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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 44

Part 1. Land Boards, their Towers and Functions

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Part 1. Land Boards, their Towers and Functions.

Land Boards established.

18. For each land district there shall be a Board of page 97 Commissioners, to be called "The Land Board of [Name of land district]"; and the said Board shall consist of the Commissioner of Crown Lands of the district (hereinafter called "the Chief Commissioner"), and of not less than two nor more than five other Commissioners, all of whom shall be appointed and be removable from time to time by warrant under the hand of the Governor.
19. The several Boards existing in the respective land

Existing Boards constituted the first Boards under Act.

districts on the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, are hereby constituted the Land Boards for the same districts respectively under this Act, and the members of such Boards, who shall be in office on the aforesaid first day of January, are hereby appointed members of the said Board under this Act: Provided that where any existing Board shall consist of fewer members than five, exclusive of the Chief Commissioner, the Governor may appoint members to such Board so as to bring up the number of such members to the aforesaid number. Every member of a Land Board shall, subject to the provisions herein contained, remain and continue in office for the term of two years from the date of appointment, but no longer.

Any member may be re-appointed as a member of any Land Board.

Every Commissioner shall take the following oath of

Oath.

office before a Judge of the Supreme Court:—

I, A.B., do swear that 1 will faithfully execute the office of a Commissioner of the Land Board of [Name of district] to the best of my ability, and accroding to the true intent and meaning of "The Land Act, 1877." So help me God.

20. If any Commissioner shall, by writing addressed to

Vacancies in Board.

the Chief Commissioner resign his office, or die, or become of unsound mind, or be adjudicated a bankrupt or insolvent, or take the benefit of or be brought under the operation of any Act relating to bankruptcy or insolvent debtors, or be convicted of felony or any infamous crime, or be absent without sufficient cause from three successive ordinary sittings of the Board without the leave of the Board, or otherwise become incapacitated to act as Commissioner, his seat at the Board shall be thereby vacated.

The Chief Commissioner shall forthwith notify every vacancy to the Governor as it occurs, who shall appoint page 98 such duly qualified person as he shall think fit to supply such vacancy.

Every Board to have same powers.

21. Every Land Board constituted under the provisions of this Act shall have all the duties, powers, and authorities on every respect which are conferred upon Land Boards by his Act.

Every Land Board shall be deemed to be duly constituted, and may enter into office and proceed to the despatch of business when a sufficient number of Commissioners to form a quorum have been appointed.

Commissioner not personally liable.

22. No Chief Commissioner or Commissioner of any Land Board shall be personally liable in any action, suit, or other proceeding, except for his own act and deed, nor shall he be liable for anything done by him in the execution of his office, except in cases where he shall be guilty of wilful neglect or default.

Payment of Commissioners.

23. Out of any moneys that may from time to time be appropriated to that purpose by the General Assembly, there shall be paid to every Commissioner of any Land Board (other than the Chief Commissioner), for his attendance at the meetings of the Board, a sum not exceeding one pound sterling for every such attendance, and also a sum for travelling expenses actually incurred.

No disqualification.

Provided that any Commissioner who shall receive any payment or travelling expenses shall not be disqualified from a seat in the General Assembly, nor become liable to any penalty under any Disqualification Act for the time being in force.

Governor may establish local districts and Land Offices.

24. The Governor, by Proclamation in the Gazette, may from time to time establish and define, abolish, alter, or reconstitute local districts for the sale or disposal of land, and in like manner from time to time may appoint Land Officers or other persons for conducting sales of land in such local districts, and for receiving applications for the sale, letting, disposal, or occupation of Crown lands, and for generally carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.

Any local district may overlap the boundaries of any land district, and embrace within its limits portions of different land districts.

Conduct of business.

25. In the conduct of business by each Land Board the following provisions shall have effect:—

Meetings of Board.

(1.) The Board shall sit at such Land Office within the district as the Governor shall appoint (which page 99 shall be called the "Principal Land Office"), at certain times to be determined by the Board and approved of by the Governor, and published in the Gazette. And the Board may adjourn from

Adjournments.

time to time.
Special meetings of the Board may be held,

Special meetings.

of which not less than twenty-four hours' notice in writing shall have been given to each member of the Board by the Chief Commissioner or by any two Commissioners.
(2.) The Commissioner of Crown Lands, when

Chairman of Board ex officio.

present, shall preside at every meeting of the Board as Chairman of the Board ex officio, and shall have an original as well as a casting vote in all questions coming before the Board.
In the absence of the Chief Commissioner,

Absence of Chairman.

then some member selected by those present at any meeting shall preside thereat, and the person so presiding shall at such meeting have all the powers of the Chief Commissioner.
(3.) All questions coming before the Board shall be

Questions decided by majority.

decided by a majority of the votes of the Commissioners present thereat.
(4.) At all meetings of the Board three Commissioners

Quorum.

shall form a quorum; and such meetings shall be open to the public, except the Board deems it necessary for the purpose of deliberation to require strangers to withdraw.
(5.) All business connected with the sale, letting,

Land business by Board.

disposal, and occupation of Crown lands shall be transacted by the Board.
(6.) All the routine business relating to the sale,

Ordinary business by Chief Commissioner.

letting, disposal, and occupation of Crown lands shall be transacted by the Chief Commissioner, subject to such instructions as may be given by the Board.
(7.) Every dispute and difference relating or incident

Disputes settled by Board.

to the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation of Crown lands, or to the interpretation or meaning of any enactment relating to or in connection with Crown lands, or to any matter or thing done under any such enactment, shall be heard and determined by the Board. And for the page 100 purposes of any such hearing every Land Board shall have all the powers of a Board or Commissioners appointed by the Governor in Council under "The Commissioners Powers Act, 1867."

Appeals.

(8.) The decision of the Board on all matters to be by it heard and determined shall, subject to the provisions of this Act relating to Land Board appeals, be final and conclusive.

Minutes to be kept.

(9.) The Board shall keep a record of all its proceedings, in which shall be entered a full and particular account of all business transacted by it, and a minute of the opinion of the members of the said Board in cases where they differ and in which any member wishes his opinion to be recorded, which record shall be open to the inspection of any person at all reasonable hours, on payment of a fee of two shillings and sixpence for each inspection.

And other records.

(10.) There shall be kept in the Principal Land Office, in a convenient form for reference, every letter, application, report, and communication received at the office, and copies of those written therefrom, also every order made by the Board and by the Chief Commissioner, and a convenient index shall be made thereto, all of which shall be open to inspection by any person at all reasonable times, on payment of a fee of two shillings and sixpence for each inspection.

Rents, &c. paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue.

(11.) All rents, fees, assessments, purchase moneys, and moneys paid by way of deposit, and other sums of money payable under the provisions of this Act shall be paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue for the time being, unless herein otherwise provided.

Board may charge fees for decision of disputed questions.

(12.) It shall be lawful for every Board at its discretion to charge and receive, for the decision of any disputed question which it is authorized to determine, a fee not exceeding five pounds, to be paid by the party against whom its decision shall be made, to be recovered in a summary way, and the Board may require such fee to be deposited by each party before entering on the question; and the fee deposited by the party in page 101 whose favour the decision shall be made shall be forthwith returned to him.
(13.) Whenever the Board is authorized to grant a

Forms of leases, &c., to be approved by Board, and signed by Chief Commissioner.

license or lease, the same may be in such form as the Board shall in each case approve, subject to the provisions of this Act, and shall, after such approval, be signed by the Commissioner of Crown Lands by and on behalf of the Board, and shall be as valid and effectual if so signed as if signed by all the members of the Board.
(14.) There shall be paid in respect of any particular

Fees on leases, &c. Deposits thereof.

lease, license, or other instrument, or of any transfer thereof respectively, such fee as the Board with the assent of the Governor may appoint; and the Board may require a deposit to be made of the amount of such fee at the time application is made for any of such instruments as aforesaid, or at any time thereafter, and the Board may at any time refuse to proceed in any transaction if such deposit, when required, is not made.
(15.) Any renewal of a lease or license may be

Renewals may be made by endorsement.

effected by writing on the lease or license a memorandum of the terms, conditions, and covenants to which such new lease or license is subject, and signing the said memorandum in the manner herein required in the case of an original lease or license.
26. No application whatsoever for the sale, letting,

No application receivable outside Land Office.

disposal, or other occupation of Crown lands shall be a valid and legal application unless such application shall have been made at a duly established Land Office within the land district, during the hours when such office is open to the public for the transaction of business.
27. All applications for land shall be in writing, or

Form of application.

partly in writing or partly in print, and may be made at any Land Office within the land district, or within any local district which comprises the whole or part of the land applied for.

Any application may, at the option of the applicant, where no special provision exists to the contrary, be enclosed in a sealed cover, which shall not be opened till after the office hours on the day it is made.

page 102

Where any application for land is made at a Land Office within any local district, the officer receiving such application shall note the day and hour at which such application is made, and shall without delay transmit such application, together with a note of the time when the same was received by him, to the Board of the land district wherein the land applied for is situate, and the said Board shall deal with such application as an application made to the Board itself at the time at which it was made at the office in the local district.

Applications to purchase lands upon runs to be advertised.

28. The Board shall not entertain any application for the purchase of Crown lands situate within gold fields, alienated under license or lease for pastoral purposes, although such application is accompanied by the written consent of the pastoral licensee or lessee, unless evidence is first furnished by the applicant that the exact locality, area, and boundaries have been accurately described in an advertisement inserted for three consecutive weeks in any newspaper published or circulating in the district in which the lands so applied for are situate.

Land Hoards sole judges of fulfilment of conditions in occupation licenses.

29. In any case where at any time heretofore a license has been granted to hold land on any system subject to the fulfilment of certain terms or conditions, the Land Board shall be the sole judges whether such conditions have been complied with, and shall have all the powers and authorities conferred upon any body or person by the Act under which any such license was granted, and shall proceed in the manner indicated in that behalf by such Act, notwithstanding its repeal, to enforce the fulfilment of the conditions of any such license, or to obtain possession of any land, improvements, or money forfeited for breach of such conditions.

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