The Short Title of this Act is “The Land Act 1877 Amendment Act, 1882.”

Notwithstanding any provisions to the contrary contained in “The Land Act, 1877,” or in any regulations made thereunder, or in “The Mines Act, 1877,” or in any regulations made thereunder, the Governor in Council may from time to time, by Proclamation in the Gazette, set apart blocks of rural land, or particular sections in or portions of blocks of rural land, for leasing by the Board, in such areas, subject to the provisions of this Act, as he shall think fit: Provided that there shall never be open for leasing under this Act at any one time, in any one district, an area greater than one-third of the area of agricultural land then open for sale in such district.

Any such Proclamation may be at any time revoked in whole or in part, and either the whole or any part of the said lands thereafter dealt with as if they had never been so proclaimed.

When any land has been so set apart no part of such land shall be capable of being sold or of being otherwise dealt with than by leasing under this Act, so long as the said Proclamation remains in force as to such land.

Every lease under this Act (hereinafter referred to as a “lease”) shall he put up to public competition by tender, at an upset rental equivalent to five pounds per centum on the capital value as fixed by the Board of the land proposed to he leased.

Provided that such value so fixed shall not be less than the price for which similar lands may be sold for cash under the law for the time being regulating the price of such land in the district.

All tenders for any land shall be opened by the Commissioner at a meeting of the Board at one time as advertised.

Any such tender shall be deemed to be informal and incapable of being accepted unless closed up and accompanied by a statutory declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule hereto, together with six months’ rent at the rate tendered, and the sum of thirty shillings to pay for the lease and registration thereof, paid either in cash or by a marked cheque.

The highest tenderer for the same, if his tender shall equal or exceed such upset price, shall be declared the lessee, and be entitled to possession of the lands the lease of which has been so purchased by him when and so soon as he has executed a lease thereof in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and has complied with any other conditions lawfully prescribed in that behalf at the time of sale.

If the rent offered by two or more persons is the same amount, and is higher than that offered by any other tenderers, then the Commissioner shall, after opening all the tenders, decide by lot in such manner as he shall think fit which of such two or more persons shall be declared the lessee.

The deposits and fees paid by the unsuccessful tenderers shall be returned to them by the Commissioner immediately after the tenders have been opened.

If any person who has been declared a lessee hereunder shall fail to execute his lease within twenty-one days from the day fixed for opening the tenders, if the Commissioner has the lease ready for execution at the office of the Board, if the lease is not ready, then within fifteen days of the lease being ready, then his deposit and the said sum of thirty shillings shall be absolutely forfeited to the Crown, and his right to obtain a lease of such lands shall absolutely cease and determine.

Provided that at any time within seven days from such forfeiture the Commissioner may declare the next highest tenderer for the same lease to be the lessee, or, if the rent offered by two or more persons is the same amount, and is higher than the rent offered by any other tenderer save the one who has so forfeited his right to a lease as aforesaid, may decide by lot which of such others shall be the lessee, upon his again paying the deposit and fees as aforesaid; and thereupon the provisions of this Act shall apply to such person as if he had been declared the lessee on the day of the opening of the tenders: But any such tenders, to be capable of being accepted under this proviso, must equal or exceed the upset price as aforesaid.

And in case of forfeiture of his right to a lease by the person so declared a lessee under the above proviso, the procedure prescribed by the said proviso shall, mutatis mutandis, be continued from time to time, until the land be leased in accordance with this Act, or until there be a failure of all tenderers whose tenders are formal and who are willing to accept the lease in accordance with this Act.

If no tender shall be received for any of the leases advertised for competition by tender prior to the time fixed for opening the tenders, any person may at any time thereafter apply for any one of such leases, and be declared the lessee thereof at the upset rental fixed upon complying with the other conditions of this Act prescribed as to tenders.

If two or more applicants shall lodge their tenders at the same time, the right to the lease shall be decided by lot.

Any one person may tender for two or more leases at the same time, but, except in the case provided for by section fourteen hereof, he shall not be capable of becoming the lessee under more than one lease; and if he shall be found, upon the opening of the tenders, to be the highest tenderer for more than one lease, he shall, except in the case before mentioned, elect forthwith which of such leases he will accept, and thereupon the Commissioner shall, subject to the other provisions of this Act, declare the next highest tenderer for the lease or leases which the first-mentioned tenderer has elected not to accept to be the lessee, or, if there be two or more tenderers at the same amount and higher than any other tenderers, shall decide by lot.

Provided that, in the event of any person tendering for two or more leases, the deposit of a sum equal to one half-year’s rent of the tender largest in amount shall be sufficient.

Provided further that, if he be tendering for two or more leases such as he may in the aggregate become the lessee of under the fourteenth section hereof, the deposit shall in such case be a half-year’s rent, at the rate tendered for each such lease, and also the aforementioned sum of thirty shillings in respect of each such lease.

The Board may at any time reduce the upset rental of land which it has failed to lease, subject to the proviso to section three hereof, and may again call for tenders for the same at such reduced rental.

Any person of the age of eighteen years and upwards may become a lessee hereunder, and if under full age shall be as capable of executing a lease and shall be bound by the terms thereof and of this Act as if such person was of full age.

No lease shall be made to any person owning, nor shall any person be capable of becoming the lessee under a lease or a sublessee who owns, any freehold land or land held under lease or license under the Crown, whereby such person shall become either the owner, tenant, or occupier in the whole, either by himself or jointly with any other person or persons, including the lands comprised in the lease, of a greater area than six hundred and forty acres anywhere in the colony.

No person shall be capable of becoming the lessee under more than one lease, unless the lands comprised in the several leases adjoin each other.

The provisions of the last two preceding sections shall not apply to persons who may become lessees or sublessees by marriage, or under a will, or by virtue of an intestacy.

Every lease shall be prepared by the Commissioner, and shall be in such form, and shall contain such covenants, conditions, and agreements, not being inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as the Governor in Council may prescribe, by regulations, which he is hereby authorized and empowered from time to time to make, and from time to time to alter, amend, or revoke, and which may either be general or applicable to any particular case or class of cases.

The Commissioner, on behalf of the Board, and the lessee, shall each execute the lease in duplicate.

Every lease shall, after execution thereof by the Commissioner and the lessee, shall be registered by him under “The Land Transfer Act, 1870,” or any Act now or hereafter passed in lieu thereof, in like manner, as nearly as may be, mutatis mutandis, as a Crown grant is registered, and the lease which is retained in the office of the District Land Registrar shall form a folium of the register-book in such office, and on it all dealings therewith shall be registered,

All dealings with or transmissions of such lease shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the last-mentioned Acts, and be in all respects subject thereto; but, on the registration of any such lease, no fee shall be payable by way of contribution to the assurance fund.

All leases under this Act, and also all declarations made under the said Act on the purchase of land on deferred payments or under this Act as aforesaid, shall be exempt from duty under any Act now or hereafter to be passed relating to stamp duties.

Every lease shall he for a term fixed so as to expire on the thirtieth day of June which shall first ensue after the expiration of thirty years from the date of the commencement of the term, and shall be renewable from time to time as hereinafter appears.

The lessee shall pay the rent reserved by his lease to the Receiver of Land Revenue of the district wherein the land leased by him is situate by equal half-yearly instalments in advance, on the first day of the months of January and July in each year, and the half-year’s rent, which must be paid at the time of tendering, shall be in discharge of the half-year’s rent due on the first day of January or the first day of July which shall first ensue after the commencement of the term.

The lessee shall be liable for all rates, taxes, or assessments of every nature or kind whatsoever imposed upon the occupier of the lands included in his lease during the term for which he is lessee.

No lessee shall transfer, sublet, or otherwise part with the possession or occupation of the land leased to him, or any part thereof, until the transferee, sublessee, or person acquiring possession or occupation has deposited with the Commissioner a statutory declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule hereto.

No mortgagee of a lease shall be capable of transferring the lease so mortgaged to him, or of entering into possession of the lands included in the mortgage, or of leasing such lands, or of foreclosing upon the mortgage, until the transferee, or the lessee, or the mortgagee, if he is entering into possession or foreclosing, has deposited with the Commissioner a statutory declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule hereto.

No trustee in bankruptcy who as such has acquired a lease, and no Sheriff or other officer of any Court who may be entitled to sell a lease by virtue of any process of such Court, shall be capable of selling such lease until the purchaser has deposited with the Commissioner a statutory declaration in the form or to the effect set forth in the First Schedule hereto.

All dealings with or under leases in contravention of the provisions of the three last preceding sections shall be absolutely void, and the District Land Registrar shall refuse to register any dealing with or under a lease until he is satisfied that the said provisions have been complied with.

Any lessee may with the consent of the Board surrender the lands leased by him, and thereupon valuations shall be made, and a new lease of the said lands offered for sale in like manner as if the lease so surrendered was about to be determined by effluxion of time, save that it shall not be competent for the period of seven years from the date of such surrender for the lessee who has so surrendered to become the lessee of the new lease either originally or by transfer or sublease.

The Governor in Council may, by Proclamation, resume possession of the whole or any portion of any land leased under this Act which in his opinion is required for any public purpose, or which may be deemed by him to be auriferous or required for mining purposes, and upon the gazetting of such Proclamation the lease shall be determined as far as relates to the lands mentioned in the Proclamation.

Upon such resumption of any part of the land so leased the rent payable by the lessee shall be abated in such proportion to the whole rent payable under the lease as the area so resumed bears to the whole area leased, and the lessee shall upon resumption of the whole or any part of the lands leased by him also be entitled to be paid compensation, valued by arbitration, for any substantial improvements of a permanent character which may have been made by him and may be then in existence on the said lands the possession of which has been so resumed.

If by reason of such resumption any portion of the land included in the lease is so severed from the rest of the land included in the lease as in the opinion of the lessee to greatly diminish the value of the same to the lessee, then he shall be entitled to surrender any portion so severed, and he shall thereupon be entitled to a further abatement of rent and to compensation as if the portion so surrendered had been resumed as above mentioned.

Every lessee shall within six months of the commencement of his term, and thereafter for a period of six consecutive years, reside on some portion of the lands leased by him.

Provided that the Board may in the case of bush lands dispense with the necessity of such residence until two years after the commencement of the term, and shall dispense with the necessity of such residence in all cases of youths who may become lessees and who are living within the provincial district and are residing with their parents or near relatives until three years after the commencement of the term; and as to all lands may dispense with the necessity for such residence altogether, if the lessee resides on lands contiguous to the lands leased.

Provided that lands shall be deemed to be contiguous to each other if only separated by a road or stream.

Provided further that this condition shall not apply to any person who has acquired an interest in any lease under an intestacy or by virtue of a will.

Provided further that when any two lessees shall intermarry the Board may dispense with residence by either of such lessees on the lands comprised in one of the leases.

Any lease held by any person who shall hold or occupy by himself or by other persons under him more than one lease, except as provided in the case of sections fourteen and fifteen of this Act, shall be forfeited, and be deemed to be and to have been from the issue thereof absolutely void and of no effect; and such lands may be dealt with forthwith by the Board as in the case of unoccupied Crown lands.

The definition given to substantial improvements of a permanent character in the fourth section of “The Land Act, 1877,” and the whole of the seventh section of “The Land Act 1877 Amendment Act, 1879,” are hereby repealed, and the expression “substantial improvements of a permanent character” shall, for all purposes under either of the two last-mentioned Acts or of this Act, mean and include reclamation from swamps, clearing of bush or scrub, cultivation, planting with trees or live hedges, the laying out and cultivating of gardens, fencing, draining, making roads, sinking wells or water-tanks, constructing water-races, in any way improving the character or fertility of the soil, or the erection of any building.

Each lessee shall, within one year from the date of his lease, bring into cultivation not less than one-twentieth of the land leased by him.

Each lessee shall, within two years from the date of his lease, bring into cultivation not less than one-tenth of the land leased by him.

Each lessee shall, within four years from the date of his lease, bring into cultivation not less than one-fifth of the land leased by him.

Each lessee shall, within six years from the date of his lease, in addition to the cultivation of one-fifth of the land, have put substantial improvements of a permanent character on the land to the value of one pound for every acre of such land.

Should the lessee within the period of six years have complied with the conditions of improvements, as set forth in sections thirty-four to thirty-seven inclusive, then he shall be entitled to acquire the fee-simple of the land comprised in his lease, at a price to be fixed at the time when the lease is granted, which shall not be less than the capital value on which he has paid rent at five per cent:

Provided that the lessee must take advantage of such purchasing right within eleven years of the commencement of his lease:

Provided also that nothing in this section shall be held or taken to apply to any land or any education reserves situate within any mining or gold-mining district.

When any lands leased have a frontage upon any stream of water, the lessee shall have no claim or right of action against the Crown or any other person whomsoever for damage caused by the fouling, pollution, or diversion of the waters of such stream by any tenants or licensees of the Crown or the Board, or of any public authority in the prosecution of gold-mining.

Not sooner than three years and six months, and not later than three years before the end of the term for which the lease is granted, a valuation shall be made by arbitration of the then value of the fee-simple of the lands then included in the lease, and also a valuation of all substantial improvements of a permanent character made by the lessee during the term and then in existence on the land then comprised in the lease.

After the making and publishing of the above-mentioned awards, which shall be effected by serving a copy of the same on the lessee and another copy on the Commissioner, but not later than three months before the expiry of the term for which the lessee then holds the lands, the lessee shall elect, by notice in writing delivered to the Commissioner, whether he will accept a fresh lease of the said lands for a further term of twenty-one years from the expiration of the then term, at a rental equal to five pounds per centum on the gross value of the lands as fixed by the arbitration after deducting therefrom the value of the substantial improvements of a permanent character, as fixed by the said arbitration.

If the lessee shall not elect to accept a renewal as above-mentioned, or shall refuse or neglect to execute a lease within seven days after the same is tendered to him for the purpose, then a new valuation of the substantial improvements of a permanent character then on the said land shall be at once made by arbitration, in like manner and subject to the same provisions in all respects as the arbitration before referred to, and a lease of the said lands shall, not later than one month before the end of the term for which the present lease was granted, be put up to public competition by public tender for such further term of twenty-one years, on the following terms and conditions:—

If such lease shall not be sold as above mentioned to some person other than the lessee, or if such person fails to execute the lease in duplicate within fourteen days, or to pay the sum offered by him as aforesaid Within fourteen days from the day on which the tenders were opened, then the lessee may again, within fourteen days after the day fixed for the opening of the tenders, elect in manner aforesaid whether he will accept a fresh lease as aforesaid; and if he does not elect to accept the same, or refuses or neglects to execute such lease for fourteen days as aforesaid, then he shall continue as lessee of the said, lands, from year to year, so long as he shall pay the rent reserved by his lease, and observe and perform the covenants and conditions contained in the same, or in this Act, or until the Board shall succeed in finding a purchaser of the new lease, unless, prior to the finding of such purchaser by the Board, he shall elect to accept a new lease for the said further period of twenty-one years as aforesaid:

Provided that the Board in selling to a purchaser shall always make provision that the right to take possession under such new lease shall always commence on the first day of July in any year, and that no such sale shall be made without giving to the present lessee one month’s notice of the intention to sell, and allowing him during such month to elect to accept such new lease as aforesaid.

All the provisions of this Act, except sections thirty-four to thirty-seven, both inclusive, as regards the tenders for sale, form, and conditions of first leases made under this Act, and otherwise howsoever as regards such leases, shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to the sale, form, and conditions of the new or renewal leases above mentioned, and to the lessees thereunder, and otherwise howsoever, except that in all such new or renewal leases the term shall be twenty-one years and not thirty years, and except as herein is otherwise expressly provided.

All provisions of “The Land Act, 1877,” in any way relating or applying to leases which are not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, shall apply to leases under this Act.

The conditions set forth in this Act as regards leases shall operate and shall be deemed to bind the Board and the lessee as fully and effectually as if they were set forth in every lease.

If any lessee hereunder shall make default in the payment of rent or in the observance or performance of any of the conditions herein contained, or which may be expressed in his lease, and shall allow such default to continue for six months, or shall be convicted of making any false declaration hereunder, his lease shall he capable of being absolutely determined, on an order being made to that effect by a Judge of the Supreme Court, which he is hereby authorized to make on application, in a summary way, by the Commissioner, and the lands included in the same, with all improvements thereon, shall absolutely revert to Her Majesty, without any payment whatsoever to the lessee.

Any lease of rural lands issued under the authority of “The Land Act, 1877,” or any Act repealed thereby, or under “The Mines Act, 1877,” or “The Gold Mining Districts Act, 1873,” may, if such land be portion of any lands proclaimed hereunder, be surrendered by the lessee thereof, and a new lease thereof granted by the Board under this Act, on such terms and conditions in all respects as are not inconsistent with this Act, save that the same need not be put up to public tender.

The Governor in Council may from time to time, by Proclamation, which may from time to time he altered, amended, or revoked, declare that any lands now or hereafter reserved as an endowment for any body or for any purpose shall be subject to the provisions of sections three to forty-eight of this Act, and whether the same be vested in any corporate body or person whomsoever.

Provided always that no such Proclamation shall have any effect unless it be issued at the request or upon the recommendation of the body or person in whom such reserves are vested, or who have the administration of the revenue arising therefrom.

Upon such Proclamation being issued, the lands comprised therein may be leased by the Board upon the same terms and conditions in all respects as the Board is hereby empowered to lease Crown rural lands, and all rents received by the Receiver of Land Revenue under such leases shall by him, on receipt thereof, be paid over to the body or person by law for the time being entitled to receive the same.

Every lease granted under the last preceding section hereof, where the land is vested in any corporate body or person, shall be executed by the Commissioner on behalf of the Board in the name of the body or person in whom the lands dealt with by the lease are vested.

The Governor in Council may, by Proclamation, declare that any lands now or hereafter reserved for any educational purposes shall he sold subject to the provisions of “The Land Act, 1877.”

Provided always that no such Proclamation shall have any effect unless it be issued at the request or recommendation of the body or person in whom such reserves are vested, or who have the administration of the funds derived from the sale thereof.

Upon such Proclamation being issued, the Board may forthwith proceed to sell the lands mentioned in such Proclamation in like manner in all respects as if they were waste lands of the Crown of a similar character or class.

Upon any sale made under the last preceding section of any reserves which are vested in any body or person, the Commissioner, on behalf of the Board, may execute a transfer or conveyance thereof in the name and on behalf of the body or person in whom the same are so vested as aforesaid.

The proceeds of any such sale as authorized in the last but one preceding section shall, after deducting all expenses of survey, road-making, and other expenses incurred by the Board, or by the Government in connection with such land, not exceeding in the whole five shillings per acre, be paid over by the Receiver of Land Revenue to the body or person by law for the time being entitled to receive the same.

The proceeds so paid over under the preceding section shall, unless other provision has been made by some other Act for the disposal thereof, be applied by the corporate body or person who receive the same in the purchase of other lands, to be held on the same trusts and subject to the same powers and conditions as those on which the lands by the sale of which the proceeds were realized were held, or may he invested by lending the same on mortgage of freehold lands in the colony, or in securities of the New Zealand Government, in which case the moneys shall likewise be held on the same trusts and subject to the same powers and conditions as aforesaid, and the interest derived from such mortgages or securities shall be applied in like manner as the rents derived from the lands would have been.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in “The Land Act, 1877,” contained, any selector who has, for a period of two years prior to the date of the purchase hereby authorized, duly fulfilled all the conditions on which the lands previously sold to him on deferred payments were so sold, shall he capable of purchasing another allotment of deferred-payment rural land, and so on from time to time, so long as for a period of two years prior to each purchase he has duly fulfilled the conditions aforesaid, but so that such selector does not thereby become the selector in the whole, including his original purchase, of more than three hundred and twenty acres.

The Board may, as to all purchases of land on deferred payments, dispense with the necessity for residence on the lands purchased if the purchaser is fulfilling a residence condition on deferred-payment lands, any part of which is within three miles of the land so purchased.

Such dispensation may be made to have a retrospective effect on the same conditions.

Any selector, who has complied with all the conditions of his purchase for a period of three years from the date thereof, may apply to the Board for relief under this section.

Thereupon the Commissioner shall calculate the capitalized value of the unpaid payments which such selector is liable to make in respect of the said land.

Such capitalized value shall be the present value of an annuity or annuities of the same annual amount as the payments required to be made by such selector and payable for the same period; such payments for the purposes of this Act being deemed to be payable yearly and at the end of the year, and interest being calculated at the rate of five pounds per centum per annum.

The Commissioner shall, upon such selector producing his license to him for the purpose, indorse upon such license a memorandum in the form in the Fifth Schedule hereto; and thereafter such selector shall be deemed to have complied with all the conditions of his license relating to payments to be made by him if he shall, on the first day of January and the first day of July in each year, pay half-yearly, in advance, to the Receiver of Land Revenue interest on the said capitalized value so ascertained as aforesaid at the rate of five pounds per centum per annum, and shall also pay the amount of such capitalized value as aforesaid, in accordance with the two following sections hereof.

Such selector may on the first day of January or first day of July in each year pay any portion of such capitalized value in sums of not less than ten pounds, and thereafter the interest payable as aforesaid shall be proportionately reduced.

Upon such selector paying the interest at the times aforesaid, and also paying the whole of such capitalized value or the then unpaid portion thereof on the day fixed for the last payment of his license-fee, or on or before such other day, not being later than four years thereafter, as the Board may agree upon, or prior thereto, in one sum or by instalments as aforesaid, and upon all the other conditions of such license having been fulfilled, the provisions of the seventy-third section of “The Land Act, 1877,” shall apply to such selector.

Wherever under “The Land Act, 1877,” lands for sale on deferred payment are required to be put up for sale by public auction, they may, with the approval of the Land Board, henceforth, in lieu of being put up to public auction, be put up to public competition by tender, on the following conditions:—

The right of purchase conferred upon any original holder of a pastoral lease or license by the one hundred and thirty-first section of “The Land Act, 1877,” shall not exist or be capable of exercise in respect of any pastoral leases or licenses hereafter to be sold under “The Land Act, 1877.”

The leases or licenses hereafter to be granted in pursuance of the one hundred and twenty-first section of “The Land Act, 1877,” may hereafter be for any period not exceeding twenty-one years.

No original holder, transferee, or other person occupying any pastoral lands either by himself or jointly with any other person under license or lease from the Crown capable, at the time of the issue of such license, of carrying in the whole twenty thousand sheep or more, or four thousand head of cattle or more, shall be entitled to become the purchaser or transferee of any additional pastoral license or lease after the coming into operation of this Act.

And should any original holder, transferee, or other person so occupying any pastoral lands as aforesaid become the purchaser of any run hereafter exposed at auction, all payments of rent made in accordance with the conditions of sale shall be forfeited to the Crown, and any license or lease issued shall be deemed to have been void and of no effect from the date of issue.

Nothing in this section contained shall apply to or affect persons, taking transfers by way of mortgage, or any rights, interests, or titles vested in mortgagees:

Provided that, in the event of their taking possession as mortgagees, or becoming absolute owners under or in satisfaction or part satisfaction of their mortgage debts, they effect bond fide sales within three years thereafter.

The provisions of sections one hundred and fifteen, one hundred and sixteen, and one hundred and seventeen of “The Land Act, 1877,” shall apply to all leases or licenses hereafter to be granted under the one hundred and twenty-first section of such Act.

Wherever a lessee or licensee has erected a homestead on the land included in his lease or license, he shall have the right, with the consent of the Board, to select and occupy during the currency of his lease or license an area of not exceeding in the whole one hundred and fifty acres adjacent to such homestead, which shall be exempt from the right of determination, as provided for by the one hundred and twenty-first section of “The Land Act, 1877;” but this right shall not exist in respect of more than one homestead on the lands comprised in one lease or license.

Any Proclamation made now or hereafter under the seventy-sixth section of “The Land Act, 1877,” may from time to time be altered, amended, or revoked.

The Board may, on the application of any saw-mill proprietor or other person, set aside any block or blocks of timber land, not exceeding in the whole six hundred acres, of which licenses may be granted from time to time to such applicant of sections, having regard to the quality of the timber, not exceeding two hundred acres each, in terms of section ninety of “The Land Act, 1877.”

No licenses beyond the first shall be issued unless on the certificate of the Crown Lands Ranger, or such other person appointed in that behalf, that the marketable timber has been properly cut and cleared off the section previously licensed.

Provided, however, that all such timber licenses shall, if the Board shall so think fit, contain a provision to the effect that young marketable timber trees, not fewer in number than the trees felled by the licensee, shall be properly planted on the area under license.

Any person who shall, without being the holder of a license under “The Timber Floating Act, 1873,” raft or float, or cause to be rafted or floated either by himself or his workmen any logs, lumber, timber, firewood, posts, rails, or other wood, flax, gum, or other substance down or along the course of any river, stream, or tidal creek, shall be liable to a penalty of not more than fifty pounds for every day on which he shall so raft or float or cause to be rafted or floated as aforesaid; but this provision is without prejudice to all the rights and remedies conferred by the last-mentioned Act upon the owners and occupiers of lands on the banks or along the course of any such river, stream, or tidal creek as aforesaid.

In section forty-six of “The Land Act, 1877,” the following words in the sixth line are hereby struck out, to wit: “no smaller quantity than twenty acres and”.

Appendix C to the said Act is hereby repealed, and the provisions contained in the Second Schedule hereto are hereby enacted, and shall henceforth be in force within the Land District of Hawke’s Bay.

Appendix E to “The Land Act, 1877,” is hereby repealed, and the provisions contained in the Third Schedule hereto are hereby enacted, and shall henceforth be in force within the Land District of Nelson.

The lands described in the Fourth Schedule hereof shall henceforth be deemed to be rural lands, and may be dealt with accordingly under “The Land Act, 1877,” and this Act.

Subsection six of Appendix G to “The Land Act, 1877,” is hereby repealed.

Notwithstanding the repeal of “The Otago Waste Lands Act, 1872,” it is hereby declared that the holder of any lease for agricultural purposes granted under section one hundred and three (b) of such repealed Act shall be deemed to be entitled upon the conditions in the said section mentioned to purchase the area included in the lease, or such part thereof as shall be specified in the certificate of the Governor in the said section mentioned.

Section seventy-four of “The Land Act, 1877,” is hereby repealed, and the following enacted in lieu thereof: —

Any original holder of an agricultural lease under “The Gold Fields Act, 1866,” or any Acts relating thereto, or any Act or Acts passed in lieu thereof, who shall prove to the Board that he is the original holder of such lease and that he has held it for a period of three years, and made substantial and permanent improvements thereon as provided by the Act or Acts under which the same was granted, and that he has paid all rents due thereon, and in all respects complied with the conditions of such lease, shall, if there be no objection to the alienation of land held under such lease on the ground of being auriferous, or other reasons of a public nature, be entitled to surrender his lease and obtain a license under Part III. of “The Land Act, 1877”: Provided that no such license shall be granted whereby any person shall be entitled to hold more than three hundred and twenty acres at any one time under an exchange license on deferred payments.

Such license shall be called an exchange license, and shall be issued for a period of seven years at a yearly fee of three shillings per acre; and on the expiration of the last-mentioned term the holder of the license shall be entitled to a grant of the land comprised in the exchange license without any further payment.

The holder of any exchange license may at any time acquire the right to a Crown grant of the land on payment of so much of the price thereof as shall remain unpaid at the date of his application to purchase the same.