The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Volunteers and Others Lands Act, 1877.”

Any volunteer enrolled in the Provincial District of Wellington after the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, and before the thirtieth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, shall be entitled to receive a certificate entitling him to any allowance or remission in the purchase of land within the provincial district, the Act passed by the Superintendent and Provincial Council of Wellington, intituled “No. 4. An Act to amend ‘The Volunteer Free Grants Act, 1867,’” passed in the seventeenth Session of the Provincial Council, notwithstanding.

Whereas by the third section of “The Waste Lands Administration Act, 1876,” it is provided that all claims of Volunteers for remission certificates to which they were entitled at the time of the passing of the said Act, and that all claims for exercise of scrip then already issued, should be barred unless made within twelve months of the time of the coming into operation of the last-named Act, and it is expedient to extend the time within which any such claims for remission certificates or exercise of scrip may be respectively exercised: Be it therefore enacted that all claims of Volunteers for remission certificates, and for exercise of scrip referred to in the above-mentioned third section, may be exercised within six months after the thirty-first day of October, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven; and the said third section shall be read as though the term eighteen months, instead of twelve months, had been there inserted.

Notwithstanding the repeal or expiry of any enactment under which any immigration settlement, special settlement, or other settlement of any exceptional character shall have been established, it shall be lawful for the Governor from time to time, as he shall think fit and as occasion may require, to make such regulations and to do such other things as may be necessary for the continued advancement and prosperity of any such settlement.

And it shall also be lawful for the Governor from time to time to withdraw from any such settlement any lands that have remained unoccupied therein, and such surplus lands shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the laws for the time being in force regulating the disposal of Crown lands.

With respect to any lands acquired under the provisions of “The Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870,” and any Act amending the same, out of moneys available for the purchase of lands in the North Island, or any estate or interest therein, it shall be lawful for the Governor to give effect to any stipulation made in any instrument of sale or transfer to Her Majesty of any such land by Natives, for the reservation, sale, or grant to them of any portions of such land, and for that purpose to reserve or to grant such portions accordingly in manner required by the aforesaid Natives.

The provisions of “The Confiscated Lands Act, 1867,” shall continue in operation, and shall be deemed to have been always in operation, in respect of any reserves promised to Natives or set apart for Natives under the said Act, at any time previous to the coming into operation of “The Waste Lands Administration Act, 1876,” but which, for want of surveys or other unavoidable causes, could not be proclaimed previous to the time last mentioned.