General.

I. The Superintendent shall from time to time, by proclamation in the Government Gazette, notify all new districts which shall be open to general purchase, with the boundaries and contents thereof, as nearly as the same can be ascertained.

Reserves.

II. All Reserves for the sites of townships, or town and suburban land, for the sites of agricultural and small farm settlements, or for any other purpose of public advantage, safety, convenience, health, or enjoyment, shall be determined by the Superintendent, who shall notify the same by Proclamation, wherein the objects shall be specified for which every reserve may be made.

III. In every district, ample reserves for the sites of agricultural and small farm settlements shall be made before the lands in such districts shall be thrown open to general purchase.

V. Whenever any reserve shall have been so made for the site of a small farm settlement, a block of the adjacent land as nearly as may be in extent one-third of the reserve, shall, by Proclamation, be annexed to the reserve, as common land, upon which, as well as upon all unsold lands within the reserve, every resident occupier of land in the reserve shall have a right of pasturage for a period of three years from the date of such Proclamation, the proportionate commonage of each occupier to be fixed by the Association; and during such term none of the said common land so annexed outside the reserve block shall be sold, nor any license for a run issued therein. At the expiration of such term, it shall be lawful for the Superintendent either to renew the same for a further period of three years, or to open the land for sale after public notice thereof for not less than three months.

VI. In every block which shall be set apart for the site of a township, or agricultural or small farm settlement, a reserve shall be made of bush land not less than one-twentieth of the whole extent of bush land within the limits of such block; or if there be no bush land thereon, then a sufficient reserve shall be made from the bush land outside such block, and most convenient thereto; the timber in which reserve shall be exclusively used in common by the resident occupiers of the laud in the block for consumption thereon, but not for sale to any persons not occupiers; and any other persons felling or removing timber from such reserve shall be proceeded against as is by law provided in respect to trespassers on Crown Land.

VII. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to make in every district a reserve not exceeding one-thirtieth part of the public lands for the purposes of education; such lands to be vested in a Board of Commissioners for educational purposes, and the proceeds thereof, as sold, to be applied to such special educational objects as may be prescribed by Acts of the Provincial Legislature.

VIII. It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to make reserves where the public advantage may require it, along the banks of navigable rivers, or along an available coast line, or otherwise, so as to prevent the undue monopoly of timber, or of road or water frontage.

Applications.

X. The general register of applications for land, and the local registers where such shall exist, shall be open to the inspection of the public daily during office hours; and any one may take a copy of any application from such register, or of any other entry therein.

XI. All applications made upon the same day shall, for the purpose of the following rule, be deemed simultaneous applications.

XII. In cases where simultaneous applications shall be made for a piece of land, an auction shall be held as between the applicants, the land named in the applications being put up at the upset price of ten shillings per acre, and the application shall be registered in the name of the person who shall bid and pay the highest price: Provided that either or all of the conflicting applications may be withdrawn.

XIII. A return of every application received and registered, distinguishing the name of the applicant, extent of land purchased, payments made, and any other particulars necessary for the full information of the public, shall be made monthly by the Commissioner, and published in the Provincial Government Gazette.

Auction Sales.

XIV. No sales by auction, excepting sales provided for by clause XII, shall take place unless the same shall have been notified by Proclamation of the Superintendent in the Government Gazette specifying the several allotments to be offered for sale, with the contents of each : Provided always that no allotment shall be offered for sale unless the same shall have been first staked out upon the ground, and distinguished by an appropriate number or mark upon a plan open to public inspection; and provided also that no allotment, the upset price whereof shall be five shillings per acre, shall exceed 640 acres in extent.

Regulations.

For the Licensed Occupation of the Public Pasture Lands of the Province of Wellington.

I. All persons requiring occupation licenses for unoccupied portions of the Public Pasture Lands of the Province of Wellington, or for portions of the same now in their occupation, shall lodge with the Land Commissioner of the district in which such run is situated, a description thereof, in the form or to the effect of Schedule A.

II. Every applicant shall at the time of lodging such description, pay to the Commissioner a cash deposit according to the following scale, viz.:—

£25 for runs described as under 10,000 acres.

£50 for runs described as over 10,000 acres.

III. All applications which shall have been regularly made and in respect of which the required deposit shall have been paid, shall be immediately filed and registered in the Commissioner's Office; and the register of all such applications shall be open to public inspection within office hours.

IV. The Commissioner shall publish, without delay, in the Government Gazette for the Province of Wellington, the description of every run thus applied for, together with the name of the applicant and the amount paid in deposit.

V. The Commissioner shall have power to hear and decide on all applications, and also all objections thereto, as well as all disputes in respect of conflicting applications.

VI. All objections must be brought before the Commissioner within three months after the date of the publication above referred to, and the ground of objection must be stated in writing; and no objection shall be entertained unless laid before him prior to the lapse of this period.

VII. In the event of any objection being duly laid before the Commissioner within the prescribed time, it shall be his duty to appoint by publication in the said Gazette, as early a day for hearing and determining the claims of the respective parties as shall be compatible with a sufficient notice.

VIII. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner to hear and determine all such objections and conflicting applications, and also all disputes between holders of pasture occupation licenses, regarding the boundaries of their respective runs, in open Court, to be held in the districts where the runs in dispute are situated.

IX. All applications made upon the same day shall be deemed to be simultaneous applications, and the priority thereof shall be decided by lot.

X. The Commissioner may at any time require the holder of a license to distinguish the boundaries of his run, by marked trees or posts or otherwise, when they are not distinctly marked by nature.

XI. So soon as practicable after the decision in favor of any application

[unclear: Occupat] licenses ed to 7 Vide "[unclear: Wellington Waste] Lands [unclear: A] 1870."

for a run shall have been given, an occupation license in the form of Schedule B to depasture stock thereon for 14 years shall be issued to the applicant, who shall pay for such license the sum of five pounds sterling, and shall be entitled to receive credit on account of rent reserved as under, to the extent of the deposit lodged by him, subject always to the following reservations and conditions:—

1st.	No license whatever shall be issued until the approximate accuracy of the computation of the acreage of the run be certified to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, and endorsed on a plan thereof, which plan shall exhibit, as nearly as may be, the boundaries of the run, and shall be attached to the license. The applicant is bound to obtain such certificate and plan at his expense.
2nd.	If at any time during the currency of such occupation license, the land comprised therein, or any part thereof shall become included within the boundaries of any agricultural or small farm, or other reserve, then the said occupation license shall cease and determine as to so much of the land as shall be included within such boundaries from and after the day of the date of the Proclamation by which such reserves shall be declared open for use and occupation.
3rd.	If at any time during the currency of such occupation license, the land comprised therein, or any part thereof, shall be sold by or on behalf of the Crown, then and in that case also the said license shall cease and determine, over so much of the land as shall have been sold, from and after three months' notice of such sale in the said Government Gazette.
4th.	Rent for a run shall be computed upon the acreage according to the Rent [unclear: fixed] 2d per [unclear: acres] 7 years "Wellington Waste [unclear: Lands] Act, [unclear: 1870] following uniform rates, viz:— For the first four years of occupation at the rate of one farthing per acre per annum. For the next five years of occupation at the rate of one halfpenny per acre per annum. For the remaining five years of occupation at the rate of one penny per acre per annum. page 14
5th.	All rents shall become clue and payable to the Land Commissioner of the district where the runs are situated, annually during the month of January in each year of occupation up to the 31st of the preceding December; Provided that, for licenses issued after the 30th of June in any given year, only half a year's rent shall be chargeable in the next ensuing month of January.
6th.	When any arrears of rent shall remain unsettled for a period of three months, in that case the said license shall cease and determine, and the Land Commissioner for the district is thereupon required to notify in the said Government Gazette the forfeiture of such license, and to let the run to which it relates by public auction, whereof one month's notice shall be given, to the highest bidder for a term of 14 years, subject to the conditions of these regulations. Provided always that the period of three months above referred to may be extended to six months in case of the death of the run-holder.
7th.	Within 12 months after the issue of a license, the holder thereof shall be required to place on the run at least one breeding ewe for every twenty acres, or one cow or more for every one hundred and twenty acres; and he shall be required to keep up at least that number of breeding stock upon the run during the whole period of his occupancy. Should the holder of a license not comply with this condition, his deposit shall be absolutely forfeited and the run shall be let according as is provided for in the foregoing clause.

XII. In the event of any deposit being made, and the run in respect of which such deposit has been made not being afterwards awarded to the depositor by the Commissioner, the amount so deposited shall be refunded to him immediately after the Commissioner's decision.

XIII. The beneficial interest in any occupation license may be at any time transferred by the licensed holder.

XIV. The licensed occupier of any run shall have the right of pre-emption, during the currency of his lease of his homestead, to the extent of 80 acres immediately surrounding it, but no more.

XV. A return of all occupation licenses issued during the past year, together with all transfers and decisions on disputed references, and a statement of all deposits and rents received during the same period, shall be published by the Commissioner in the said Government Gazette during the month of February in each year.

XVI. These regulations shall come into force in this Province at the expiration of one month after notice in the said Government Gazette that they have received the Governor's sanction, from and after which date the Regulations of 1851 shall cease to be acted on.

All persons now entitled to licenses under the Regulations of 1851, may at their option expressed in writing to the Commissioner, within six months after the publication of the sanction of these present Regulations, have licenses issued under the first-mentioned Regulations, to date from the time at which they were so entitled: or they may have licenses under these present Regulations to date from the period of their expressing such ope ion.

Schedule A.

District

Boundaries

Estimated extent

Deposit £

Signature of Applicant

Schedule B.

Form of Pasture Occupation License.

Whereas A.B., of________, has made application for a Pasture Occupation License in the district of_______, and has lodged with me the required description and deposit, and whereas the boundaries of the run thus applied for are set forth in a plan attached to this license and the acreage contents satisfactorily certified.