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THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. [No. 16

General Rules of Validation Court.

GLASGOW, Governor.

IN pursuance and exercise of the powers and authorities
in that behalf conferred upon me by "The Native Land
(Validation of Titles) Act, 1893," I, David, Earl of Glasgow,
the Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, do hereby make
the following general rules for the purposes of the said Act.

GENERAL RULES.

Interpretation Clause.

Throughout these rules, unless the contrary shall ap-
pear from the context, the singular number shall include
the plural, the masculine gender the feminine; "Court"
shall mean the Validation Court constituted under "The
Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act, 1893"; and "Judge"
shall mean the Judge presiding at the Court in the district
wherein the Court is being held for the time being; "the
Act" shall mean "The Native Land (Validation of Titles)
Act, 1893," and "district" shall mean a district proclaimed
by the Governor, under section 3 of the Act, as being within
the jurisdiction of the Court; the word "Maori" shall
include half-caste Maoris and their descendants.

General Procedure.

1. Until a general rule is made on any subject the practice
   and procedure in any case before the Court shall be deter-
   mined by the presiding Judge.

Sittings of the Court.

2. The times and places for the opening of the sittings of
   the Court shall be fixed from time to time by the presiding
   Judge.

An adjournment of the Court may be made at any time
to a subsequent date, and, if required, to a different place,
either by the Judge, or by the Clerk of the Court by the
direction of the Judge.

It shall not be necessary for the Judge or for the Assessor
to be present in Court when adjournments are made by the
Clerk.

Records of the Court.

3. The Registrar (or Deputy Registrar, if there be no
   Registrar) of the Native Land Court for the district wherein
   any Court is appointed to be held shall be ex officio the
   Registrar of the Court for the transaction of its business
   in that district. The records of the Court in that district
   shall be kept in his office, and he shall there record all ap-
   plications, orders, decrees, and other proceedings whatever
   in the suits affecting lands or other property situated in
   that district.

4. If it shall happen that any block of land is situated
   partly in a district proclaimed within the jurisdiction of the
   Court and partly in a district not so proclaimed, no suit or
   proceeding shall be brought in the Court concerning any
   part of said block unless and until the whole block shall be
   first brought within the jurisdiction of the Court in the
   manner required by the 3rd section of the Act.

Assessor.

5. No final order or decree of the Court shall be valid
   unless the Assessor concurs therein, but his concurrence
   shall not be necessary to the validity of any Chamber or
   other interim order not dealing with the ownership by a
   Native of any land or other property.

Interpreter.

6. The Interpreter shall take the oath prescribed in the
   form in the First Schedule to these rules, and such oath
   shall be administered by the Judge. After being so sworn the
   Interpreter shall perform in the Court all such duties as are
   usually performed by an Interpreter in the Native Land
   Court. He shall translate into Maori all such English
   documents, and into English all such Maori documents, as
   shall be required of him by the Judge for use in Court, or by
   the Judge or Registrar for record, or for circulation amongst
   persons interested, or for any other purpose, and he shall
   authenticate every such translation with his signature.

Applications for Validation and Relief.

7. All persons seeking relief through the Court shall be
   styled "applicants," and all persons who claim to be entitled
   to resist the granting of such relief shall be styled "ob-
   jectors." It shall be presumed, unless the contrary be
   ordered by the Judge, that the applicant has the right to
   begin, and also to the final reply before the Court.

8. Every application for validation of any transaction with
   a Maori shall be made in English, and shall be accompanied
   by a Maori translation. It shall be signed by the applicant
   or his agent, and the Maori translation must also be signed
   by the translator, who shall be a licensed interpreter.

Every application must disclose the following particu-
lars:—

A. The name, condition, and residence of each applicant.

B. The day, hour, and place on which the applicant desires
to appear before the Court to ask for relief, which day shall
not be less than forty days after the filing of the said applica-
tion with the Registrar.

C. The nature of the transaction proposed for validation,
the date when such transaction was entered into, the names
of the parties to it, and the consideration agreed upon be-
tween them.

D. The land or interest in land which is intended to be
alienated, and the title thereto of the Maori alienor at the
time of the said alienation.

E. The estate or interest in the land which the applicant
seeks to obtain through the aid of the Court.

F. The manner in which, and the persons through whom,
the applicant for validation came to be invested with the
title he now holds, and the date and particulars of each
transfer, or memorandum of intended transfer, should be
given.

G. The application shall name some place in the town
wherein the Registrar's offices are situated, where notices,
orders, and other documents may be served upon the appli-
cant by leaving same at such place for him; and such service,
if made at any time between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., shall be
deemed good service upon such applicant on the day it is
made, unless the Judge shall otherwise direct.

H. The application shall name the persons, both Maori
and European, upon whom the applicant requires that
copies of the application shall be served, and the persons so
named shall be deemed to be parties to the proceedings, and
shall be the persons whose estate and interests the applicant
desires shall be bound by the decrees of the Court and treated
as "objectors" to the relief sought.

9. All these particulars (A to H) must be so given as to
   enable objectors to understand the nature and extent of the
   rights claimed by the applicant, and to enable them to pre-
   pare their defence if they should desire to defend.

10. On motion by any objector the Judge may at any time
    require the applicants to deliver to such objectors such
    further information and better particulars as may be reason-
    ably required for the preparation of the defence, and for the
    complete settlement of all conflicting interests between the
    parties.

Filing of Applications, and Fees thereon.

11. On payment to the Registrar of the fees for filing set
    forth in the Third Schedule, and upon the further payment of
    such additional sum as shall be demanded by the Registrar
    to cover the cost of printing, and posting at ordinary postage
    rates, or of otherwise sufficiently circulating and serving the
    application upon the Europeans and Maoris interested, and
    also to cover the cost of publication in the Government
    Gazette and in the Kahiti, and in one newspaper published
    in the district, it shall be the Registrar's duty to file the appli-
    cation, indorsing thereon the day and hour of filing, and a
    number showing the order in which it was received.

The Registrar shall then cause copies of the said applica-
tion to be printed, and also to be published in the Govern-
ment Gazette and Kahiti and newspaper, as set down for
hearing on the day named therein for hearing, and such
application shall go into the Court list for that day in the
order of its filing next after the cases (if any) already stand-
ing in the Court list for that day, or adjourned from some
previous day to that day.

12. In no case shall the Registrar be required to file an
    application, or to have it printed, published, and posted to
    the addresses given to him by the applicant, until a sum
    sufficient to defray the cost of such printing, publishing, and
    posting, and of the necessary clerical assistance and all other
    expenses consequent on such printing, publishing, and post-
    ing, shall have been paid to him by the applicant. Nor shall
    any application be filed by the Registrar which seeks relief
    from the Court in respect of any transaction dated since the
    passing of "The Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act,
    1892," and the Court shall not entertain any suit or proceed-
    ing or any transaction with a Native found to have been
    initiated since that date.

The Registrar shall cause the Maori version of the filed ap-
plication to be published at least once in the Kahiti, and the
English version at least three times in the Gazette and also
three times in the local newspaper. The first of each of said
publications in the Kahiti, Gazette, and newspaper shall be
made at least thirty days before the day named in the
application as the day when applicant intends to apply for
relief. The other publications shall be made at the dis-
cretion of the Registrar during the interval between the day
of filing and the day for hearing.

Service on Objectors.

13. After the filing of an application the Registrar shall
    without delay circulate printed Maori copies thereof through
    the Post-office amongst all the Native owners of the
    land to be affected by the said application, in the man-
    ner in which notices to attend the Court are served in
    Native Land Court cases. He shall direct and post a