The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Outlying Districts Police Act 1865.”

If any murder assault with intent to kill rape or assault with intent to rape burglary arson or armed resistance to any officer of the law shall have been committed in any district of the Colony and the perpetrators or suspected perpetrators thereof shall be concealed harbored or protected by the inhabitants of such district or of any other district so that the perpetrators of such offences cannot be arrested and committed for trial according to law it shall be lawful for the Governor to issue a proclamation calling upon the Chiefs and other inhabitants of any or every such district to aid in the arrest of such criminals or suspected criminals and giving warning that in case such criminals or suspected criminals shall not be arrested on or before a certain day specified in such proclamation the district within which any such offence shall have been committed and every district within which any such criminal or suspected criminal shall have been concealed harbored or protected is liable to be brought under the operation of this Act And the Governor shall cause such proclamation to be published in every district to which the same shall relate in such manner as he shall think fit Provided always that every such proclamation shall be issued as regards the district in which any such crime shall have been committed within three months after the commission of such crime and as regards any other district within three months after the Governor shall have been informed that such criminals or suspected criminals are being harbored concealed or protected therein.

If after such proclamation the Chiefs and other inhabitants of any such district shall persist in refusing or neglecting to deliver up such criminals or suspected criminals to justice or to aid in their arrest and if such criminals or suspected criminals shall not have been arrested within a period to be defined in such proclamation not being less than fourteen days after such proclamation shall have been published in the district it shall be lawful for the Governor by an Order in Council and he may declare that such district is brought under the operation of this Act and every such Order shall define as accurately as possible the boundaries of the district so declared and from and after the date of such Order such district shall be a proclaimed district within the meaning of this Act Provided that the limits of any district as brought under the operation of this Act may be from time to time altered by the like authority.

It shall be lawful for the Governor to take so much of the lands within any such proclaimed district as he shall think necessary for the purposes hereinafter mentioned and either to sell the same or any part thereof to purchasers or to convey the same or any part thereof to trustees to be held in trust for the purposes hereinafter mentioned and all lands so taken shall become Demesne Lands of the Crown and it shall be lawful for the Governor to issue Crown Grants for all such lands to such purchasers or trustees And such Crown Grants shall convey the fee simple thereof and shall constitute a valid and effectual title to the lands named therein.

In taking any such land regard shall be had so far as possible to the several degrees in which the owners thereof shall have been implicated in the said crimes or in concealing or protecting the perpetrators of the same from justice so that the land of the principals in any such crime shall be taken first and before taking any such land the Governor shall appoint one or more Commissioners being competent persons who shall inquire and report to the Governor what lands are the property of each person concerned in such crime or in concealing or protecting such criminals.

It shall not be lawful for the Governor to take under the authority of this Act any land being the sole property of any person who was absent from the district and was not concerned in such crime or in concealing such criminals or who may have endeavored by giving information or otherwise to aid in giving up such criminals or suspected criminals to justice And if any such person shall have any joint interest or interest in common in any land which shall be taken under the authority of this Act he shall be entitled to compensation for the loss of such interest to be assessed by the Native Lands Court.

All moneys arising from the sale letting or other disposal of any lands taken under the authority of this Act shall be paid by the trustees or other persons receiving the same to the Colonial Treasurer and shall be applied in such manner as the General Assembly shall direct to the following uses and to none other—

To make provision for the widows children parents unmarried sisters of or other relatives dependent for their support upon any person whose life may have been lost by any such crime

To compensate any person who may have suffered personal injury or any loss or damage of goods by any such crime

To compensate any person who may have lost any interest in land as hereinbefore mentioned taken under the authority of this Act

To defray the expenses incurred in arresting and bringing to justice any such criminals as aforesaid

To pay the salaries of Magistrates Police Officers and Constables in such district

To erect such buildings as may be necessary for the maintenance of such police and for the administration of justice within such district

To establish and maintain hospitals within such district.

If the Native Chiefs and other inhabitants within any district of the Colony shall agree with the Governor that a certain part of the lands within such district over which the Native Title shall not have been extinguished shall be set apart and dedicated for ever to the purpose of maintaining order within such district the Governor shall cause the title to such lands to be referred to the Native Lands Court And if the owners thereof in whose favor the certificate of the Native Lands Court shall have been issued shall by a deed under their hands consent to the appropriation of the said land in the manner aforesaid it shall be lawful for the Governor to issue a Crown Grant conveying such land to trustees to be held in trust for the following purposes that is to say—

To pay the salaries of Magistrates Police Officers and Constables within such district

To erect such buildings as may be necessary for the maintenance of such Police and for the administration of justice within such district

To establish and maintain hospitals within such district

Provided that if the said owners and the Governor shall agree that any part of the said lands may be sold for the purpose of raising funds for the erection of buildings or other necessary works for carrying out the objects herein described it shall be lawful for the trustees to sell any such lands and to convey the same to the purchasers thereof.

The trustees to whom any lands shall be conveyed in trust by the Governor under the authority of this Act shall have power to let such lands or any part or parts thereof on lease on such terms and conditions and for such periods and subject to such rent as the Governor in Council shall determine.

The Governor shall have power by warrant under his hand at any time and from time to time to remove any trustee to whom any such land has been conveyed on trust as aforesaid and on the death resignation or removal of any such trustee to appoint by warrant under his hand any other person in the place of the trustee who shall have died resigned or been removed and such person so appointed shall immediately upon such appointment become seized of and entitled to such land jointly with any remaining trustee subject however to the trusts upon which the land was originally conveyed by the Governor.