The Short Title of this Act is “The Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act 1881 Amendment Act, 1888,” and this Act shall be read and construed as part of “The Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act, 1881” (hereinafter called “the said Act”).

“Native land” and “land” in the said Act, and“land” in this Act include all land held by Natives under any title, except land held by Natives under their customs or usages, the title whereto has not been determined by the Native Land Court; and “Native land” in this Act includes only land held by Natives under their customs or usages, the title whereto has not been determined by the said Court.

A deed executed by a Native shall have no effect as a conveyance or lease by such Native of land, or of any estate therein, to a person not a Native unless—

Provided that a deed executed by a half-caste shall, as to such execution, only require to be executed with the formalities required by law in the case of a deed executed by a European, where, by a memorandum indorsed on such deed, it is certified by a Justice of the Peace that such half-caste has a knowledge of the English language sufficient to enable him to understand such deed.

Clauses six and fifteen of the said Act are hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted:—

It shall not be lawful for any person to negotiate, either on his own behalf or as agent or trustee for any other person, for the purchase, conveyance, transfer, lease, exchange, or occupation of any Native land, or of any land, or any estate, right, title, or interest therein, or for any agency or authority to deal therewith or in relation thereto, unless such land is now owned under Crown grant, memorial of ownership, or certificate of title issued under either a Native Land Court Act or a Land Transfer Act to not more than twenty Natives, or unless such land shall hereafter become and shall have been so owned for forty days.

Forthwith upon any land hereafter becoming owned by not more than twenty Natives as aforesaid, it shall be a duty of the Chief Judge to notify the same in the Gazette, and also the name and description of the land, and the time when the said forty days will expire.

Any person who, on his own behalf or as agent or trustee for any other person, shall take or accept any conveyance, lease, transfer, gift, or other assurance from any Native, whether to himself solely or to himself and others, of any Native land or of any land not heretofore owned as aforesaid, or which becoming hereafter so owned, shall not have been owned for forty days as aforesaid, or who shall be a party to any negotiation, agreement, contract, or promise for the making to him, or to him and others, or to any other person, of any such conveyance, lease, transfer, gift, or other assurance, or for the accepting or giving of any such agency or authority, shall forfeit and pay a penalty not exceeding five hundred pounds, to be recovered in a summary way.

Every such conveyance, lease, transfer, gift, and other assurance, agreement, contract, promise, agency, and authority shall, except as hereinafter provided, be illegal and void:

Provided that no person shall be convicted of any offence aforesaid except on the information or complaint of some person duly authorised in that behalf by the Governor, either generally or in respect of some particular case.

Nothing in this or the said Act shall affect or apply to the Crown, or to any person acting for or on behalf of the Crown under the authority of a Minister of the Crown.

Sections eighteen and nineteen of the said Act are hereby repealed.

Section eight of the said Act shall be read as if there were added thereto the words following: And unless and until a Trust Commissioner shall, upon inquiry in open Court, have ascertained that an area of land or a share in land is owned by the Native debtor sufficient for his maintenance, and shall have given his certificate to that effect describing such land or share in land.

Against the land so described no such registration and seizure as aforesaid shall be had or effected until a Commissioner shall have given a like certificate in relation to other land of the said debtor, and shall have cancelled the first-mentioned certificate.