The Short Title of this Act shall be the “Otago Waste Lands Act (No. 1) 1863.”

This Act shall apply to the Province and to the Waste Lands within the Province of Otago only and shall not come into operation until her Her Majesty’s pleasure shall have been taken thereon and the same shall have been confirmed by Her Majesty with the advice of the Privy Council and a Proclamation of such confirmation having been given shall have been made by the Governor.

As to any Sale or other disposition of land hereafter to be made the Order made by the Governor in Council on the 19th day of September 1860 and the 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th and 18th Clauses of the Waste Lands Regulations for the Province of Otago proclaimed by the Governor on the 12th day of February 1856 are hereby repealed Provided always that the said Order in Council and Clauses shall subject to the provisions hereinafter contained remain in force as to all engagements contracts or obligations heretofore entered into thereunder and as yet uncompleted.

So far as concerns Rural Land Section 26 of the said Waste Lands Regulations is hereby repealed.

All Rural Land shall hereafter be open for sale or disposal except such as at the time application is made for the purchase of the same is leased or reserved for leasing or is included or comprised within any license to depasture stock or is reserved from sale by virtue of any power or authority in that behalf given by any Act Ordinance or Regulations for the time being in force but it shall be lawful for the Waste Land Board with the consent of the Superintendent and his Executive Council to reserve or withdraw from sale any land the sale of which may appear to them to be prejudicial to the public interests.

Any person desirous of purchasing Land shall make an application in writing for the purchase thereof to the Waste Land Board in a form to be by the Board prescribed and the decision of the Board on such application notwithstanding anything in the said Regulations shall if such Land shall have been previously surveyed be given within four days after such application and if such Land shall not have been previously surveyed then such decision shall be given on such day as the Board shall appoint not being more than six months from the date of application in the event of two or more persons having made application for the same Land on the same day such Land shall be put up for sale by public auction open to all bidders.

The price at which land shall be offered for sale shall be Twenty Shillings per acre and in the event of two or more applications for the purchase of the same land being made on the same day the upset price at which such land shall be put up at the auction shall be Twenty Shillings per acre.

Provided always that it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council from time to time if he shall see fit on the receipt of a recommendation to this effect from the Superintendent and Provincial Council to order that an augmentation shall be made in the price at which the Waste Lands shall be offered for sale either by selection or auction to such an amount as shall be expressed in the said recommendation and from and after a date to be fixed in the Order in Council the price shall be raised accordingly.

Where no more than one application shall have been made for the same Land on the same day and the Waste Land Board shall have decided that the land shall be sold and shall have declared such applicant to be the purchaser thereof then such applicant shall forthwith pay to the Treasurer of the Waste Land Board the purchase money thereof and where Land shall have been put up to public auction as herein-before provided the highest bidder shall be declared the purchaser thereof and the person who is declared the purchaser shall immediately after such sale pay to the Auctioneer or other person authorised by the said Treasurer to receive the same the purchase-money of the Land purchased by him.

Upon payment of the purchase money the purchaser shall be entitled to a Grant from the Crown in fee simple of the Land of which he shall have been declared the purchaser.

On the Proclamation of New Hundreds over country held under pastoral licenses the right of pasturage shall remain with the holders of such Licenses until the appointment of Wardens for such Hundreds.

It shall be lawful for the Governor by Proclamation from time to time to declare that any District of country to be therein described which may be or have been proclaimed a Goldfield under the provisions of the “Gold-fields Act 1862” or any Gold-fields Act for the time being in force the pastoral licenses over which shall have been suspended or cancelled shall from a date to be therein stated be subject to the provisions of the “Waste Lands Act 1858” and to the provisions of the several Acts Ordinances and Regulations for the time being in force within the said Province for the sale letting occupation or disposal of the Waste Lands anything in such Gold Fields Act to the contrary notwithstanding.