The Native Lands Protection and Administration Bill.

Whereas in the Diamond Jubilee year of Her Majesty Queen Victoria certain members of the Native race forwarded a petition asking Her Majesty to stop the sale of Native land: And whereas it is for the benefit of both races that this should be given effect to, for the reason that the land is required for the Maori owners; and whereas it is necessary that the law in reference to reserving and administrating Native lands, for conferring the jurisdiction of the Native Land Court upon Boards to be appointed thereunder, for promoting, the welfare of the Maori people, for instructing them in utilising and settling upon their lands, and for the purpose of encouraging the better attendance and instruction of their children at schools should be consolidated. Be it therefore enacted, in commemoration of the fifty-eighth year of Her Most Gracious Majesty's government of her Maori subjects in New Zealand, as follows:—

Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1.	The Short Title of this Act is "The Native Land Reserves and Administration Act, 1898."
1. [sic]	The colony, for the purpose of this Act, to be divided into districts.
2.	For each district there shall be a Native Land Board consisting of the Commissioner of Crown Lands and four Maori members, to be appointed by the Governor. Such appointments to be published in the Gazette and Kahiti of New Zealand.
3.	The members of the Board shall be paid such salaries and allowances as may from time to time be fixed by the Governor out of moneys appropriated by Parliament.
4.	The Commissioner of Crown Lands shall, by virtue of his office, be Chairman of the Board, and shall have a casting-vote only; in his absence he may appoint one of the members as Deputy-Chairman.
5.	A Deputy-Chairman shall have a deliberative as well as a casting-vote.
6.	Three members shall be a quorum at all meetings of the Board convened for the despatch of business.
7.	This Act shall apply to all Maori lands the title to which has been ascertained by the Native Land Court and all papatupu lands; also to all lands held under lease, and to any shares or interests outstanding and unbought or unleased in any negotiations for purchase or lease entered into before the passing of this Act.
8.	On the Board being appointed it shall forthwith as its first duty, by notice duly published, call meetings of the Maoris resident in each sub-district throughout the district under its control, to enable it to carry into effect the following provisions:— (1.) The appointment of Committees for each sub-district and Block Committees for each separate block of land, or for several blocks of land collectively, as the case may be; (2.) The arranging and settling of the boundaries of the lands to be set apart under section fourteen of this Act; and (3.) To select and decide upon the lands, or the portions of lands, to be administered by the Board, and to take charge of the documents setting forth the consent of the majority of the owners of each respective block of land to such lands being handed over to the Board.
9.	The consent of one or more owners in respect of the whole of a block of land, or of a portion only of a block of land, shall be forwarded by the Board to the Governor, with its report thereon attached thereto, setting forth the title and the description of such land or lands, and the most suitable manner of dealing with the same, such report to be published by the Governor in the Gazette and Kahiti of New page 2Zealand, with a notice calling for objections thereto (if any); such objection (if any) to be lodged within days after the publication of such report, as the Governor shall determine, and to set forth the grounds of objection
10.	If any objection be lodged, such objection shall be forwarded by the Governor to the Board to be inquired into and disposed of by it at a meeting of the owners of the land the subject of such report. The decision arrived at by the Board to be forwarded to the Governor, and to be published in the Gazette. Such decision to be final as to whether the land is to be handed over to the Board or not.
11.	The lands subject to the following Acts are exempt from the operation of this Act:— "The Thermal-Springs Districts Act, 1881"; "The Westland and Nelson Native Reserves Act, 1887"; "The West Coast Settlements Reserves Act, 1892"; and "The Native Townships Act, 1895." "The Urewera District Native Reserve Act, 1896." Also all lands purchased from the Crown or Europeans by Maoris, except in cases in which the owner or owners thereof may voluntarily place the same within the scope and operation of this Act.
12.	The Board shall have power to dispose of Native Lands by lease or tender, at such rentals, for such periods, and subject to such conditions as are prescribed by regulations under the Act.
13.	No Native lands subject to this Act may be purchased or sold, or seized and sold for debt or to satisfy a mortgage, except for completion of dealings by way of sale or lease commenced before the passing of this Act. This section shall also apply to lands exempted from the operation of this Act by section eleven hereof.
14.	The Board is empowered, by voluntary arrangement with the Maori owners of the land to be dealt with, to reserve for the use and occupation of, and for pas for, the Maori owners, on such terms as the Board and owners may think fit, and also to reserve land for burial-places, schools, churches, and other purposes of public convenience or utility, and also to reserve lands which owners may desire to work as farms or runs, or which may be in occupation as farms or runs before the passing of this Act.
15.	When disposing of Native lands by lease, the Board may give priority to applications of Natives who are landless, or who may be owners of the lands thrown open for leasing.
16.	The Board may agree with Her Majesty for Native lands to be available for mining purposes under "The Mining Act, 1891," the revenues from all such lands in respect of mining being paid by the Warden to the Board for the benefit of the Native owners.
17.	The Board may expend money on the formation and maintenance of roads, streets, surveys, and opening land for settlement, or any other purpose authorised by the Act or regulations, subject to the consent of the Maori owners of the land having been first obtained to such expenditure being incurred.
18.	The Board shall have such further powers as may be conferred upon it by regulations, and all regulations shall be laid upon the table of both Houses within fourteen days after being gazetted, if Parliament be in session, and, if not in session, within fourteen days after the commencement of the first-ensuing session thereof. Copies of such regulations to be supplied and circulated amongst the Maoris resident in the Board's district.
19.	The Board shall, with respect to Native lands vested in it, have all the powers of the Native Land Court as to partition, succession, definition of relative interests, and appointment of trustees for Native owners under disability, and also as to ascertaining the title to papatupu lands, and as to importing into titles the names of persons found to be entitled, but whose names have been omitted in titles to lands the ownership whereof has been ascertained and vested in one or more persons as trustees only for certain other persons or hapus entitled to the said lands.
20.	The income of the Board in respect of Native lands shall be applied— (1.) To defray costs of administration. (2.) Paying off mortgages, charges, and liens that are due. (3.) Paying balance to Native owners according to their relative interests. page 3
21.	No Native owner may dispose of his interest in any Native land after the passing of this Act, except by will or ohaaki in favour of another Native.
22.	The Board shall have the power to inquire into and grant probate of wills made before the passing of this Act in such districts as the Governor may appoint or authorise.
23.	The Board may borrow from the Government not more than £5,000 in any year for the purpose of roading, surveying, and opening lands for settlement; such sum of money and the works upon which it is to be expended to be under the entire and absolute control of the Board.
24.	At the request of the Native owners concerned, the Board may borrow from the Government in any year not more than £5,000 for the purpose of discharging mortgages or other encumbrances to which the lands are subject at the time of the adoption of the Act, and may borrow other sums of money for the purpose of improving lands intended for farms or runs.
25.	The moneys so borrowed from the Government shall be repayable, with interest at 5 per centum per annum, by equal annual instalments extending over upwards of forty-two years, and the instalments shall be deducted from the income of the Native owners for whose benefit the money was borrowed.
26.	Uncompleted purchases by the Crown, and all uncompleted private dealings lawfully commenced, and which could have been lawfully completed but for the passing of the Act, may be completed through the Board; the Board being empowered to cut off and define the shares which have been purchased or leased, or to transfer to the Crown or to private persens shares outstanding unpurchased on payment of the consideration therefor, or to repurchase shares bought by Crown or any private person, and with power to apply for the removal of proclamations and cancellation of certificates granted under section one hundred and eighteen of "The Native Land Court Act, 1894."
27.	The Governor may from time to time make such regulations as he may think fit for the carrying-out of the provisions of this Act.
28.	On application duly made by the owner of any land, supported by the approval of the Board, the Governor in Council may exempt any Native land from the operation of the Act in cases where he is satisfied that the Native owner is himself fully competent to administer the same, due regard, however, being paid to the provisions contained in section thirteen thereof.
29.	All Maori lands situate in a district subject to this Act, held by Pakehas or Maoris under lease duly effected according to law before the passing of this Act, are to be unaffected by this Act for the unexpired term created by such lease: Provided always that section thirteen of this Act shall apply to lands so leased.
30.	No rates or taxes are to be levied or demanded from Maoris in respect of Maori lands leased under the authority of this Act.
31.	At such time as the Board shall proceed to select the lands specified in subsection three of section eight and section fourteen hereof, the Board shall inquire, and satisfy itself, whether each man, woman, and child has, for a cultivation or kainga, sufficient land for his or her support, and for the maintenance of his or her descendants. If the Board is satisfied that they have not sufficient land for such purpose, or that any particular Maori has no interest or ownership in the lands then being set aside as cultivations or kaingas, the Board shall thereupon set apart sufficient land for the support of him or her out of other lands owned by him or her, either by exchange or in some other manner as to the Board and the owners of the land then being dealt with may appear just.
32.	No rates or taxes shall be levied on Maori lands which, by reason of their unproductive and sterile character are unleased and lying waste and unoccupied.
33.	The Board shall have full power from time to time, and for such terms as the Board shall deem fit, to appoint Maori Committees for sub-districts within the Board's district, for the management of such matters as in the opinion of the Board should be delegated to such Committees, viz.:— (1.) To investigate and determine partitions and define relative interests, to appoint successors and trustees, and to adjudicate upon and ascertain titles to papatupu lands. (2.) To administer under proper regulations matters affecting the well-being and sanitary condition of the villages, houses, water-supply, pathways, and roads of the Maoris and the hapus residing in such sub-districts.page 4 (3.) To take measures for safeguarding their food and money supplies, and preventing the extravagant waste and expenditure thereof; and (4.) To make regulations for the proper and effectual control and management of school children and their future advancement in life.
34.	The decisions and resolutions passed by the Committee in respect of any land or matter submitted to it by the Board shall be recorded and duly reported to the Board. The Board shall have full power to confirm, suspend, or vary the same in such manner as it may deem fit.
35.	No lawyer or agent other than an owner, or a person married to an owner according to either European or Maori custom, or a trustee, shall appear before the Board or Committee on behalf of any person in the matter of any adjudication of Maori lands unless on behalf of an owner who is unavoidably absent, or who is incompetent to conduct his or her case, then only with the permission of the Board or Committee for a period to be specified and revokable.
36.	The Judges of the Native Land Court hereby dispensed with, but all Registrars, clerks and interpreters shall continue and be deemed to have been appointed under this Act; and all interpreters of the Court shall be clerks to the Boards or Committees, and shall receive the fees and take charge of the records whilst the Boards or Committees are performing the duties of the Court.
37.	The Rating and Taxing Acts shall not apply to the lands set aside for cultivations or kaingas and the lands enumerated or referred to in section fourteen of this Act, and all improvements made thereon, but lands used and occupied by Maoris as farms and runs are not to be exempt from rating and taxation.
38.	The Stamp Act shall not apply to lands placed under the control and management of the Board.
39.	The Governor shall appoint as members of the Board the Commissioner of Crown Lands and four Maoris, the latter to be respectively selected by the Maoris of each sub-district in the Board district, such appointments to be published in the Gazette and Kahiti of New Zealand. The term of office of each member of the Board to be for three years, terminable by death or by removal for misconduct.
40.	In selecting the said Maori members of the Board the Board district is to be divided into four sub-districts, with one member for each sub-district, to be selected from amongst the owners of land in such sub-district. Such persons to be nominated on a date to be fixed, and if such nomination is contested, then the matter is to be submitted to the persons assembled at the place of nomination and decided by show of hands, but if no settlement is arrived at the names of the persons nominated shall be forwarded to the Governor; but in no case are the names so forwarded to exceed two in number for each sub-district, and the Governor shall appoint one only of them.
41.	The Governor shall from time to time publish in the Kahiti all Maori lands brought under the operation of this Act and the management of the Board any lands held in fee-simple by any Maori, being lands purchased by him from the Crown or from an European, brought under the operation of this Act on the application of the owner thereof.
42.	The Governor may exempt from the control of the Boards appointed under this Act all or any of the lands in any sub-district, but may at any time thereafter, on the application of the owners thereof, bring the lands so exempted under the control and administration of the Board.
43.	The Governor may, on the application of the owners thereof, bring under the operation of this Act any land which is exempt under section eleven hereof.
44.	Any woman who is an owner of lands for which a Block Committee is about to be appointed is eligible for appointment as a member of such Committee.
45.	The Governor may, on petition, and on his being satisfied as to the reasonableness of the prayer of such petition, proclaim any district or block of land as a preserve for Maori birds, or any lake as an eel-fishery, for the benefit of the Maori owners of the lands or lakes reserved.