The Short Title of this Act is “The Educational Reserves Leasing Act, 1890.”

Notwithstanding anything contained in “The University Endowment Act, 1868,” it shall be lawful for the Governor to grant leases of lands reserved under the said Act, for any term not exceeding thirty years.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act other than this Act, any rural lands for the most part covered with bush, which have been reserved, or vested in, or granted to any Educational Board, School Commissioners, Trustees, or other body of persons for education purposes, or as endowments for primary or secondary education, or for any high school, may be leased for any period not exceeding thirty years, subject in all cases to the provisions of any Act authorising the leasing of education reserves; and any lease of such lands already granted may he extended for thirty years from the date when such lease was originally granted, and upon such terms as the lessors of such lands respectively shall think fair.

At the request of the persons in whom any land as an educational reserve or educational endowment may be vested, the Land Board may exercise the functions conferred upon it by Part VIII. of “The Land Act, 1885,” for the issue of licenses for cutting, felling, or removing timber from such land; subject that the fee to be paid for any such license shall be adequate to the value of the timber to be removed from the said land.

All regulations affecting the cutting or removing of timber on forest lands shall apply to the cutting or removing of timber on the aforesaid lands, and all moneys received by the Receiver of Land Revenue for timber on the aforesaid lands shall be paid over to the persons in whom the said lands are vested, to be applied by them in the manner as may be provided with respect to the proceeds of the sale of educational endowments.

From and after the passing of this Act the following provisions shall take effect in respect to all reserves of Crown lands set apart under the authority of Parliament for educational purposes and vested in Commissioners by virtue of “The Education Reserves Act, 1877,” that is to say,—

Upon the expiry of any existing lease or license every such reserve (unless the same be dealt with under section two hundred and forty of “The Land Act, 1885”) shall be offered for lease by public auction or public tender, provided always that not less than sixty days before submitting the same to public competition in manner aforesaid the Commissioners in whom such reserve is vested shall notify the Governor of the intention so to do, and shall state in such notification whether such reserve is to be offered in one or more allotments, and the area thereof; and it shall be lawful for the Governor either to approve the same, or, if it shall appear to him to be desirable in the interest of settlement so to do, to direct that such reserve shall be subdivided into allotments or holdings of such smaller area as he shall by Order in Council direct.