The Minister may from time to time appoint one or more committees for the purposes of this Act to exercise on his behalf such powers and functions under this Act as may be delegated to it by him. In the exercise of its powers every such committee shall be subject to the control of the Minister.

A committee may consist entirely of officers of the Department of Lands and Survey or partly of officers of that Department and partly of other persons, or may consist entirely of persons who are not officers of that Department.

The Minister may from time to time delegate any of his powers and functions under this Act (not being powers or functions which he is required to exercise by notice in the Gazette or the power to approve any by-law) to any committee so appointed by him or to any officer or officers of the Department of Lands and Survey, either as to matters within his jurisdiction generally, or in any particular case or matter or any particular class of cases or matters.

The officer or officers referred to in subsection three of this section may be an officer or officers referred to by name or the officer or officers who for the time being and from time to time hold specified positions in the Department of Lands and Survey.

Subject to any general or special directions given by the Minister, any committee or officer to which or to whom any powers have been so delegated may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been directly conferred on that committee or officer by this Act and not by delegation.

Every committee or officer purporting to act under any delegation under this section shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be acting within the terms of the delegation.

Any such delegation may at any time be revoked by the Minister in whole or in part, but that revocation shall not affect in any way anything done under the delegated authority.

No such delegation shall prevent the exercise by the Minister himself of any of the powers and functions conferred on him by this Act.

There may from time to time be appointed under the provisions of the Public Service Act 1912 a suitable person to be the Director of Reserves, who shall carry out such directions and perform such duties for the administration of this Act as may from time to time be given or assigned to him by the Director-General.

There may from time to time be appointed under the provisions of the Public Service Act 1912 suitable persons to be rangers for the purposes of this Act.

The Minister may from time to time appoint—

A ranger may be appointed under subsection one or subsection two of this section for a particular reserve or area or to exercise his duties generally throughout New Zealand.

Every constable shall by virtue of his office be deemed to be a ranger appointed by the Minister to exercise his duties generally throughout New Zealand.

Every ranger appointed under subsection two of this section shall be appointed to hold office during the pleasure of the Minister or for such specified term as the Minister thinks fit.

The Director-General shall supply to every ranger appointed under subsection one or subsection two of this section a written warrant signed by the Director-General or on his behalf evidencing the appointment, and the production of that warrant shall be sufficient proof of the appointment.

Any ranger appointed under subsection two of this section may at any time be removed from office by the Minister for incapacity, neglect of duty, or misconduct, or may at any time resign his office by writing addressed to the Director-General.

Any ranger appointed under subsection one or subsection two of this section shall, on the expiration of the term of his appointment, or on the sooner expiry of his appointment by removal from office or resignation, surrender to the Director-General his warrant of appointment and any badge of office that may have been issued to him.

No person appointed by the Minister under this section to be a ranger shall by virtue of that appointment be deemed to be employed in the service of Her Majesty for the purposes of the Public Service Act 1912 or of the Superannuation Act 1947.

The administering body of any reserve may from time to time appoint any officer or servant of that body to be a ranger for the purposes of this Act to exercise his duties in that reserve, and with respect to every such ranger the following provisions shall apply:

The Minister may from time to time by notice in the Gazette appoint such persons as he thinks fit, not exceeding nine in number, to be a Domain Board, Scenic Board, Trust, Trust Board, or other special Board for the purposes of this Act, and every such notice shall take effect according to the tenor thereof. Any person so appointed may be appointed by virtue of any office.

The Minister may further by the notice appointing those persons or by a subsequent notice under his hand appoint one of them to be Chairman of the Board for the term of his appointment or for such period as the Minister thinks fit:

Provided that the Minister may from time to time by notice under his hand remove any Chairman from his office as such and appoint a new Chairman in his place.

In any case where the Board appointed under subsection one of this section consists of any number of members less than nine, the Minister may from time to time by notice in the Gazette increase the total number of members thereof to any number not exceeding nine and make such additional appointments of members as may thereby be rendered necessary. Those members shall be appointed for the remainder of the term for which the Board was originally appointed.

The Minister may from time to time by like notice reduce the number of members of any Board, and for that purpose may revoke the appointments of such members as may thereby be rendered necessary.

Every Board shall be charged with the duty of administering, managing, and controlling the reserve under its control in accordance with the appropriate provisions of this Act and the means at its disposal so as to secure the full use of the reserve for the purposes for which it is set apart.

The following provisions shall apply with respect to every appointed member of any Board, namely:

The first meeting of any Board appointed after the commencement of this Act shall be held not later than two months after the date of the notice appointing the Board.

An annual meeting of the Board shall be held in the month of May in every year.

Other meetings shall be held as the Board determines from time to time.

A special meeting of the Board may at any time be convened by the Chairman, and the Chairman shall call a special meeting whenever requested to do so in writing by two members of the Board:

Provided that not less than seven clear days’ notice of every special meeting and of the business to be transacted thereat shall be given to each member, and no business other than that specified in the notice shall be transacted at any such meeting.

Where the Chairman of the Board has not been appointed by the Minister under subsection two of section six of this Act, then, at the first meeting of every Board and at every annual meeting and as often as the office of Chairman becomes vacant, the members shall elect one of their number to be Chairman, who, while he continues to be a member of the Board, shall hold office as such until the appointment of his successor.

The Chairman shall preside at each meeting of the Board at which he is present, but in his absence from any meeting the members present shall elect a member to act as Chairman at that meeting.

The Chairman at any meeting shall have a deliberative vote, and in case of an equality of votes shall also have a casting vote.

No business shall be transacted at any meeting of the Board unless at least a quorum of members is present thereat during the whole time at which the business is transacted.

A quorum shall consist of half of the whole number of the members of the Board (irrespective of any vacancies) when that number is even and a majority of the members when that number is odd.

Every question before the Board shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members present and voting on that question.

Subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, every Board may regulate its own proceedings.

The members of any Board shall not be personally liable for any act done or omitted to be done in good faith in the course of the operations of the Board or for any debt or other liability lawfully incurred by the Board.

This Part of this Act shall not apply with respect to any land that is subject to the Forests Act 1949.

Save as otherwise specially provided herein, this Part of this Act in its application to any public reserve shall be read subject to—

Land which after the commencement of this Act becomes a public reserve shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be held and administered for the purpose or purposes to which it is dedicated and no other.

All lands which are public reserves within the meaning of this Act by virtue of paragraph (a) of the definition of the term “public reserve” in section two hereof shall continue to be public reserves for the same purposes as those for which they were held immediately before the commencement of this Act.

Any local authority, may, subject to the provisions of this section, by resolution declare any land vested in it to be a public reserve within the meaning of this Act, to be held for such purposes as are specified in the resolution.

No such resolution shall be passed before the expiration of one month after notice of intention to pass the same and calling for objections thereto in writing has been published in one or more newspapers circulating in its district, and until it has considered all such objections received within that period.

A copy of the resolution shall be forwarded to the Commissioner for transmission to the Minister together with all objections (if any) received as aforesaid.

If no objections have been received by the local authority the Minister shall cause the resolution to be gazetted, but if objections have been received the Minister shall consider the same and may then in his discretion either cause the resolution to be gazetted or refuse to do so.

No resolution under this section shall have any force or effect until it is gazetted as aforesaid.

If in the opinion of the Minister there is any doubt or uncertainty as to whether any land was immediately before the commencement of this Act a public reserve within the meaning of section two of the Public Reserves and Domains Act 1928, he may by notice in the Gazette declare either that the land as defined in the notice is a public reserve within the meaning of this Act for such purpose or purposes as are stated in the notice, or that it is not a public reserve; and every such notice shall have effect according to its tenor.

The Minister may (except where a reserve is given or dedicated by or pursuant to a deed of trust or a will) in like manner define the purpose to which any public reserve (whether reserved or set apart before or after the commencement of this Act) shall be dedicated in any case where doubt exists as to that purpose.

Where the Minister considers that any private land or any right of way or other easement over private land should be acquired by the Crown for the purposes of a public reserve or for the improvement or extension of an existing public reserve,—

All lands or interests in land acquired by way of purchase or gift or taken as aforesaid shall vest in the Crown for the purposes of this Act as a public reserve or as part of or for the purposes of an existing public reserve, as the case may require, and all lands acquired by the Minister by way of lease under this section shall during the term of the lease be subject to this Act.

Subject to sections seventy-eight, seventy-nine, and eighty of this Act, the purchase price of any land or any interest in land or the compensation moneys payable in respect of any land or interest in land acquired or taken as aforesaid shall be paid out of moneys appropriated by Parliament.

The Minister, in the case of reserves vested in the Crown, and, in the case of reserves vested in an administering body, the administering body with the approval of the Minister, and on such conditions as the Minister approves, may grant rights of way and other easements over any part of the reserve for—

The District Land Registrar for the land registration district in which is situated any reserve in respect of which any right or easement has been granted under this section shall register the instrument granting the right or easement against any certificate of title that may have been issued for the reserve, and, if the reserve is held on registered lease or licence, any such instrument may be registered in the same way as any dealing with the lease or licence.

Where no certificate of title has been issued for any reserve over which a right or easement has been granted under this section, the instrument granting the right or easement may be registered with the District Land Registrar in the same manner and with any necessary modifications as any lease or licence of Crown land may be registered under the Land Act 1948.

The Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, authorize the exchange of the land comprised in any public reserve or any part thereof for any other land to be held for the purposes of that reserve:

Provided that this power shall not be exercised with respect to any public reserve vested in an administering body except pursuant to a resolution of that body requesting the exchange.

No such resolution shall be passed before the expiration of one month after notice of intention to pass the resolution and calling for objections thereto in writing has been published in one or more newspapers circulating in the district of the administering body or, as the case may be, in the district or locality the inhabitants of which benefit from or enjoy the reserve and until the administering body has considered all such objections received within that period. A copy of the resolution shall be forwarded to the Commissioner for transmission to the Minister, and shall be accompanied by all objections received as aforesaid.

The Minister in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty or the administering body, as the case may require, may do all things necessary to effect any exchange authorized as aforesaid.

The land comprised in any public reserve or part thereof given by way of exchange pursuant to this section shall upon the exchange being effected be no longer subject to any reservation theretofore affecting it.

The land acquired by the Crown or by the administering body, as the case may be, by way of that exchange shall be held as a public reserve under this Act, or as part of an existing reserve, as the case may be, for the same objects and purposes as the land given in exchange was held.

Where—

the Minister may at his discretion, subject to the succeeding provisions of this section, by notice in the Gazette change the purpose of the reserve, which thereafter shall be held and administered for that changed purpose, or revoke the reservation.

In the case of any reserve (being a public domain or a reserve for the purposes of public recreation or public health or a reserve made on a subdivision of land under the Land Subdivision in Counties Act 1946 or the Land Act 1948 or any former Land Act or a reserve vested in a Borough Council pursuant to the Municipal Corporations Act 1933),—

In the case of a scenic reserve subject to Part IV of this Act, no change of purpose nor any revocation of reservation in respect of the reserve or any part or parts thereof shall be made except where in the opinion of the Minister the reserve is by reason of the destruction of the forest, bush, or other vegetation thereon or for any other cause no longer suitable for scenic purposes.

In the case of any public reserve other than those specified in subsections two and three of this section, the Minister may, after considering such evidence as may be submitted to him, direct that the proposals be publicly notified, and in that case, the provisions of subsection two of this section shall apply.

Upon the revocation of the reservation of any public reserve pursuant to this section the land comprised therein shall, if vested in the Crown or in any local authority or trustees deriving title from the Crown, become Crown land available for disposal under the Land Act 1948, and in any other case may be disposed of in such manner and for such purpose as may be specified by the Minister.

The Minister may, for the better carrying out of the purposes of any public reserve (not being a domain) vested in the Crown, by notice in the Gazette vest the reserve in any local authority or in any trustees empowered by or under any Act or any other lawful authority, as the case may be, to hold and administer lands and expend moneys thereon for the particular purpose for which the public reserve is reserved or set apart.

All land so vested shall be held in trust for such purposes as aforesaid and subject to such special conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the said notice.

Unless the Minister otherwise decides, all vestings under this section shall be deemed to be subject to the reservations and conditions imposed by section fifty-nine of the Land Act 1948 as if the land so vested was Crown land subject to that Act.

Any vesting (whether by any Provincial Ordinance, Act, grant, Order in Council, or in any other manner, and whether before or after the commencement of this Act) in an administering body of any public reserve which before that vesting was the property of the Crown may, with the consent of the administering body, be cancelled by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, and thereupon the land shall cease to be vested in that administering body and revest in the Crown subject to the trusts affecting the same and to any valid leases, rights, or easements subsisting thereover at the date of revesting.

If at any time the Minister is satisfied that a serious breach of the trusts upon which any such public reserve is vested has been committed or that after the expiration of five years from the date of the vesting of the reserve the land is not being used for the purpose for which it is vested, whether that period of five years has expired before the commencement of this Act or will thereafter expire, he may cause to be served on the administering body a notice in writing stating that unless cause to the contrary is shown in writing within two months he will cancel the vesting.

If within that period of two months the administering body shows cause as aforesaid, the Minister may in his discretion either decide to take no further action or he may inquire into the question whether or not the vesting should be cancelled.

If the Minister is of the opinion that the vesting should be cancelled or if within that period of two months the administering body does not show cause as aforesaid, the Minister may by notice in the Gazette cancel the vesting, and thereupon the public reserve shall revest in the Crown subject to the trusts affecting the same and to any valid leases, rights, or easements subsisting thereover at the date of revesting.

On the cancellation as aforesaid of any vesting, any certificate or other instrument of title issued in respect of the reserve shall, upon the written request of the Commissioner, be noted accordingly by the District Land Registrar, who may require the copy of any such instrument then in the possession or control of the former administering body to be delivered up to him. Omission so to deliver up any such instrument shall not in any way affect the cancellation.

The provisions of subsection one of this section shall extend and apply with respect to public reserves the control of which has been vested in the Minister for the time being having the administration of the Tourist and Health Resorts Control Act 1908, but subject to the consent of that Minister, and any notice issued cancelling that vesting of control shall have the effect both of removing the land concerned from the control of that Minister and also of removing the land concerned from the operation and provisions of that Act.

In the case of any public reserve (not being a domain) vested in the Crown, the Minister may by notice in the Gazette appoint any other Minister of the Crown or any local authority or any person or body of persons (whether incorporated or not) to control and manage the reserve, with such powers and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be specified in the notice. A notice under this subsection shall take effect according to the tenor thereof and may at any time be in like manner amended or revoked.

Where any Minister of the Crown other than the Minister of Lands is appointed to control any public reserve or part thereof, the reserve may by that notice be made subject to the provisions of any other Act administered by the first-mentioned Minister in addition to being subject to the provisions of this Act, but shall remain a public reserve, and that Minister may expend out of the moneys appropriated by Parliament in respect of the administration of that other Act such sum or sums as he thinks fit on the maintenance and improvement and development of the reserve.

An administering body appointed under this Act to control and manage any reserve of a specified kind may under this section be appointed to control and manage any other reserve, whether of the same kind or not.

Where any public reserve has been vested in a local authority or any local authority has been appointed to control and manage a public reserve, and that local authority is subsequently changed or reconstituted as a local authority of a different type or is incorporated in another local authority, the public reserve or the control or management thereof, as the case may be, shall as from the date of the change, reconstitution, or incorporation be deemed to be vested in the new or incorporating local authority upon the same terms and conditions as it was held by the first-mentioned local authority before the change, reconstitution, or incorporation was effected.

Where any town or other place in New Zealand has subsequently become a borough or a town district, or any part thereof is incorporated in a borough or town district, all public reserves made within that town or place or part, or granted to or vested in the Council or Board charged with the administration of its affairs, shall be deemed to have been made for the same purposes within the borough or town district for the time being existing in the stead of the first-mentioned town or place, or, as the case may be, in which that part is incorporated, or to have been granted to or vested in the Corporation of the borough or town district respectively as from the date when the first-mentioned town or other place or the Council or Board thereof ceased to exist or, as the case may be, when that part was incorporated in the borough or town district.

Where any borough or town district or any part thereof becomes merged in a county, all public reserves made within the borough or town district or part, or granted to or vested in the Council or Board thereof, shall be deemed to have been made for the same purposes within the county wherein the borough or town district or part is merged, or to have been granted to or vested in the Corporation thereof as from the date when the borough or town district or the Council or Board thereof ceased to exist or, as the case may be, when that part was merged in the county.

The Commissioner for the land district in which is situated any public reserve vested in Her Majesty shall, where not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, have and may exercise over that reserve all rights, powers, duties, and functions which he has over Crown land.

The rights, powers, functions, and duties conferred and imposed on Commissioners by section twenty-five of this Act shall, in the case of any public reserve not vested in the Crown, be had and exercised by the administering body in which the reserve is vested.

The powers vested in any local authority by virtue of this section or of any other provisions of this Part of this Act shall be exercised by it in the manner in which it exercises any like powers conferred on it by the Act by or under which it is constituted.

Where any public reserve (not being a public domain or a recreation reserve or a scenic reserve or an historic reserve) or any part or parts thereof is not for the time being required for the purposes for which it was reserved, or where the Minister considers it in the public interest, leases of the whole or any part thereof may be granted by the administering body with the approval of the Minister, in cases where a reserve is vested in such a body, or by the Minister in any other case.

The term of the lease shall not exceed thirty-three years and the lease shall be on such terms and conditions and at such rent as the Minister approves:

Provided that, in the case of any reserve vested in the Crown, where the Minister considers that special circumstances exist he may lease in manner aforesaid the whole or any part of the reserve for such period as he thinks fit with or without right of renewal.

Where the Minister considers it advisable or expedient that any public domain or recreation reserve vested in the Crown or any part or parts thereof should be leased, a lease of the domain or reserve or part or parts thereof may be granted by the Minister in the manner following:

In any case where land or any part thereof comprised in a public domain or recreation reserve is not being used for the purposes of a domain or recreation reserve and in the opinion of the Minister is not likely to be used for those purposes, but it is inadvisable or inexpedient to revoke the reservation, the Minister may lease the land so reserved for farming purposes for a term not exceeding thirty-three years, with or without a perpetual right of renewal but with no right of acquiring the fee simple, at such rent and upon such terms and conditions as the Minister thinks fit, including the power to cancel the lease and resume possession on such terms as the Minister thinks fit. A lease under this subsection may authorize the erection of buildings, subject to the prior approval in writing of the Minister being obtained.

The powers of leasing conferred on the Minister by subsections three and four of this section may, in the case of a recreation reserve vested in an administering body, be exercised by the administering body with the consent of the Minister, as if references in those subsections to the Minister were references to the administering body.

No member of an administering body may become the lessee of any land under the control of that body without the express consent in writing of the Minister.

Any lease granted under this section may with the approval of the Minister or of the administering body, as the case may be, be surrendered on such terms as are agreed upon by the lessee and the Minister or the administering body.

Land subject to the provisions of the Tourist and Health Resorts Control Act 1908 may be leased by the Minister charged with the administration of that Act in the manner provided by this section, save that any such land may be leased to such person or persons or body corporate as that Minister thinks fit.

In the case of a public domain or a recreation reserve, leases of part or parts thereof for the purposes of recreational development or for amenities for the public may be granted as follows:

The provisions of the Land Act 1948 as to the payment of fees in relation to leases of Crown land shall, with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to leases granted on behalf of the Crown under the provisions of this section.

The Minister may lease any land comprised in any public domain or recreation reserve vested in the Crown to any local authority at such rent in money or otherwise and subject to such terms and conditions and in such manner and form as he thinks fit, for the purpose of enabling that local authority to develop the land so leased for recreational purposes.

Any lease granted under the authority of this section shall be for a term not exceeding thirty-three years with or without a perpetual right of renewal but with no right of acquiring the fee simple.

The Minister may accept surrenders of any leases granted under this section.

Licences to occupy any public reserve or part of any such reserve for a term not exceeding five years may be granted by the Minister, in the case of reserves vested in the Crown, or, with the approval of the Minister, by the administering body in which the reserve is vested in any other case, for the following purposes:

Provided that in the case of any scenic reserve or historic reserve, licences under paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of this section shall be granted only in respect of open or cleared portions of the reserve.

The provisions of the Land Act 1948 as to the form, execution, and issue of licences of Crown land and the payment of fees in relation thereto shall, as far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to licences granted on behalf of the Crown under section twenty-nine of this Act.

All moneys received by way of rent, royalty, or otherwise in respect of any dealing with any public reserve (not being a domain) pursuant to section twenty-seven, section twenty-eight, or section twenty-nine of this Act shall,—

Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply with respect to any public reserve which has been dealt with pursuant to subsection two of section twenty-one of this Act.

The administering body of a recreation reserve may from time to time—

No agreement shall be entered into pursuant to paragraph (f) of subsection one of this section until,—

Save pursuant to the powers conferred by section thirty-two of this Act, the administering body shall not so deal with the reserve that, or make any disposition thereof whereby, the public are excluded from free access thereto; and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in that section, no person shall be required to pay any fee or charge for admission thereto or to any stand thereon on any day when the reserve or any part thereof is specially set apart as aforesaid unless public notice of the setting apart and of the prices to be charged for admission to the reserve or to the stand has previously been given by advertisement in some newspaper circulating in the district in which the reserve is situated.

The natural bush on any recreation reserve shall not be cut or destroyed without the approval of the Minister being first obtained.

The administering body of any racecourse reserve may from time to time, subject to the provisions of section ninety-four of this Act, make by-laws with respect to all or any of the following matters:

All by-laws made under subsection one of this section shall be notified by advertisement as to the nature thereof in some newspaper circulating in the district in which the reserve is situate, and by being posted on some conspicuous place on the reserve so that they may be easily read.

The reserve shall be available to any racing club for the purpose of holding race meetings on such terms and conditions as are from time to time advertised by the administering body, and on such dates as that body in every such case appoints:

Provided that no such club shall be entitled to use the reserve unless it consists of not fewer than fifty members who each pays an annual subscription of not less than one pound towards the funds of the club.

The administering body may from time to time lease the whole or any part of a racecourse reserve at such rent and on such conditions, not inconsistent with the purposes of the reserve, as it thinks reasonable—

The powers of leasing conferred by this section are in addition to and not in substitution for the power of leasing conferred by section twenty-seven of this Act.

All moneys received by the administering body as the rents, issues, and profits of the racecourse reserve shall within seven days after receipt by the Treasurer or other proper officer of the administering body be paid into such bank as that body from time to time appoints to an account to be called “The [Name of racecourse reserve] Trustees Account”, and, after deducting therefrom all necessary expenses incurred in the management of the reserve, be applied in and towards the fencing of the reserve or any part thereof, the erection of stands and pavilions thereon, the cultivation and improvement thereof, and in rendering any part thereof that may be set apart as a racecourse suitable for that purpose.

The administering body may also with the consent of the Minister expend such part of its funds as it from time to time thinks fit towards the assistance of charitable, educational, or cultural purposes or for the management, improvement, and maintenance of any reserve under this Act.

Every administering body of a racecourse reserve shall from time to time prepare and submit to the Audit Office for audit the statements specified in section seventy-six of this Act, together with the report referred to in that section.

The provisions of any Act of the General Assembly or of any Provincial Ordinance or of any Crown grant dealing with or referring to any racecourse reserve, or any reserve that may after the commencement of this Act be set apart and used for the purposes of a racecourse, shall so far as they may be inconsistent with this Act be read subject to the provisions of this Act, and the powers conferred by sections thirty-five to thirty-nine of this Act on the administering body of a racecourse reserve are hereby likewise conferred on any bodies or persons having control of any such reserve as aforesaid.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other Act or Provincial Ordinance, the Minister may from time to time by notice under his hand appoint members of the administering body of a racecourse reserve to fill any vacancies.

This Part of this Act shall be read subject to the provisions of any Act (whether passed before or after the commencement of this Act) making any special provision with respect to any specified public domain or domains or authorizing the setting apart for any other purpose of lands subject to this Part of this Act.

Any land which immediately before the commencement of this Act was a public domain subject to the provisions of Part II of the Public Reserves and Domains Act 1928 shall be deemed to be a public domain subject to this Part of this Act.

The Minister may from time to time by notice in the Gazette declare to be a public domain any public reserve for health or recreation purposes vested in the Crown or any land acquired by the Crown for those purposes, and thereupon that reserve or land shall be a public domain subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, and be known by such name as the Minister in the notice directs.

The Minister may from time to time in like manner change the name of the domain, and that change of name shall not, unless the notice so directs, affect the appointment or term of the Domain Board controlling the domain or of any member thereof.

The Minister may from time to time by notice in the Gazette declare that any land that is a public domain or part of a public domain shall cease to be subject to this Part of this Act, and thereupon the land shall be deemed to be a recreation reserve subject to Part II of this Act.

All lands forming part of any public domain (other than lands acquired by way of lease for the purposes of the domain) are hereby declared to be the property of the Crown.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act, any local authority may, without further authority than this section, convey or transfer to the Crown for recreation or health purposes any land acquired by it.

Any land so conveyed or transferred to the Crown shall vest in the Crown as a public domain under and for the purposes of this Part of this Act, whether or not any notice under the hand of the Minister is issued pursuant to section forty-two of this Act declaring the land to be a public domain.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Act, the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, declare that any land, being portion of a public domain, shall as from a date to be specified in the notice be set apart as a site for a public hall, and thereupon the land shall cease to be subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act and become a public reserve for a site for a public hall subject to Part II of this Act.

The Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, declare that any two or more public domains shall as from a date to be specified in that behalf in the notice be united to form one public domain, with such name as he thinks fit.

Instead of appointing under section six of this Act any persons to be a Domain Board, the Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, appoint any local authority to be the Domain Board in respect of any public domain, and in every such case the Mayor or Chairman of the local authority for the time being shall be the Chairman of the Board, anything to the contrary in section six of this Act notwithstanding.

Where any town district of which the Town Board has been constituted a Domain Board becomes or is incorporated in a borough, the Borough Council for that borough shall without further appointment by the Minister become the Domain Board in lieu of that Town Board.

Any appointment of a local authority under this section may at any time be amended or revoked by the Minister by notice in the Gazette.

In any case where pursuant to section forty-six of this Act two or more public domains have been declared to be united as one domain, the Minister may appoint a Domain Board to control the same, and thereupon the Domain Boards (if any) controlling the several domains so united shall cease to hold office as such, and the new Board shall have in respect of the united domain all the rights and liabilities of the several former Boards in respect of the several domains.

Every Domain Board may in respect of the domain under its control exercise all or any of the following powers, that is to say, it may—

1941, No. 12

The provisions of section thirty-three of this Act shall, with the necessary modifications, extend and apply to every public domain under the control of a Domain Board, and to every such Board in respect of the exercise by it of the powers conferred by paragraphs (c) and (h) of subsection one of this section.

In any case where the Board erects a public hall pursuant to an authority given by the Minister under paragraph (i) of subsection one of this section, it may make such charges as it thinks fit for admission to the hall, and provide musical entertainment or cinematograph or similar exhibitions therein, or may let the hall for any term not exceeding one year for the purpose of entertainments upon such conditions (including a condition as to the charges to be made for admission to those entertainments) as it thinks fit to impose.

Any Domain Board may enter into a contract for the purchase of land upon terms providing for payment of the whole or of part or parts of the purchase money at a future date or dates, and for payment of interest upon any unpaid purchase money at a rate authorized by the Minister:

Provided that no such contract shall be valid unless—

All land so purchased shall on the taking possession thereof by the Domain Board be administered in accordance with the provisions of this Part of this Act as if it were part of the public domain controlled by the Board, and on the conveyance or transfer thereof to the Crown shall become part of that domain.

The Board shall, where not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, have and may exercise over the domain under its control all the rights, powers, duties, and functions which a Commissioner of Crown Lands has over Crown land.

The powers, functions, and duties conferred and imposed on Domain Boards by this Part of this Act shall, with respect to any public domain which is not controlled by a Domain Board, be exercised and performed by the Commissioner, who shall have and may exercise over the domain all the powers of a Domain Board.

The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, prescribe model by-laws for the control of public domains, and those by-laws may make provision for—

Subject to the provisions of section ninety-four of this Act, every Domain Board may with respect to the domain under its control make by-laws for all or any of the purposes specified in subsection one of this section in the form prescribed pursuant to that subsection, with such variations of or additions to the prescribed form of by-laws as the Minister considers necessary for the proper control and administration of the domain.

Save with the consent of the Minister the Board shall not cut or destroy or authorize any person to cut or destroy the natural bush on the domain under its control.

Any land heretofore or hereafter reserved, acquired, or set apart in any manner under any Act as a scenic reserve or for the preservation of scenery shall be deemed to be a scenic reserve subject to this Part of this Act.

The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, declare any other public reserve or part of any such reserve to be subject to this Part of this Act:

Provided that, before declaring any land to be a scenic reserve subject to this Part of this Act, the Minister shall ascertain whether or not the land contains coal, and if it does so he shall give to the Minister of Mines not less than one month’s notice of his intention to declare the land to be a scenic reserve.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Forests Act 1949, the Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, declare that any State forest land shall be a scenic reserve subject to this Act, and the land shall thereupon be held as a public reserve for scenic purposes accordingly:

Provided that no such declaration shall be made except with the consent of the Minister of Forests.

It is hereby declared that the provisions of this Part of this Act shall have effect for the purpose of preserving as scenic reserves for the benefit and enjoyment of the public suitable areas throughout New Zealand possessing such qualities of scenic interest that their preservation is desirable and in the national interest.

It is hereby further declared that, having regard to the general purposes specified in subsection one of this section, scenic reserves shall be so administered and maintained that—

The Minister may from time to time cause inquiries to be made regarding any lands possessing scenic interest or on which there are thermal springs or other thermal activity and which in his opinion should be permanently reserved.

Where any such land is private land, the land may, if the Minister considers it expedient, be acquired for the purposes of a scenic reserve under the powers conferred by section fifteen of this Act.

Where any such land is Crown land it may be set apart as a reserve for scenic purposes under section one hundred and sixty-seven of the Land Act 1948.

The owner of any private land may at any time apply to the Minister for the land to be declared a private scenic reserve under and subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act.

The Minister, if satisfied that the land possesses scenic or thermal interest, and is sufficiently fenced, or is otherwise protected from damage by stock, may, by notice in the Gazette, declare the land to be a private scenic reserve, and may in like manner revoke any such declaration.

While that declaration remains in force the provisions of Part VII of this Act shall, as far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply with respect to the private scenic reserve in all respects as if it were a public reserve under this Act, notwithstanding that the land comprised therein may be sold or otherwise disposed of:

Provided that in its application to any such private scenic reserve the provisions of Part VII of this Act shall be read subject to any agreement between the owner of the reserve and the Minister preserving to the owner or his successors in title the right to do any act or thing forbidden by this Act.

The Minister may from time to time take such steps as he thinks fit for the fencing and maintenance of any scenic reserve.

Where any fence within the meaning of the Fencing Act 1908 is erected by authority of the Minister on the common boundary of any scenic reserve and the adjoining land, the occupier of the adjoining land shall be liable, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in that Act, for half of the cost of the erection and maintenance of the fence, and that half cost may be recovered from him in any Court of competent jurisdiction by the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district in which the land is situated.

The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, grant to Maoris the right to take or kill birds within any scenic reserve which before the reservation or taking thereof was Maori land, provided the taking and killing of the birds would not be in contravention of the provisions of the Wildlife Act 1953 or any regulations or Proclamation or notification under that Act.

Where any scenic reserve includes any ancestral burial grounds of Maoris, the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, grant the right to bury or inter the remains of deceased Maoris in a place to be specified therein.

Any rights so granted may at any time in like manner be withdrawn or varied by the Minister.

The Minister may from time to time, by writing under his hand, and subject to such conditions as he may impose in that behalf, authorize any person to take and kill any specified kind of animals or birds that may be found in any scenic reserve, and may for that purpose, anything to the contrary in this Act notwithstanding, authorize the use of firearms within the reserve.

Subsection one of this section shall apply only where the taking and killing of the animals or birds would not be in contravention of the provisions of the Wildlife Act 1953 or any regulations or Proclamation or notification under that Act.

The bush on a scenic reserve shall not be cut or destroyed, except with the express consent in writing of the Minister.

The Minister shall not give his consent to the cutting or destroying of any bush on a scenic reserve unless he is satisfied that the felling and removal of any specified tree or trees is necessary in the interests of the safety of persons on or near the reserve or that the cutting or destruction of the bush is desirable in the public interest or will not in any way damage or impair the scenic features and quality of the reserve.

It is hereby declared that the provisions of this Part of this Act shall have effect for the purpose of preserving in perpetuity as historic reserves for the use, benefit, or enjoyment of the public such places and objects and such things as may be thereon or therein contained as are of historic, archaeological, scientific, educational, or other special national interest, being—

Any land heretofore or hereafter reserved, acquired, or set apart in any manner under any Act as an historic reserve shall be deemed to be an historic reserve subject to this Part of this Act.

The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, declare that any public reserve or part of a public reserve shall be subject to this Part of this Act as an historic reserve.

The Minister may from time to time by notice in the Gazette declare that any land that is an historic reserve or part of an historic reserve shall cease to be subject to this Part of this Act, and thereupon the land shall be deemed to be a public reserve subject to Part II of this Act.

The owner of any private land may at any time apply to the Minister for the land to be declared a private reserve under this Part of this Act.

The Minister, if satisfied that the land possesses historic, archaeological, educational, or other special national interest, and that it is sufficiently fenced or is otherwise protected from damage by stock, may thereupon, by notice in the Gazette, declare the land to be a private reserve under this Part of this Act. Any such declaration may in like manner be revoked.

While that declaration remains in force the provisions of Part VII of this Act shall, as far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, apply to that private reserve in all respects as if it were a public reserve under this Part of this Act, notwithstanding that the land comprised therein may be sold or otherwise disposed of:

Provided that in its application to any private historic reserve the provisions of Part VII of this Act shall be read subject to any agreement between the owner of the reserve and the Minister preserving to the owner or his successors in title the right to do any act or thing forbidden by this Act.

The Minister may erect suitable signs and notices on and take such steps as he considers necessary for the protection of any historic or notable place or building or tree or other object, subject, in the case of any place or building or tree or other object that is on private land, to the consent of the owner of the land first being obtained.

The Minister may promote, supervise, or authorize excavations and other activities by scientific organizations intended for the discovery and preservation of relics, chattels, or other things of historic interest or national importance:

Provided that no such excavation or other activities may be made or carried on on any private land without the consent of the owner of the land first being obtained, and nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent the owner of any land from making any such excavation or carrying on any such activities on his land.

The Minister may from time to time take such steps as he thinks necessary or desirable for the management and preservation of historic reserves and, with the consent of the owner, any private historic reserves, and may cause such steps to be taken as in the Minister’s opinion are necessary to make them readily accessible under proper conditions to the public.

The administering body may charge such fees for admission to any historic reserve under its control as the Minister approves from time to time.

The funds of any Board shall consist of all moneys received by it under or by virtue of this Act or in any other manner whatever in respect of the reserve or reserves under its control.

All such moneys shall within seven days after receipt thereof by the Treasurer or other proper officer of the Board be paid into such bank account as the Board from time to time appoints to an account to be called “The [Name of Board] Account”.

No moneys shall be withdrawn from the bank except by authority of the Board, and any cheque or other withdrawal notice shall be signed by the Treasurer or other officer of the Board appointed for the purpose and countersigned either by a member or officer of the Board authorized by the Board from time to time so to do.

Where an administering body is appointed to control and manage one or more reserves, the funds of the administering body shall consist of all moneys received by it under or by virtue of this Act or in any other manner whatsoever in respect of the reserves under its control, and all such moneys shall, if the Minister so requires, within seven days after receipt by the Treasurer or other proper officer of the administering body be paid into such bank as the administering body from time to time appoints to an account to be called “The [Name of administering body] Account”.

The funds of an administering body received under this Act shall, save as otherwise authorized by this Act, be applied in managing, administering, and improving the reserves under its control, and for no other purpose.

Where pursuant to the provisions of section twenty-one of this Act a Domain Board for the time being having control of any domain is appointed to control and manage any other public reserve, then—

All moneys received in respect of any public domain not controlled by a Board shall be applied in managing, administering, and improving the domain in respect of which they were received, or as the Minister may direct pursuant to section seventy-five of this Act or otherwise in carrying out the objects of Part III of this Act.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Part of this Act, the Minister may direct that any moneys received, whether before or after the commencement of this Act, in respect of any public domain shall be applied in managing, administering, and improving any other specified public domain or for the acquisition of land for the purposes of a public domain whether as an addition to that domain or not, or he may direct that any moneys that may thereafter be received in respect of any public domain for any specified period shall be applied as aforesaid for the purposes of any other specified public domain or for the acquisition of other land as aforesaid.

A direction under this section authorizing the diversion of any moneys received as aforesaid in respect of any public domain shall not be issued without the written consent of the Domain Board (if any) charged with the administration of that domain.

Within one month after the close of each financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March, every Board shall cause to be prepared and submitted to the Audit Office for audit a statement of assets and liabilities together with a statement of accounts (including a Receipts and Payments Account), and showing fully the financial position of the Board at the close of the year.

Within one month of the close of each financial year ending on the 31st day of March, every administering body (not being a Board) shall, if required so to do in writing by the Minister, cause to be prepared and submitted to the Audit Office for audit a statement of accounts (including a Receipts and Payments Account) showing fully the financial position in respect of the reserves under its control at the close of the year.

The provisions of subsections two and three of section eighty-eight of the Public Revenues Act 1953 shall apply with respect to the audit of the accounts of every such Board or other administering body as if it were a local authority within the meaning of section eighty-eight of that Act.

A copy of every such statement shall be submitted to the Commissioner for transmission to the Minister accompanied by a report as to the operations of the Board or other administering body for the year.

Where a local authority is a Domain Board, the statements required by this section shall be incorporated in the annual accounts of the local authority, and the time for preparation and submission of the accounts required by this section shall be deemed to have been amended accordingly.

In any case where a Domain Board having control of a public domain is of opinion that portion of the cost of the management, improvement, and maintenance of that domain should, by reason of the fact that the domain is generally used by the inhabitants of the districts of more than one local authority, be borne by the several local authorities of those districts, the Domain Board may serve on the Minister and on each of the local authorities concerned a notice setting forth—

If no objection from any of the local authorities concerned is received by the Minister within the aforesaid period of two months he may, on the application of the Domain Board, by notice published in the Gazette, make an order of apportionment among the several local authorities concerned in accordance with the terms of the notice, and every such order of apportionment shall have effect according to its tenor.

If within the aforesaid period of two months, or within such extended period as the Minister may allow, any of the local authorities concerned objects by notice in writing served on the Minister to the proposed apportionment, or to any other matter referred to in the notice given by the Domain Board, the Governor-General may appoint a Commission under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908 to inquire into and report upon the proposals of the Domain Board and the objections thereto, and to make recommendations with respect to the proposed apportionment or other proposals of the Domain Board.

On receipt of the report of the Commission the Governor-General may, by warrant published in the Gazette, make an order for the apportionment among the several local authorities named in the warrant of a specified portion of the estimated expenditure of the Domain Board in respect of the domain. That order of apportionment may be in accordance with the report of the Commission or may vary the apportionment recommended therein, but not so as to provide for the apportionment of a greater amount in the aggregate in any year than was originally proposed by the Domain Board.

Any order of apportionment made under this section either by the Governor-General or by the Minister may relate particularly to the capital expenditure of the Domain Board in respect of any specified work or works, or may relate generally to the expenditure of that Board for any year, or for two or more years, or for an unlimited period.

Any moneys payable to a Domain Board by any local authority pursuant to an order of apportionment made under this section shall be recoverable as a debt due by that local authority to the Domain Board, and may be paid by the local authority out of its ordinary funds, or may in the case of a County Council be paid in whole or in part out of any separate riding account.

In addition to any other rating power, every local authority affected by an order of apportionment made under this section shall have power to make and levy a rate over all rateable property in its district or in any defined part thereof sufficient to provide the amount payable by it pursuant to the order of apportionment.

For the purpose of affording representation on the Domain Board to the local authorities required by virtue of an order of apportionment made under this section to contribute towards the cost of any public domain controlled by that Board, the Minister may appoint such additional number of members as he thinks fit notwithstanding that the limit prescribed by section six of this Act may thereby be exceeded. Any additional member appointed pursuant to this subsection may be appointed by virtue of any office, and shall continue to be a member of the Board only so long as he holds that office, and on his retirement from office his successor in office shall without further appointment be deemed to be a member of the Domain Board.

Save as provided in subsection eight of this section additional members appointed under this section shall, unless sooner removed, continue in office only until the other members appointed under this Act retire from office, but shall be eligible for reappointment.

Any order of apportionment under this section, whether made by the Governor-General or by the Minister, may be at any time in like manner revoked.

Where upon the revocation of the reservation of any public reserve the land comprised therein becomes Crown land and the land is subsequently alienated by the Crown, the following provisions shall apply, namely:

1948, No. 64

Where—

the local authority may from time to time apply moneys in its general fund or account towards the management, improvement, and maintenance of that reserve or any other reserve, notwithstanding that the reserve may be situate outside the district of the local authority.

Any local authority may from time to time out of its general fund or account contribute such sums as it thinks fit towards the cost of the acquisition by the Crown of any land for the purposes of this Act, notwithstanding that the land may be situate outside the district of the local authority.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act, any local authority which is the Domain Board of a public domain may borrow by way of special loan under the Local Bodies’ Loans Act 1926, as if for a public work, moneys for the improvement and development of the domain or the purchase of other land for addition to the domain, and may in its capacity as a Domain Board expend for those purposes moneys so borrowed.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act, advances by way of loan may from time to time be made out of moneys appropriated by Parliament, or without further appropriation than this subsection out of the proceeds of the sale of land in respect of which the reservation has been revoked, to any Domain Board, whether a local authority or not, for the purpose of improving or developing any domain under its control or the purchase of other land for addition to any such domain. Every advance under this subsection shall be made upon such terms and conditions as the Minister of Finance thinks fit.

Where any Domain Board borrows moneys pursuant to this section, it may use any of its funds in such manner and at such times as the Minister approves for the repayment of the moneys so borrowed and any interest payable thereon.

Where in the opinion of the Minister there is good and sufficient reason for so doing, the Minister may postpone or remit the payment of interest or principal or postpone the repayment of instalments of principal and may remit the interest portion of any such instalment in respect of any moneys borrowed by a Domain Board under subsection two of this section.

The Minister, in the case of public reserves vested in the Crown, and the administering body, in the case of public reserves vested in that administering body, may in respect of any lease or licence granted under this Act—

Provided that the powers conferred on the Minister by this section shall not be exercised in respect of any reserve under the control of an administering body, except on the recommendation of that body.

It shall be lawful for any person being a member of an administering body to hold any office or place of profit under or in the gift of that body where the payment made or to be made by the administering body in respect of that office or place of profit does not exceed twenty-five pounds in any financial year.

Nothing in the Local Authorities (Members’ Contracts) Act 1934 shall be deemed to apply with respect to any contract made pursuant to this section.

Any constable, any ranger, any officer of the Department of Lands and Survey, or any person employed by the administering body of any reserve may without further warrant or authority than this section summarily interfere to prevent any actual or attempted breach of this Act or of any regulation or by-law thereunder.

Where any person is found offending against this Act or any regulations or by-laws under this Act, it shall be lawful for any person referred to in subsection one of this section to require the offender forthwith to desist from the offence and also to tell his real Christian name, surname, and place of abode.

If the offender, after being so required, fails to tell his real Christian name, surname, or place of abode, or gives a false name or address, or gives such a description of his place of abode as is illusory for the purpose of discovery, or wilfully continues the offence, he commits a further offence against this Act.

Every person commits an offence against this Act who without being authorized (the proof of which shall be on the person charged) by the Minister or the Commissioner or the administering body, as the case may require,—

Provided that nothing in any authorization by the Minister or the Commissioner or the administering body to do any act which would otherwise be unlawful under paragraph (c) or paragraph (j) or paragraph (k) of this subsection shall be deemed to authorize any person to do any act in contravention of the provisions of the Wildlife Act 1953 or any regulations or Proclamation or notification under that Act.

Every person commits an offence against this Act who—

Every person commits an offence against this Act who uses, receives, sells, or otherwise disposes of any wood, timber, bark, flax, mineral, gravel, kauri gum, or other substance or thing whatsoever knowing the same to have been removed unlawfully from any public reserve.

Where any person commits an offence against paragraph (m) of subsection one of this section the Minister or the Commissioner or the administering body, as the case may be, may cause the removal of any objects deposited or thrown in breach of that subsection, and the cost of that removal shall be assessed by a Magistrate and shall be recoverable summarily from that person in like manner as a fine.

Any person convicted of an offence under this section shall, in addition to any penalty for which he may be liable for the offence, pay twice the full market value of any substance removed from or for the damage done to the public reserve, or to any forest, wood, timber, flax, or scrub growing or being thereon; and, in the case of an offence under paragraph (a) of subsection one of this section, for the cost of extinguishing the fire and the expenses incurred in investigating the origin of the fire. That value or damage or cost shall be assessed by a Magistrate, and shall be recoverable summarily in like manner as a fine. The full market value shall be deemed to be that amount which the Crown would have received by way of purchase price for the substance removed if the same had been offered for sale by the Crown on reasonable terms in the condition in which it was in before its severance and removal from the reserve.

All cattle, sheep, horses, or other animals trespassing on any public reserve may be seized by any officer of the Department of Lands and Survey or by any person authorized in writing in that behalf by the Commissioner or the administering body, either generally or in any particular case, and—

All buildings, signs, hoardings, or apparatus erected on any public reserve without the consent in writing of the Minister or the administering body shall be deemed to be forfeited to the Crown or, as the case may be, the administering body, and shall be disposed of by the Commissioner or that body in such manner as he or it deems fit.

Any firearm found illegally in the possession of any person in any public reserve may be seized by any officer of the Department of Lands and Survey or any constable or by any officer or servant of the administering body and shall be retained by the Commissioner or the administering body, as the case may be, pending the hearing of the charge against the person for the offence in respect of which it was seized. If proceedings are not taken within six months against the person from whom the firearm was seized, it shall at the expiration of that period be returned to him. Where proceedings are taken against the person from whom the firearm was seized, the firearm shall, when the proceedings are completed, be returned to that person, unless the Court, where it enters a conviction, directs that the firearm shall be deemed to be forfeited to the Crown or the administering body, and the firearm shall then be disposed of as the Minister or that body, as the case may be, directs.

The proceeds of the sale or disposal of anything sold or otherwise disposed of under the provisions of this section shall, where it is sold or disposed of by the Commissioner, be paid into the Land Settlement Account and may be applied, without further appropriation than this section, for the maintenance, improvement, and development of public reserves, and, where it is sold or disposed of by an administering body, shall form part of the funds of that body.

Every person commits an offence against this Act who without being authorized (the proof of which shall be on the person charged) by the Minister, the Commissioner, or the administering body, as the case may require,—

Every person who commits an offence against this section shall, in addition to the penalty for the offence, pay for all damage done and for the cost of extinguishing the fire and expenses incurred in investigating the origin of the fire. That damage or cost shall be assessed by a Magistrate, and shall be recoverable summarily in like manner as a fine.

Every person commits an offence against this Act who—

Notwithstanding anything in the Justices of the Peace Act 1927, any information in respect of any offence against this Act or any regulation under this Act may be laid at any time within two years from the time when the matter of the information arose.

All offences against this Act or any regulations or by-laws under this Act shall be punishable on summary conviction on the information of—

Any appointment under subsection one of this section may be for the purpose of laying an information in respect of a particular offence, or may be a general appointment to lay informations in respect of offences.

Any officer or servant of the Department of Lands and Survey or of the administering body of the reserve in respect of which the offence is alleged to have been committed, although not the informant, may appear and conduct the prosecution in all proceedings for offences against this Act or any regulations or by-laws under this Act.

In every case where under section eighty-four of this Act wilful intent must be shown, that intent shall be presumed until the contrary is shown.

If within a public reserve or in its vicinity any person is found in possession of any wood, tree, shrub, fern, plant, stone, mineral, bird, egg, nest, or animal, or any part of any such thing, and, upon being thereunto required by any ranger or constable or any employee of the Crown or of any administering body employed in the reserve or by any ranger appointed under the Wildlife Act 1953, fails or refuses to give a satisfactory account of the manner in which he became possessed of the same, he shall be deemed to have wilfully removed or taken the same in breach of this Act, unless he satisfies the Court to the contrary.

In any proceedings for an offence under this Act or any regulations or by-laws under this Act the averment that any lands in question form part of a public reserve shall be sufficient without proof of that fact unless the defendant proves to the contrary, and all maps and plans and copies certified as true under the hand of the Commissioner of Crown Lands or the Chief Surveyor of the land district in which the land is situated shall be sufficient evidence of their contents without production of the original records and without the personal attendance of those officers or proof of their signatures.

Every person who commits an offence against this Act is liable, in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to both that imprisonment and that fine, or, in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds.

Every person who commits a breach of any by-law under this Act is liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds.

Subject to subsection two of section one hundred and nine of the Public Revenues Act 1953, all fines recovered under this Act shall, in the case of a fine recovered on the information of the Clerk or Secretary of the administering body of any public reserve or of any person appointed in that behalf by the administering body of any public reserve, be paid into and form part of the general funds of that administering body:

Provided that any moneys awarded by a Court in respect of loss or damage or the costs of extinguishing any fire or awarded under subsection four or subsection five of section eighty-four of this Act and recovered as a fine shall be paid or applied in the manner aforesaid, but without any deduction being made.

Where under this Act power to make by-laws is conferred on any administering body, the by-laws shall be made in the following manner:

No by-law made under this Act shall have any force or effect unless and until it is approved by the Minister.

Approval of any by-law by the Minister shall be conclusive evidence that it has been duly made and approved under this Act.

The Minister may from time to time issue or authorize any officer or officers of the Department of Lands and Survey to issue permits granting access to any specified reserve or class of reserve, and may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, prohibit access to any specified reserve or class or classes of reserve other than by permit issued as aforesaid.

Where any reserve is constituted for the purpose of the preservation of flora and fauna, no person shall be entitled to enter the reserve other than under the authority of a permit granted as aforesaid.

Every person commits an offence against this Act who, not being the holder of a permit issued under this section, enters any reserve in breach of the provisions of this section or of any notice by the Minister under this section.

Nothing in this Act shall in any way restrict the operation of any of the provisions of the Mining Act 1926 with respect to dealings under that Act with public reserves as defined by that Act:

Provided that the term “public reserve” as defined by the said Mining Act 1926 shall not be deemed to include a public reserve within the meaning of this Act which does not consist of land vested in the Crown or alienated from the Crown as a public reserve, but shall include a public domain subject to Part III of this Act and a scenic reserve subject to Part IV of this Act.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this or any other Act, the Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare to be subject to the Coal Mines Act 1925 or to any specified provisions of that Act, as if it were Crown land as defined by that Act, any public reserve within the meaning of this Act consisting of land vested in the Crown or alienated from the Crown as a public reserve which contains coal:

Provided that every grant of a coal mining right over any such land so declared to be subject to the said Coal Mines Act 1925 or to any specified provisions thereof shall be subject to the consent of the Minister, who may refuse his consent or grant it unconditionally or on such conditions as he thinks fit to impose:

Provided also that in the case of a scenic reserve this subsection shall be read subject to the provisions of the Coal Mines Act 1925.

No coal mining right under the Coal Mines Act 1925 or mining privilege under the Mining Act 1926 may be granted over any reserve for soil conservation or river control or other like purposes except with the prior consent in writing of the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council.

The Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, declare that as from a date to be specified in the notice any public reserve or any specified portion thereof shall cease to be subject to the provisions of this Act if that reserve or portion thereof is deemed by the Minister to contain any mineral of economic value, and every such notice shall have effect according to its tenor.

Where any land is vested in the Crown or in any local authority for the purposes of a road reserve and the land is required for the purposes of a road or street, the land may be dedicated as a road or street by notice under the hand of the Minister or, as the case may be, by resolution of the local authority, and lodged with the District Land Registrar.

No District Land Registrar shall without special authority of law register or otherwise give effect under the Land Transfer Act 1952 to any dealing with any public reserve except in conformity with the trusts upon which the reserve is held for the time being.

The provisions of subsections one, two, three, and five of section one hundred and twenty-nine of the Land Transfer Act 1952 shall apply not only to land set apart or reserved by the Crown as public reserves, but also to any other lands being public reserves as defined in this Act, and the notification provided for by the said subsection two shall in the case of those other lands be made by the administering body in which any such other land is vested, and may be made by its inclusion in any memorandum of transfer of that other land to the administering body, or in any application to bring any such land under the provisions of the Land Transfer Act 1952.

The District Land Registrar for the land registration district in which is situated any public reserve vested in the Crown shall, on the written request of the Commissioner, issue a certificate or certificates of title under the Land Transfer Act 1952 in the name of Her Majesty the Queen in respect of any land for the time being comprised in that public reserve.

In any case where the survey of the public reserve is inadequate for the issue of an ordinary certificate of title, the District Land Registrar may issue a certificate of title limited as to description of parcels, and the provisions of Part XII of the Land Transfer Act 1952 as to certificates of title limited as to description of parcels shall, as far as they are applicable and with any necessary modifications, apply with respect to that certificate of title.

Where any District Land Registrar issues any certificate of title under this section he shall not prepare a duplicate thereof, and the copy bound in the register shall be noted accordingly.

Where any land subject to the Land Transfer Act 1952 is acquired by or becomes vested in the Crown for the purposes of this Act, the certificate of title for the land shall remain bound in the register, but the duplicate of it shall be cancelled by the District Land Registrar. The certificate of title so bound shall be endorsed to the effect that the duplicate thereof has been cancelled.

Where before the commencement of this Act a certificate of title has been issued for any land which at the commencement of this Act is subject to this Act and vested in the Crown, the District Land Registrar shall, on the written request of the Commissioner and on the surrender to him of the duplicate certificate of title, cancel that duplicate certificate. The certificate of title bound in the register shall be endorsed to the effect that the duplicate thereof has been cancelled.

Every certificate of title referred to in this section shall include a reference to the purpose for which the land is held. Where an existing certificate of title does not include such a reference, the District Land Registrar shall, upon receipt of a certificate under the hand of the Commissioner stating the purpose for which the land is held, note the register accordingly. No fee shall be payable for the registration of a certificate under this subsection.

Any instrument which relates to the land in any such certificate of title and is duly executed by a person having the proper authority may be registered in accordance with the provisions of the Land Transfer Act 1952, notwithstanding there is no duplicate certificate of title.

A copy of any resolution gazetted under section thirteen of this Act or of any notice by the Minister under this Act and published in the Gazette may be forwarded to the District Land Registrar or the Registrar of Deeds, as the case may require, who shall thereupon, without payment of any fee, record the copy of the resolution or notice and register it against the appropriate title (if any).

Where upon the revocation of the reservation of any public reserve or part of any public reserve the land comprised therein or, as the case may be, part of that land becomes Crown land, any certificate of title or other instrument of title in respect of the land shall, on application by the Commissioner to the District Land Registrar or the Registrar of Deeds, as the case may require, be cancelled or, as the case may be, cancelled in so far as it relates to that part of the land.

All documents which require to be executed for the purpose of this Act by or on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen or by or on behalf of the Minister may, unless otherwise provided by this Act, be executed by the Commissioner, and if so executed shall be as valid and effectual as if executed by or on behalf of Her Majesty or by or on behalf of the Minister, as the case may be.

All actions and proceedings by or on behalf of the Crown in connection with any breach of contract or any trespass or any damage accruing by reason of trespass or for the recovery of any rents, purchase moneys, or other moneys in respect of any public reserve or in respect of any damages or wrongs suffered by the Crown in respect of any public reserve shall be commenced, prosecuted, and carried on by the Commissioner on behalf of the Crown, and the Commissioner may be plaintiff or defendant, as the case may require, in any such action or proceeding.

Where this Act requires anything to be publicly notified or refers to public notification, the subject-matter shall be published twice with an interval of at least one week in some newspaper circulating throughout the area affected by that subject-matter, and where time is to be counted from any notice or public notification it shall be counted from the first publication thereof in that newspaper.

A notice required by this Act to be given to any person may be sent by registered post to the last known place of abode or business of that person, and shall be deemed to have been delivered when in the ordinary course of post it would be delivered. If any such person is absent from New Zealand the notice may be sent to his agent, and if he has no known agent the notice may be given to him by publishing it in a newspaper circulating in the district in which the land the subject-matter of the notice is situated.

Every notice by the Minister under this Act shall come into force on the day of the date thereof or on such later date as may be specified in the notice.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Peel Forest Act 1926, the Minister may with the consent of the Peel Forest Board by notice in the Gazette, declare that from a date to be specified in that notice the land described as Peel Forest Park in the Schedule to that Act shall cease to be subject to that Act, and thereafter the land shall be vested in the Crown as a scenic reserve subject to this Act, to be known as Peel Forest Park, and shall be administered accordingly.

On the date specified in that notice the Peel Forest Board constituted under the Peel Forest Act 1926 shall be deemed to be dissolved, and the Minister may in that notice or by subsequent notice appoint under section six of this Act a Board to control and manage the Peel Forest Park.

The Board so appointed shall assume the rights, obligations, assets, and liabilities lawfully incurred by the Peel Forest Board constituted under the Peel Forest Act 1926.

On the issue of the notice as aforesaid all existing leases, licences, contracts, and engagements entered into or granted by the Peel Forest Board shall be deemed to have been entered into or granted by or on behalf of the Crown.

The District Land Registrar for the Land Registration District of Canterbury on the issue of such notice as aforesaid shall thereupon, on the application in writing by the Commissioner, make such entries in the register books and do all such other things as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of this section.

The following enactments are hereby repealed as from the date specified as aforesaid in the notice referred to in subsection one of this section, namely:

1927, No. 19

1931, No. 41

1934, No. 17

As from the date specified as aforesaid, section two of the Local Authorities (Members’ Contracts) Act 1934 is hereby amended by omitting the words “the Peel Forest Board”.

As from the commencement of this Act section eight of the Tourist and Health Resorts Control Act 1908 shall, with respect to reserves administered under that Act, be deemed to—

Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect or modify the provisions of section seven of the Tourist and Health Resorts Control Act 1908 as to moneys received in respect of reserves administered under that Act, and in particular the provisions of section seventy-six of this Act as to statements of assets and liabilities and accounts shall not apply with respect to those reserves.

The powers conferred by this section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for any existing powers in respect of reserves administered under the Tourist and Health Resorts Control Act 1908.

The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make all such regulations as in his opinion may be necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the provisions of this Act and for the due administration thereof.

Without limiting the general authority to make regulations conferred by subsection one of this section, regulations may be made under that subsection providing for the expulsion from public reserves of persons acting thereon in contravention of any Act relating to betting or gaming.

All regulations made under this section shall be laid before Parliament within twenty-eight days after the date of the making thereof if Parliament is then in session, and, if not, shall be laid before Parliament within twenty-eight days after the date of the commencement of the next ensuing session.

The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed.

Without limiting the provisions of the Acts Interpretation Act 1924, it is hereby declared that the repeal of any provision by this Act shall not affect any document made or any thing whatsoever done under the provision so repealed or under any corresponding former provision, and every such document or thing, so far as it is subsisting or in force at the time of the repeal and could have been made or done under this Act, shall continue and have effect as if it had been made or done under the corresponding provision of this Act and as if that provision had been in force when the document was made or the thing was done.

Any power under this Act which the Minister may exercise by notice in the Gazette to revoke any reservation or to change the purpose of any reservation or to revoke any vesting or appointment or setting apart may be so exercised in respect of any reserve constituted or office held at the commencement of this Act notwithstanding that the reservation or vesting or appointment or setting apart was originally made by the Governor-General by Order in Council or Proclamation or Warrant.

All references to the Minister charged with the administration of the Scenery Preservation Act 1908 in any Act, regulation, rule, by-law, order, or other enactment, or in any contract, agreement, deed, instrument, application, lease, licence, permit, notice, or other document whatsoever shall, unless inconsistent with the context, be hereafter read as references to the Minister of Lands.