Lease Conditions for Maori Land




686
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 21

(1.) The demise shall reserve unto the lessor all mines, metals, minerals, coal, lignite, slate, or freestone in or upon or under the land, with power to work, win, use, possess, sell, and dispose of the same, or any part thereof respectively, except such as may be required by the lessee for the lessee’s own use but not for sale or disposal; with power also to the lessor to make roads through the demised lands, and for such purposes or any of them to erect or build houses and other convenient buildings thereon, on paying compensation for damage done to the surface only, the amount of such compensation in case of disagreement to be ascertained and determined by arbitration.

(2.) The lessee shall and will during the term of the lease pay the rent reserved thereby free and clear from all deductions or abatements whatsoever, and shall and will pay all rates, taxes, charges, or assessments now made or hereafter during the said term assessed, charged, or imposed upon the demised premises, or tenant in respect thereof, or upon any buildings or improvements thereon; and in case any of the said rents shall at any time be and continue in arrear and unpaid for fourteen days next after any of the days appointed for payment thereof, the lessee will (if demanded) pay to the lessor interest upon such arrears at the rate of £8 per centum per annum, calculated from the time appointed for the actual payment of such rent to the time of actual payment thereof; and such interest shall for all purposes, whether of distress or otherwise, be deemed to be rent payable under the demise, and be payable and recoverable by distress or otherwise in the same manner as the rent reserved under the demise may or can be.

(3.) The lessee “will insure in the name of the lessor.”
(4.) The lessee “will fence.”
(5.) The lessee “will paint outside every fourth year.”
(6.) The lessee “will cultivate,” and will preserve and keep the demised premises in a clean and husbandlike manner, free from all noxious weeds growing or to grow on the said demised premises, and will not plant on the demised premises, or permit to spread thereon, gorse or furze, and will keep properly cut and trimmed all live hedges and fences on the demised premises.

(7.) No lessee shall transfer the possession or occupation of the land leased to or occupied by him, or any part thereof, by sale, underlease, or other disposition, except the Council shall sanction the proposed transfer, and until such lessee has been twelve months in possession or occupation of the demised land.

(8.) When a statutory declaration is required from any lessee, no transferee, and no purchaser of any lease under any power of sale vested in any mortgagee, assignee, or trustee in bankruptcy, shall be admitted into possession or occupation of the land comprised in such lease until he has deposited with the Council a statutory declaration in the same form or to the same effect.

(9.) Every lawful transferee of any lease, or purchaser as aforesaid of any lease, shall have all the rights and privileges, and be subject to the same obligations, as the original lessee: Provided that the transferor shall be liable for the instalment of rent which shall become due next after such transfer.

(10.) No transfer of any lease shall be valid unless all the conditions upon which the lease was granted have been complied with as to payment of rent or otherwise up to the date of such transfer.

(11.) If any lessee or licensee shall fail to fulfil any of the conditions of his lease within sixty days after the day on which the same ought to be fulfilled, his lease shall be liable to be forfeited, and he shall be deemed, upon such forfeiture, to be in illegal occupation of the land comprised in the lease, and the Council may proceed for recovery of possession thereof without prejudice to the right of the lessor to recover any rent then due or payable, or any right of distress, action, or suit that may have arisen prior to such re-entry.

The foregoing conditions as regards leases shall operate and shall be deemed to bind the Council and the lessee as fully and effectively as if they were set forth in every lease.

  1. The lessee shall be liable for all rates, taxes, or assessments of every nature or kind whatsoever imposed upon the occupier of the lands included in his lease during the term for which he is lessee.

  2. The Council, upon being satisfied that any lease has been lost or accidentally destroyed, may grant a new lease in lieu thereof, upon such terms and conditions and upon payment of such fee in each case as it shall think fit. When any indorsement is required to be made on any lease, and the same is lost or destroyed as aforesaid, the Council may grant a new lease in lieu thereof, and make the required indorsements thereon, or, if it shall so think fit, may incorporate the substance of the indorsements with the terms of the original lease, and insert them together in the new lease.

  3. The Council and the lessee shall each execute the lease in triplicate.

  4. Every lease, after execution thereof as aforesaid, shall be registered by the Council under “The Land Transfer Act, 1885,” or any Act hereafter passed in lieu thereof, in like manner, as nearly as may be, mutatis mutandis, as a Crown grant is registered; and the lease which is retained in the office of the District Land Registrar shall form a folium of the register-book in such office, and on it all dealings therewith shall be registered; but no fee shall be payable by way of contribution to the assurance fund on the registration of any such lease.

All dealings with or transmissions of land comprised in such lease shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the last-mentioned Acts, and be in all respects subject thereto.

  1. All dealings with or under leases in contravention of the provisions of the said Act as to transfers of leases shall be absolutely void, and the District Land Registrar shall refuse to register any dealing with or under a lease until he is satisfied that the said provisions have been complied with.

  2. Every lessee shall, within twelve months of the commencement of his term, and thereafter for a period of six consecutive years, reside on some portion of the lands leased by him.

This condition shall not apply to any person who has acquired an interest in any lease under an intestacy or by virtue of a will.

The Council may dispense with the necessity of such residence, in the case of bush or swamp lands, during the first four years of the term, and altogether as to all lands if the lessee resides on lands contiguous to the lands leased, or with the concurrence of the Minister for any other sufficient reason. Lands shall be deemed to be contiguous to each other if only separated by a road or stream, or by such interval of space* as the Council may in each case determine.

In cases of youths who may become lessees, and who are living within the Maori land district and are residing with their parents or near relatives, the Council may dispense with residence until four years after the commencement of the term.

When any two lessees shall lawfully intermarry, the Council may dispense with residence by either of such lessees on the lands comprised in one of the leases.

  1. Every lessee shall bring into cultivation—

(a.) Within one year from the date of his lease, not less than one-twentieth of the land leased by him;
(b.) Within two years from the date of his lease, not less than one-tenth of the land leased by him;
(c.) Within four years from the date of his lease, not less than one-fifth of the land leased by him;

and shall, within six years from the date of his lease, in addition to the cultivation of one-fifth of the land, have put substantial improvements of a permanent character on first-class land to the value of £1 for every acre of such land, and on second-class land to an amount equal to the net price of every acre of such land: Provided that in no case shall the additional improvements required on second-class land be more than 10s. per acre.

The terms “improvements,” “substantial improvements,” and “substantial improvements of a permanent character,” mean and include reclamation from swamps, clearing of bush, gorse, broom, sweetbriar, 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, sheep-dips, making embankments or protective works of any kind, in any way improving the character and fertility of the soil, or the erection of any building.

  1. Whenever a lease is to be sold or otherwise disposed of, the valuation of the improvements shall, in all cases where it is not otherwise provided by the said Act, be made as by section eighty-three hereinafter provided; and payment of such valuation shall be made to the Council on or before the day of the commencement of the term of the new lease by the purchaser of such lease.

Whenever a lease is forfeited for breach of conditions, the

  • The Council will be prepared to allow the term “interval of space” to apply to residence anywhere outside the Paetawa Block.


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Online Sources for this page:

VUW Te Waharoa PDF NZ Gazette 1905, No 21





✨ LLM interpretation of page content

🪶 Conditions for Leases of Maori Land in Paetawa and Wairakura (continued from previous page)

🪶 Māori Affairs
Maori Land Leases, Lease Conditions, Cultivation Requirements, Residency Obligations, Mineral Rights, Land Transfer Act 1885, Aotea Maori Land Council