The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Native Grantees Act, 1873.”

This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.

The word “Natives” in this Act shall mean persons of the aboriginal race of New Zealand, and shall include half-castes.

In any Crown grant heretofore made or hereafter to be made to more Natives than one under the provisions of any Act of the General Assembly other than “The Native Lands Act, 1865,” and the several Acts amending the same, or “The Native Land Act, 1873,” or in any Crown grant heretofore made or hereafter to be made to more Natives than one in fulfilment of any contract engagement or promise made by or on behalf of Her Majesty or of the Government of the Colony, or in confirmation or satisfaction of any order or award made by any Court of compensation or arbitration, or by any Agent of the Crown or Commissioners appointed by the Governor or by the Governor in Council, such grantees, in the cases aforesaid, shall be and shall be deemed to have been, from the date of the grant or the antevesting date therein (if any), whichever is earliest, tenants in common and not joint tenants; but the estate or interest of each of several of such grantees shall not be deemed to be equal, or of an equal value, unless it has been so stated in their grant:

Provided always that this provision shall not apply to cases in which the grantees or the survivors of them shall before the coming into operation of this Act have alienated by sale lease or mortgage or otherwise the land comprised in their grant, or to such part of the land as they may have so alienated, nor shall this provision apply in any case where any of the joint tenants have died before the passing of this Act.

This provision shall not apply in any case where the grant is made expressly to the grantees as joint tenants, nor where the grant is made upon trust expressed in the grant.

In any case where lands have been granted or shall hereafter be granted by the Crown in any manner aforesaid to more Natives than one, or in any case where a certificate of title in respect of any land shall have been issued or shall hereafter be issued to any Natives under the provisions of the fourth section of “The East Coast Act, 1868,” then, and in every such case, all the provisions of any Native Land Act for the time being in force in regard to the subdivision or partition of lands, and all the provisions of any such Act that would be applicable in respect of such land or the owners thereof in case the title to such land had been obtained through the Native Land Court, shall be deemed to apply and may be applied in respect of the land comprised in any such grant or certificate of title issued or to be issued as hereinbefore mentioned, and in respect of the owners of such land on and from the date of the order or award under or in respect of which any such grant or certificate of title may have been issued or may hereafter be issued, in the same manner as if the title to the land comprised in any such grant or certificate of title had been obtained through the Native Land Court constituted and acting under the provisions of any Native Land Act at any time in force in the Colony.