the followiug conditions — the lease to comprise what the Board may consider land sufficient for efficient working, to be grantedfor any term of years not exceeding twenty-one, and to be at a "reserved money rent." There are subordinate conditions, enabling the Board to secure payment of rent, entry of mine, efficient working, break of lease, or its surrender by the lessee. Special clauses provide for the valuation of buildings and machinery on the expiration of a lease, and the payment of the same by a new lessee, and for the submission of the land to auction, at the lessee's request, at any time after an occupation of three years. The clauses relating to occupation licenses have even a more important and general bearing. ' Such licenses may be granted for seven years for the following purposes —the raising of lignite or coal, the removal of clay for bricks or pottery, the removal of sand, gravel, or stone, the working of quarries ; sites for saw-mills, flour-mills, tanneries, fellraongers' yards, slaughteryards, brick-kilns, potteries, ferries, and jetties ; and sites, in thinly inhabited districts, for inns and accommodation houses —the latter not to be for the sale of fermented or spirituous liquors. A fee of L 2, according to the 26th clause, "shall be paid for such lease and LI for each license, which may be transferred, with consent, on payment of a fee to be fixed by the Board ; and it is well to notice that any unlicensed persons using land for any of the above purposes, is liable to a penalty of L2O, which may be summarily recovered. "