REGULATIONS

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 347, 27 February 1856, Page 4

REGULATIONS

FOR THE DISPOSAL, SALE, LETTING, AND OCCUPATION OF THE WASTE LANDS OF THE CROWN IN THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY. 1. All regulations now in force in the Province of Canterbury for the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the Waste Lands •f the Crown are hereby repealed. 2. All such Waste Lands shall from and after the day on which these Regulations shall come into force, be sold, let, disposed •f, and occupied according to these Regulations, and not otherwise. 3. Every Act which the Superintendent is hereby authorised or required to perform, he sliall perform solely in accordance with the advice of his Executive Council for the time being, and sucli advice shall be recorded •a the minutes of the Council. ll.— THI WASTE LANDS' BOARD. 4. There shall be established a Board to be called the Waste Lands' Board, to consist of one Chief Commissioner, and of not ]e<>s than two nor more than five other commissioners, all of whom (except such one as shall be appointed, to act as Treasurer, •hall be appointed and be removeable by Warrant under the hand of the Superintendent. 5. One member of the Waste Lands' Board shall also be the treasurer thereof, *nd such member shall be appointed and removable by the Governor. 6. The Waste Lands' Board shall sit at the principal Land Office of the Province at sertain stated times to be determined by the Superintendent, and shall also sit for special purposes at such places, and at such times as the Superintendent shall direct, of which sittings due notice shall be given in the Provincial Government Gazette, and ore or more newspapers published in the Province. 7. The Chief Commissioner, when present, and in his absence, then some other member selected by those present at any meeting of the Board, shall preside thereat, and shall have a casting vote in all questions coming before tlie Board. 8. All questions coming before the Board •hall be decided by a majority of the Commissioners present thereat. 9- f- 11 meetings of the Board shall be attended by at least three Commissioners and shall be open to the public 10. All applications for Land and for Pasturage and for Timber Licenses shall after nearing evidence, when necessary, be aetermuied by the Board at some sitting thereof. 5 11. The Board shall have power to hear and determine all disputes between the holders of pasturage and timber licenses, respecting the, boundaries of runs and distncts, and shall have and exercise all the powers which may be lawfully had and exerowed by any Commissioner of Crown Lands under the Provisions of the Crown Lands 5 Ordinance. Sess. X, No. 1 ; and the Crown i^and* Intension Ordinance, Sess. XT, 12. All the routine business of the Land Department shall be transacted by the Chief Commissioner subject to such regulations as may be made by the Board in that behalf. M. A book to be called the"Annlica turn Book" shall be kept open during office hours at the Land Office, in which the name of every person desiring to make any application «o the Board shall be written in orter by himself or any person duly authorised , '!? la!^ Alld lhe Commissioners ■hall during the ««ing of the Board, coT•ider and determine all applications in the order inwh lc h,h, y shall appear in the an! location book. Provided that if any per son B hal, no* appear himself or by some L. sou duly authorise! on his behalf before the ?h*! T ,Cal!ed ln his t"r» his "Plication shall be dismissed until his name shall appear again in the book in order. P ro .

vided also that if two or more persons, shall apply at the same time to write their names j in the Application Book the Chief Commissioner shall bracket their names, and shall ! initial the bracket; and when they shall j appear the Board, the Boar I shall determine the priority of right to be heard by lot. And it shall not be lawful for the Board to hear any application except such as shall be made in accordance with this regulation. 14. The Board shall keep true and detailed minutes of all applications made to the Board and all decisions thereon, and of all sunis of money paid to the Treasurer, and generally of all'the proceedings of the Board and such minutes shall t.igned by all the Commissioners present at the meeting; and such minutes shall be open to the inspection of all persons desiring to inspect the same at all reasonable hours on payment of |the sum of two shillings and sixpence for every such inspection. 111. SURVEYS. 15. There shall be a chief surveyor who shall be appointed and removeable by Warrant under the hand of the Superintendent, and as many Assistant Surveyors as shall be necessary, who shall be appointed and removeable upon the recommendation of the Chief Surveyor. 16. All surveys shall be conducted in such manner as the Board by any regulations to be made ia that behalf shall direct. Iv- THE lAND REVENUE. I 17. All payments to be made in respect of land shall be made to the Treasurer of the Board during the sitting thereof, and the Treasurer shall thereupon give receipts for the same. 18. By the 62nd clause of the Constitution j Act the Governor is authorised and required to pay out of the Revenue arising from the I di S posal of the Waste Lands of the Crown, all the costs, charges, and expenses incident to the collection, management and receipt thereof; and also to pay out of the said revenues such sums as shall become payable under certain other provisions therein'contained. The Treasurer of the Waste Lands' Board shall therefore pay out of all the funds coming into his hands under these regulations, all such sums for the abovenamed purposes in such manner and to such persons as the Governor shall direct. V. — PDBLIC RESERVES. _ 10. Reserres for the uses of the Provincial Government, and for other public purposes, may upon the recommendation of the Provincial Council be made by the Superintendent; and shall not be alienated from the specific purposes to which they shall have been severally dedicated, except under the provisions of an act of the General Assembly entituled the " Public Reserves' Act, 1854 -" and a full and complete description of every such Reserve, and of the purposes to which it shad have been dedicated, shall, Bo soon as Possible after it shall have been made be published in the Government Gazette of the Province, and set forth on the authenticated mapsin the Land Office. Provided that the Superintendent may, if the Provincial Council be not then sitting, temporarily reserve land for such purposes Uis til the next session of such Council. 20. Reserves for public highways, bridlepaths, and foot paths, shall be made by the buperintendent, and shall be set forth on the authenticated maps in the Land Office Ine Superintendent and the Provincial Council may by ordinance alter the line of any such highways, bridlepaths, and footu d Co "I dISpOM °f Uie klld heretofore u*eci ior the same. 21. The Suptrintemient may temporarily TZTI 1 f°r the P r««rvalion Po r sale of t c unber thereon; but such land may a any t, me cc a S e to be Po re served upon i ret U!J" °< ll'* Provincial Council. P "" , S. u Pe"ntende.jt may, upon the recommendation of the Provincial Council,

by proclamation in the Government Gazette, reserve from the operation of these regulations any tract of country in which the precious metals may be found to exist : and the land within such tract of country shall be disposed of according to regulations hereafter to be issued and published in that behalf; in the paine manner and under the same authority as these present regulations. VI. — TOWN LANDS. 23. The sites of Towns shall be determined by the Superintendent upon the recommendation of the Provincial Council, and shall be notified by Proclamation in the Government Gazette of the Province. 24. Town Lands shall be sold by public auction in sections, the size and upset prict^**l of which shall be determined by the Supertetident and Provincial Council; and having been so determined, for each town severally shall not again be altered. 25. The time and place of every auction sale shall be fixed by the Superintendent, and shall be notified in the Government Gazette, and one or more Newspapers of the Province, at least thirty days before such sale shall take place. 26. No such notification of any sale of town lands shall be published until a map of the town, signed by the Chief Surveyor, shell have been laid open for public inspection in the Land Office; and such map shall set forth, accurately delineated, all the town sections numbered consecutively, se far as laid out, showing the sections to be submitted for sale, and the public revenue* in connection with them. 27. Town sections may be put up to auction, either by order of the Superintendent, or upon the application of some person who shall, at the time of making such application, deposit 10 per cent, of the upset price with the Treasurer of the Waste Lands' Board. Such deposit shall, if ne advance on the upset price be made, be c xisidered as the deposit upon the sale at such public auction. 28. If any section *hall be purchased by other than the original applicant the deposit money shall be forthwith returned o» demand. 29. Ten days at least before any suck auction sale, a list of all the sections about to be offered for sale shall be published in the Government Gazette, and one or more newspapers of the Province. 30. Every auction sale of land shall be held by the Commissioners in open court as hereinbefore provided. 31. The person who shall be declared the highest bidder at such auction, shall immediately pay a deposit of 10 per cent, of the purchase money to the Treasurer, and, in default thereof, the section shall be a<»-ai» immediately put up to auction. ° 32. The remainder of the purchase money shall be paid to the Treasurer ia full, within one week after the day of sale • and, in default thereof, the purchaser shall forfeit his deposit money, and also all rio-ht or title to the land. And the section may be sold to any person applying for the same for the price at winch it was knocked dowa at the auction ; and if not so sold, the se<i& lion may be again put up to auction at any 1 future sale. J 33 Immediately on the payment of the purchase money in full, the purchaser shall receive from the Commissioners a "License ichcST-Y, lhu'form set forih *» «"• >et. m ..gam to (he Commissioners when he |l|nU receive «!,e Crown Grant of the Land, feeble jlCe"Sr l° °CCIIP)'" Shall b° transo v in 7 e"doy s? lneilt ' in tlie <■««« «* loiui in tlie schedule. foreioini i BI. lOt illdll<ledin any of the SrlnM reg,Ulallo"8811811 be °Pc»fcr Bale Ihil C*l Ui ' at a Ullifo"n P^e of forty feiuumgs per uure. '

35. No section of rural land shall bo sold containing less than twenty acres ; provided that any section so limited by frontage lines or private lands as to contain less than twenty acres, may be s.ild by auction at the upset; price of forty shillings per acre, Ihe lime and place of sale, and the mode of .sale ami payment of purchase money to be as nearly as may be in accordance with the regulations herein contained, applicable to the sale of Town Land. 36. Every section of rural land shall be in one block, and except as hereinafter provided, of a rectangular form, and if bounded hv a frontage line shall be of a depth of haif-a-inile (or 40 chains) from such frontagv » iVjx'ic.—A froutige line shall be taken to mean the boundary of a road, river, or public reserve, or any stream or watercourse which shall have been declared by notification in the Government Gazette, to constitute a frontage for the purpose of selection. 37. Where from the frontage not being a straight line, or from the interference of other frontage lines, natural features, or the boundaries of private lands, the above rules in respect of form cannot be accurately observed ; the form of the section shall be determined as nearly in accordance with these rules as, in the judgment of the Board, circumstances will admit. 38. In sections of land not adjacent to or bounded by a frontage line, all the sides may be equal, but one side may no*, be less than one-third of the other, and such section shall not be less than hnU'-a-mile distant from a frontage line. 39. Any person possessing a section of land may at any time select another adjacent thereto, of such form, that the two together being considered ns one section, shall be in the form required for a single section under the foregoing rules. 40. Immediately on the payment of the purchase money, the purchaser shall receive from the Commissioners a '" license to occupy," in the form set forth in the schedule 13 hereto annexed; and as soon thereafter as conveniently may be, the land shall be laid off by a Government Surveyor as neaily in accordance with the description given by the purchaser in his application as these regulations will admit ; provided that whenever the lands selected Ha without the ! surveyed districts, the expense of the survey and of connecting such survey with the existing surveys shall be borne by the purchaser, who shall at the time of purchase deposit, the amount of the estimated cost of *«'Ch surveys with the Treasurer of the Waste Lands' Board, which shall be made soon as practical) c by order of the Chief Surveyor. Provided always that should any section when surveyed 'prove to differ in "»)' respect from that intended by the purchaser, the Government will not be responsible (or any loss or inconvenience which the purchaser may experience, nor will the purchase money be returned. Provided also lllilL if the Surveyor shall find that the whole extent of land in the selected locality falls short of the quantity paid for by the Ijurdmser, the Treasurer shalfrepayso much oi-ihe purchase money as exceeds'tlie price ul the laud to be conveyed. The " License 0 occupy" shall, in any such case, be amended by the Commissioners in accordance with the report of the Surveyor, and the Crown Grant shall be made out in accoi dance therewith ; and the "License" shall be returned to the CommisHoners when the Oowu (i r:uit slmH be issil( . d 41. A U y p eiSoll umliing a ditch and bank c'nee to ] ands :u ]j, )inil)g r W aste Lands of «"; Crown, may take out of such Waste J^»tis half tl, e i an( i required for the ditch "»d brink. Provided that no ditch or bank «'i:dl be more than six feet in width. Vllr —COMPENSATION I, AN US. , 42. Whereas it is desirable that private

persons should he enabled to receive portions of waste laud in exchange for private lands taken for roads or for other public purposes ; if any person shall be entiMed to receive any compensation in respect of any land which shall have been taken for the purposes of a road or of any other public work, or in respect of any damages done to his property by the taking of such land for such purposes, such persons shail upon application to the Waste Lands' Board be entitled to a grant of rural land in such situations as he shall select subject to the conditions as to form and frontage in these regulations contained, to the extent of one acre for every two pounds sterling of the amount of compensation which the applicant shall be entitled to receive in respect of the land taken for such purposes or in respect of such damage as aforesaid. 43. If any person shall at any time have made and completed at his own private cost any public road or bridge or any public main drain or any part of such road, bridge, or drain, such person shall upon application to the. Waste Lands' Board be entitled to a free grant of rural land in such situation as he shall select, subject to the conditions as to form and frontage in these regulations contained, to such an extent as the Board shall adjudge not exceeding one acre for every four pounds sterling, which he shall prove to the satisfaction of tiie Waste Lauds' Board that he shall have actually expended in the construction of such road, bridge, or drain. Provided always that it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the- Board that the money so expended by the applicant has been j - beneficially expended lor the use and advantage of the public. Provided also that no application for less than 20 acres shail be received under this clause, but that where any amount of compensation awarded by the Board shall be of a less amount than 20 acres of land, the party entitled may pay the balance in cash uposi the same terms as other applicants to purchase rural lands under these regulations. IX. —NAVAL AND MILITARY BOUNTIES. 44. Whereas the Superintendent and Provincial Council and other of the inhabitants of Canterbury, are desirous to aid in making provision for the maintenance of such persons o( her Majesty's land and sea forces as may be discharged as unfit for further service in consequence of wounds or loss of health incurred in the present war with Russia, and also for the maintenance of the widows of those who may be killed in such war : — Any such person or widow shall upon application to the Waste Lands' Board, and upon the production of satisfactory evidence i from the proper authorities as to such discharge or death.be entitled to receive a free i giant not exceeding 30 acres of the waste land.? within thi* province, subject to the conditions as to form and frontage contained in these regulations; provided always that such application shall be made to the Waste Lauds' Board by such person or widow, in person, within three years after such discharge or death. X. PASTURA.G E. 45. Until sold, granted, or reserved for public purposes as herein provided, the waste lands may be occupied for pasturage purposes by persons holding licences from the Waste Lands' Board to occupy the same. 40. Any person applying for pasturage license shall state to the Commissioners what are the boundaries and extent of the run applied for, anil the number and description of the stock which he possesses, or will undertake to place upon the run within twelve months from the date of the license. 47. The extent of run allowed to each applicant shall lie at. the rate of 120 acres to every head of great cattle, and 20 acres to every head of small cattle. The words

" great cattle" shall be construed to mean liorned cattle, horses, mules, and a.-ses, maie and female, with their offspring above six months of age ; and the words kS small cattle" shall be construed to mean sheen, male and female, with their weaned offspring. 48. Every pasturage run shall be in one block, and, as far as cucuinstanees will admit, of a rectangular form : the frontage, under ordinary circumstances shall not "be greater than one-half the depth. 49. The fee to be paid for the license shall be at the following r.-tes: — Fur every inn containing1 less than 1000 acre?, twenty shillings for every 100 acres ; for every run conlaining 1000 acres, and less than 5000 acres, two pence per acre for the first thousand, and one penny per acre for every acre in addition. For every run containing 5000 acres or upwards, one furthinir per acre for the first and second years, one halfpenny per acre for the third and fourth years, three farthings per acre for the fifth and every subsequent year; provided that the first year .shall be taken to be the time elapsin"from the date of the oiiginal licence to the first day of May nest following. 50. No pasturage licence shall be granted for a less annual fee than £2 10s. 51. The fee shall be paid to the Treasurer of the Waste Lands' Board every year, in advance, for the first year on the issue of the licence, and for the second and every subsequent year on the first day of May ; and every pasturage licence not renewed by payment of the required fee on the first day of May. shall, unless good cause to the contrary be shown to the satisfaction of the Waste Lands" Board, be considered as abandoned. 52. Every pa^turagj licence shall be in the form set fosth in the schedule C hereto annexed, and shall be transferable by endorsement in the form set forth in the schedule ; and shall entitle the holder to the exclusive right of pasturage over the lauds specified therein, upon the terms above stated. It is intended that such licence shall be renewable from year to year until the land specified therein shall be purchased, granted, or reserved, under these regulations, and if so renewed, the fee to be paid in respect, of such licences shall not be altered until the Ist of Ms-;y, 1870. Such licence shall give no right to the soil or to the timber, and shall immediately determine over any hud which may be purchased, granted, or reserved under those regulations. A reasonable right of way shall be allowed through all pasturage runs. 53. If at any time during the first four years after the issue of the first licence, the quantity of stock for the run shail be less than that originally required, or during the next three years less than twice that amount, or during any subsequent period less than three times that amount, the Waste Lands' Board may declare the whole or a portion of such run to be forfeited ; provided always that with regard to runs granted prior to the issue of these regulations, such first period of four years shall commence from the date on which these regulations shall come into operation : provided that one or more runs held by tlie same individual or firm, may for the purposes of this clause be considered as one run. 51. In any ease in which a ruuholder can prove to the satisfaction of the Waste Lauds' Board that he is precluded by arrangements entered into previous to the passing of these retrulalious, from actuaiiy for a given period placing his stock on his own mim, it shall be suiiioi.Mit if he prove to the satisfaction of thu Board that he possesses within the Province the requisite amount of stork, and will undertake to place the s.nne on the run at the expiration of such period. (To be CifitcluJc-J in ■nt iu\L\'.J