Land Regulations and Emigration




Rules and Regulations hereby authorised to be made, it shall be lawful for the Superintendent, with the advice of his Executive Council, to impose any Penalty not exceeding £20 for any offence against the same, and such penalty shall be recoverable in a summary way.

  1. It shall also be lawful for the Superintendent to appoint Officers for carrying out the provisions of these Regulations, and of the Rules and Regulations to be made in pursuance thereof, and with power and authority to determine disputes and differences as to the extent, position, and boundaries of the claims of persons holding licenses or leases under these Regulations.

VIII. Emigration.

  1. As it is expedient that persons emigrating at their own cost from the United Kingdom and elsewhere, other than the Australian Colonies, should be permitted to acquire land free of cost in proportion to their expenditure on Emigration, it shall be lawful for the Superintendent, from time to time, to appoint Emigration Agents in the United Kingdom, or elsewhere, with authority to grant Land Orders to persons intending to emigrate and settle in the Province of Auckland; and any such Agent at any time to remove. Provided always that no person shall be entitled to demand any such Land Order as a right, or be entitled to receive any land whatever free of cost, in respect of any such expenditure, unless he shall have obtained, previously to his emigrating, from some one of such Agents of the said Province a Land Order as herein provided.

  2. Such Land Orders shall be granted according to the following scale, namely, for any person eighteen years of age and upwards, forty acres; and for any person upwards of five years and under eighteen years of age, twenty acres: Provided always that in any case in which a child under eighteen years of age shall accompany a parent, the order shall be granted to the parent and not to the child; and in any case in which a servant shall be brought into the Province at the sole expense of a master, the allowance shall be made to the master and not to the servant.

  3. No such Land Order shall be transferable; but in the event of the death, before the expiration of the five years as hereinafter mentioned, of any person to whom any Land Order shall have been granted in respect of his own emigration, all his right and interest under such order shall vest in his appointee constituted in writing, or, in default of such an appointee, in his legal representative, who shall be at once entitled to a grant of the land in case all the terms and conditions to which such deceased person was subject have been fulfilled up to the time of his death.

  4. In the event of the death, before the expiration of the period of five years as hereinafter mentioned, of any child or servant in respect of whom any Land Order shall have been granted to any parent or master, such parent or master shall, if all the terms and conditions in respect of such deceased child or servant shall have been fulfilled up to the time of his death, be entitled at once to a Crown Grant of the land which, in respect of such order, he may have selected or be entitled to select.

  5. Every such order shall be null and void unless the person in respect of whom the same shall have been granted shall present the same in person to the Commissioner, or his Deputy within the said Province, within twelve calendar months from the date of the order being granted.

  6. On presentation thereof to the Commissioner or his Deputy, such officer, on being satisfied that his Deputy, such officer, on being satisfied that the person presenting the same is the person in respect of whom the Land Order was granted, shall make a note thereon, stating the fact of such presentation and of the day of the arrival in the Province of the person presenting the same, and shall date and sign such note.

  7. Every such Land Order when so signed shall authorise the person entitled to the same, or his agent constituted in writing, to select the number of acres mentioned therein out of the Special Settlement Land, if any, specified in such Order, or out of any General Country Land, subject in all cases to the provisions of these Regulations in reference to the selection of Special Settlement Land and General Country Land respectively.

  8. Provided always that it shall be lawful for the Commissioner, if he shall think fit, to divide any allotment for the purpose of enabling any person to obtain the exact number of acres to which any such Land Order may entitle him: Provided also that the land selected by any one person shall either be one allotment or contiguous allotments.

  9. Every such Land Order, when so signed as aforesaid, shall be in force for five years from the day of the arrival stated in such note, and if no selection be made within that time such Land Order shall be null and void.

  10. When any person in respect of whom any such Land Order shall have been granted, shall within the said five years have been absent from the Province of Auckland more than twelve calendar months in the whole, such Land Order shall be null and void, and all right to land selected under the same shall cease and determine.

  11. At the expiration of five years from the day of arrival stated in such note as aforesaid, the person entitled to any land selected under any such Order, shall be entitled to a Crown Grant thereof, on proving to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, or his Deputy, that the person in respect of whom such Land Order shall have been granted, has resided therein not less altogether than forty-eight calendar months out of the said five years.

IX. Naval and Military Settlers.

  1. Every Naval and Military Officer, whether on full or half pay, and every Non-commissioned Officer and Private, Marine and Seaman, whether belonging to Her Majesty’s Service or to the Service of the East India Company, who may retire or obtain his discharge from the service to which he may belong, or who having retired or obtained his discharge for the purpose of settling in the Province of Auckland, has not selected Land under any former Law or Regulation enabling Naval and Military Settlers to select land free of cost, shall be entitled (in lieu of an allowance of money expended in passages, as hereinafter provided), in respect of Settlers emigrating from the United Kingdom and elsewhere) to receive from the Commissioner a Land Order enabling him to acquire Land free of cost after the following rate:—

Commissioned Officer 400 acres
Non-commissioned or Warrant Officer 80 acres.
Private Soldier, Marine, and Seaman 60 acres.

  1. Provided always that any such Officer, Non-commissioned Officer and Private, and any Marine and Seaman, before he shall be entitled to receive any such Land Order, shall prove to the satisfaction of the Commissioner by certificate or otherwise, that he retired or obtained his discharge for the purpose of settling in the Province of Auckland.


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Online Sources for this page:

VUW Te Waharoa PDF Auckland Provincial Gazette 1859, No 13





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🗺️ Proposed Land Regulations of the Province of Auckland (continued from previous page)

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