LAND REGULATIONS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 107, 17 April 1863, Page 3

LAND REGULATIONS.

RESOLUTIONS AS PASSED BY THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL. This Council haying considered as to whether it is not advisable to set aside as collateral security for the Creditor of the Province under the Loan Act of this session, some portion of the Provincial Estate, are of opinion— That those Blochs of Land known respectively as (he Ahuriri, Mocangiangi, Arapawantii, Vci-

kari, and Mohaka, -and containing in ail (‘200,000) Two Hundred Thousand acres should be set apart and reserved from sale for a fixed .period of fourteen years, excepting such portions of those Blocks as hare been already .disposed of, or for the purchase of which applications shall bo received before such time as this Resolution shall have become law; and excepting also those Blocks of Land, a Schedule and plan of which are hereunto attached, and which are, or shall be, set aside for settlement for a term of fourteen years, shall be offered to the present holders of occupation licenses, over the lands contained within the'boundaries of the Biocks intended to be set aside. That the terms upon which leases shall be granted shall be—the payment of a rental of One Penny per acre for the first seven (7) years and ■Two Pence per acre for the remaining seven years of the lease. ' ‘ That a - pre-emptivo right to purchase such lands at the rale of Thirty Shillings per aero for that portion of the Aliuriri Block contained between the Mangaoue river, the Esk river, and the Pohui reserve; Twenty Shillings per acre for the remainder of the AhuriVi Block, and the Block known as the Arapawanui; And Ten Shillings per acre for the Block known as the Mohaka; Be given to the Lessees over such portions of the lands so leased as they shall improve. The term improvement shall be held to mean—sowing with grasses and fencing. Provided, however, that in such cases where, from the nature of the country, fencing is impracticable, and a certificate to that effect shall be given by the Commissioner of Crown Lands, the Lessee shall be entitled to the pre-emptive right on laying such land down in grasses—without fencing. That it being deemed advisable that certain portions of the Waste Lands of this Province should be reserved for Special Settlement to be disposed of on a system of credit — This Couucil resolves—That His Excellency’s Government be requested to legalize the following Regulations for the occupation of‘Lauds reserved for settlements as aforesaid. The Council is aware that under the provision of the Waste Lands Act, 1858, no land after the Ist day of August, 1860, shall be sold upon credit, except such as it may be lawful .to sot apart for special settlement by immigrants expected to arrive ; -but are of ojnniou that the Interests of the Province would be better secured by extending the privileges of the disposal of same to others than those named in the Waste Lands Act, viz.—“lmmigrants expected to arrive,” and trust that His Excellency’s Government will take the necessary steps to exempt this Province from the operation of that provision, in so far only as Lands reserved for settlement for agricultural purposes is concerned.

The Council adopt the following Regulations for the disposal as aforesaid of Lands on credit:— 1. Before any Credit Land shall he sold, the Superintendent shall declare by notification in the I'roriiictai Qorermnent Oazaife, and in. such newspapers in the Colony of IS'ew Zealand and elsewhere as ho my think fit, that the same will be open for sale at a price to be then stated, at a place, and on and after a day, to bo fixed in the notification ; which day shall be at least two calendar months after the first publication of such notification.

2 Tlie price of oil credit land shall bo fixed by (ho Superintendent acting by nnd with the advice of his Executive Council, and shall be disposed of only to persons willing to purchase the same subject to the conditions hereinafter contained for the occupation and improvement thereof. 3. Any person upwards of sixteen years of ego desirous of making a selection of Credit Land ahull, on application to the Commissioner or his Deputy in Napier, or to such other person in the Colony of New Zealand as shall bo appointed by the Superintendent to receive the same, be entitled upon payment of a sum after the rate of ten per cent by way of deposit upon the price fixed for the allotment of land selected, to receive a Land Order in a form to be, from time to time, prescribed by the Superintendent: Provided always that no person shall be entitled to any such land order for more than eighty or less than forty acres of land.

4. livery such land order shall authorize the person entitled to the same, or his agent constituted in writing, to make a selection out of any credit land which shall be open for selection at the time such person shall desire to make the same : Provided always that the land so selected shall bo cither in one allotment or in contiguous allotments.

5. Every right of selection must bo exorcised withm two calendar months from the date of the land order, it such land order has been issued iu the Province of Hawke’s Bay, but if such order has been issued elsewhere, within six months from the date thereof, and the selection under any such land order shall be doomed to be complete whenever the person making the same shall have delivered such order during office hours at the Waste Land Office, together with a description in writing (under a sealed cover, with the words “Description of Credit Land" legibly written thereon), sufficient for the purpose of identifying Iho land selected.

G. All such scaled covers shall be opened at noon on the nest Monday (not being a holiday) by the Commissioner or his Deputy in the presence of a Receiver of Land Revenue, or by such other officer of the Provincial Government as the Superintendent may from time to time appoint for that purpose, if they shall attend ; and if there bo move than one application for the same allotment, the Commissioner or his Deputy and such Receiver or other Officer shall at ouco put up the same for sale by auction at (he upset price of such allotment, at which sale those only who applied for the allotment shall be allowed to bid, and (ho highest bidder amongst them shall bo declared the purchaser thereof, and the amount bid shall bo deemed to be (ho price of the said allotment. Provided always that, when the person so receiving a land order docs not make a selection within two months or six months respectively after the date (hereof, it shall be lawful for such person to return to the Vv asle Land Office such land order and to receive back the amount paid for the same : Provided also that if anv inch order be not returned

within seven days from the time within which the selection in respect of the same should have been made, such order shall be held to have lapsed, and the amount paid for the same forfeited. 7. Any person whose application shall be <rrn tiled shall be entitled to have immediate occupation of the land selected, and shall bo entitled to a lease of the same for five years, in s form to be, from time to time, prescribed by the Superintendent, at a yearly rent after the rate of ten per cent, per annum on the price paid for such land payable yearly, and the payment hereinbefore required by the way of deposit shall be deemed to be payment in advance for such rent.

8. After five years’ bona fide occupation, and the payment of the rent reserved by the lease, the lessee shall be entitled to a Grant from the Crown in lee simple of the land contained in such lease, on payment of the price thereof, as aforesaid: Provided always that if the money and all tha rent due.be not paid within six calendar months after the expiration of the lease, the land therein comprised, together with ali improvements (hereon shall be sold by auction, by order of the Snperiutendent, after two months’ notice given in tho Provincial Government Gazette, and in two of tho newspapers published in Napier; and the proceeds, after deducting all sums due in respect of the said land and all the expenses incident to the sale thereof, shall be paid over to the lessee forfeiting the claim, or to his appointee or representative ; Provided that in default of such sale by direction of tho Superintendent within twelve calendar months after the expiration of the lease, the Governor may direct the sale of such land upon not less than two months’ notice, given in such wise as he may think fit.

9. Every person shalLbe deemed to have bona fide occupied any Credit Land under lease as aforesaid, who shall have erected a habitable dwel-ling-house thereon during the first year, and made improvements thereon, or any part thereof, after the rate of one acre in ten of open land, and one acre in twenty of forest land, for every year, during such occupation. Such improvements to consist of tillage or clearing of forest or laying down to grass ; and a residence during the whole term of five years by the lessee on any such land shall bo deemed and taken to bo equivalent to such improvements.

_ 10. Any lessee of Credit Land who shall at any time during the term of his lease have completed all the improvements which he is by these Regulations required to make during the whole term of five years, and who shall pay the price thereof, and also all rent accrued duo, shall be forthwith entitled to a grant of the land included in such lease.

11. If any lessee or any other person shall continue in possession of land which shall have become forfeited under the provisions of these Regulations (unless an appeal as hereinafter provided be ponding) be shall be deemed to be in the unlaw'ful occupation of the Waste . Lands of the Crown, and shall forfeit and pay for every day dunng which ho shall so continue in possession the sum of-'Os., to be recovered before any Justice of the I'caoe in a summary wav. 12. -Every lessee of Credit Land shall forward to the commissioner on (I e last day of the second year, and on the last day of every subsequent year of the term of his lease, or within fifteen days after such day respectively, a return in writing in a form to be, from time to time, prescribed by the Superintendent, of the land improved by him during the proceeding year, and the nature of such improvements, which return shall be certified by two householders.

13. Any Ioh?co or his assign will be permitted to assign am! transfer any Credit Land, subject to the terms and conditions prescribed in the original lease, and subject also to the approval of the Superintendent, on the recommendation of the Commissioner.

14. If any person holding under such lease as aforesaid shall not within six months enter into lona fide occupation of land thereby leased, or if he shad not pay the yearly rent of ten per cent per annum on the price paid for such land at the end of the second and every subsequent year, or if he shall cease to honaf.de occupy, or if he shall omit for two months alter notice to make the return in writing required as aforesaid, the Commissioner shall forthwith, by a notification to be published in the Provincial Government Gazeiie, declare that (lie right and interest of such lessee in such land has become forfeited ; and the Superintendent may let or sell or otherwise dispose of it under these Regulations in the same manner as if the land had never been let to such lessee. 15. If any question shall at any time-arise ns to whether a forfeiture has been incurred or sufficient improvements made, ns required by these Regulations, it shall be lawful for the lessee within one month after such question shall have arisen, to prefer an appeal, in writing, to the Superintendent, which appeal shall be referred, at the expense of the party requiring the same, to two arbitrators and an umpire, to be appointed in tho usual way, whoso decision shall be final and conclusive . 16. If any lessee or any other person shall, after the time for appealing to the Superintendent against the decision of the Commissioner shall have elapsed, continue in possession of land which shall have become forfeited under the provisions of these Regulations, and of which due notice shall have been given him, he shall be deemed to be in unlawful occupation of Waste Lands of (he Crown and shall forfeit and pay for every day during which he shall so continue in possession the sum of forty shillings to be recovered before any Justice of the Fence in a summary way. KCli EDTT.J3 OF Lands referred to in Resolutions, to be reserved for Special Settlement. Acreage. Fobui Block 3,324 Fuketitiri Block 14,t00 Mohaka Block* 3,C00 Total 20,324 I\o<e.-*-Mohaka Reserve to contain j hree Thousand acres. .To be defined by survey and laid out on the road to Xuranga in such manner as rosy secure lire inclusion of I’m most suitable land in that locality for settlement.