GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
2nd Session.
WASTE LANDS' BILL,
Bill proposed by Mr. Fitz Gerald, and carried in the House of Representatives on the Bth of Sept., by a majority of 18 to 10.
A BILL for regulating the management of the Waste Lands of the Croiun in New Zealand.
Whereas, by an act passed in the 15th and I6th years of the reign of Her present Majesty, entitled, " An Act to grant a Representative Co^itution to the colony of New Zealand," it wfciK-tfacted that subject to the provisions therein contained, it should be lawful to the General Assembly of the said Colony to make laws for regulating the sale, letting, disposal and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown in New Zealand, and that subject to the said provisions, and until the General Assembly should otherwise enact, it should be lawful for Her Majesty, by instructions to be issued under the signet and sign manual, or signified through one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, to delegate such powers to the Governor of the said colony. And whereas such power has been delegated to the said Governor by such instructions as aforesaid, and whereas certain General Land Regulations for the colony of New Zealand were in pursuance of such powers so delegated, issued by the Governor of the said colony in a proclamation dated the 4th day of March, 1853. And whereas within certain parts of the said colony certain other regulations for the disposal and management of the Waste Lands are now in force; and whereas it is expedient that all such regulations for the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown within the said colony should continue in force, and should not be altered, except, as hereinafter provided, until the General Assembly shall otherwise enact in that behalf.
Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand, as follows:
1. All acts, ordinances, instructions, and regulations, so far as the same is repugnant to, or may interfere with the operation of this Act, shall be, and the same are hereby repealed.
2. Provided always that nothing herein contained shall prejudice or affect the legal titles or equitable rights of persons under valid contracts subsisting at the time of the passing of this Act.
3. All regulations for the sale, letting, or disposal and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown in New Zealand now in force within the said colony, or in any part thereof, shall be valid in law from the time when the same severally have bfien put in force, and except as hereinafter provided, shall not be altered except by an act or acts of the General Assembly to be passed in that behalf. 4. It shall be lawful for the Governor, with the advice of his Executive Council, upon a requisition to that effect from the Superintendent and Provincial Council of any Province, to extend to any portion thereof, in which they may not now be in force, the aforesaid regulations, dated the 4th of March, 1853.
5. All town lands and suburban lands referred to in the aforesaid regulations, dated the 4th of March, V 1853, shall hereafter be reserved as such, and the limits of all hundreds referred to in such regulations, shall be determined only in accordance with Ordinances to be passed in that hehafcf by the Superintendent and Provincial Council of-the Province in which the same shall be situated.
6. If the Superintendent and Provincial Council of any Province shall agree upon any Regulations for the disposal of the Waste lands within such Province, and shall recommend the same to the Governor, it shall he lawful for the Governor, | with the advice of his Executive Council, if he shall so think fit hy Proclamation in the Government Gazette, to issue and put in force such regulations within such province; and such regulations shall come into force within such province on a day to he named in the Government Gazette in which the same shall be published, and shall not be altered until the General Assembly shall otherwise enact in that he/half; provided always that no such regulations shall be issued and put in force as aforesaid, unless the same shall have been published in the Government Gazette of such Province at \ the least two months before the samt shall be so issued and put in force. 7, Subject to the provisions of the said reoited
act, and to such instructions as may from time to time be issued in that behalf by the Governor, with the advice of his Executive Council, the administration of all laws relating to the management of the Waste Lands of the Crown in each province within the said colony, shall be vested in the Superintendent of the said Province, who shall act therein subject to such instructions with the advice of his Executive Council, where such Council shall exist.
8. Until further enactment in that behalf by the General Assembly, all expences incident to the management and survey of the Waste Lands of the Crown within each Province, shall be paid out of the proceeds of the Waste lands within such Province, in accordance with estimates to be voted in that behalf by the Provincial Council of such Province, and approved of by the Superintendent thereof.
9. This act shall be entitled and may be cited as " The Waste Lands' Act, 1854," and shall come into force from the date of t the passing thereof.
Bill as amended by the Legislative Council, and passed by the House of Representatives without division :— A BILL for regulating the disposal of the Waste Lands of the Crown in New Zealand. Whereas, by an act passed in the Imperial Parliament, holden in the 15th and 16th years of the reign of Her present Majesty, entitled " An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the colony of New Zealand," it was enacted that subject to the provisions therein contained, it should be lawful for the General Assembly of the said colony to make laws for regulating the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown in New Zealand, and that subject to the said provisions, and until the General Assembly should otherwise enact, it should be lawful for Her Majesty, by instructions to be issued under the Signet and Sign Manual, or signified through one of Her Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, to delegate such powers to the Governor of the said colony. And whereas, such power, pending the first meeting of the General Assembly was delegated to the said Governor by such instructions as aforesaid, and whereas certain General Land Regulations for the colony of New Zealand were in pursuance of such powers so delegated, lawfully issued by the Governor of the said colony in a proclamation dated the fourth day of March, 1553. Akb whereas within certain parts of the said colony, certain other regulations for the disposal and management of the Waste Lands are now in force; and whereas it is expedient that until it shall be otherwise enacted by the General Assembly, the Governor should have the power subject to the conditions and in the manner hereinafter mentioned to issue and put in force regulations for the sale, letting, disposal, aud occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown within the several Provinces of the said colony.
Be it therefore enacted and declared by the General Assembly of New Zealand, as follows:—
1. All regulations for the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown in New Zealand now in force within the said colony, or any part thereof, are hereby confirmed and declared to have been valid from the time when the same were put in force. Provided always that any such regulations may be amended, altered, or repealed by any regulations to be made and published as hereinafter mentioned. 2. If at any time the Superintendent and Provincial Council of any Province shall recommend to the Governor any regulations for the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown within such Province, or any part thereof, it shall be lawful for the Governor, if he shall think fit, from time to time, with the advice of his Executive Council, by proclamation in the New Zealand Government Gazette, to issue and put in force such regulations within such Province, or any part thereof, on a day to be named in the Gazette, in which tbe same shall be published, not being less than one calendar month from the publication thereof. 3. No such regulations shall be proposed to any Provincial Council for their adoption by the Superintendent or any member thereof, unless the same shall have been previously published in the Government Gazette of the Province in which such regulations are (proposed to be brought into operation, or in some newspaper
to be published in the capital town thereof for the space of at least twenty-eight days, nor until fourteen days after the commencement of the session in which the same shall be proposed. Provided always, that it shall be competent for the Provincial Council, at their pleasure, to alter or amend any regulations which may be so proposed to them as aforesaid. ,
4. The term Governor in this Act shall include the Officer administering the Government for the time being. 5. This Act shall be entitled and may be cited as the " Waste Lands' Act, 1854."
[We intend to give next week the Waste Lands' BUI brought in during the first session |by the Fitz Gerald Ministry, and which had passed through all its stages except the third reading, when the sudden prorogation destroyed so abruptly the labours of the Session. Mr. E. G. Wakefield's proposed amendments will be published at the same time.] PROROGATION. The Address of his Excellency on proroguing the Assembly was to the following effect:— Honourable Gentleman of the Legislate Council and gentlemen of the House of Kepresentatives— You will be glad to learn that the state of the public business enables me to bring the present session to a close. On the occasion of its first meeting I urged upon the consideration of the Assembly the necessity of deciding upon the most advantageous apportionment of power between the General and Provincial authorities, of maturing the measures necessary for securing its practical adjustment, and of adopting some guiding principle on which the Assembly should proceed in the exercise of its own constituent powers. Although but little progress has yet been made towards the accomplishment of these important objects, I cannot bring the business to a close, without congratulating you on the amount of useful legislation you have accomplished, during the brief period which has elapsed since the commencement of the present session. Of the various measures which have been presented for my acceptance, there is not one to which I have thought it my duty to refuse my assent, and with the exception of the Appropriation Bill, I have been able to give to all the measures you have passed, an unqualified approval. Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,— It is provided by the Constitution Act, as you are aware, that it shall be competent for the Governor before declaring his pleasure in regard to any Bill presented for Lis assent, tomake such amendment in it as he may think expedient, and to return it with such amendments for the further consideration of the House. I have to express my regret that the lateness of the period at which "it has been presented for my assent has virtually precluded me from exercising that power with respect to the Bill for appropriation of the Public Revenues. With an explanation before you of the reasons for which provision was recommended to be made for the services which 1 find have been left unprovided for by that Bill, I can entertain no doubt that, with respect to some of them at least, you would, on reconsideration, have recognised the necessity which exists for their continued maintenance. Without expressing any opinion as to the policy of transferring certain of the Public Departments from the control of the General Government to that of the Provincial authorities, an object sought to be accomplished by the Bill, I cannot refrain from expressing my conviction that, a measure involving so important a question as the apportionment of Legislative and Executive power between the General Government and the subordinate local authorities ought rather to be determined by a permanent enactment, to which, after full discussion, and with ample time for consideration, all the three branches of the Legislature shall have given their deliberate assent. Gentlemen of the Assembly,— I have the greatest pleasure in giving my assent, in her Majesty's name, to the Bill " For regulating the disposal of the Waste lands of the Crown in New .Zealand."
With regard to the system now in operation for disposing of the Waste Lands of the Crown, established by Governor Sir, George Grey, x lk?
Act affirms the validity of the Proclamation of the sth March, 1553, and confirms the General Land Regulations contained in it, and at the same time makes provision against their hasty or inconsiderate alteration. With regard to the future, the Waste Lauds' Act in effect provides that henceforth the Demesne Lands of the Crown shall be disposed of in accordance with the wishes of the Colonists of New Zealand. So far as may depend upon myself I have only to repeat the assurance I have already conveyed to both Houses of the Legislature, that I shall be prepared, as occasion may require, to adapt the existing LandKegulations to the particular requirements of the various Proviuces, and as far as may be consistent with the interests of the Colony at large, in conformity with the wants and wishes of the several inhabitants —with respect to the unsatisfied claims alluded to in my address on opening the sessiou—it will now mainly rest with the colonists themselves to determine in what manner and to what extent compensation shall be awarded to those who may be found to have just and unsatisfied claims to compensation on account of their losses and sufferings arising out of the unfulfilled engagements of the New Zealand Company, and to which pointed reference has been made in the recent report of a Select Committee of the House of Representatives on the subject of that Company's debt.
The operations of the no less important Bill to authorize the General Assembly to empower the Provincial Councils to make laws for regulating the sale and disposal of the Waste Lands of the Crown must necessarily be deferred until itsliall have received the Royal assent; I shall not fail to urge her Majesty's Government to take such steps as may be deemed necessary for enabling the General Assembly lawfully to delegate to the Provincial Legislatures the powers conferred upon the Assembly by the New Zealand Constitution Act.
Owing to the late period at which the " Bill for regulating the Law of Marriage," has been presented for my assent, I have been unable to give to its provisions that careful attention which the importance of that measure most undoubtedly demands ; neither have I had the opportunity of offering to you any amendments which a deliberate consideration of the measure in its details might have enabled me to suggest: I have much pleasure, however, in declaring my entire approval of the principle on which the Act has been based, and I am happy to believe that the Assembly have succeeded in devising a measure which, without disturbing the good feeling whiel^has hitherto subsisted beween them, and without unnecessarily'intevfering with existing usages, will be found more efficient in its provisions ,tlian the disallowed Ordinance of 1851.
The " English Act's Act," to which I have also given my assent, will have the effect of extending to New Zealand the benefit of those amendments, which within the last few years have been effected by the British Parliament ia the laws relating to the Administration of Justice; and the Provisions of the "Secondary Punishments' Acts" will, I trust, be found to operate not less beneficially in promoting the efficiency of the law.
On the subject of the charge of £268,000 upon the Waste Lands of the Colony in favour of the New Zealand Company, it will no doubt be satisfactory to the colonists, to be informed that both the Legislative Council and the House of Representatives have agreed to a Resolution to the effect, that the charge in favour of the 2Cew Zealand Company on the Land fund of the Colony, is an oppressive burden on its resources, and appears to hare been created by Parliament in ignorance of the real facts ; and to have been obtained by that Company, by means of the suppression of material circumstances. I need hardly add, that I believe a full and fair enquiry into the subject by the Imperial Government is due to the colonists of New Zealand.
The determination evinced by both Houses of the Legislature—to take effectual means to repress the spread of intemperance in this country, will, i believe, be hailed by the whole community with unqualified approval.
Cordially concurring in the views embodied in the Address presented to me on the subject of Education, that " the Establishment of a. sound system of Education for the youth of New Zealand, is a matter'of public concern ;." and that in order to deterniirta whether the education of youth in New Zealand would be extended or improved by the interposition of
the state, it; is debirable to ascertain the present state of education in New Zealand. I will use my best endeavours to furnish the Assembly on the occasion of its next meeting;, with the information necessary for giving effect to the wishes of me Legislative Council embodied in the Resolution in question. It now only remains for me to thank you, gentlemen, on the part of the country, for the time and attention you have given to the discharge *of your public duties, and to express my earnest hope, that the measures you have passed may, by the Divine blessing, be found to promote the progress of the country, and the happiness and contentment of the people. R H. Wynyaiu>, Officer adrainistertng the Government.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18541101.2.4
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Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 209, 1 November 1854, Page 3
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3,058GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 209, 1 November 1854, Page 3
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