The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 2

Proclamation

Proclamation.

By His Excellency Sir George Grey, a Knight Commander of the most Honorable Order of the Bath, Governor-in-Chief, and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Islands of New Zealand, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c., &c., &c.

Preamble.

Whereas, by an Act of Parliament, 15 & 16 Vict., cap. Ixxii, intituled "An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand," power is given to Her Majesty, subject to certain provisions therein contained, to regulate the Sale, Disposal, and Occupation of the Waste Lands in New Zealand : And Her Majesty is further enabled, by Instructions signified through one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, to delegate to the Governor of New Zealand any of the powers thereinbefore given to Her Majesty with respect to the said Regulation of the Sale, Letting, Disposal, and Occupation of such Waste Lands as aforesaid :

And whereas such power has been delegated to the Governor by Instructions received through Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies :

Now therefore, I, the Governor of New Zealand, do hereby Make and Establish the following Regulations for the Sale and Disposal of the Waste Lands of the Crown in New Zealand:

General Land Regulations.

Analysis.

Analysis.

Section I.—Town and Suburban Allotments.

1.	Town and Suburban Lands to be sold by Auction.
2.	Regulation not to prevent sales of allotments now open for purchase.

Section II.—Lands Within the Limits of Hundreds.

3.	Lands inside Hundreds to be sold by Auction unless in Hundreds exempted from this rule :
4.	In which case the regulations of next section to apply to exempted lands.
5.	Preceding rules not to prevent tales of land now open for purchase.page 129
6.	Right of Pasturage in Hundreds confined to occupants under Grants, &c.

Section III.—Proclaimed Lands Outside Hundreds.

7.	Rural Lands outside Hundreds to be sold at fixed price of 10s. per acre.
8.	But where land is so unavailable that the Commissioner shall certify it is not worth 10s. per acre, lands so certified shall be surveyed and put up to auction at 5s. per acre.
9.	Mineral sections, or other sections for which there may be several competitors, may at any time be put up to auction.
10.	Rural allotments to be generally of a rectangular form, and extend at least forty chains in depth from roads, rivers, &c.:
11.	But in any cultivated localities allotments of irregular shape and small extent may be laid out.
12.	In districts where the lines of road are not laid out, a right of road reserved, and allowance made in land from three to five per cent.
13.	Right of pre-emption of homesteads granted to run holders at a fixed price of either 10s. or 5s. per acre: the run holder, however, may be called upon to exercise this right.
14.	Lands applied for which form part of a sufficiently stocked run will, provided they be certified as unavailable for agriculture, be put up to auction at 5s. per acre after three months' notice of sale shall have been given to the run holder.

Section IV.—Unproclaimed Lands.

15.	Applicants for lands in unproclaimed districts to make their own surveys if a Government Surveyor cannot be sent:
16.	In which case an allowance of five acres per cent, will be made.
17.	If such land be sold at Auction, and the original applicant be out bid, the original applicant will be repaid, as the cost of such survey, a sum not exceeding one shilling per acre.
18.	Allotments in unproclaimed districts not to be less than eighty acres in extent.
19.	Certain rules for lands in proclaimed districts to be also applicable in unproclaimed.

Section V.—Sales by Auction.

20.	Lands sold by Auction to be first surveyed and marked on plans.
21.	Public notice of sale to be given not more than three months nor less than one month.
22.	Lands put up to Auction, and not sold, may be purchased at the upset price within three years, unless again put up to Auction.
23.	Ten per cent, of the purchase money to be deposited at the sale, and the remainder paid within one month, or deposit forfeited.
24.	Lands on which such deposit shall have been so forfeited may be purchased within three years at the price bid for them, deducting any deposit paid, unless again put up to Auction.

Section VI.—Government Scrip.

25.	Scrip to be taken as cash in the purchase of Town and Suburban lots.page 130
26.	Value at which scrip shall be received in the purchase of rural land of various denominations.
27.	Scrip not available in the purchase of Crown land in certain localities.

Section VII.—Military Settlers.

28.	Military and Naval Officers to be entitled throughout Crown Lands in New Zealand to privileges of Regulations of May, 1851, but the remission money subject to Regulations 25 and 26 as to scrip.

Section VIII.—Appropriation of the Land Fund.

29.	After defraying the charges created by Parliament, the Land Fund to be applied to Public Works and Immigration until otherwise directed by General Assembly or Provincial Legislatures.

Section IX.—Fees on Crown Grants.

30.	The fees on the issue of any Crown Grant to be 20s. only.

Section X.—Commencement of Regulations.

31.	Regulations to come into force, except as regards Lands reserved to the Canterbury and Otago Associations, fifteen days after the receipt in each Province of a copy thereof by the proper officer.
32.	Proclamation to take effect from date.

Sec. I.—Town Allotments and Suburban Allotments.

Town and suburban lands to be sold by auction.

1. All lands reserved as Town and Suburban allotments will be sold by Auction according to the Regulations herein-after prescribed for Auction sales, and at such prices as may be fixed by Government in the public Notice or Proclamation in which the intended sale of such allotments is notified.

Regulation not to prevent sales of land already open for purchase.

2. The foregoing rule will not prevent the sale of such Town and Suburban allotments as are now open for purchase under former Regulations.

Sec. II.—Lands Within the Limits of Hundreds.

Lands inside Hundreds to be sold by auction, unless in Hundreds exempted from this rule :

3. Lands within the limits of Hundreds, (except in those Hundreds which may, upon petition of the inhabitants thereof or otherwise, be declared as not falling within this rule), will be sold by Auction in accordance with the Regulations hereinafter prescribed for Auction sales, and at such prices and in allotments of such extent as may be fixed by Government in the public Notice or Proclamation in which the intended sale of such lands is notified.

page 131

4. In those Hundreds or parts of Hundreds which may be

In which case the Regulations of the next section to apply to such exempted Lands.

declared not to fall within the preceding rule, all the regulations contained in the next section, relating to "Proclaimed Lands Outside Hundreds," shall apply to the lands so exempted.

5. The preceding rules will not prevent the sale of such

Preceding rules not to prevent sale of Lands within Hundreds already Offered for sale.

lands within Hundreds as are now open for purchase under former regulations.

6. The right of Pasturage on Waste Lands of the Crown

Right of Pasturage in Hundreds is confined to occupants of Land under Grant from the Crown, &c.

within any Hundred is enjoyed exclusively by occupants of land held under Grant from the Crown, Pensioners enrolled for service in New Zealand, or persons of the Native or Half-caste races, occupying land within the Hundred with the permission of Government.

Sec. III.—Proclaimed Lands Outside Hundreds.

7. In Districts outside Hundreds which may be proclaimed

Rural Lands outside Hundreds to be sold at the fixed price of 10s. per acre.

or notified as open for sale, the intending purchaser must pay to the Commissioner of Crown Lands (or other officer appointed in that behalf), in cash or scrip, the price of any section or sections of land, (generally not to be less than forty acres in extent) which he may desire to select: the price for all lands so selected being at the rate of Ten Shillings per acre. A surveyor will then be sent who will lay off the section or sections which may have been chosen, and will put the Purchaser in possession of the same.

8. In Districts beyond the limits of Hundreds which may

But where Land is so unavailable that the Com-missioner shall certify it is not worth 10s. per acre, Lands so certified shall be surveyed and put up to Auction at 5s. per acre.

be proclaimed or notified as open for sale, and which may appear to be, from their hilly and broken character or otherwise, so unavailable for agricultural purposes, that the Commissioner of Crown Lands shall, upon the application of an intending purchaser, certify to the Government that the lands applied for (or any parts thereof as the case may be) are not worth ten shillings per acre, the applicant must state the number of acres so certified as not being worth ten shillings per acre which he desires to purchase; and deposit with the Commissioner (or other officer appointed in that behalf) ten per cent, of the upset price next mentioned, in cash or scrip. Such lands will then be laid off by the Surveyor in rectan- page 132

gular blocks of not less than 80 acres nor more than 640 acres in extent each, and these blocks will be offered for sale at Auction at an upset price of Five Shillings per acre, according to the Regulations hereinafter prescribed for conducting Auction sales. If some other person than the original applicant become the purchaser of such lands, then the deposit of cash or scrip made by such original applicant will be returned to him; but if no other purchaser comes forward and the original applicant docs not complete the purchase himself, the deposit of ten per cent, will be forfeited.

Mineral sections, or other sections for which there may be several competitors, may at any time be put up to Auction.

9. Nothing contained in the foregoing Regulations shall be construed to prevent the Government from offering any Mineral section for sale by Auction, if it should be found to possess peculiar value, or any Rural section, if from the amount of population in the vicinity thereof, there may be several competitors who may appear to have equal claims to it.

Rural allotments to be generally of a rectangular form, and ex-tend at least forty chains in depth from roads, rivers, &c.

10. Every allotment of Rural Land must, so far as circumstances and the natural features of the country will admit, be selected of a rectangular form, and, where fronting upon a river, road, lake, or coast, be of a depth from the front of at least half a mile. No such allotment must be selected so as to monopolise the wood or water in any particular locality.

But in any cultivated localities allotments of irregular shape and small ex-tent may be laid out

11. But in those neighbourhoods where there may be a considerable extent of cultivated land, and persons may desire to complete their properties by the purchase of adjoining lands in blocks of irregular shape and small extent, the Government will afford every proper facility for their doing so. And in such localities small blocks of land will be laid out, in as far as possible, to meet the views of intending purchasers.

In districts where the lines of road are not laid out, aright of road re-served and allowance made in land from three to five per cent.

12. Where lands shall be purchased in Districts in which all future lines of road have not been determined and laid out, a right of road will be reserved in the Grant, an allowance being made to the purchaser for such reserve according to the annexed scale:—

Purchasers of 500 acres or less will receive an allowance of	5 acres per cent.
Purchasers between 500 and 1000 acres	4 acres per cent.
Purchasers of more than 1000 acres	3 acres per cent.

page 133

13. No person will be allowed to purchase the Homestead

Right of preemption of homesteads granted to run holders at a fixed price of either 10s. or 5s. per acre: the run-holder, how-ever. may be called upon to exercise this right.

of any occupant of a run held with the permission of Government, until the offer of purchasing such homestead shall have been made to the occupant of the run at the price of either Ten Shillings per acre, or Five Shillings per acre, according to the quality of the land, as the same shall be certified by the Commissioner of Crown Lands. The occupant of the run will in such case be allowed to exercise the right of purchasing his homestead at such fixed price over an extent of land varying from ten to eighty acres, at his discretion. But the Government reserves to itself the power of requiring the occupant to exercise this right at any time after one month's notice, although no person should have applied to purchase the land.

14. If any intending purchaser, other than the holder of

Lands applied for, which form part of a sufficiently stocked run, will, provided they be certified as un-available for agriculture, be put up to auction at 5s. per acre, after three months notice of sale shall have been given to the run-holder.

the run, shall apply to the Commissioner to purchase land forming a Run or portion of a run which is with the sanction of Government in the bona fide possession of such holder; which shall in the opinion of such Commissioner be sufficiently stocked; and which, upon the application of the holder of the run to such Commissioner, shall be certified by him to be, from its hilly and broken character, or from some other cause, unavailable for agricultural purposes; such run or portion of a run shall in that case be disposed of by public Auction at the upset price of five shillings per acre, and in accordance with the regulations hereinafter prescribed for auction sales; but such sale shall not take place until after three months' notice of the application to the Commissioner to purchase such land has been left at some station on the run.

Sec. IV.—Unproclaimed Lands.

15. Any person desirous of purchasing Crown Lands in

Applicants for lands in unproclaimed districts to make their own surveys if a Government Surveyor cannot be sent.

districts not proclaimed or notified as about to be surveyed for sale, must, after selecting the locality and determining the number of acres he desires to purchase, give notice thereof to the Commissioner of Crown Lands; when he will be required, if the Government has no surveyor available for that purpose, to have such lands surveyed at his own expense by a surveyor authorised by Government in that behalf, whose survey must be duly approved before the applicant is allowed to complete the purchase.

page 134

In such case an allowance of five acres per cent, will be made.

16. In such case an allowance of land will be made to the applicant at the rate of five acres for every hundred acres so surveyed.

If such Land be sold at Auction and the original applicant be outbid, the original applicant will be repaid, as the cost of such survey, a sum not exceeding one shilling per acre.

17. If the land so surveyed should fall under the regulations for land to be sold by auction, and the original applicant should not become the purchaser thereof, then the purchaser of the land, in addition to the amount he bid for the same, will be required to pay to the original applicant as the cost of surveying such land, such amount not exceeding one shilling per acre, as may be assessed by the Commissioner of Crown Lands after taking such evidence respecting the cost of the survey as he may consider necessary.

Allotments in unproclaimed districts not to be less than eighty acres in extent.

18. No allotment of less than 80 acres in extent will be disposed of in any unproclaimed district.

Certain rules for Lands in proclaimed districts to be also applicable in un-proclaimed.

19. The rules in regard to Proclaimed Lands which relate to the prices of various kinds of land; to their sale fixed price or by auction; to the shape of allotments; to the reservations for roads; to the right of preemption of homesteads on runs; and to the notice to be given to occupants of runs before land is sold by auction; will equally apply to lands in unproclaimed districts. But where the applicant makes the survey at his own cost the deposit of ten per cent, referred to in Rule 8 will not be required.

Sec. V.—Sales by Auction.

Lands sold by Auction to be first surveyed and marked on plans.

20. No lands shall be included in a Proclamation or Notice as about to be sold by auction, unless the same shall have been previously surveyed, and have been distinguished by an appropriate mark upon a chart exhibited in the office of the Commissioner of Crown Lands.

Public notice of sale to be given, not more than three months nor less than one.

21. Notice of the time and place at which any intended auction shall be held, as also of the allotments of land which will be then offered for sale, shall be given by Proclamation or public Notice, not more than three months nor less than one month before the same shall take place.

page 135

22. It shall be competent to any person within three years

Lands put up to Auction and not sold may be purchased at the upset price within three years unless again put up to Auction.

next after any auction, to become without any further auction the purchaser of any lands so put up for sale as aforesaid and not then sold, by offering and paying for the same the upset price at which the same may have been put up for sale. Provided always that it shall be competent to the Government instead of permitting such lands to be purchased as aforesaid, to cause the same to be again put up to auction, giving such notice thereof as is hereinbefore provided.

23. Immediate payment in cash of one-tenth of the purchase

Ten per cent, of the purchase money to be deposited at the sale and the remainder paid within one month, or deposit forfeited.

money shall be the condition of any such sale by auction, and the remaining nine-tenths of the purchase money must be paid by the purchaser within one calendar month next after the time of such sale by auction, or the one-tenth of the purchase money which has been deposited will be forfeited, and the original contract for the sale of the land will thenceforward be null and void.

24. In the case of lands thus forfeited by the non-completion

Lands on which such deposit shall have been so forfeited may be purchased within three years at the price bid for them, deducting any deposit paid, unless again put up to Auction.

of the contract for their purchase, it shall be competent for any person within the next three years after the auction at which the bidding for such lands was made, to purchase such lands for the amount that was bid for them, after deducting the amount of any deposit that shall have been paid thereon. But this regulation will not prevent the Government from causing the same lands to be put up to auction again if it shall appear necessary to do so.

Sec. VI.—Government Scrip.

25. The Scrip to be issued in satisfaction of claims under

Scrip to be taken as cash in the purchase of Town and Suburban lots.

land orders of the New Zealand Company shall be taken in payment for Town and Suburban Land at the nominal value of such Scrip in pounds sterling.

26. In the purchase of Rural Land the Scrip shall be

Value at which Scrip shall be received in the purchase of Rural Lands of various denominations.

taken at such a value that one pound in Scrip shall represent the upset price or fixed price, as the case may be, of one acre of Rural Land at the date when the Scrip may be tendered at the Treasury; and for the protection of the Scrip holders this rule shall equally prevail if the general price of Country Land throughout the colony shall at any time be raised: Provided always that in the purchase of all Rural page 136

Lands within the limits of hundreds, and of such Rural Lands outside the limits of Hundreds as may be put up to auction or sold at a fixed price under clauses 9 and 11 of these Regulations, one pound in Scrip shall represent its nominal value of one pound sterling, except where such fixed or upset price is lower than £1 per acre, in which case it shall represent such lower price only.

Scrip not available in the purchase of Crown Land in certain localities.

27. The Scrip will not be available in the purchase of Crown Land within the limits of any Hundred which shall have been proclaimed before the 2nd day of August, 1851, nor within the Town site of New Plymouth

Sec. VII.—Military Settlers.

Military and Naval Officers to be entitled throughout Crown Lands in New Zealand to privileges of Regulations of May, 1851 : but the re-mission money subject to Regulations 25 and 26 as to Scrip.

28. Military and Naval Officers will be allowed in all parts of New Zealand where there are Waste Lands of the Crown, the privileges accorded to them by the Regulations of May, 1851. But the remission money given to them in the terms of those regulations will be subject to the rules 25 and 20 hereinbefore prescribed relative to Government Scrip.

Sec. VIII—Appropriation of the Land Fund.

After defraying the charges created by Parliament, &c., the Land Fund to be applied to Public Works and Immigration, until other-wise directed by General Assembly or Provincial Legislatures.

29. After the charges made upon the Land Fund by the Act of Parliament 15 and 16 Vict., cap. 72, have been defrayed in the manner prescribed by law, the remaining portion of the Land Fund will, until the General Assembly or the Provincial Legislatures may otherwise direct, be devoted to Roads and Public Works, or to bringing out to New Zealand the friends and relatives of those persons who may undertake to defray, within twelve months after the arrival in the colony of the immigrants so brought out, one-half of the cost of their passage to this country, according to the following scale, namely :—

For Adults	£16 0 0 per. head
Children between 7 and 14 years old	10 10 0 per. head
Children between 1 and 7 years of age	6 0 0 per. head

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In districts where a Land Fund may not have been created by the sale of land, the Government will receive applications from persons desirous of having their relations or friends sent out, and willing to enter into an agreement, guaranteed by some responsible person, for the repayment of the passage money within twelve months after their arrival in the colony.

Sec. IX.—Fees on Crown Grants.

30. By the Local Ordinance, Session VII., No. XL, it is

The Fees on the issue of any Crown Grant to be 20s. only.

enacted that, before the delivery of any Crown Grant, the sum of Twenty Shillings shall be paid by the person duly authorized to receive such Grant; and no other fees for or in respect of the preparation of any such Grant shall be payable thereon.

Sec. X.—Commencement of Regulations.

31. These Regulations shall come into force, in relation to

Regulations to come into force, except as regards lands reserved to the Canterbury and Otago Associations, fifteen days after the receipt in each Province of a copy thereof by the proper Officer.

all Demesne Lands of the Crown in New Zealand which are not reserved to the Canterbury Association or Otago Association, in the several provinces, Fifteen Days after the receipt of a copy hereof in each Province by the Surveyor-General, Commissioner of Crown Lands, or Resident Magistrate; who shall by public notice make known to the inhabitants of the Province the day upon which he may receive such copy.

32. This Proclamation shall take effect from the day of the

Proclamation to take effect from date.

date hereof.

Given under ray hand, and issued under the Public Seal of the Islands of New Zealand, at Government (L. s.) House, at Wellington, in the Province of Wellington, in the Islands aforesaid, this fourth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.

G. Grey,

Governor-In-Chief.

By His Excellency's command,

Alfred Domett,

Civil Secretary.

God Save The Queen!

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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 2

Proclamation