990

Provided, however, that in any case where you shall see fit
to recommend that compensation in money or money's worth be
granted in respect of the purchases or cessions hereinbefore set
forth, you shall have regard to the value of the land, as nearly as
may be, at the time of the purchase or cession thereof, and not to
any later increment in the value thereof:

Provided, further, that you shall be at full liberty to disregard
or differ from any findings, whether of fact or otherwise, conclusions,
opinions, or recommendations of any former tribunal in respect of
any matters or questions of similar character or import to those
confided to you by these presents:

And We do hereby appoint you, the said
Sir Michael Myers,
to be Chairman of the said Commission:

And for the better enabling you to carry these presents into
effect, you are hereby authorized and empowered to make and
conduct any inquiry under these presents at such times and places
as you deem expedient, with power to adjourn from time to time
and place to place as you think fit, and so that these presents shall
continue in force, and the inquiry may at any time and place be
resumed although not regularly adjourned from time to time or
from place to place:

And you are hereby strictly charged and directed that you shall
not at any time publish or otherwise disclose save to His Excellency
the Governor-General, in pursuance of these presents or by His
Excellency's direction, the contents of any report so made or to
be made by you or any evidence or information obtained by you
in the exercise of the powers hereby conferred upon you except
such evidence or information as is received in the course of a sitting
open to the public:

And you are hereby authorized to report your proceedings
and findings under this Our Commission from time to time if you
shall judge it expedient so to do:

And, using all due diligence, you are required to report to His
Excellency the Governor-General in writing under your hands not
later than the thirty-first day of March, one thousand nine hundred
and forty-eight, your findings and opinions on the matters aforesaid,
together with such recommendations as you think fit to make in
respect thereof:

And, lastly, it is hereby declared that these presents are issued
under the authority of the Letters Patent of His late Majesty dated
the eleventh day of May, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen,
and under the authority of and subject to the provisions of the
Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, and with the advice and consent
of the Executive Council of the Dominion of New Zealand.

In Witness whereof We have caused this Our Commission to
be issued and the Seal of Our Dominion of New Zealand to be here-
unto affixed at Wellington, this thirteenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven, and
in the eleventh year of Our Reign.

Witness Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir Bernard Cyril
Freyberg, on whom has been conferred the Victoria
Cross, Knight Grand Cross of Our Most Distinguished
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Knight
Commander of Our Most Honourable Order of the
Bath, Knight Commander of Our Most Excellent Order
[L.s.]
of the British Empire, Companion of Our Distinguished
Service Order, Lieutenant-General in Our Army,
Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and
over Our Dominion of New Zealand and its Dependencies, acting by and with the advice and consent
of the Executive Council of the said Dominion.

B. C. FREYBERG, Governor-General.

By His Excellency's Command—
P. FRASER, Native Minister.

Approved in Council—
W. O. HARVEY, Clerk of the Executive Council.

Royal Commission to Inquire into and Report upon the Operation
of the Law relating to the Assessment of Rentals under Leases
of West Coast Settlement Reserves

GEORGE THE SIXTH by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland,
and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender
of the Faith:

To Our Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor SIR MICHAEL
MYERS, Knight Grand Cross of Our Most Distinguished
Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, and to Our
Trusty and Well-beloved HANARA TANGIAWHA REEDY, of
Ruatoria, Farmer, and ALBERT MOELLER SAMUEL, of
Auckland, Retired: GREETING.

WHEREAS by the clause numbered 56 in the Schedule to the
West Coast Settlement Reserves Act, 1892 (hereinafter
referred to as the said Act), it is, amongst other things, provided in
respect of the renewal of a lease of land to which the provisions of
the said Schedule apply and which is a renewal of a lease of any
lands to which the said Act applies (hereinafter referred to as the
reserves) that within the prescribed time before the end of the term
for which the lease is granted a valuation shall be made by arbitration
of the then value of the fee-simple of the lands then included in the
lease, and also a valuation of all substantial improvements of a
permanent character made by the lessee during the term and then
in existence on the land then comprised in the lease and, further,
that after the making and publishing of the awards therein referred
to, the lessee shall elect as therein provided whether he will accept
a fresh lease of the said lands for a further term of twenty-one years
from the expiration of the then term at a rental equal to five pounds
per centum on the gross value of the lands after deducting there-
from the value of the substantial improvements of a permanent
character as fixed respectively by the arbitration:

And whereas it was ordered and declared by the Supreme
Court on the 17th day of July, 1935, upon an originating summons
in which the Native Trustee was the plaintiff and one, Violet
Gwendoline Crocker, was the defendant, that the words “a valuation
of all substantial improvements of a permanent character made
by the lessee during the term and then in existence on the land then
comprised in the lease” as used in the said clause numbered 56
meant a valuation of all such improvements in existence at the time
of that valuation and made during the current or expiring term of
twenty-one years only:

And whereas by subsection (5) of section 19 of the Native
Purposes Act, 1935 (hereinafter referred to as the said section 19),
section 56 of the said Act is amended by omitting from the first
paragraph thereof the words “made by the lessee during the term
and”, and it is declared that such amendment shall be deemed to
have taken effect from the 1st day of January, 1934:

And whereas it is represented that the reference in the said
section 19 to section 56 of the said Act is intended to be a reference
to the said clause numbered 56 in the Schedule to the said Act,
and also that the effect of the amendment thereby made is that,
in any case arising after the date from which the said amendment
takes effect, the improvements in respect of which a deduction is,
in accordance with the provisions of the said clause numbered 56,
to be made from the gross value of the land, are improvements
effected not only during the current or expiring term of the lease
but also during any former or expired term of the lease:

And whereas the Maori beneficial owners of the reserves have,
by petition to Parliament and otherwise, claimed and contended
that, by the said section 19, they are suffering an injustice on account
of the rentals under the renewed leases subject to the provisions
of the said section 19 being consistently reduced and on account of
other matters, and have prayed for the repeal of the said section 19:

And whereas the Government desires that inquiry should be
made into the operation of the law so far as it relates to the method
of assessing the rentals payable under renewed leases of the reserves,
to the end that what is right, just, reasonable, and equitable shall
be done as well to the beneficial owners of the reserves as to the
lessees thereof:

Now know ye that We, reposing trust and confidence in your
impartiality, knowledge, and ability, do hereby nominate, constitute, and appoint you, the said
Sir Michael Myers,
Hanara Tangiawha Reedy, and
Albert Moeller Samuel
to be a Commission—

(a) To inquire and report whether, due regard being had to
the events and circumstances (so far as the same can be ascertained)
leading to and surrounding the enactment of the said Act, there was
some benefit or valuable right which can be regarded as having
been designedly secured by the said Act to the beneficial owners
of the reserves of which they have been deprived by those provisions
of the said section 19 which, in the fixing of the amount upon which
the rental of a renewal of a lease is to be calculated, permit to be
deducted from the gross value of the lands comprised in the lease,
the value of the substantial improvements of a permanent character
whether made during the current or expiring term of the lease or
during any former or expired term; and

(b) To inquire and report whether, due regard being had to
the events and circumstances aforesaid and to the circumstances
prevailing at the time of the enactment of the said section 19, the
lessees of the reserves did, by virtue of those provisions of the said
section 19 mentioned in the last preceding paragraph, obtain some
benefit or valuable right which was otherwise than fair and reasonable; and

(c) To inquire and report whether the subsisting law so far as
it relates to the method of assessing the rentals payable under
renewed leases of the reserves works, or can be so construed as
to work, any injustice upon the beneficial owners of the reserves
or upon the lessees thereof; and

(d) If it be reported that the law so works, or can be so con-
strued as to work, any injustice as aforesaid, then to make such
proposals as you may think fit for the amendment of the law, and,
in particular, of that portion of it, which, in the fixing of the amount
upon which the rental is to be based, touches the ascertainment
of the gross value of the lands and the value of the substantial
improvements of a permanent character; and

(e) If, in your opinion, there should be any amendment of the
law, to report whether such amendment should relate only to the
renewal of leases in the future, or whether the same should apply
to leases which have been renewed since the provisions of the said
section 19 came into force, or whether some other provision should
be made in respect of the leases so renewed; and

(f) If it be reported that some other provision should be made
as aforesaid, then to recommend what form that provision should
take; and

(g) Generally to inquire into and report upon such other
matters arising out of the premises as may come to your notice in
the course of your inquiries and which you consider should be
investigated in connection therewith, and upon any matters affecting
the premises which you consider should be brought to the attention
of the Government:

And We do hereby appoint you, the said
Sir Michael Myers,
to be Chairman of the said Commission: