TEEMS OF PURCHASE AND PASTURAGE FOR THE WASTE LANDS of the CROWN

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 165, 4 March 1854, Page 1 (Supplement)

TEEMS OF PURCHASE AND PASTURAGE FOR THE WASTE LANDS of the CROWN

WITHIN THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY. Reserved Land. 1. All lands within the Province of Can. ierbury shall be open for purchase or hire on lease, except such as shall he reserved by Ordinances of the Superintendent and Pro- ■\ incial Council, for the sites of Towns, for the preservation or sale of Timber, or the precious metals, or for public pu: poses, and lands so reserved shall not be alienated from the purposes to which they shall have been thereby dedicated except by like Ordinances. 2. The Superintendent may at any time with the advice of the Executive Council, reserve land for such purposes by notification in the Government Gazette ; but unless such reserve shall be confirmed by an Ordinance passed before the end of the session of the Provincial Council next after the publication of such notification, such lands shall not continue to be reserved, and shall not again be reserved except by an Ordinance. 3. Public Highways and footpaths may be at all times reserved by the Superintendent and Executive Council, and being so reserved may not be altered except by Ordinances. Town Land. 4. Town lands shall be sold by public auction at an upset price which shall be uniform for each town, and shall be specified in the Ordinance by which such reserve *hall be created. 5. Town lands shall be put up [to auction only upon the application of some person who shall at the time of such application deposit the upset price with the agent of the Government authorized to receive the same. 6. Lands put up to auction shall be sold to the highest bidder, and if bought by other than the original applicant the upset price deposited shall be immediately repaid on demand. 7. The time and place of all auction sales shall be fixed by the Superintendent by notification in the Government Gazette at least thirty clays before such sale shall take place. 8. All applications for Town land shall be in the form set forth in schedule [a] hereto annexed, and shall be made at the Land Office of the District at least six clear days before the day appointed for the sale. Rtiral Land. 9. Rural land shall be sold in sections containing any quantity not less than forty acres. 10. Every section shall be of a rectangular form; and the frontage shall not be greater than one half, nor less than one third of the side at right angles thereto. £Note.^ A frontage line shall be taken to mean the boundary of a road, or of any reserved land ; of the sea, or any lake or lagoon ; of any river, and of any watercourse or stream which shall be declared by notification in the Government Gazette to constitute a frontage for the purpose of selection. 11. Where from the frontage not being a straight line, or from the interference of adjacent sections already sold, the above rules cannot be accurately observed, the form of the section shall be determined as nearly in accordance with those rules as circumstances will admit. 12. In sections of land not bounded by a. frontage line, one side may be equal to, but may not be less than one third of the other. 13. Provided that any person possessing ■a section of hind may at any time select another adjacent thereto of such form, that the two together being considered as one

section, shall be in Ihe form required for a section selected under these rules. 14. Every application for land shall be made in the form set forth in schedule [b] hereto annexed at the Land Office of the distiict; and the purchase money in full, or the rent for the first year, as the case may be. shall be paid at the time of making such application. And the person appointed to receive such applications shall endorse on the back thereof the day and hour at which it was received ; and if two persons shall apply at the same time for the same section, or any part thereof, they shall thereupon draw lots for priority of choice, provided that in such case no application shall be deemed to be valid unless the purchase money in full or the first year's rent, as the case may be, shall be tendered at the same time. ■•[Note.] " The same time" shall be taken to mean within the same hour by the watch or clock of the Land-office, at which the application is made. 15. Immediately upon payment of the purchase money or rent, as the case may be, the applicant shall receive a license to occupy in the form set forth in schedule [c] hereto,annexed. And as soon afterwards as possible the land shall be laid off by a Surveyor appointed by the Government as nearly rs may be in accordance with the description set forth in the application. But should the section when laid off by the Surve} ror prove to differ in any respect from that described in the application, the Government will not, under any circumstances, be responsible for any loss or inconvenience which the purchaser may experience, nor will the purchase money be returned. 16. All Rural Lands purchased shall be paid for at the rate of £2 per acre, and no right or title to the fee simple of the land shall accrue until the purchase-money shall have been paid in full. 17. Rural Lands may be hired upon a lease of seven years at the annual rent of five shillings per acre, which shall be paid in advance half-yearly, on or before the first day of January, and the first day of July in each year. And the holder of such lease shall be entitled at any time before its expiration to purchase the land at a fixed price of two pounds (£2)"p?r acre ; but if such purchase shall not be effected, or if the rent shall be at any time in arrear, the land shall, as soon as possible after the expiration of the lease, or after su^ch rent, shall be in arrear, be put up to public auction, together with all the buildings and improvements thereon ; and such auction shall take place at a time and place to be notified in the " Government Gazette" not less than thirty days after the publication of such notification, and the lessee shall not be entitled to any other notice, ov to any compensation for the buildings or improvement of the land. 18. Sections of land taken upon lease under the last clause shall be subject to the same rules in respect of form and size as sections purchased, and shall not be open for purchase by any person other than the lessee until the expiration of the lease, or unless the rent shall be in arrear. 19. All such leases shall be transferable, by endorsement. 20. Such leases shall be in the form set forth in Schedule [d,] and such endorsements, transferring the same in the form set forth in Schedule [E],and all conveyances, shall be in the form set forth in Schedule [f] hereto annexed. 21. Every purchaser or lessee shall be required to pay a fee of £l upon every conveyance or. lease, and every lessee a fee of ss. upon the transference of the lease. Pasturage. 22. Until sold or let as above provided, the waste lands may be occupied for pas-

til rage purposes by persons holding licenses to occupy the same, 23. Any person wishing to obtain such a license shall send in an application in the formsetforth in Schedule [g] hereto annexed to the Land-Office of the district, stating the extent and boundaries of the run applied for, and the number of sheep above twelve months old, and of horned cattle above eighteen months old, and of mares above two years old, which he has placed, or will undertake to place, on the run within twelve months from the date of the license. 24. The extent of run allowed to each applicant shall be at the rate of 20 acres to every breeding ewe, and 5 acres to every ram or wether, 120 acres to every mare or cow, and 30 acres to every horse, gelding, bull, or steer above the ages before specified. 25. The sum to be paid for the license every year shall be as follows: For a run containing less than 1000 acres, 2d. per acre; Fora run containing above 1000 acre?, 2d. per acre for the first 1000 acres, and Id. for every acre in addition. 26. If any run shall exceed 5000 acres in extent, only one-tenth part of the rent will be required to be paid for the first year, two-tenths the second year, four-tenths the third year, seven-tenths the fourth year, and the whole for the fifth and every subsequent year. Provided that all Pasturage Licenses issued under the.se regulations to any person having held a Pasturage License, or having occupied land for pasturage purposes under the Crown or the Canterbury Associ* ation, shall be dated upon the day on which such license was first issued, or from which, any rent shall have become due from such person. 27. Every license shall contain an undertaking on the part of the Government to renew the same every year to the holder upon the payment. of the required sum being made on or before the first da}' of January in each year; and a further undertaking that no alteration shall be made in such sum before the year 1870. Provided that, if at any time during the first five years from the date of the license, there shall be less than the original amount of stock required on the run ; or during the next five years less than twice that amount; or during the next five years less than three times that amount: or if the rent shall not be paid on the day required ; in any such case it shall be lawful to the Governmert to refuse to re-issue the license to the late holder of the same, avid to put up the run to public auction, and the highest bidder at such auction shall be the person entitled to the license. 280 Every person taking out a license for a run which is not stocked wiLi be required to deposit with the Government the sum of ten shillings for every hundred acres included in the license, which will be returned without interest as soon as the run is stocked, and will be forfeited if the required amount of stuck be not placed on the run within one year after the date of the license. 29. All the above rules,in regard tosections sold or let upon lease, shall, so far as circumstances will admit, be applied to runs occupied for pasturage purposes. 30. Every holder of a license may at any time be required to pay for the survey of the same at the rate of 20s. for every thousand acres. 31. Every holder of a license shall have a pre-emptive right over the whule of the laud specified therein at any time within six clear days after he shall have received notice from the Government that any portion of such land has been q>plied for ; and he may exercise such right either by purchasng the same, or by taking it upon lease under the lßth clause. 32. Every pasturage license shall be

in the form set forth in Schedule [h] hereto annexed, and shall be transferable by endorsement in the form of Schedule [i]. 33. All conveyances, leases, and licenses above-mentioned shall be issued under the seal of the Province. Timber. 34« If any tract of land shall have been reserved by an Ordinance for the sale of the Timber thereon, such timber may be sold by public auction to the highest bidder thereat at an upset price to be fixed by the Ordinance, and the purchaser shall agree to remove the same within a certain time, and all the timber not removed within such time may be again put up to public auction. 35. No person shall cut or remove any timber from any Waste Lands of the Crown (except timber which he shall have purchased under the last Clause) without a License, and any person so cutting or removing timber, shall be liable to pay the cost of such License for one year together with the costs of recovering the amount of the same. 36. Every license for cutting or removing timber shall be in the form of schedule [j], and shall be issued for one month, or for one year, at the request of the person applying for the same; and a fee of 10s. shall be paid upon every monthly license, and of £5 upon every yearly license. 37. A license shall entitle no one but the person named therein to cut down standing timber, but it will authorize him to employ any number of persons to saw, split, or remove the timber so cut, and such license shall not be transferable. 38. A license to cut timber shall extend to all parts of the Province. 39. If any person shall have established a saw-pit for the purpose of sawing timber, it shall not be lawful to any other person to cut timber within yards of such, pit without consent of the person first occupying such saw-pit, provided that if the person establishing such pit shall not use the same, and shall not cut timber within such distance as aforesaid from the pit for fourteen consecutive days, it shall be lawful to any other holder of a license to enter thereupon, and to cut timber as though such pit had not been established. And if any person shall have made a road upon land being the. Waste Lands of the Crown and not being a highway for the purpose of removing timber, it shall not be lawful for any other person to use the same without the permission of the person making the same first obtained, provided that if such road shall not be used at any time for thirty consecutive days, it shall be lawful for any holder of a license at any time thereof to use the same. [The Schedules referred to in the above bill are not at present in a state for publication.]