PLAINS ADMINISTRATION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4380, 20 February 1922, Page 1

PLAINS ADMINISTRATION.

THE DRAFT BILL. A draft of a Bill affecting the future administration of the Hauraki Plains has been forwarded to the Hauraki Plains County Council by Mr T, W. Rhodes, M.P., for consideration. It was read at the Council meeting last Monday. The following is a copy of the draft Bill: HAURAKI PLAINS AMENDMENT. An Act to amend the Hauraki Plains Act, 1908. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Ne.w Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : . 1. This Act may be cited as the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1922, and shall form part of and be read together with the Hauraki Plains Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act). 2. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section one hundred and eight of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act, 1917, any lands described in the schedule to the princi-. pal Act, and any land now or hereafter taken or purchased under tbe provisions of section nine of the prini cipal Act shall on and dfter the first day .of April, 1922, if and when occupied for a period of not less than three years from the date of sale or lease thereof be deemed to he no longer exempt from any general rate made and levied by the council of any county within which any part of sucn selected land is situated;. 3. (1) On petitipn in that behalf from a majority of ratepayers occupying any part, of the lands referred to in section 3 of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1912, the GovernorGeneral may fr'om time to time by Order-in-. Council constitute and declare such part of the said lands as lie may think fit to be a land drainage district for purposes of part or the Land Drainage Act, 1908, and to be subject to the provisions thereof. (2) Any drainage district so constituted may be declared a separate district, or it may, with the consent of the Board of any existing drainage district, be declared to be an addition to such existing drainage district. (3) The provisions of sections 3 and 4 of the H,auraki Plains Amendment Act, 1911, shall be deemed not to apply to any lands included in t land drainage district constituted ■hereunder oh and 'after such date as may be specified in that behalf in any Order-in-Council issued pursuant hereto.

4. (1) The Auckland Land Board is hereby authorised to sell to the. Corn poration of the Hauraki Plains. County, at ■sucihi price as may be fixed by the Minister of Lands, all or any wharves, jetties, goodsheds, or other buildings the property of: the Crown, situated on or adjacent to land subject to the operation of the principal Act, together with) the lands on which such wharves, jetties, or buildings are situated, and the approaches thereto.

(2) The Minister of lands may direct that/the provisions of section 57 of the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, and the regulations for the time be-t ing in force thereunder, shall, with the necessary modifications, apply to the 1 disposal of such wharves, jetties, and buildings. (3) Notwithstanding the sale of any wharves, jetties, or gpodsheds, these hereunder shall not be charged with any dues for the use of such wharves, jetties, or goodsheds: (a) Any person in the service of His Majesty or the Government of New Zealand travelling on public service or his baggage with which he is travelling. (b) Any goods of or for the service of His Majesty, including goods consigned to and the property of the Government of New Zealand. 5. On and after the first day of April, 1922 ,the provision of sections three and -four of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1911, and of section three of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1912, shall be jjeemed to apply no longer to the land described in schedule hereto. - . SCHEDULE. All that area in the Auckland Land District containing 960 acres, more or less, bounded as follows: Commencing at the south-eastern corner of section 3, Block VI, Wailiou Survey District, on the east by Kuru-, nui No. 1, Whakamuri, Mangonui, and Te Arwhaka-Pekapeka Blocks, to be Tahanui Block; thence by the northern boundary of that block to its north-western corner; thence by a right line to the south-western corner of Kaikahu No. 3 ; thence in a northerly direction along the boundaries

of Kaikahu No. 3, Wairpu No. 2 and No, 1, to the westernmost point of Wairau No. 1; thence along the northern boundary of Waihau No.’ 1 to the point of commencement, as more particularly delineated on plan marked L & S 15/96', deposited at the Head Office, Department of Lands ami Survey at Wellington and thereon bordered red. EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM. Clause 2. —Section 108 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal,, etc., Act. 1917,: that provides unless and until Parliament otherwise directs all lands described in the schedule co the Hauraki Plains Act, 1908, or taken or purchased under section 9 of that Act shall be exempt from any general rate made and levied by the council of any county within which such land is situated. Section 4 (2) of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1912, provides, however, that these lands are liable, in respect of rates levied by county councils -for tjie purposes of hospitals and charitable aid Clause 2of the proposed Bill provides th,at any of the abovementioned lands which on April 1, 1922, have been selected for a period of three years and upwards sjiall be no longer exempt from general rates, and that any other selected, lands shall, subsequent to that date, become no longei, exempt from general rates when they have been occupied for a period of three years and upwards. Clause 3.—Under' sections 3 and 4 of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1911, as amended by section 3 of the Hauraki Plains' Amendment Act, 1912, the lands described in schedule to the lastnamed Act, lands taken or purchased under section 9 of the principal Act, and such other land as the Governor-General may from time to time specify by Order-iil-Cpuncil are made liable to a rate levied from time to time by the Minister of Lands for the maintenance of drainage works carried out under the provisions of the principal Act, whether ijiich land is rateable or hot within the meaning of the rating Act, 1908. Clause 3 of the Bill provides thjay on petition from a majority of ratepayers occupying any part of the lands in what is known as the Haurpki Plains rating Area the Governor-General may from time to'time constitute such part of the said rating area as he may think fit to be a drainage district under the Land Drainage Act, J. 908, either as a separate district or as an addition to an existing drainage district. adjoining, if the Board of such adjoining district consents to such pro cedure. Upon the creation of such a drainage district rates would cease to be levied by the Minister of Lands for maintenance of drainage works on such as may be specified in , the Order-in-Council constituting the district.

Clause 4 gives power by which certain wharves, jetties, gpodsheds, and lands occupied by them, ’ approaches, etc., can be sold to the Hauraki Plains County Council at such price as the Minister of Lands may fix. Provision is made by which payment for wharves, buildings, etc., pan be made, if desired, by' instalments of principal and interest over such term extending from seven to twenty-one years, as may be fixed- similar to the manner in which buildings can be purchased under the Land for Settlements Act. The clause further pro-, vides that any l sale of wharves, jetties, gopdssbieds, may be subject to the condition that the Crown reserves the right to use them at any time for the transport or storage of its property free of charge, etc. Clause's/—The effect of this clause is to remove from the Hauraki Plains Rating Area an area of about 960 acres which', since the setting apart of that area by section 3 of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1912, has been included .in the .Hauraki Drainage District, The Bill contains no new provisions with regard to reclassification', as section 3 (2) of the Hauraki Plains Amendment Act, 1912, contains ample power for. reclassifying from time to time the lands in the Hauraki Plains (Crown) Rating Area, and for th® adjusting of rates accordingly, and the Land Drainage Act also contains sim.ii lar powers with respect to lands in drainage districts.