Subject to the provisions in the said recited Act of the Imperial Parliament contained, it shall be lawful for the Superintendent of each of the Provinces of New Zealand, with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council thereof, at any time and from time to time to make laws for regulating the sale letting disposal and occupation of the waste lands of the Crown within such Province, and also to amend alter or repeal any Laws Ordinances or Regulations now in force for any such purposes within the same: Provided always that every Bill for such purpose shall be reserved for the signification of the Governor’s pleasure thereon.

It shall be lawful for each of the Superintendents of the said Provinces respectively to remove any person now employed in the administration of the waste lands of the Crown in such Province, and provisionally, until other provisions be made by law in that behalf, to appoint any other person or persons with full powers to perform and exercise all the powers duties and functions which may be performed or exercised by any person so removed.

Where, by any Law or Ordinance, or any regulations in force within any Province, any act matter or thing is authorized or required to be done or performed by or in relation to a Commissioner of Crown Lands, every such act matter or thing shall, until other provision be made by law in that behalf, be valid and effectual if done or performed by or in relation to a person specially appointed in that behalf by the Superintendent of such Province, by warrant under his hand.

It shall be lawful for the Governor at any time to fulfil and perform any contract promise or engagement heretofore made, under the authority of law, by or on behalf of Her Majesty with respect to any lands situate in any of the said Provinces, and nothing contained in this Act, or in any law made in pursuance hereof, shall prejudice any such contract promise or engagement, or any subsisting rights or claims in respect of land or land orders land scrip or government scrip.

It shall moreover be lawful for the Governor at any time and from time to time to except from sale, and either reserve to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, or to dispose of in such other manner as for the public interest may seem best, such of the said waste lands in any of the said Provinces as may be required for the purposes of military defence, or for the construction of trunk lines of road, or as sites for public buildings for the use of the General Government; and all such exceptions shall be deemed to have been made whenever the Governor by writing under his hand shall have notified to the Superintendent of the Province in which any land so excepted is situate, that the same is required for any of the purposes aforesaid, and such notification shall have been published in the New Zealand Government Gazette: Provided always that no lands hereafter acquired from the aboriginal inhabitants shall be open for sale or disposal until the Governor shall have notified, by Proclamation in the New Zealand Government Gazette, that the Native title shall have been extinguished over such lands.

The term “Governor” shall mean the person for the time being lawfully administering the Government of New Zealand.

This Act may be cited for all purposes as “The Waste Lands Act, 1856.”