BILLS LAID BEFORE THE COUNCIL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 414, 22 October 1856, Page 4

BILLS LAID BEFORE THE COUNCIL.

THE RAILWAY RESERVES BILL. ' Whereas great delay, loss and inconvenience have been experienced owing to the want of a constant, safe, and expeditious means of communication between the Port Town of Lyttelton and the interior of the Province of Canterbury; and it is very expedient that improved mean should be aflbrded for the conveyanca of mer chandize and, agricultural and other prodm between the said Port Town and such other part of the said province, and that for such purpor a horse railway should be constructed I3etwet the Towns of Lyttelton andChristchurch : Ay whereas, with a view to the construction of sue railway, and to provide the funds necessai"

thereto, it is expedient that a certain portion of the land of the Waste Lands of the Crown within such province should he set apart and reserved as an endowment to he sold or otherwise disposed of, for the purpose of constructing such railway as aforesaid.

Me it therefore enacted hy the Superintendent of the said province with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof as follows: —

1. It shall be laivftd for-the Superintendent with the advice of the Executive Council, any regulations for the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown within-such province notwithstanding,to reserve from the operation of such regulations a tract of su h land, not exceeding twenty- aye thousand acres in extent, as an er.dowm nfc for the purpose of constructing a hoi-se raiavay between the Towns of Lyttelton and Christ-church: And to dispose of such reserve for the said purpose either by way of sale, or by way of bonus to any person or persons constructing the said railway at his or their own cost, or in such other Wsanner, and at such price as he shall think fit: that no part thereof shall be sold for a less sum than after the rate of twenty shillings per acre ;' And that the payment for such land shall be made in ready money of the current coin of the realm, and not in debentures or other securities, any ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding : Provided also" that no such land or any part-thereof shall be given as a bonus to any person or persons undertaking to make the said railway unless .so-much of the said railway as lies between the Town of Lyttelton and the Old Ferry over the Eiver Heathcote shall be completed throughout to the satisfaction of the Provincial Engineer, and shall be opened for traffic.

2. A full and accurate description of the land so reserved shall be published in the Government Gazette of the province.

3. If such laud shall be sold, all monies accruing from the sale thereof shall be paid to the Provincial Treasurer to a separate account, and shall b.3 expanded in the construction of the said railway and opening the same for traffic, and upon no other object whatsoever, in such manner as the Superintendent shall by warrants tinder his hand direct. And full accounts of the receipt and expenditui*e of all such monies shall be laid before the Provincial Council within ten days after the next meeting of the same. 4. If the land so reserved shall include any land held under a pasturage license, or any land so held over which the licensee shall have any right of pre-emption, all such pasturage right and rights of pre-emption shall absolutely cease from and after the notification in the Government Gazette that such reserve has been made. Provided that any person whose pasturage or pre-emptive right shall so cease shall be entitled to compensation to an amount to be ascertained, in the same manner in which. the amount of compensation for land or imy interest in land is directed to be ascertained under the provisions in that behalf contained in an act of the Imperial Parliament passed in the-Stli and 9th years of Her present Majesty, entitled " the Land Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845," and the Superintendent shall be taken and deemed to be the promoter of the undertaking within the meaning of such act. 5. All compensation payable under this ordinance shall be paid to the person entitled to receive the same in land of the Waste Lands of the Crown within the said province, to an extent estimated at one acre for every two pounds sterling of the amount of compensation to which such person slia-H be adjudged to be entitled, under the provisions of this ordinance. And such person shall be entitled to select only such land as ha shall think lit, subject to the Regulations now in force for the disposal of the Waste "Lands of the Crown within the said province.

6. Every person purchasing, or receiving by way of bonus, or byway of compensation, as hereinbefore provided, any land reserved under the authority of this ordinance, shall ba entitled to a Crown Grant in the same manner as any ordinary purchaser of the Waste Lands of the Crown within the Province of Cantorbury.

7. This ordinance shall be entitled and may be cited as the Railway Reserve Ordinance, Sess. VII, No. 1.