THE WASTE LANDS BILL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4812, 24 August 1876, Page 5

THE WASTE LANDS BILL.

The following is a summary of tho Waste Lands Administration Act, 1876, which is to come into operation on' the same day as the Provincial Financial Arrangements Act, 1876■ *

Free grants to immigrants under existing statutes are' stopped, and the-/Volunteers’,re-mission repealed, except for three years* service already completed. Existing Acts, except as varied by this Act, are to remain injforoe, and no rights acquired thereunder are to*be affected by the provisions thereof. 1 ■

The Commissioners of Audit are to be sole judges of the fulfilment of the conditions of occupation licenses ; aud when land has been offered for/sale..by auction, and not sold, it may be : re-offered or declared open for sale on application, at a price to be determined by the District AVaste Lands Board.' The term “ Grown lauds ” is to include lands in gold fields-and lands held by the Crown in lease from the natives, aud trespassers thereon may be prosecuted. The foes for Crown grants are to be prepaid, and no! undefined rights of preemption are to be created after the Act comes into operation. Existing preemptive rights are to be exercised before the Ist May, 1860, but on any lease of pastoral lands the Waste Lands Board may give a' right of ' purchase of a limited quantity within six months. The Governor may make provisional reserves for educational purposes, and a description thereof shall be published in the Gazette, such description, with plans, to be tabled in both Houses of the Assembly within 14 days of such publication, if in session, and if not, within ten day s from commencement of next session. Either House may alter, vary, or nullify the provisional reserve, aud the resolutions thereon shall be published in Gazette. In tbe event of no such resolution, the provisional reserve shall be proclaimed. In the event of such resolution not nullifying the provisional reserve, the Governor may make proclamation in an amended form. The proceeds of sale of lands reserved shall be accounted for by the Receiver of Land Revenue to the governing body or trustees of the educational institutions for which the reserves are made.

Confiscated lands may be proclaimed waste lands subject to the ordinary regulations. All existing reserves out of confiscated lands may be granted for the specific purpose of their reservation.

Lands purchased by the Crown from the natives in the North Island, on the Governor being satisfied of the extinction of the native claims, may be proclaimed waste lands ; but if not sold by auction, shall not be sold for a less price than £1 per acre, and if sold by auction, the upset price shall not be less than 10s. per acre.

Crown leaseholds from natives maybe transferred to District Waste Lands Boards, and disposed of by them by auction after thirty days public notice. For Auckland and Hawke’s Bay, Waste Lauds Boards, consisting.of the Commissioner of Crown Lands as ex officio member and chairman, and five commissioners, to be appointed and removable by the Governor, are created and come into office on the day of the coming into operation of the Act. Existing Waste Lands Boards for other districts and the created Boards for Auckland and Hawke’s Bay are to continue in office until Ist December, 1877 ; but the Governor may remove any member and make new appointments. Commissioners are to be paid £1 per sitting, and such payment is not to be a disqualification for the Assembly. Decisions of the Board shall be by majority, the chairman having an original as well as a casting vote, and three shall form a quorum. All business connected with the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of waste lands shall be transacted by the Boards, and all routine business shall be carried on by the Chief Commissioner, subject to the instructions of the Board.

The decision of the Board shall be final, and minutes and other records are to be kept in each principal land office. Rents and purchase money are to be paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue, and the . Boards may make charges for dealing with disputed questions. Leases signed by the Chief Commissioner are to have the same effect as if signed by the Board, and all applications as to waste lands are to be made at the public office during business hours.

Boards may set aside such blocks and allotments as they think fit for sale exclusively on deferred payments. Applications for land on deferred payments are to be made in the ordinary manner, and an alphabetical list of applicants shall be. kept, extracts from which shall be forwarded to the Secretary for Crown Lands.

No person shall be entitled to select both suburban and rural land, and the maximum area to be held under the Act shall be—suburban, ten acres, and rural land, 200 acres. In the ease of simultaneous applications, the land selected is to be offered by auction, the auction being limited to the applicants. Any person 18 years of age may be a selector, but no selector having assigned his interest may make a new selection. Employes in the Land Office and Survey department, owners of pre-emptive rights, married women not judicially separated, and persons who have at the time of selection agreed to assign, are disqualified from selecting, and a statutory declaration of compliance with the provisions of the Act and bona fides is to be executed on application. One-twentieth of price is to be deposited on application, and on production of declaration and receipt, the Board shall issue a license.

The license shall be for 10 years from the Ist January or Ist July next following the date of application ; and a yearly fee of one-tenth of the price shall be paid by equal half-yearly payments to the Receiver of Land Revenue. Personal residence on the land imperative, except for first year and a-half, and the selector shall in the [first year of license cultivate one-twentieth, in the second year another one-twentieth. One-fifth of the is to be cultivated within four years, and improvements equal to £1 per acre of land to be made within six years. After six years, if conditions fulfilled, Crown grants will be issued, but for breach of license all rights are forfeited. Selectors is entitled to no rights against trespassers unless land substantially fenced. In the case of transfer the selector must give thirty days notice, the transferee must be approved by the Board, and fee of £2 paid for the transfer.

In case of the death of the selector the executors may exercise a similar power. Lands selected shall not during the currency of the license be assignable except under the provisions of the Act, and shall not be capable of being charged, encumbered, or taken in execution.

The Commissioners of Audit, by their officers, at the end of 1,2, 4,6, and 10 years are to ascertain if She conditions of the license have been fulfilled; and in the event of default and refusal to deliver possession of the land selected, they may apply to the Resident Magistrate of the district, who shall, if satisfied of the breach of the conditions, declare the premises to bo forfeited and issue a warrant giving possession to the Commissioners of Audit.

After warrant issued, the land and improvements are to be sold by auction, and the proceeds of sale applied in liquidation of unpaid license fees and the costs of the recovery, and the balance, after deducting 25 per cent, as damages for breach of license, to the selector. Parts 2,3, 4,5, 6, and 7 consist of formal amendments in the existing land laws of Auckland, Taranaki, Hawke's Bay, Wellington, Nelson, and Marlborough. The price of land in Auckland is fixed for first-class at not less than 205., second-class 155., and for thirdclass 10s. per acre ; in Taranaki—for bush land not leas than 205., and for open land 40s. per acre ; and in Hawke's Bay not less than 15s. per acre. In Wellington township lands are not to be deemed town lands, and township lands may bo re-classified, the price of land being fixed for selection not less than 205,, and at auction 10s. per acre. In Nelson the upset price is not to be less than 10s. per acre; and in

Marlborough for land not' pasture land not less than ; 205., and for ■ pasture • land 10s. pet’acre is to he charged.” In Cantothury, under part 8, runs are to be “assessed according to their carrying capacity. Rent is; to he paid atfper head of stock, and copy of the assessment to be sent to runholders. Before Ist May, 1878, runholders may elect 1 to hold runs under new assessment; after Ist May, 1880, and failure to elect, are to hold as may. be directed by Assembly. Runs are to ba forfeited if rent not paid; and if portion of run sold, rent to be abated. Rent not altered until 1890 in any case. , Certain formal amendments in the existing law are made, and . the upset price is fixed at not less than 40s, per acre. Fart 9' deals with the land district of Otago, and after making certain necessary alterations in the existing law, provides that the Governor, on recommendation, by proclamation, may set apart in any part of such land district, districts or.blocks of land, either for sale on immediate payment, or within'which licenses te occupy land on deferred payments exclusively may be granted, and may alter, amend, or revoke, any such proclamation, and fix a day on which the land comprised within any such block shall he open. Agricultural leaseholders in goldfields may hold on deferred payments, and the price of land is fixed for rural lauds at not less than 255., and for land declared only fit for pastoral purposes at altitude of not less than 1200 ft. at not less than 12s. 6d. per acre. . *' Part 10 makes similar provisions as to the land district of Southland, fixing the price of land at not less than 255. per acre ; and Part 11, after amending the Westland laud laws, fixes the price of rural land at not less than 255. per acre, in blocks of not less than twenty acres, and of special blocks under the AVestland Waste Lands Act, 1870, at not less than 12s. 6d. per acre.