B.—No. 3.

PROVINCE OF OTAGO. No. 1. THE COLONIAL SECBETABT TO THE SUPEBIXTEXDENT OP OTAGO. Colonial Secretary's Office, SxE _ Wellington, 16th February, 1865. *f> 11 */ t]Wu °ll? ° J at c Lands i CX 1863 ' Na 2'" a tax ™» im P°sed u P°n all lands thereWor M be,Sol^ Wl*ln the ProJ mce of Ota S° of 2b. (two shilling.) per acre/payable annually to Her Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, by the purchasers thereof, his heirs and assigns Thi, tax is payable until certain improvements required by the Act, are made ° By a Proclamation dated the 20th December, 1861, issued by your Honor, you undertake to repay to all purchasers the tax of 2s. (two shillings) per acre imposed by the aforesaid " Waste Lands Act, No 2 1863," in respect of all lands which between the 4th clay of January, 1865, and the ttl 0 !S'" Purchased under the provisions of the " Otago Waste Lands Act, ISo. 1, 1863, and the aforesaid " Otago Waste Lands Act, No 2 1863" ,+i fg?** fr°™ t]'e Prcal"We of that Proclamation, that the object is to neutralise the effect of the Otago Waste Lands Act, No. 2, 1803," as calculated^ your opinion to retard the settlement ot the country. In the opinion of the Honorable the Attorney-General, the Proclamation in question is illegal It is not competent to a Provincial Executive Government or to a Provincial Legislature 0 to defeat, either directly or indirectly, the Legislation of the General Assembly Any Appropriation Act of the Province of Otago purporting to give effect to the above ± reclamation would have, in the opinion of the Attorney-General, to be disallowed In order that the provisions of the " Otago Waste Lands Act, No. 2, 1863," may be complied with it will be necessary that in all Crown Grants of Land, issued under that Act, or to which that Act applies, words should be introduced to the following effect — In the operative part of the Grants the words should be introduced, " In accordance with the provisions of the "Otago Waste Lands Act, No. 2, 1863." And in the Habendum, the words, subject nevertheless to such tax or taxes, and to such provisions and conditions as are expressed m the " Otago Waste Lands Act, No. 2, 1863.' " t i 1 aYe wr^ ore directed the Ullder Secretary (in the absence of the Secretary for Crown Lauds from Wellington), to instruct the Commissioner of Crown Lands to cause the Crown Grants referred to m the preceding paragraph, to be prepared with those conditions inserted in their proper places His Excellency the Governor will not be advised to sign any Crown Grants ot the class referred to, without a certificate from the Secretary for Crown Lands, that they conlam these conditions. The Commissioner of Crown Lands has also been requested immediately to ascertain and report to the Secretary for Crown Lands the number and particulars of all sales ot land effected under your Honor's Proclamation. He has further been instructed at once to issue the following notice — Whereas by a Proclamation issued by His Honor the Superintendent of the Province of Utago, dated the 20th December, 1864, it was notified that the Provincial Government of Ota^o undertook to repay to purchasers the tax of 2s. (two shillings) per acre, imposed by the « Ota^o Waste Lands Act 1863, No. 2," in respect of all lands which between the 4th day of January 1865, and the sth day of April, 1865, might be purchased under the provisions of the said Act i o,o»i w; nereas such Proclamation is in contravention of the " Otago Waste Lands Act No 2 1863, 1 do hereby give notice that all purchasers of rural land in the Province of Ota<*o since

No. 47.

CORRESPONDENCE EEIATING 10 PROVINCIAL LOANS.