✨ Harbour Endowments Notice
AUCKLAND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT GAZETTE.
Published by Authority.
Vol. 3.] AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 1855. [No. 17.
HARBOUR ENDOWMENTS.
Superintendent’s Office, Auckland,
12th May, 1855.
THE opinion of the Provincial Law Officer on the subject of the Harbour Endowments is published for general information.
Wm. Brown,
Superintendent.
Princes-street, Auckland,
May 28, 1855.
SIR,—I have the honour to transmit the following Report, relative to the application of the Committee of the Auckland Harbour Commissioners, under the Auckland Harbour Land Act, for the consent of your Honor and the Executive Council of the Province to the sale of a portion of certain lands forming part of the sea-shore in the harbour of this town, with the view of applying the proceeds to rendering such Harbour more secure for shipping, by the construction of a Breakwater.
It appears that the Commissioners were incorporated by an Act of the local Legislature of the Province, and that those lands were conveyed to them as a body politic, in the month of January last, under certain provisions contained in the Public Reserves Act of the General Assembly.
At Common Law, the Sovereign might, in general, during his reign, dispose of the demesne lands of the Crown as he pleased, and of the proceeds, rents, and profits thence arising, which, at one time, formed the most important branch of the ordinary revenue. Such power has been from time to time exercised in nearly all the colonies, and chiefly through the medium of Royal Instructions.
Several codes of Regulations for the disposal of such lands in these islands have at various times been in force; but it does not appear that lands dedicated and set apart for public purposes could, under any of them, or sold to private persons for their own use and benefit.
The First of them was that introduced by Captain Hobson, immediately after the Treaty of Waitangi, and which then obtained in New South Wales, of which colony these islands formed an integral part for some 16 months. It seems that none of its provisions allowed the alienating of public reserved lands to the use of private persons.
The Second is contained in the Royal Instructions accompanying the Charter of November 16th, 1840. The 43rd section of those Instructions required the Surveyor-General to reserve, previous to selling the Crown lands in any district, such parts thereof as might be suitable for public purposes, inter alia, as the “sites” of quays and landing places; and then strictly inhibited the Governor from disposing of the same for the uses of private persons.
“And it is our will and pleasure, and we do strictly enjoin and require you, that you do not on any account, or on any pretence
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Auckland Provincial Gazette 1855, No 16
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🏗️ Report on Auckland Harbour Endowments
🏗️ Infrastructure & Public Works12 May 1855
Harbour Endowments, Auckland, Land Sale, Breakwater Construction
- Wm. Brown, Superintendent
- Provincial Law Officer