AUCKLAND WASTE LANDS ACT

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 129, 28 July 1870, Page 6

AUCKLAND WASTE LANDS ACT

The following summary of the new Bill brought forward by the Superintendent of Auckland will open the eyes of the public of Otago to the means adopted by the Auckland Provincial Government to further settlement in that province. We quote the following clauses from the Act in question, to show that Auckland is far ahead of us, and that unless we adopt a similar measure, no real good will ensue. By extreme measures we may hope to obtain something ; but by no measures at all, we need expect nothing. 4. Upon any lands being so proclaimed open for occupation, it shall be lawful for any person or persons to take possession of and hold, subject to the conditions hereinafter mentioned, by virtue of actual occupation, forty acres of such lands in respect of each person of eighteen years of age or upwards so occupying : Provided that not more than two hundred acres can be held or occupied by any number of persons living together in one household.

5. Any person or persons taking possession of and occupying such land as aforesaid,, shall within six months after so taking possession lodge with the Waste Lands Commissioner of the' Province of Auckland an application for the said land, together with a plan thereof prepared by an approved surveyor, in conformity with the regulations which may from time to time be prescribed by the Superintendent in respect of such surveys, in Avhich application shall be stated the name or names of the person or persous in respect of whose occupation such land is applied for, the date of the commencement of their occupation, anil the name or names of the person or persons in whose favour the land is desired to be granted. 6. On receipt of such application and correct plan, the Waste Lands Commissioner shall cause the same to be recorded on a Record Map of the District, and shall give to the applicant a certificate in the form A hereunto annexed. 7. At the expiration of three years from the date of commencement of occupation, the person in whose favour the land was applied for shall be entitled to a Crown Grant or conveyance of the said land, on his proving to the satisfaction of the Waste Lauds Commissioner that the persons named in the original application or other adults as substitutes for them, have during the whole of the previous three years been in the bona fide occupation of the said land by continuous residence thereon, and that at least one fifth part .thereof is then under cultivation,, and on payment of the usual costs of a Crown Grant or conveyance. 8. The pei'son in whose favour the land was applied for, shall be entitled to a Crown Grant or conveyance thereof at any time prior to the expiration of the aforesaid three years, on proof to the satisfaction, of the Waste Lands Commissioner that the whole land so applied for is fenced and cultivated and a dwelling house. ' erected thereon, and on payment of the costs of the Crown Grant or conveyance. 9. Such certificate as aforesaid mvy after one year's occupation thereunder, be transferred to any other person or persons by indorsement in the form B hereunto annexed, and such transferree shalj have the same rights, privileges and liabilities as the original holder of the certificate. 10. If the original occupants or substitutes shall cease to be in the bona fide occupation of the lancf, such certificate shall become null and void, and all rights and privileges thereunder shall absolutely cease and determine. 11. If any question shall at any time arise as to whether any person or persons have continued or ceased to be in the bona fide occupation of the land, or otherwise fulfilled the before-m,entioned

conditions, such question shall be referred by the Waste Lands Commissioner to two or more Justices of the Peace, and the decision of such Justices shall be final and conclusive, and not liable to be questioned in any Court of Law on any ground whatever. 15. Any person or persons in whose favour such certificate shall have been granted, shall within one year after the termination of the aforesaid three years' occupancy apply for a Crown Grant of the said land, otherwise he or they shall forfeit all right thereto, except to such part thereof as shall then be built upon or in actual cultivation. 18- It shall be lawful for the Waste Lands Commissioner with consent of the Superintendent to lease by public tender the right to cut flax on any Waste Lands of the Crown for a term not exceeding seven years, such right being determinable at any time at three months' notice on the land being required for the purposes of sale or bojia fide occupation as hereinbefore mentioned 24. The resident occupiers of land within any Highway District shall be entitled to depasture on the Waste Lands of the Crown within such District such number and description of great cattle, in proportion to their several holdings, as the trustees for the District shall prescribe, on payment to the trusteess, of such annual fee, not exceedmg two shillings and sixpence per head of such cattle over six months old, as the trustee shall- fix. 26. No person depasturing cattle under section twenty-four of this; Act shall be liable for any trespass by such cattle on any land within such District \mlfcss snch land shall, in the opinion of the trustees of the District, be sufficiently fenced. 30. Not to come into operation till proclaimed by the Governor at the request of the Superintendent and Provincial Council.