The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Westland Waste Lands Act 1870.”

This Act shall commence and come into operation on the fifteenth day of September one thousand eight hundred and seventy except the sections hereof numbered respectively seven and seventeen which shall come into operation on the day on which this Act shall receive the Governor’s assent.

In the construction of this Act the words and expressions following shall have the meanings by this section hereinafter assigned to them unless such meanings be repugnant to or inconsistent with the context that is to say—The expression “Waste Lands” shall mean the Waste Lands of the Crown within the County of Westland The expressions “the County” “the said County” and “County of Westland” shall respectively be deemed to mean and include that part of the Colony of New Zealand comprised within the boundaries specified in the First Schedule to this Act The word “Board” and the expression “Waste Lands Board” shall respectively mean the Waste Lands Board for the County under this Act.

The regulations specified in the Second Schedule to this Act shall be deemed to have had from the time at which the same purported to have been brought into operation by the respective Proclamations specified in the said Second Schedule the same force of law as if such regulations respectively had been incorporated in the Acts of the General Assembly respectively coming into operation on the day on which such regulations purported to have come into operation And such regulations shall continue to have such force of law as aforesaid until the fifth section of this Act shall come into operation when the same shall except as is hereinafter expressed be repealed.

All Acts and Regulations in force at the time of the coming into operation of this section of this Act in the County of Westland for the sale letting disposal and occupation of the Waste Lands of the Crown are hereby repealed Provided that nothing in this Act shall affect any promise contract or engagement made by or on behalf of the Crown previously to the coming into operation of this section of this Act and then incomplete or unfulfilled And nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect any licenses or leases for the occupation of Waste Lands for depasturing or other purposes heretofore lawfully granted or issued and existing and being in force at the time of the coming into operation of this section of this Act or during the currency of such licenses or leases the Waste Lands held thereunder or the rights of the holders thereof except when otherwise expressly provided but such licenses and leases and the rights of the holders thereof and the Waste Lands held thereunder shall be and continue to be during the term or currency of such licenses or leases regulated by and subject to the laws in force regulating the same and to which the same were subject immediately before the time of the coming into operation of this section of this Act notwithstanding the repeal of such laws Provided however that the Board hereby constituted shall with respect to such licenses and leases and such unfulfilled contracts promises and engagements as aforesaid and with respect to all acts matters and things commenced under the regulations specified in the Second Schedule hereto before the coming into operation of this section of this Act and at the time of the coming into operation thereof pending or incomplete have all the powers and authorities and perform all the duties which with respect to such licenses leases promises contracts and engagements acts matters and things were immediately before the coming into operation of this section of this Act vested in conferred or imposed on any Waste Lands Board then existing and on the coming into operation of this section of this Act any such Waste Lands Board shall be dissolved Provided also that “The Waste Lands Act 1858” shall only be repealed where it is repugnant to or inconsistent with this Act and only so far as regards Waste Lands in the County of Westland and all the powers and authorities of “The Waste Lands Act 1858” vested in the Governor shall continue to be vested in him in like manner as if this Act were included in the Schedule of “The Waste Lands Act 1858” Provided further that all appointments made under the regulations specified in the Second Schedule hereto and in force at the time of the coming into operation of this section of this Act shall continue and remain in force as if made under this Act and that all acts matters or things done and completed under the said regulations at the time of the coming into operation of this section of this Act shall be valid and effectual and remain in as full force as if the said regulations had not been repealed hereby And all acts matters and things commenced under the said regulations and pending or incomplete at the time of the coming into operation of this section of this Act shall be continued and completed under the said regulations as if the same had never been repealed and this section had not come into operation.

Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to repeal alter or in any way affect except as in this section contained any of the provisions of “The Crown Lands Act 1862” The Chief Commissioner of the Waste Lands Board of the County of Westland shall be ex officio the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the County of Westland under “The Crown Lands Act 1862” and shall have all the authorities duties powers and responsibilities with regard to the Waste Lands of the Crown within the said County as a Commissioner of Crown Lands appointed for a Province or County would have under the said “Crown Lands Act 1862” or “The Commissioner of Crown Lands Act 1869” and the said “Crown Lands Act 1862” shall be deemed to apply to the Crown Lands within the said County and the said Act shall be deemed to be in force in the said County without Proclamation thereof and in the application of the said Act to the said County the word “Province” shall be deemed to include “County of Westland.”

It shall be lawful for the Governor from time to time to appoint in or for the County a Receiver or Receivers of Land Revenue as fully as if such County were a Province and any such Receiver or Receivers to remove from office at his pleasure and appoint another or others in the place of any Receiver or Receivers so removed and the person acting as Receiver of Land Revenue for the County immediately before the coming into operation of this section of this Act shall continue to act as Receiver of Land Revenue for the County as if reappointed in such office by the Governor hereunder.

There shall be established a Board to be called “The Waste Lands Board for the County of Westland” to consist of one Chief Commissioner of the Receiver of Land Revenue for the County who shall by virtue of his office of Receiver be a Commissioner of and Member of such Board and of not less than two or more than four other Commissioners as the Governor shall from time to time think fit all of whom shall be appointed and be removable from time to time by the Governor and shall hold office during pleasure and the persons acting as Members of the Waste Lands Board in and for the said County of Westland immediately before the coming into operation of this section of this Act shall continue to act hereunder and be deemed to have been appointed under this Act to the respective offices in which they shall thus be acting as if reappointed by the Governor hereunder The Colonial Treasurer shall out of the Land Fund arising within the said County pay such salaries to the Receiver of Land Revenue for the County to the Members of the Waste Lands Board and to the Chief Surveyor of the County as shall from time to time be authorized by the General Assembly Provided that until such authorization as aforesaid the present salaries payable to the said Receiver Members of the Waste Lands Board and Chief Surveyor shall continue to be paid out of the said Land Fund and shall be charged to the said County.

The principal Land Office of the County shall be kept at the Town of Hokitika and the Waste Lands Board shall sit there and at certain stated times to be determined from time to time by the Governor and shall also sit for special purposes at such places and at such times as the Governor shall from time to time direct of which special sittings due notice shall be given in the Westland County Gazette and one or more newspapers published in the County Provided that the Board may adjourn any such sitting or special sitting as often as may be necessary.

The Chief Commissioner when present and in his absence then some Member selected by those present at any meeting of the Board shall preside thereat and shall have an original as well as a casting vote in all questions coming before the Board.

All questions coming before the Board shall be decided by a majority of the Commissioners present thereat.

All meetings of the Board shall be attended by at least three Commissioners and shall be open to the public.

All applications for land and for pasturage and for timber-cutting licenses shall after hearing evidence when necessary be determined by the Board at some sitting thereof.

The Board shall have power to hear and determine all disputes between the holders of pasturage licenses respecting the boundaries of runs and between the holders of timber licenses respecting the boundaries of their districts.

A book to be called the “Application Book” shall he kept open during office hours at the Land Office in which the name of every person desizing to make any application to the Board shall be written in order by himself or any person authorized by him and the Commissioners shall during the sitting of the Board consider and determine all applications in the order in which they shall appear in the Application Book Provided that if any person shall not appear himself or by some person duly authorized in writing on his behalf before the Board when called in his turn his application shall be dismissed until his name shall appear again in the book in order Provided also that if two or more persons shall apply at the same time to write their names in the Application Book the Chief Commissioner or presiding member shall bracket their names and shall initial the bracket and when they shall appear before the Board the Board shall determine the priority of right to be heard by lot and it shall not be lawful for the Board to hear any application except such as shall be made in accordance with this regulation.

The Board shall keep true and detailed minutes of all applications made to the Board and all decisions thereon and of all sums of money paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue and generally of all the proceedings of the Board and such minutes shall be signed by all the Commissioners present at any meeting The Minute Book shall be open to the inspection of any person desiring to inspect the same at all reasonable hours on payment of the sum of two shillings and sixpence for every such inspection.

“The Waste Lands Board Appeal Act 1867” shall apply to the Board constituted by this Act and the decisions of such Board and for this purpose the word “Province” and the expression “the Board” when used in the said “Waste Lands Board Appeal Act 1867” shall be deemed to have the meanings following—that is to say the word “Province” shall mean the County of Westland the expression “the Board” shall mean the Board constituted by this Act.

There shall be a Chief Surveyor for the County who shall be appointed and removable from time to time by the Governor and shall hold his office during pleasure and as many Assistant Surveyors as shall be necessary who shall be appointed and removable by the Chairman of the County Council upon the recommendation of the County Council all of whom shall hold office during pleasure and the person acting as Chief Surveyor for the County immediately before the coming into operation of this section of this Act shall continue to act as Chief Surveyor of the County as if reappointed to such office by the Governor hereunder.

All surveys shall be conducted in such manner as the Board by any regulations to be made by it from time to time in that behalf shall direct subject to any regulations to be at any time or from time to time made by the Governor in Council.

Crown Grants of all lands sold under this Act shall be prepared and forwarded to the Secretary for Crown Lands within one month after the completion of the sale in the case of town lands and within one month after the completion of the survey in the case of suburban and rural lands.

All payments to be made in respect of land to the Waste Lands Board to be made under the provisions of this Act shall be made to the Receiver of Land Revenue during the sitting of the Board and the Receiver shall thereupon give receipts for the same Provided that if from illness or other sufficient reason the Receiver of Land Revenue be absent from any sitting of the Board the Chief Commissioner or the Chairman of the Board shall act as Receiver in his stead.

It shall be lawful for the Governor to make all reserves required for purposes of General Government all which reserves shall be notified in the New Zealand Gazette and upon the recommendation of the Board by writing under his hand from time to time and at any time when deemed necessary to make reserves of land whether surveyed into sections and advertised for sale or not so surveyed and advertised for the following objects and purposes—

Canals railways and tramways

Drains

Quays landing-places and ferries

Sites for schools and other buildings to be used for purposes of education and land for the endowment of schools and other educational institutions in the County or elsewhere if of a public character

Sites for mechanics’ institutes hospitals and institutions for charitable purposes markets court houses prisons or other edifices for public uses or purposes for the County or any Borough or Road Board

Cemeteries

Places necessary for the embellishment of towns or for the health and recreation of the inhabitants thereof

For the endowment of Municipal Corporations within the County and generally for any purpose of public utility convenience or enjoyment

For resting-place and commonage for cattle being driven from one part of the County to another.

A full and complete description of every such reserve and of the purposes to which it shall have been dedicated shall so soon as possible after it shall have been made be published in the County of Westland Gazette and set forth on the authenticated maps in the Land Office Provided that the Waste Lands Board may temporarily reserve land for such purposes and if such temporary reserve shall not be confirmed by the Governor making the same a reserve in manner aforesaid within four months from the date at which such temporary reserve was made such land shall thereupon cease to be so reserved Schedules and plans of all public reserves made by the Governor shall be forwarded to the Office of the Secretary for Crown Lands by the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the County in all cases as soon as possible after such reserves shall have been set forth as aforesaid.

Whereas by the sixteenth section of “The County of Westland Act 1867” it is enacted that all estate and interest of the Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury or his successors in any public reserves or lands within the said County shall upon the coming into operation of “The County of Westland Act 1867” forthwith vest in the Governor who shall have with respect to such reserves all the powers conferred upon the Superintendent and Provincial Council or their successors by grant under “The Public Reserves Act 1854” And whereas the said section has been repealed and it is expedient that other provisions should be made in lieu thereof Be it therefore enacted as follows—

That with regard to reserves of Waste Lands of the Crown within the said County made before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight and granted by the Crown to the Superintendent of the said Province or his successors and remaining vested in him or his successors on the said first day of January the same shall be deemed to revest in the Crown but shall continue to be reserves for the purposes or uses for which the same were or were reputed to be reserves on the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight subject however to be dealt with as if reserved under this Act

That with regard to reserves of Waste Lands of the Crown within the said County except reserves made by the Governor under “The Waste Lands Act 1858” made before the said first day of January and of which no Crown Grant had been issued to the Superintendent of said Province or his successors or made since the said first day of January and before the coming into operation of this section of this Act the same shall be deemed to vest and remain in the Crown but shall continue to be reserves for the purposes or uses for which the same were or were reputed to be reserves at the time of the coming into operation of this section of the Act subject however to be dealt with as if reserved under this Act.

Reserves heretofore made or hereinafter to be made of Waste Lands except reserves for Native purposes as to which this Act shall not apply and reserves for General Government purposes shall be managed and administered by the Governor in Council.

The specified purposes for which any such reserves shall be held may be changed and any such reserves may be leased mortgaged or sold either in whole or in part by the Governor in Council and notice of such change or sale shall be published in the County of Westland Gazette at least two months before such change or sale And the rents issues profits and proceeds arising from the sale mortgage or other disposition thereof except with respect to reserves for purposes of the General Government shall form part of and be paid into the Public Account to the credit of and to form part of the Land Fund of the County Provided that it shall be lawful for the Governor in Council to order that the rents issues profits or proceeds arising from any reserve or the sale mortgage or disposition thereof shall be paid to any person or persons or corporation having the management of such reserve and in such case the said rents issues profits and proceeds shall not be paid into the Public Account but shall be receivable by and paid to such person or persons or corporation.

The Governor in Council may from time to time by Order in Council direct that any such reserves as aforesaid shall vest in and be held by any Corporation Commissioners or other person or persons having corporate succession to be named in the order in trust for the like or other public purposes to be specified and declared in such order in such manner and with such powers of leasing for any term not exceeding twenty-one years from the date of the lease and of management of such reserves and of disposing of the rents issues profits and proceeds thereof and other powers provisions and provisoes as shall be expressed and declared in such order Provided however that it shall not be lawful by any Order of the Council to authorize the leasing of any lands which have been or may hereinafter be reserved for public gardens or recreation grounds for the inhabitants of any town or district excluding the public therefrom except in furtherance of the purposes for which the same may have been reserved but the management of any such public gardens or recreation grounds may nevertheless be vested by Order of the Council in any Corporation or Commissioner or other person or persons having corporate succession under such restrictions and limitations as the Governor in Council shall think sufficient to secure the full maintenance of the purposes for which such reserve may have been made and it is hereby expressly declared that where the disposition of the rents issues profits and proceeds of any reserves is under this section vested in any Corporation Commissioners or persons such rents issues profits and proceeds shall not be paid into the Public Account.

Reserves for public highways bridle-paths and foot-paths shall be made by the Waste Lands Board and shall be set forth on the authenticated maps in the Land Office of the County.

The Waste Lands Board may temporarily reserve any land for the preservation or sale of the timber thereon but such land may at any time cease to be so reserved upon a Resolution of the County Council.

All such lands within the said County as before the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight had been reserved by the Superintendent of the said Province of Canterbury from time to time under the nineteenth clause of the Waste Lands Regulations of the said Province as sites for churches chapels schools or for educational purposes and this whether a Crown Grant for such lands shall have been issued at the time of the coming into operation of this section of this Act to the Superintendent or not shall on the coming into operation of this section of this Act revest in the Crown and it shall be lawful for the Governor to execute and issue a Crown Grant of such lands and also all other such lands as may hereafter be reserved for like purposes to the respective trustees and their successors of the several religious denominations bodies or societies in whose favour such respective reserves may have been made and the term “trustees” shall with reference to any such denomination body or society be deemed to mean the person or persons or body ecclesiastical or secular to whom or which in the opinion of the Governor such conveyance will according to the usages or practices of such denomination body or society be most fittingly made having regard to the due preservation and observance of the proper trusts for which such lands were reserved Provided that nothing in this section contained shall apply to any such reserves as had been granted to the Superintendent of the said Province and conveyed by him to any trustees or other persons before the said first day of January one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.

Ministers or trustees of religious bodies shall after any land town suburban or rural is open for sale or selection be at liberty to apply to the Board for permission to purchase land not exceeding one acre in any town as sites for churches chapels schools or other buildings devoted to religious purposes and not exceeding ten acres in the case of suburban or rural land for burial-grounds or as sites for churches chapels or schools and upon any such application being approved of by the Board the applicants or other, persons on behalf of the religious body shall be permitted to purchase the land applied for at such rate as shall be fixed by the Board.

The sites of towns shall from time to time be determined by the Governor upon the recommendation of the County Council and shall be notified by Proclamation in the County of Westland Gazette and all sites for towns determined to be such sites before the coming into operation of this Act shall continue to be sites for towns as if determined hereunder Provided always that upon the recommendation of the County Council approved by the Waste Lands Board the Governor may withdraw any such lands as sites for towns or make such alterations in their boundaries as may be recommended as aforesaid.

Town lands shall be sold by public auction by the Waste Lands Board in sections the size and upset price of which shall be determined by the Governor on the recommendation of the County Council and having been so determined for each town severally such upset price shall not be diminished and all town lands the size and upset price of which have been determined before the coming into operation of this Act shall be sold under this Act in and according to such sizes and prices so determined as if determined under this Act unless otherwise determined hereunder Provided that if any person has made improvements to the value of twenty pounds sterling upon any section the occupier shall be entitled to purchase said section at the upset price without competition within three months after the said land has been open for sale.

The time and place of every auction sale shall be fixed by the Waste Lands Board, and shall be notified in the County of Westland Gazette and one or more newspapers circulating in the County at least thirty days before such sale shall take place.

No such notification of any sale of town lands shall be published until a map of the town signed by the Chief Surveyor shall have been laid open for public inspection at the Land Office and such map shall set forth accurately delineated such town sections numbered consecutively so far as laid out showing the sections to be submitted for sale.

Town sections may be put up to auction either by order of the Waste Lands Board or upon the application of some person who shall at the time of making such application deposit ten per cent of the upset price with the Receiver of Land Revenue Such deposits shall if no advance on the upset price be made be considered as the deposit upon the sale at such auction Provided that if any town sections put up within a defined block as specified in this section be not sold they may be purchased at any subsequent sitting of the Board at the upset price.

If any town section shall at the auction sale be purchased by other than the original applicant the deposit money shall be returned to said applicant on demand.

Ten days at least before any auction sale a list of all the sections about to be offered shall be published in one or more newspapers circulating in the County.

The person who shall be declared the highest bidder at such auction shall immediately pay a deposit of ten per cent of the purchase money to the Receiver of Land Revenue and in default thereof the section shall be again immediately put up to auction Provided that if the person so declared to be the highest bidder shall have originally applied to have the land put up to auction and shall at the time of making such application have deposited ten per cent of the upset price with the Receiver of Land Revenue no further deposit shall be paid but such deposit shall be deemed to be the deposit required by this section.

The remainder of the purchase money shall be paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue in full at the next sitting within thirty days after the day of sale and in default thereof the purchaser shall forfeit his deposit money and also all right of title to the land.

Any section so forfeited as provided in the preceding clause may be sold to any person applying for the same for the price at which it was knocked down at the auction and if not so sold the section may be again put up to auction at any future sale.

Upon payment of the purchase money in full the purchaser shall receive from the Board a license to occupy in the form set forth in the Third Schedule to this Act and such license shall be delivered up upon receipt of a Crown Grant of the land purchased.

Waste Lands of the Crown in the County of Westland not being town land may from time to time be declared open for sale by the Waste Lands Board by notice in the County of Westland Gazette. Such notice shall define the boundaries and position of the blocks of land so declared open for sale and shall classify the same as suburban land or rural land and all Proclamations made under any Act or Regulations repealed by this Act and in force or reputed to be in force at the time of the coming into operation of this Act shall be deemed to have been valid from the making thereof and shall continue in operation under this Act.

All suburban or rural lands (but not lands within any proclaimed township) sold under the provisions of this Act shall for the period of fourteen years after sale be open to entry by miners for the purpose of mining for gold subject to the provisions contained in the Regulations set forth in the Fourth Schedule hereto or to such other Regulations either additional to or amending or altering the Regulations in the said Fourth Schedule as may be made by the Governor in Council and the Governor is hereby authorized to make from time to time as he may think fit by Proclamation in the New Zealand Gazette Regulations additional to the Regulations set forth in the Fourth Schedule or altering or amending the same and for like purposes and it shall not be necessary in the Crown Grant of any such land to make any reservation or exception of such right of entry or other reference thereto.

Upon the survey of all lands sold as suburban or rural land there shall be added an amount equal to five per cent of the total average so sold for the purposes of roads tramways and railways and it shall be lawful for the Waste Lands Board at any time within five years from the date at which a Crown Grant shall have been or shall be issued for any land sold as suburban or rural land under this Act or any Act or Regulations repealed hereby to cause to be laid out and reserved through such lands such roads tramways or railways as such Board may think fit.

Every section of suburban or rural land shall be in one block and except as hereinafter provided of a rectangular form Provided always that should any section when surveyed prove to differ in any respect from that intended by the purchaser the Government will not be responsible for any loss or inconvenience which the purchaser may experience nor will the purchase money be returned Provided also that when the land is found to be in excess such excess may either be retained by the Government or paid for by the purchaser at a price determined as aforesaid at the discretion of the Waste Lands Board Provided further that if the Surveyor shall find that the whole extent of land in the selected locality falls short of the quantity paid for by the purchaser so much of the purchase money as exceeds the price of land to be conveyed shall be returned to him by the Receiver of Land Revenue upon a voucher certified to by the Chairman of the Board The license to occupy shall in any case be amended by the Board in accordance with the report of the Surveyor and the Crown Grant shall be made out in accordance therewith and the license shall be delivered up when the Crown Grant shall be issued.

In the interpretation of this Act a frontage line shall be taken to mean the boundary of a road river or public reserve or any stream or watercourse which shall have been declared by the Waste Lands Board by notification in the County of Westland Gazette to constitute a frontage.

Where from the frontage not being a straight line or from the interference of other frontage lines natural features or the boundaries of private lands the rules provided in this Act in respect of form cannot be accurately observed the form of the section shall be determined as nearly in accordance with the foregoing provision as in the judgment of the Board circumstances will admit.

Land in the vicinity of townships or other centres of population may when declared by the Waste Lands Board to be open for sale be classified as suburban land.

Suburban land shall be sold by public auction at an upset price of two pounds per acre in blocks of not less than one nor more than ten acres.

Where such improvements as are mentioned in the fifty-ninth section of this Act have been made on any land which under any Proclamation continued in operation by this Act has been or which under this Act shall be classed as suburban land such land may be surveyed for sale and sold in a block or section of any size the Board may think fit though less than one acre but no such section shall in any case exceed ten acres.

It shall be lawful for the Board to put up for sale by auction any section of suburban land so limited by frontage lines or by lands which have been previously sold as to contain less than one acre.

The provisions of this Act in respect of the sale of town lands by auction shall apply mutatis mutandis to the sale by auction of suburban land except that the amount of deposit to be paid by the person upon whose application any suburban land shall be put up to auction or who shall at the auction be declared to be the highest bidder shall be twenty-five per centum of the upset price or of the purchase money realized at auction respectively and that the purchaser of any suburban land shall after payment of a deposit in respect thereof be allowed one month to pay the remainder of the purchase money.

Every section of suburban land shall have such a depth as in the judgment of the Board circumstances admit.

Upon payment of the purchase money in full for any suburban land the purchaser shall receive from the Board a license to occupy in the form set forth in the Fifth Schedule to this Act and such license shall be delivered up upon receipt of a Crown Grant of the land purchased or proof to the satisfaction of the Board shall be given of the loss or destruction of such license.

All rural land shall be open for sale at a fixed uniform price of one pound per acre in blocks of not less than twenty acres Provided that under special circumstances it shall be lawful for the Governor upon the recommendation of the County Council and Waste Lands Board to authorize the sale of special blocks not less in area than one hundred and sixty acres at an upset price of not less than ten shillings per acre such price to be fixed in each case by the Governor upon the recommendation aforesaid.

Every section of rural land shall have such a depth as in the judgment of the Board circumstances admit.

Immediately on the payment of the purchase money for any rural land the purchaser shall receive from the Board a license to occupy in the form set forth in the Sixth Schedule hereunto annexed and as soon thereafter as conveniently may be the land shall be laid off by a Government surveyor as nearly in accordance with the description given by the purchaser in his application as the provisions of this Act will admit.

Whenever improvements have been made on any section the value of which should in the opinion of the Waste Lands Board be secured to the occupant of such section it shall be lawful for the Waste Lands Board on its recommendation to that effect having been approved in such case by the Governor to add to the upset price of such section the value of such improvements to be ascertained in such manner as shall be decided by the Board with such approval as aforesaid in which case should the occupant become the purchaser it shall not be necessary for him to pay the value so ascertained but the same shall be allowed to him as if paid and if any other person become the purchaser the amount of such value shall be paid over to the occupant by the Receiver of Land Revenue.

It shall be lawful for the Waste Lands Board at any time to withdraw from sale any block or blocks of suburban or rural land which may have been or shall hereafter be declared open for sale by the said Board in exercise of the powers given them by section forty-three of this Act Provided always that every such withdrawal shall be notified in the County of Westland Gazette within seven days thereof.

It shall further be lawful for the Waste Lands Board to declare the land so withdrawn open for sale again in accordance with the forty-third section at their discretion Provided always that three months’ notice of such declaration of being open for sale as last aforesaid shall be previously given in the County of Westland Gazette.

All Waste Lands not declared open for sale and not required as commonage for stock may be occupied for pasturage purposes by persons holding annual licenses from the Waste Lands Board to occupy the same in blocks of not less than five hundred acres.

Any person applying for a pasturage license shall state to the Board what are the boundaries and extent of the run applied for.

The rent to be paid for the license shall be at the following rates for the lands included in such license That is to say—

And the fee for every license shall be paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue in advance on the issue of such license.

If upon the expiration of any annual pasturage license it shall appear to the Waste Lands Board expedient to issue a further license to depasture the land included in such first-mentioned license the Board shall grant such further annual license to the holder of the license so expired upon payment of the rent provided in this Act.

Every annual pasturage license shall be in the form set forth in the Seventh Schedule to this Act and shall be transferable by indorsement in the form set forth in such Schedule and upon the payment of a fee of one pound to the Receiver of Land Revenue and such transfer shall be deemed to be complete upon notice thereof being duly given to the Waste Lands Board and not before A pasturage license shall entitle the holder thereof to the exclusive right of pasturage over the land specified therein upon the terms herein stated Such license shall give no right to the soil or to the timber and shall immediately determine over any land which may be reserved or declared open for sale under this Act A reasonable right of way shall be allowed through all pasturage runs as well as for right of entry to miners for the purpose of mining or searching for gold.

The Waste Lands Board may issue licenses authorizing licensee to occupy land for the purpose of cutting and dressing flax on the following conditions—

That no license shall comprise more than five hundred acres nor less than fifty acres.

The annual rent shall not be less than one shilling per acre.

Every annual flax license shall be in the form set forth in the Eighth Schedule to this Act and shall be transferable by indorsement in the form set forth in such Schedule upon the payment of a fee of two pounds ten shillings to the Receiver of Land Revenue.

Upon the application of any person desirous of cutting and removing timber from Waste Lands of the Crown it shall be lawful for the Waste Lands Board to issue a license authorizing him to do so in the form in the Ninth Schedule hereto.

Every timber-cutting license for cutting or removing timber shall be issued for one month or for one year at the request of the person applying for the same and a fee of ten shillings shall be paid upon every monthly license and of five pounds for every yearly license.

A license shall entitle no one hut the person named therein to cut down the standing timber but it will authorize him to employ any number of persons during the term of the license to saw split or remove the timber so cut and such license shall not be transferable.

A license to cut timber shall extend only to the district named therein.

If any person duly licensed shall have established a saw-pit for the purpose of sawing timber no other person shall cut timber within fifty yards from such pit without the consent of the person first occupying such saw-pit Provided that if the person establishing such saw-pit shall not use the same and shall not cut timber within such distance as aforesaid from the pit for twenty-eight consecutive days it shall be lawful for any other holder of a license to enter thereupon and to cut timber as though such pit had not been established.

If any person shall for the purpose of removing timber have made a road upon land being the Waste Lands of the Crown and not being a highway it shall not be lawful for any other person to use the same without the permission of the person making the same first be obtained Provided that if such road shall not be used at any time for ninety consecutive days it shall be lawful for any holder of a license at any time thereafter to use the same.

If any person holding a timber license shall be proved before the Waste Lands Board to have offended against any provisions herein contained respecting timber or to have wilfully or negligently injured or destroyed by fire or otherwise any timber belonging to the Crown such license may be immediately declared to be forfeited and it shall be at the discretion of the Board to refuse to issue another timber license to the same person.

Nothing in this Act contained shall prevent any person holding a mining lease miner’s right or business license from cutting timber upon Waste Lands of the Crown in such manner to such extent and for such purposes as may be prescribed by any regulations issued under the authority of “The Gold Fields Act 1866.”

All the fines and penalties hereby or by any rule regulation or by-law to be made hereunder imposed or made recoverable may be recovered in a summary manner before a Resident Magistrate or before any two or more Justices of the Peace of the Colony.