1704
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 114

Approving General Rules of Native Land Court.

JAMES PRENDERGAST.
Administrator of the Government.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Government House, at Wellington, this
twenty-third day of November, 1880.

Present:

HIS EXCELLENCY THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE
GOVERNMENT IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS it is enacted by "The Native Land
Court Act, 1880, that it shall be lawful for
the Judges, subject to the approval of the Governor
in Council, from time to time to make rules to regu-
late the sittings, practice, forms, and procedure of
the Native Land Court, and for the government of
all persons acting under the said Act, and also for
fixing the fees to be paid, the time and mode of pay-
ment, and for enforcing the payment thereof, and
such rules from time to time by other rules to alter
and revoke:

Now, therefore, we, the Judges of the said Court,
do hereby, in pursuance of the said power, make the
rules following, that is to say,-

RULES.

JURISDICTION AND PRACTICE OF COURT.

Form of Claim.

1. The claim of any Native or Natives under sec-
   tion sixteen of the Act may be in the form numbered
   one in the Schedule, or in any other form that may,
   in the discretion of the Court, subject to the Act,
   show the intention of the signers to assert a claim to
   the piece of land defined or referred to, and their
   desire that such claim should be investigated by the
   Court.

Claims.

2. Every claim when received by a Judge shall be
   forwarded by him to the Chief Judge, who shall enter
   the same in a general register as of the day on which
   it is received in his office.

Registry of Claims.

3. Each claim shall also be entered in a local
   register of a district, arranged as the Chief Judge
   shall find convenient; such local register shall be
   filled up as to the further history of the claim as
   the case proceeds.

Sittings of Court.

4. When in the judgment of the Chief Judge a
   sufficient number of claims have been received from
   any district, and the claims are in a sufficient state
   of forwardness as to surveys to render a sitting of
   the Court necessary, notice of them (section twenty)
   and of the sitting of the Court (section twenty-one)
   shall be given by the Chief Judge.

Notice of Claims.

5. The notice of claims and of the sitting of the
   Court thereupon shall be in the form numbered two
   in the Schedule, or to the same effect, and shall be
   inserted in the Kahiti in the Maori language, and in
   the Gazette in the English language. Copies of the
   notice shall also be sent to such Resident Magistrates,
   Native Assessors, and other persons for distribution
   as the Chief Judge shall think necessary, and also
   to the claimants and counter-claimants, or objectors
   (if any).

Sittings of Court.

6. The Chief Judge shall then transmit the claims
   to be heard at the sittings, with the counter-claims
   (if any), surveys, plans, and other documents relating
   thereto, to a Judge (with a copy of the notice as
   aforesaid), whose duty it shall then be to obtain the
   attendance of an Assessor, and, with him, attend the Court so fixed, and hear and determine matters
   coming before it.

7. It shall be the duty of the Chief Judge to pro-
   vide a Clerk and Interpreter for the Court.

Preliminary Notices.

8. If a preliminary notice of a claim be given, as
   provided in section twenty, such notice shall be in the
   form numbered three, and shall be published in the
   same manner as a final notice.

Postponement of Court.

9. If any unforeseen event renders necessary the
   postponement of any Court, fixed as before provided,
   the Chief Judge may postpone the same, by notice in
   writing, circulated in the most extensive manner
   possible.

Sufficiency of Notice.

10. Subject to these rules, the Court shall decide
    upon the sufficiency of any notice.

No Supplementary Notices.

11. The Chief Judge may not issue a second or
    supplementary notice or list of cases for any Court.

Counter-claimants and Objectors.

12. A counter-claim or any objection to a claim
    may be in any form that shall sufficiently signify the
    intention of the parties.

Senior Judge to preside.

13. If more than one Judge be present at a sitting
    in Court, the senior Judge shall preside.

Course of Proceedings.

14. The claimant shall first proceed to establish
    a primâ facie case without cross-examination by the
    counter-claimant or objector. If he succeeds to the
    satisfaction of the Court in establishing a primâ facie
    case, the counter-claimant or objector shall then be
    in the position of a plaintiff, and shall proceed with
    his case. The claimant shall proceed with his case
    in defence. The counter-claimant shall then make
    his address to the Court, the claimant being entitled
    to the reply.

Case of the Government or Crown Grantee.

15. But if the counter-claimant or objector is the
    Crown, or pleads a grant from the Crown, the claim-
    ant shall be regarded as a plaintiff from the beginning,
    and shall finish his case before the objector com-
    mences. The address on the part of the objector
    shall follow his case, and the claimant shall be en-
    titled to the reply; but in all cases in which the
    Crown appears it shall have the reply.

Counter-claimant becoming Claimant.

16. If a counter-claimant shall upset the original
    claim, and shall desire that a certificate should issue
    to him for the land comprised therein, or for any
    part thereof, the Court may at once order the same
    upon the evidence in the original case, or in its dis-
    cretion may order that the counter-claim shall be
    heard as an original claim, and at once proceed to
    hear and determine the same as if a primâ facie case
    had been established by the counter-claimant.

Form of Order.

17. The order of the Court for a certificate shall
    be in the form numbered four, and shall contain all
    the particulars for which blanks are therein left; but
    a minute by the Judge of a refusal or of any ad-
    journment shall be sufficient.

Case of two or more Certificates for one Claim.

18. If the Court orders two or more certificates for
    one claim, it may direct such alterations to be made
    in the map or survey as it shall think necessary; and
    the Surveyor shall make the same to the satisfaction
    of the Court or of the Chief Judge.