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THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 15

Amended Regulations for the Formation of Special Settlements.

Wm. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS, Governor,
By his Deputy,
JAMES PRENDERGAST.
ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Government House, at Wellington, this eleventh day of March, 1885.

Present:

His Excellency the Deputy-Governor in Council.

WHEREAS by “The Land Act 1877 Amendment Act, 1879,” it is enacted that the Governor in Council may fix the terms and conditions upon which the lands in any special settlement should be disposed of, and the mode of payment for the same: And whereas it is desirable to amend the regulations which were made by Order in Council issued on the eighth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-four:

Now, therefore, I, James Prendergast, in the name and on behalf of the Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, and as his duly appointed Deputy, in pursuance and exercise of the power and authority conferred upon him by the hereinbefore in part recited Act, and by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said colony, doth hereby amend the Order in Council aforesaid, and doth hereby fix the following terms and conditions as those upon which special-settlement blocks shall be disposed of, and the mode of payment for the same, that is to say,—

REGULATIONS.

1. Any association of persons of not less than twenty-five, who may be desirous of settling on Crown lands adjacent to each other, may arrange with the Government for a block of land on the following general conditions:—

2. In the construction of these regulations, unless the context shall otherwise require, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby assigned to them:—

“Association” shall mean the Small-Farm Association:

“Land” shall mean any block of land set apart for a special settlement:

“Purchaser” shall mean any member of the association or other person occupying or entitled to occupy land under these conditions, whether male or female:

“Receiver of Land Revenue” shall mean Receiver of Land Revenue at , or other officer for the time being acting as such:

“Minister” shall mean the Minister of Lands for the time being, or any member of the Executive acting for him:

“Secretary” shall mean the secretary of the association for the time being, and shall include any person acting in that capacity, and if there shall be no secretary, then the chairman of the association:

“Registered substitute” shall mean any person employed by a purchaser to fulfil the residential and improvement conditions, and whose name shall be registered in the office of the Minister:

“Authorized surveyor” shall mean a surveyor who holds a certificate of competency from the Surveyor-General.

3. Any block of land to be selected under these regulations shall contain not less than 1,000 acres nor more than 11,000 acres, inclusive of roads, townships, and all other reserves; and it will be surveyed into areas not exceeding 150 acres or thereabouts, provided that the number of persons located in each block shall not be less than one person for every 100 acres of its total area.

4. Any association may set apart such area, within the boundaries of any block it may select, as may be approved by the Minister, not in any case exceeding 640 acres, for a site for a township and reserves. The plan and survey of any township so set apart and approved to be subject to the provision of regulation 5.

5. All surveys shall be conducted in accordance with instructions to be given from time to time by the Surveyor-General of the colony, and subject to his approval in every respect.

The cost of survey and roading, not exceeding 2s. 6d. per acre, shall be paid for by the secretary in, say, four instalments, three months to elapse between each payment. The first payment shall be made when the association has agreed to take a special block; or, subject to the approval of the Minister, any association may employ an authorized surveyor, and pay the cost of survey and road-making. In such cases the aforesaid payment shall not be required. Through roads to give access to adjacent country must be laid off.

6. Such portions of the land as may be required for the purposes of the Government of the colony, or for educational, recreation, or other public purposes, and as shall be approved by the Minister, shall not be open for allotment under these regulations.

7. The allotment of sections to members of the association shall be made at such time and in such manner as the association may, with the consent of the Minister, determine.

8. The price of the land shall be such as may be arranged between the Minister and association, subject to the said Act, and shall be payable as follows: One-tenth of the price of the whole block shall be paid by the secretary prior to the allotment of the sections. This will be in satisfaction of the two first half-yearly instalments to be reckoned as due from the next first day of January or July following. Thereafter the payments shall be made by each purchaser every six months in advance, at the rate of one-twentieth of the price of the land, until the whole price has been paid.

9. One-third of the price of the land will from time to time, as paid to the Government, be repaid to the local body of the district, or the association, for expenditure on roads in or leading to the block.

10. All the moneys required to be paid for the land under these terms and conditions shall be paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue (who will in most instances be the local Postmaster), and receipts given by him shall be sufficient discharges for the payment of the moneys therein respectively acknowledged to have been received.

11. The purchaser shall be entitled to a Crown grant of the land selected by him, upon proof to the satisfaction of the Minister that he has been continuously in residential occupation of the land selected by him, either personally or by a registered substitute, for a period of six years, and has fulfilled all the conditions: Provided that in bush land residence need not commence within two years from the date of allotment.

12. All usual and accustomed fees for the time being payable for the issue of the Crown grant shall be paid by the purchaser.

13. The purchasers shall be members of the association, and shall not be under eighteen years of age.

14. The secretary shall inform the Minister of the names of the purchasers, and also furnish the Minister with minutes of proceedings of the association if so required.

15. A certificate signed by the secretary of the association shall be sufficient evidence that the person claiming to select land is a member thereof.

16. Each purchaser shall, within two years from the date of his purchase, bring into cultivation not less than one-tenth of the land purchased by him.

Each purchaser shall, within four years from the date of his purchase, bring into cultivation not less than one-fifth of the land purchased by him.

Each purchaser shall, within six years from the date of his purchase, in addition to the cultivation of one-fifth of the land, have put substantial improvements of a permanent character on the land to the value of £1 for every acre of such land.

17. The expression “substantial improvements of a permanent character” shall, for all purposes of these regulations, mean and include reclamation from swamps, clearing of bush or scrub, cultivation, planting with trees or live hedges, the laying-out and cultivating of gardens, fencing, draining, making roads, sinking wells or water-tanks, constructing water-races, in any way improving the character or fertility of the soil, or the erection of any building.

18. Cultivation shall mean—
    (1.) Fencing the land with timber or other durable materials, not being a brush fence; or
    (2.) Breaking up and laying down the same in English or other cultivated grass; or
    (3.) Breaking up and planting or sowing root or other crops therein; and, in case of bush lands, the felling and clearing of timber and sowing of grass.

19. In the event of the death of a purchaser before having received a grant of his land, his interest in the allotment will revert to his legal representatives, who may dispose of it to a bonâ fide settler approved by the Minister; and the purchaser shall be deemed to stand in the position of the original occupant.

20. Should any purchaser be compelled to leave the district previous to his being entitled to his Crown grant, and before completing the requisite term of occupation, it shall be competent for the Minister to permit such purchaser to transfer his rights, title, and interest in the land selected to another bonâ fide settler, who shall be deemed to occupy the position of original occupant: Provided always that no purchaser shall be allowed to hold more than 150 acres under these regulations.

21. No person who is a holder of 320 acres of land on deferred payments, or who has acquired any freehold under that system to the same extent, or who is holder of 320 acres of land on perpetual lease, and no person who is the owner of a pre-emptive right, or who is the owner in fee of more than 320 acres of land in all in New Zealand, and no person