NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL,

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1836, 24 June 1874, Page 2

NELSON PROVINCIAL COUNCIL,

The following are the new Waste Landi Resolutions recently adopted by the Nelson Provincial Council : —

That in the opinion of this Council it is expedient that the laws at present in force relating to the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown within the Province of Nelson should be consolidated and amended, so as to be comprised in one Act, and that such laws should be amended in the following respects :—

1. That the Waste Lands Board of the Province of Nelson should consist of the Superintendent, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, the Speaker of the Provincial Council, and of two other members without salary, one of whom should be appointed by the Superintendent and the other by the Provincial Couucil, any three of the members of such Board to be a quorum.

2. That the law and administration thereof relating to the sale and leasing of Crown Lands in the Province of Nelson should be the same, whether such lands be situate within the boundaries of a goldfield or not, except to auriferous Crown Lands.

3. That all fees payable in respect of any mineral prospecting license Bhould be paid on the application for such license being made.

4. That in the event of the application for any lease not being acceded to by the Waste Lands Board, the amount of fee and deposit paid in respect of such application shall be repaid to the applicant, but that in the event of any applicant declining to accept a lease on the terms upon which the Board may be willing to grant the same, the fee and deposit paid in respect of such application shall not be repaid to the applicant but shall be absolutely forfeited.

5. That in the opinion of this Council all leases granted by the Board, signed by the Commissioner of Crown Lauds alone, should be deemed to be thereby legally executed on the part of the 5 Board.

6. That whenever any lease or license shall become void or forfeited by reason of the non-payment of any fee, rent, or royalty payable thereunder, or non-fulfil-ment of conditions, it shall not be necessary to sell such lease or license by auction, but the land comprised therein shall be open for selection or application, but not till after the lapse of one month from the date of notification of such forfeiture duly published in the Gazette of the Province and one newspaper circulating therein. 7. That Sections 7 and 30 of "The Crown Lands (Nelson) Leasing Act, 1867," should be repealed. 8. That the minimum number of acres

for which applications for leases should be received should be twenty acres, and that no transfer of less than twenty acres of any land comprised in any. lease shall be valid or be made.

9. That power should be gtanted to the Board, upon any application for a lease, to assess the value of the land to be comprised therein :— (a) For the purpose of fixing the rent to be paid in respect thereof ; and (b) for the purpose of fixing the value of such land for sale.

10. That in consolidating the said land laws the words "within one year," men-' tioned in the second line of Section 5 of "The Nelson Crown Lands Leasing Amendment Act, 1871, " should be omitted. .■••■■'

11. That in such consolidation the proviso at the end of Section 4 of "The Nelson Waste Lands Act, 1863, Amendment Act, 1872," should be omitted.