In this Part of this Act the expression “the principal Act” means the Land Act, 1924, and, unless the context otherwise requires, all terms used herein have the same meaning as in the principal Act.

For the purpose of promoting the settlement of Crown lands and of settlement lands, and of protecting and furthering the interests of Crown tenants in the manner hereinafter provided, there is hereby established a Board, to be called the Lands Development Board (hereinafter referred to as the Development Board), consisting of the following members, namely:—

Meetings of the Development Board may be summoned by the Chairman or by the Under-Secretary for Lands on behalf of the Chairman. In the absence of the Minister from any meeting of the Board, the Under-Secretary, if present, shall preside thereat. In the absence from any meeting of both the Minister and the Under-Secretary the members present shall select one of their number to be the Chairman for the purposes of that meeting.

Three members of the Development Board shall form a quorum.

In the absence from any meeting of the Development Board of any member being the Permanent Head of a Department of State, he may appoint an officer of his Department to attend such meeting in his stead. In the absence from any meeting of the Development Board of the member appointed by the Governor-General, the Minister may appoint any person to attend such meeting in his stead. While any person is attending any meeting under this subsection he shall be deemed to be a member of the Development Board.

The fact that any person attends and acts as a member of the Development Board at any such meeting shall be conclusive proof of his authority so to do.

At every meeting of the Development Board the Chairman shall have a deliberative vote, and in case of an equality of votes shall also have a casting-vote.

For the purpose of advising and otherwise assisting the Development Board, the Minister may from time to time appoint one or more advisory committees. Every such committee shall consist of a Commissioner of Crown Lands, and of not more than two other persons who shall hold office during the pleasure of the Minister.

It shall be the duty of an advisory committee appointed under this section, as and whenever required by the Development Board so to do, to inquire into such matters as may be submitted to it, and to report thereon to the Development Board with such recommendations, if any, as it thinks proper.

Every member of the Development Board or of an advisory committee, not being a person permanently employed in the service of the Crown, shall be paid such allowances as may be approved from time to time by the Minister, and shall also be paid all travelling-expenses reasonably incurred by him in attending meetings of the Development Board or of the advisory committee or otherwise in connection with the duties or functions of such Board or committee.

For the purpose of rendering any unoccupied Crown lands fit for settlement, the Minister, on the recommendation of the Development Board, may cause to be undertaken and carried out in connection therewith such works as he thinks fit, including the survey, draining, reclamation, roading, fencing, clearing, and grassing of such lands or any of them, the erection of buildings, and any other works calculated to improve their quality or condition.

For the purposes mentioned in the last preceding subsection, the Minister may purchase or otherwise acquire all such tools, plant, machinery, and other equipment as may in his opinion be required, and may provide all necessary camps and buildings for the use of workmen employed in connection therewith.

The Minister may from time to time, if he thinks fit, authorize the purchase of live-stock to be depastured on any lands in respect of which development works have been undertaken pursuant to this section, and may from time to time, as he thinks fit, authorize the sale of any such live-stock or the produce thereof.

In determining, for the purposes of disposal under the principal Act, the capital value of any lands in respect of which the Minister has, prior to their disposal, undertaken any works pursuant to this section, the Land Board shall take into consideration the moneys expended in connection with those works and the value of the works done; but nothing herein shall limit the discretion of the Board to fix the capital value of any such lands in the same way as it is empowered to fix the capital value of other lands to be disposed of under the said Act.

The provisions of sections one hundred and thirty-six to one hundred and forty-one of the principal Act (relating to the payment of “thirds” and “fourths” to local authorities for the construction or maintenance of roads and bridges) and the provisions of section three hundred and fifty-seven of that Act (relating to the payment to local authorities of a proportion of the royalties received by the Crown in respect of licenses to cut timber or flax) shall have no application with respect to lands in relation to which development works have been carried out pursuant to this section, or with respect to the revenues derived therefrom.

All moneys expended for the purposes mentioned in this section shall be paid out of the Land for Settlements Account.

For the purpose of assisting the lessees or licensees of undeveloped Crown lands in the development of their holdings, the Development Board may, on the application of the tenant, and in accordance with this section, authorize the making of advances out of the Land for Settlements Account for the erection of buildings on any such land, or for the clearing, draining, fencing, cultivation, grassing, or general improvement thereof, including the purchase of fencing-materials, grass-seed, lime, manure, implements, or other things (not including live-stock) required for the profitable occupation of the land. The decision of the Development Board that any lands are or are not undeveloped lands within the meaning of this section shall be final.

No moneys shall be advanced under this section unless and until the Development Board has received a report on the application from the Land Board of the district in which the land to which the application relates is situated.

All moneys advanced under this section in respect of any land shall bear interest at such rate as may be prescribed, and shall be secured by way of mortgage over the land in respect of which the application is made, or over the applicant’s interest in such land, on such terms and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

In cases of hardship the Development Board, after receiving a report from the Land Board, may postpone the payment of interest on any advance made under this section, or, in the case of an advance repayable by instalments, may postpone the payment of any such instalment. Any postponement under this section may be for any period not exceeding five years at any one time.

No advance shall be made under this section of an amount exceeding ninety per centum of the estimated value of the completed improvements for the purpose of effecting which the advance is made. The amount of any such advance may be paid from time to time by progress payments.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other Act, all moneys received by way of interest or the repayment of principal in respect of advances made under the authority of the last preceding section to tenants of Crown lands, and all rents or other moneys received in respect of lands in connection with which moneys have been expended pursuant to section six hereof, shall be paid into and shall form part of the Land for Settlements Account.

There may from time to time, without further authority than this section, be paid out of the Land for Settlements Account into the Native Land Settlement Account, the National Endowment Account, or other appropriate account, such portion (if any) of the moneys paid into the Land for Settlements Account pursuant to subsection one hereof (not being interest or principal in respect of advances made under section seven hereof) as in the opinion of the Development Board may be equitable, having regard to the facts of any case.

The expenses of the administration of this Part of this Act, including such proportion of the administrative expenses of the Department of Lands and Survey as may be reasonably attributed to the administration of this Part of this Act, and including also any allowances or other sums payable to officers of the said Department or of any other Department for special services rendered in connection with this Part of this Act, shall be paid out of the Land for Settlements Account.

There shall be included in every annual report of the Department presented to Parliament in any year hereafter a statement as to the operation of this Part of this Act during the year for which the report is made. Such statement shall contain full particulars as to the following matters:—

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make all such regulations as may be required for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Part of this Act.

In this Part of this Act the expression “the principal Act” means the Land for Settlements Act, 1925, and, unless the context otherwise requires, all terms used herein have the same meaning as in the principal Act.

In this Part of this Act the term “the Development Board” means the Lands Development Board established under Part I of this Act.

For the purpose of rendering, fit for settlement any lands heretofore or hereafter acquired under the principal Act, the Minister, on the recommendation of the Development Board, may, at any time before such lands have been disposed of, cause to be undertaken and carried out in connection therewith such works as he thinks fit, including the survey, draining, reclamation, roading, fencing, clearing, and grassing of such lands or any of them, the erection of buildings, and any other works calculated to improve their quality or condition.

For the purposes mentioned in the last preceding subsection, the Minister may purchase or otherwise acquire all such tools, plant, machinery, and other equipment as may in his opinion be required, and may provide all necessary camps and buildings for the use of workmen employed in connection therewith.

The Minister may from time to time, if he thinks fit, authorize the purchase of live-stock to be depastured on any lands in respect of which development works have been undertaken pursuant to this section, and may from time to time, as he thinks fit, authorize the sale of any such live-stock or the produce thereof.

For the purpose of assisting the lessees or licensees of undeveloped settlement lands in the development of their holdings, the Development Board may, on the application of the tenant, and in accordance with this section, authorize the making of advances for the erection of buildings on any such land, or for the clearing, draining, fencing, cultivation, grassing, or general improvement thereof, including the purchase of fencing-materials, grass-seed, lime, manure, implements, or other things (not including live-stock) required for the profitable occupation of the land. The decision of the Development Board that any lands are or are not undeveloped lands within the meaning of this section shall be final.

No moneys shall be advanced under this section unless and until the Development Board has received a report on the application from the Land Board of the district in which the land to which the application relates is situated.

All moneys advanced under this section in respect of any land shall bear interest at such rate as may be prescribed, and shall be secured by way of mortgage over the land in respect of which the application is made, or over the applicant’s interest in such land, on such terms and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

In cases of hardship the Development Board, after receiving a report from the Land Board, may postpone the payment of interest on any advance made under this section, or, in the case of an advance repayable by instalments, may postpone the payment of any such instalment. Any postponement under this section may be for any period not exceeding five years at any one time.

No advance shall be made under this section of an amount exceeding ninety per centum of the estimated value of the completed improvements for the purpose of effecting which the advance is made. The amount of any such advance may be paid from time to time by progress payments.

All moneys required for the purposes of this Part of this Act shall be paid out of the Land for Settlements Account without further appropriation than this section.

All moneys received by way of interest or the repayment of principal in respect of advances made under the authority of this Part of this Act shall be paid into and shall form part of the Land for Settlements Account.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make all such regulations as may be required for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Part of this Act.

This Part of this Act shall be read together with and deemed part of the Land Act, 1924 (hereinafter in this Part referred to as the principal Act).

The land comprised in any road or street closed under the authority of the Land Act, 1908, or any former Land Act, may, if not heretofore disposed of, be dealt with in the same manner in all respects as if such road or street had been closed under the authority of section twelve of the principal Act.

The powers conferred by section twelve of the principal Act to dispose of any land comprised in a closed road shall not be limited by the provisions of section one hundred and twenty-nine thereof in any case where the Minister, acting on the recommendation of the Land Board, determines that such land may be disposed of in accordance with the first-mentioned section.

Section twelve of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows:—

Section one hundred and thirteen of the principal Act, as amended by section eighteen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1926, is hereby further amended by adding to subsection one the following paragraph:—

Where a successful applicant in a ballot for land under the principal Act surrenders his interest in such land within thirty days after the date of the ballot, a further ballot shall be forthwith taken, and the applicants at such ballot shall be the unsuccessful applicants at the former ballot, exclusive of any applicant who may have been successful at any subsequent ballot.

Section one hundred and sixty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:—

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in section one hundred and ninety-six of the principal Act, the yearly rental payable under every renewable lease that may be hereafter granted in respect of land purchased or otherwise acquired by the Crown out of moneys in the Native Land Settlement Account shall be an amount equal to five per centum of the capital value of that land as determined by the Board.

Nothing in the last preceding subsection shall apply with respect to the renewal of any renewable lease in existence at the time of the passing of this Act.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in subsection nine of section two hundred and sixteen of the principal Act, as amended by subsection one of section twenty-one of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1926, the restrictions imposed by that subsection with respect to land that has been revalued under Part I of the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Amendment Act, 1923, shall not apply in any case to which the said section is made applicable by resolution of the Board constituted under section thirteen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1927.

Every application made for the revaluation of any land referred to in the last preceding subsection shall be submitted to the Board therein mentioned, and the said Board shall deal with the same in all respects as if it were an application to which section thirteen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1927, relates, and all the provisions of subsection seven of that section shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in respect of such application accordingly.

Section three hundred and eighty of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to subsection one the following paragraph:—

Where at the passing of this Act the title to any town land, village land, or suburban land as aforesaid has a memorandum written thereon to the effect that such land is subject to the provisions of Part XIII of the principal Act, the title shall, on application by the proprietor and on payment of the prescribed fee, be amended by the District Land Registrar to give effect to the foregoing provisions of this section.

Section three hundred and eighty of the principal Act is hereby further amended by omitting from paragraph (d) the reference to sections one hundred and sixty and three hundred and one of that Act.

For the purpose of computing the area of land subject to Part XIII of the principal Act that may hereafter be acquired by any person, all land owned, held, or occupied by the wife or husband of such person, as the case may be, either severally or jointly, or in common with any other person, shall be deemed to be land owned, held, or occupied by such first-mentioned person.

Nothing in the last preceding subsection shall apply with respect to the acquisition of any interest in land in pursuance of any right to acquire such interest existing immediately prior to the passing of this Act.

Section three hundred and eighty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding to subsection one thereof the words “For the purposes of this section, if a husband or wife is the owner as herein defined of any land, each of them shall be deemed to be the owner of that land.”

The amendment effected by the last preceding subsection shall not apply with respect to the acquisition of any interest in land in pursuance of any right to acquire such interest existing immediately prior to the passing of this Act.

Where any land has been mortgaged as security for a loan under the principal Act or the Land for Settlements Act, 1925, any Commissioner may sign, for and on behalf of His Majesty the King, all instruments in relation thereto, including instruments required for the discharge or assignment of the mortgage debt.

The provisions of section four of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1927, in their application to the revenues derived from any endowment or other land, are hereby declared to have been applicable in respect of the whole period of the year ended on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight, and to all the revenues derived from that land for that year.

The provisions of the said section four of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1927, shall be deemed to have applied with respect to the administration of the Taranaki Scholarships Endowment and the revenues derived therefrom, as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, and shall continue so to apply unless and until other provisions in relation to the cost of the administration of the said endowment are prescribed in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-two of the New Zealand University Amendment Act, 1914.

Where a temporary license to occupy Crown lands is hereafter granted pursuant to section one hundred and forty-seven of the principal Act, or where a temporary license or permit to occupy lands of the Crown is hereafter granted under any other authority, rates shall be payable by the occupier in respect of such lands in accordance with the provisions of the next succeeding subsection.

In making any valuation under the Valuation of Land Act, 1925, of the lands comprised in any temporary license or permit referred to in the last preceding subsection, the Valuer-General shall make a separate valuation of the right of the occupier in respect of the lands comprised in such license or permit, and rates shall be levied and shall be payable by the occupier only in respect of the value of such right.

In the case of such lands situated in a district where the system of rating on the annual value is in force, the annual rent payable by the occupier pursuant to the license or permit shall be the annual value thereof.

This Part of this Act shall be read together with and deemed part of the Land for Settlements Act, 1925 (in this Part of this Act referred to as the principal Act).

As from the passing of this Act, the Permanent Head of the Department of Agriculture shall be a member of the Dominion Land Purchase Board established under the principal Act.

Section four of the principal Act is hereby amended accordingly by adding the following paragraph:—

For the purpose of assisting in and expediting the purchase of lands by the Crown there shall be appointed under the principal Act a Local Land Purchase Board for the North Island and another such Board for the South Island.

Every Commissioner of Crown Lands for a land district in the North Island shall be a member of the North Island Local Land Purchase Board, and every Commissioner of Crown Lands for a land district in the South Island shall be a member of the South Island Local Land Purchase Board:

Provided that the Commissioner of Crown Lands for any land district shall not, unless otherwise directed by the Minister, act as a member of a Local Land Purchase Board at any meeting of the Board except when the business of the Board at that meeting has relation to land situated within that land district.

Two other members shall from time to time be appointed by the Governor-General to each of the aforesaid Local Land Purchase Boards.

Members of the Dominion Land Purchase Board shall by virtue of their office be deemed to be members of both Local Land Purchase Boards.

If the Land Purchase Controller is present at any meeting of a Local Land Purchase Board he shall have the right to preside thereat. Meetings at which the Land Purchase Controller is not present shall be presided over by such member of the Local Land Purchase Board as may be nominated by the Minister in that behalf.

Three members of a Local Land Purchase Board shall form a quorum, and no business shall be transacted at any meeting of such Board unless at least a quorum is present thereat.

The foregoing provisions of this section are in substitution for section seven of the principal Act, and that section is hereby accordingly repealed.

Section eleven of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting the words “within the land district for which it is appointed.”

Section thirty-six of the principal Act (making special provisions as to the method of determining the amount of compensation payable in respect of lands taken under the principal Act) is hereby repealed, and all claims that may be hereafter made in respect of the taking of any such land shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of section thirty of that Act.

Section thirty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from subparagraph (iii) of paragraph (b) the words “calculated in the manner prescribed by section thirty-six hereof.”

Section thirty-seven of the principal Act is hereby repealed as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty.

Notwithstanding the repeal by this section of section thirty-six of the principal Act, any subsidiary roll in force thereunder on the passing of this Act shall, unless determined in the manner provided by section thirty-seven thereof, continue in force until the first day of April, nineteen hundred and thirty, but no longer.

In addition to the powers conferred by section forty-four of the principal Act the Minister of Finance may, from time to time, raise, on the security and charged upon the public revenues of New Zealand, such sums of money as he thinks fit, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of five million pounds, for the purposes of the principal Act and of Parts I and II of this Act.

The provisions of section forty-five of the principal Act shall apply to all moneys raised under the authority of this section.

Section forty-four of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “for the acquisition of land under this Act” in subsection one, the words “or for other authorized purposes.”

Section forty-five of the principal Act is hereby amended by inserting, after the word “rent” in the proviso to subsection two, the words “interest, royalties, and other revenues.”

Section forty-six of the principal Act is hereby repealed.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in subsection four of section fifty-four of the principal Act, the Minister, on the recommendation of the Lands Development Board, may fix the capital value of any allotment of settlement land at such amount as the said Board, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, thinks fit, such amount being less than the amount that would be fixed if the provisions of the said subsection four were complied with; or, where the value has been fixed in accordance with the provisions of subsection four, the Minister may, on the like recommendation made at any time before the expiry of three months after the date when the land became available for selection, reduce such value to such amount as the said Board thinks fit.

Section sixty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended as follows: —

Where any extension is made pursuant to section sixty-one of the principal Act as amended by the foregoing provisions of this section the half-yearly instalments of principal and interest shall be appropriately adjusted.

Any building to which section sixty-one of the principal Act applies, whether the land on which such building is situated has been disposed of before the passing of this Act or is disposed of at any time hereafter, may be revalued in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Application for such revaluation, accompanied by the prescribed valuation fee, may be made to the Land Board of the district as if it were an application under section two hundred and sixteen of the Land Act, 1924.

Every such application shall be referred to the special Board established under section thirteen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1927, and shall be dealt with in all respects as if it were an application for revaluation to which that section relates.

Where the value of any building is reduced on any revaluation made in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section, the half-yearly instalments payable in respect thereof shall be proportionately reduced as from the first day of January or the first day of July next following the date of such revaluation.

Section seventy-six of the principal Act is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (b) all words after the words “grazing purposes.”

Lands comprised in any permit for grazing purposes hereafter granted under the said paragraph (b) shall be rateable in accordance with the provisions of section thirty-two of this Act.

No land shall hereafter be or become subject both to Part XIII of the Land Act, 1924, and to section eighty-five of the principal Act; and any land which save for this section would be subject to the said provisions shall be subject only to the provisions of the said section eighty-five.

Where at the passing of this Act memoranda to the effect that any land is subject to the said Part XIII and also to section eighty-five of the principal Act appear upon the title to such land, the said title shall, on application by the proprietor and on payment of the prescribed fee, be amended by the District Land Registrar to give effect to the foregoing provisions of this section.

The repeal of section forty-seven of the principal Act by section seventeen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1927, shall not affect or be deemed at any time heretofore to have affected any charge imposed by virtue of the said section forty-seven, or the corresponding provisions of any former Act, on any lands included in the Otago University Endowment Reserves and administered pursuant to the Otago University Reserves Act, 1904. For the purposes of this section and of the said reserves, so much of section forty-seven of the principal Act as relates to charges shall be deemed to be in force, and shall continue in force until the charge or charges in respect of the said reserves have been satisfied.

For the purposes of section thirteen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1926, the capital sum on which interest is made payable thereunder as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, is hereby declared to be the sum of one million five hundred and eighty-six thousand eight hundred and eighty-four pounds.

There shall, without further appropriation than this section, be paid out of the Land for Settlements Account into the Consolidated Fund interest at the rate of four per centum per annum on the value of all Crown lands which have heretofore been or which may hereafter be declared to be subject to the principal Act or to any former Land for Settlements Act.

Interest under this section shall be payable as from the first day of April, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, and the interest payable for any year shall be paid on the value of the Crown lands aforesaid as appearing in the balance-sheet of the Land for Settlements Account as on the thirty-first day of March of the preceding year.