Taranaki Iron Smelting Works Lands Act 1874
Taranaki Iron Smelting Works Lands Act 1874
Taranaki Iron Smelting Works Lands Act 1874
Taranaki Iron Smelting Works Lands Act 1874
Public Act |
1874 No 48 |
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Date of assent |
31 August 1874 |
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Contents
An Act to authorize the disposal of Waste Lands of the Crown within the Province of Taranaki to encourage the establishment of Iron Smelting Works.
Preamble.
WHEREAS by resolutions of the Provincial Council of the Province of Taranaki, passed on the first day of April, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, it was resolved “That this Council approves of ‘The New Zealand Titanic Steel and Iron Company, Limited,’ being allowed to select three thousand acres of land in the Moa Block, adjoining the two thousand acres already selected in the Tarurutangi Block, after the General and Provincial Governments have made the necessary reserves: That on completion of the blast furnace now being erected, the Company be allowed to purchase the said five thousand acres at five shillings per acre; and that the purchase money be expended in the construction of a tramway or road to the land, as may be decided by the Company as best calculated to facilitate the carriage of wood and charcoal to their works:”
And whereas the resolutions so passed as aforesaid cannot be given effect to under the law affecting the sale and disposal of waste lands in the Province of Taranaki, and it is expedient that special provision should be made for enabling such resolution to be carried out in the manner hereinafter provided:
Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of New Zealand in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Short Title.
The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Taranaki Iron Smelting Works Lands Act, 1874.”
2 Certain selections of waste lands authorized.
Within one month after the passing of this Act, it shall be lawful for “The New Zealand Titanic Steel and Iron Company, Limited,”
(hereinafter called “the Company,”
) to select out of the block of waste land in the Province of Taranaki known as “the Moa Block,”
a parcel of land not exceeding in the case of the Company an area of three thousand acres, and such block shall be selected in one parcel and not in several parcels, and shall be of such shape and with such frontages as shall be approved of by the Superintendent of the said province. The said area of three thousand acres to be selected by the Company shall be in addition to the area of two thousand acres already selected by them in the Tarurutangi Block; and such last-mentioned land shall for all purposes be deemed to have been selected under this Act, and subject to the provisions thereof.
3 By whom selection to be made. Price to be paid for land.
Such selection as aforesaid may be made by any person duly authorized on behalf of the Company; and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the law for the time being in force in the said province for the sale and disposal of waste lands of the Crown, the Company shall pay to the Provincial Treasurer of the said province for such land at the rate of five shillings per acre, and such money shall be paid before the Crown grants for the land selected shall be made, as hereinafter provided. The moneys so paid to the Provincial Treasurer shall not for any purpose be deemed to be Land Revenue of the province, and shall not be subject to or affected by the provisions of “The Public Debt Apportionment Act, 1858.”
4 Application of purchase moneys.
The moneys to be received for the purchase of the said blocks of land shall be applied in the construction of roadways or tramways to connect the land so selected with the line of railway now in course of construction known as the Waitara and Wanganui Railway.
5 If certain works not proceeded with, privileges conferred by Act to be forfeited.
If the Company do not erect and complete a blast furnace or furnaces for the purposes of smelting iron ore as aforesaid, with all such fittings and appliances as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying on the smelting of such iron ore, on or before the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, or if the said Company do not within the period by this Act limited for that purpose make the selection hereby authorized to be made, the Company shall forfeit all rights and privileges which are hereby conferred on them.
6 Grants for land may issue upon compliance with conditions.
Upon the completion of the said furnace or furnaces as aforesaid, and upon the certificate in writing of the Superintendent that the provisions of this Act have been fully complied with in respect of the lands hereby authorized to be selected as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the Governor, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, to issue grants of the lands selected by the Company under the provisions of this Act:
Proviso.
Provided always that before any grant of the land selected under this Act shall be made as hereinbefore provided, the Superintendent shall be satisfied—
That the Company have a nominal capital of not less than fifty thousand pounds sterling, and an actual capital of not less than thirty thousand pounds sterling, and that the Company shall have expended ten thousand pounds sterling within the province in erecting and completing a blast furnace, or more than one such furnace, and in the purchasing of plant and labour charges for the purpose of carrying on the smelting of the Taranaki iron sand.
7 Reservation to be inserted in grants.
The provisions of “The Crown Grants Act, 1866,”
respecting roads and rights of roads reserved in Crown grants, shall apply to the grants to be made under this Act; with this qualification, that for the purposes of this Act the term “road”
shall include any railway tramway bridge or other work of public utility, and a reservation to the effect of this enactment shall be inserted in such grants respectively.
8 Road or tramway to be open to public on conditions to be prescribed.
Every road or tramway constructed by the said Company shall respectively be open to public use upon such terms and subject to such regulations as shall from time to time be made and prescribed by the Superintendent with the approval of the Provincial Council. All such regulations, when made and approved as aforesaid, shall be published in the Government Gazette of the province.