The Short Title of this Act is “The Native Land Laws Amendment Act, 1895.”

In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context,—

Unless inconsistent with the context, words used in this Act shall, subject as aforesaid, have the same meaning as is assigned to them in section two of the Act.

This Act shall, so far as relates to the Native Land Court and to the Native Appellate Court, be read, with and as part of the Act.

Nothing in the Act contained shall preclude the alienation of any land within the limits of any town district or borough, whether constituted before or after the passing of this Act; nor shall the Act preclude the alienation of any land being the whole or part of a block or section not exceeding five hundred acres, the title to which as a separate holding has become ascertained by partition or otherwise prior to the passing of this Act: Provided that every such alienation shall be confirmed by the Court in manner provided in the Act: Provided also that this section shall not apply to land within the area defined by the Second Schedule to the Act.

The Governor may by Order in Council except from the operation of section one hundred and seventeen of the Act, for a limited period or otherwise, and either generally or for such purposes and subject to such restrictions as shall be in such Order specified, any land, wheresoever situate, which is for the time being subject to the operation of the said section, or any interest therein, or right over the same; or may in like manner make such exception in favour exclusively of any lessee or other person who has been bonâ fide in occupation of and has made improvements on such land, or has paid money to Native owners for lease or purchase thereof, prior to the passing of the Act: Provided that no Order in Council under the provisions of this section shall take effect until after the expiration of two months from the date of the publication thereof in the Gazette: Provided also that every alienation under the provisions of this section shall be confirmed by the Court in terms of section fifty-three of the Act.

A return of all applications for the issue of Orders in Council under the provisions of this section, specifying such as have been granted and refused respectively, and, in case of refusal, the reasons for such refusal, shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within thirty days after the commencement of each session.

Before confirming any alienation under the provisions of Sections three and four of this Act, other than a mortgage, the Court shall require every person in whose favour such alienation is expressed to take effect to make and subscribe a declaration in the form in the First Schedule hereto, and no such alienation shall be confirmed if made in favour of any person holding in fee-simple in the Colony of New Zealand, either in severalty or jointly with any other person or persons, a greater area, whether of first-, second-, or third-class land as defined by “The Land Act, 1892” (including the land the subject of such alienation), than would amount to six hundred and forty acres of first-class land, if computed on the basis of two thousand acres of second or five thousand acres of third-class land being treated as equivalent to six hundred and forty acres of first-class land: Provided that such area may be composed of first-class, second-class, and third-class land, or any two of such classes, and shall be so determined that the acreage of each class, or all the classes combined, shall not exceed the prescribed maximum.

Any person making a false declaration under the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and on conviction shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred pounds, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding one year, with or without hard labour.

For the purpose of preventing evasions of the law, it is hereby declared that every dealing with land by the person in whose favour the alienation thereof has been confirmed as aforesaid, whether such dealing is by way of sale, mortgage, charge, lease, or otherwise howsoever, shall be absolutely void if made in favour of any person holding a greater acreage than that prescribed by the last-preceding section in the case of the person in whose favour such alienation was confirmed.

Any restriction on alienation removable under section fifty-two of the Act may be removed so far as to permit the making of a lease not exceeding twenty-one years from the date thereof without proof that the lessor has other land sufficient for his support, and any such lease may be confirmed by the Court without such proof as aforesaid, anything in the Act to the contrary notwithstanding: Provided that the Court shall be satisfied that the rent reserved is a fair rent, and that it is for the advantage of the Native owner that such lease should be confirmed.

All Orders in Council purporting to have been issued under the provisions of “The Native Land Act, 1888,” for the purpose of removing any restriction since the passing of the Act, shall, notwithstanding the repeal of the said “Native Land Act, 1888,” be valid and effectual.

The provisions of sections three to seven inclusive of this Act shall not apply to alienations authorised under sections one hundred and eighteen or one hundred and twenty of the Act as amended by this Act.

No land owned by a Native shall be sold under any power of sale in any mortgage, or by, virtue of any judgment, decree, or charging order, except by public auction and to the highest bidder. Notice specifying the time and place of any intended sale shall be given in writing to the Commissioner of Crown Lands for the district, and published not less than three times in one or more newspapers circulating in the district; and no sale shall take place until after the expiration of three months from the publication and giving of such notices: Provided that this section shall not apply to, sales by any public officer by virtue of, or in exercise of, any statutory provision or authority.

No land shall be sold for payment of any survey charges until three months after the title to such land has become ascertained within the meaning of section three of the Act.

Nothing in the Act contained shall operate to defeat or prejudice any right or remedy which, but for the passing of the Act, any person might or would have against land owned by a Native in respect of any debt or liability incurred by such Native prior to the passing of the Act, but such right or remedy may be exercised as fully and effectually as if the Act had not been passed; nor shall anything in the Act contained preclude the acquisition by any person of land sold under process of law in exercise of any right or remedy as aforesaid: Provided that the Court shall, as regards the exercise of any such right or remedy, make all inquiries which before the passing of the Act would have been required to be made by a Trust Commissioner in respect thereof, and may, if satisfied with the result of such inquiries, and that the sale is in accordance with the provisions of this Act, confirm such alienation.

No person shall be debarred from the benefit of the foregoing provision by reason only that such person has, since the passing of the Act, taken or accepted any promissory note or other obligation or security, or has recovered judgment in any Court of law, in respect of any debt or liability as aforesaid.

Section one hundred and seventeen of the Act shall not apply to any transfer heretofore made, or hereafter to be made, to the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (Limited), for the purpose of completing the title of the company to land taken for railway construction under the provisions of “The Railways Construction and Land Act, 1881.”

A confirmation order under the seal of the Court, or a certificate under section fifty-five of the Act, indorsed on any deed or instrument, shall, for all purposes of title, be conclusive evidence that such deed or instrument is not in contravention of any of the provisions of the Act or of this Act, but shall not exonerate any person from penalties incurred in respect of any false declaration or evidence made or used for the purpose of obtaining such order.

Before confirming any lease the Court shall inquire whether such lease has been signed by the Native owners, or any of them, in consideration, wholly or in part, of any sum of money paid to them or any of them by way of premium or foregift; and if it shall appear to the Court that there has been any such payment the Court shall not confirm such lease, unless it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Court that the rent reserved is a fair and adequate rent, having regard to the value of the land, irrespective of any payment as aforesaid.

Any lease which through a bonâ fide mistake shall prior to the passing of the Act have been made, given, or taken for a greater term than that allowed by law, shall be taken and deemed to be and to have been from the date thereof a valid lease for such less term as the same could have been made, given, or taken for at the time of the execution thereof: Provided always that a Judge shall certify that such mistake was bonâ fide, and that such lease is otherwise entitled to confirmation under the provisions of the Act and of this Act.

All acts done, or hereafter to be done, for the completion of proceedings commenced under the provisions of “The Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act, 1881,” and the Acts amending the same, shall, if done by any person holding the office of Trust Commissioner at the date of the passing of the Act, be as valid and effectual for the purpose aforesaid as if the said Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act and the several Acts amending the same had not been repealed.

Every order heretofore made or hereafter to be made by the Court, under subsections two, three, or four of section fourteen of the Act, shall, if the land the subject of such order is subject to the provisions of the Land Transfer Act, entitle the person named in such order as the owner of or entitled to such land to be registered as the proprietor thereof: Except as regards land acquired by the Crown, no partition order for land subject to the provisions of the Land Transfer Act shall be made otherwise than in favour of a registered proprietor.

If the land the subject of any order under subsections two, three, or four aforesaid is not subject to the Land Transfer Act, but is land held under grant from the Crown, the person named in such order as the owner of or entitled to such land shall be entitled to a Land Transfer certificate of title for the same, subject to all registered encumbrances, liens, and interests; and the issue of such certificate shall, as to the land included therein, effectually cancel any existing Crown grant.

Division or partition orders heretofore made affecting land awarded, or recommended to be awarded, to Natives under the provisions of “The Tauranga District Lands Act, 1867,” and “The Tauranga District Lands Act, 1868,” and orders heretofore made in accordance with the provisions of section seven of “The Native Land Court Act 1886 Amendment Act, 1888,” declaring the residue of any such land to be the property of Native owners, shall be as valid and effectual as if such land had at the time of the making of such order been held under Crown grant, or Land Transfer certificate of title; and the person or persons named in any such order as entitled to such land shall be entitled to a Crown grant or Land Transfer certificate of title for the same, as the case may be.

Where orders for the issue of Crown grants have been made on subdivision under section eighty-nine of “The Native Land Act, 1873,” but the original grant has not been surrendered for cancellation as by the said section is required, the Court may by order adjudge such grant to be null and void, and the Secretary for Crown Lands shall thereupon cause an indorsement to that effect to be made on the record of such original grant, and such grant shall by virtue of such indorsement be deemed for all purposes of the subdivision to be effectually cancelled, as if the same had been duly surrendered and cancelled on the making of the said subdivision in terms of section ninety of the said “Native Land Act, 1873.”

No warrant other than the authority of this Act shall be necessary for the issue of a certificate of title under the provisions of the Land Transfer Act to and in the name of any person for land for which such person has, by virtue of any order of the Court, whether made before or after the passing of this Act, become entitled to a Crown grant or certificate of title, whether in lieu of grant or otherwise: Provided that, in case of land not previously subject to the provisions of the Land Transfer Act, such order shall be forwarded to the District Land Registrar through the Chief Judge of the Court, who shall at the same time notify to such Registrar what instruments (if any) affecting the land the subject of such order have been registered in the office of the Native Land Court; and the Registrar shall, on issuing a certificate of title, make such entries on the Land Transfer Register as may be necessary for the protection of the rights of parties claiming under such registered instruments.

Any lessee from a Native owner who, in order to obtain registration of his lease, shall have been compelled to pay the person entitled to receive the same any survey charges, Court fees, probate or succession duties, or other moneys properly payable by the Native owner and chargeable by law on the land the subject of such lease, shall be entitled to deduct the sums so paid from the rent payable by him under the lease: Provided that the amount to be deducted by the lessee in respect of any single payment reserved under such lease shall not exceed one-half the payment reserved, and so from time to time until the whole amount paid as aforesaid has been deducted or otherwise refunded.

A certificate under section sixty-seven of the Act may be registered against land under the provisions of “The Deeds Registration Act, 1868,” and, except by order of the Court, no dealing with such land by any Native owner shall thereafter be registered until the amount certified to be due in respect thereof has been fully paid and satisfied.

No confirmation order shall be necessary to enable the registration of any deed or instrument which has been or hereafter shall be validated under the provisions of “The Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act, 1893.”

No exchange shall be made, under subsection three of section fourteen of the Act, of less than the whole interest of any Native in any block or section.

Section seventeen of the Act shall be read and construed subject to any regulations for the time being in force under the Act specifically regulating the mode of procedure with regard to any particular class of business.

Section forty-six of the Act shall not apply or be deemed to have applied in any case where the testator died before the passing of the Act.

Section sixty-two of the Act shall be read and construed as if the words “except as provided in the preceding section” had been omitted therefrom.

Section sixty-five of the Act shall be read and construed as if the words “Chief Surveyor” had been used therein instead of the words “Commissioner of Crown Lands.”

Section sixty-seven of the Act shall be read and construed as if the words “on behalf of the Crown” had been inserted after the words “Surveyor-General” in the second line thereof.

Section one hundred and seventeen of the Act shall be read and construed as if the words “in this Act” had been used instead of the word “hereinafter,” in the first line thereof. And it is hereby expressly declared and enacted that nothing in the Act shall be construed to take away or restrict, or in any manner to have taken away or restricted, any jurisdiction, power, or authority conferred or expressed to be conferred on the Court, or on the Appellate Court, by the Act.

Section one hundred and eighteen of the Act shall be read and construed as if the words “two years” had been read instead of “twelve months” in the sixteenth line thereof.

Nothing in the Act shall be deemed to have taken away any right of testamentary disposition by any Native, subject to the provisions of section forty-six of the Act: Provided that land acquired by virtue of any will or testamentary disposition after the passing of this Act shall not be deemed to be land acquired by testamentary disposition within the meaning of section one hundred and seventeen of the Act. No interest in land or personal estate shall pass by any unwritten will or ohaki.

Subject to the foregoing provisions with regard to debts and liabilities incurred before the passing of the Act, the term “acquire,” in section one hundred and seventeen of the Act, shall extend to and preclude the acquisition by any person under any adjudication in bankruptcy of land owned by a Native.

The term “lessee,” in section one hundred and twenty of the Act, shall include and shall be deemed to have included the executors, administrators, and assigns of a lessee.

Section one hundred and twenty of the Act shall be read and construed as if the words “two years” had been used instead of “one year” in the fifth line thereof, and as if the words “one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six” had been used instead of the words “one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five,” in the third line thereof,

The heading to the Second Schedule of the Act is amended by substituting the words “Laud excepted from the Provisions of Section 118” for the words “Native District wherein Land is subject to this Act,” and the said Schedule shall be read and construed as if the heading hereby substituted had been the original heading thereof.

The seal now in use by the Appellate Court shall be and be deemed to have been the proper seal of the said Court, and all documents sealed therewith shall bé deemed to have been duly sealed.

The appellant in any appeal now pending or hereafter to be instituted may, subject to any regulations under the Act, withdraw such appeal at any time before the hearing thereof.

If the appellant in any appeal now pending, or hereafter to be instituted, has or shall have failed to deposit with the Registrar the sum required to be deposited as security for, costs under section eighty-five of the Act, or to pay any fees due and payable in respect of such appeal by virtue of any regulation under the Act, or under any Act thereby repealed, the Native Land Court may, on the application of the Registrar, dismiss such appeal; and such dismissal, if expressed to be made on the ground of such non-payment, shall take effect as if the decision appealed from had been affirmed by the Appellate Court upon the hearing of such appeal: Provided that if it shall appear to the Court that the appellant is unable to pay the amount required, and that injustice may be done by the dismissal of such appeal unheard, the Court may remit such payment either wholly or in part, or make such order in relation thereto as to the Court shall seem fit.

The Appellate Court shall have the like powers with regard to any appeal in case the required security has not been deposited, or in case of non-payment of fees, as are hereinbefore given to the Native Land Court in the like cases.

The Public Trustee may appeal against any decision of the Court appointing any other person to be trustee for a minor, and the Chief Judge may in such case dispense with the requirements of section eighty-five of the Act.

The Chief Judge shall have power from time to time to refer to the Judges of the Appellate Court, severally or collectively, any question of Native custom, or of practice and procedure, which he may think necessary to have decided for the purpose of securing uniformity in the decisions of the Court; and the opinion of the majority of such Judges upon any question referred shall be binding upon the Court, and upon all the Judges thereof, and shall be followed in all subsequent decisions of the Court and of the Native Land Court.

The time within which a statement of the grounds of appeal may be lodged shall be two months from the date of the decision appealed from: Provided that the Chief Judge or the Court may at any time require an amended statement to be furnished.

When, by any regulation made or to be made under the Act, public notice is required to be given of any decision, the time within which notice of appeal from such decision may be given shall run from the date of the publication of such notice.

The Appellate Court shall have power, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred on it by the Act or by this Act, to annul or vary any decision of the Native Land Court or of a Judge thereof, and to give, or direct the Native Land Court to give, such other decision as to the first-mentioned Court shall seem just.

No appeal shall lie from any order of incorporation under section one hundred and twenty-two of the Act, nor from any order dismissing an appeal.

An order under subsection nine of section fourteen of the Act shall be revocable at any time by the Court or by any Judge, notwithstanding that such order may have been filed in the office of the Supreme Court: Provided that the order of revocation shall in such case be also filed.

The Chief Judge may refer to the Court, or to a Judge, for inquiry and report, any application or other matter as to which such inquiry is, in his opinion, necessary for the purposes of the Act, or of any Act conferring jurisdiction on the Court or on the Chief Judge for any purpose whatsoever.

When application shall be made to the Court to determine the succession to the personal estate of any Native dying intestate, the Court may, on the hearing of such application, appoint any fit person to administer such personal estate on behalf of the persons beneficially entitled thereto, and may grant letters of administration accordingly: Provided that no estate or interest in the land of any Native dying intestate shall pass by virtue of letters of administration.

The Court may at any time revoke the appointment of any executor or administrator on the ground of unfitness, and may appoint any fit person in his place; and such appointment shall, as from the date thereof, take effect as if such person had been the person named as executor or administrator in the original grant of probate or of administration, as the case may be.

Where several orders have been or hereafter shall be made, either on original investigation of title or on partition, in the names of the same owners for the like interest or for undefined interests in different portions of the same block, and such land has not become the subject of a Crown grant or Land Transfer certificate of title, the Court may, for the purposes of partition or of further partition, as the case may be, treat such several parcels of land as one parcel, and as if the same were included in one order, and may apportion the same accordingly:

Provided that, if there has been an alienation of any interest in the said land, no apportionment affecting such interest shall be made under the provisions of this section without the consent of the person entitled by virtue thereof.

If in any proceeding on partition it shall appear to the Court with regard to any former partition of the same land that such partition has not been given effect to by survey or otherwise, and that, having regard to subsequent dealings with the land, it would be useless or otherwise inexpedient to give effect thereto, the Court may by order annul such partition, and may proceed to reapportion the land without relation thereto.

If upon an application for partition of any land it shall appear to the Court that from the nature of the case and of the interests involved such land cannot fairly be partitioned, or that it would be wise to postpone such partition, the Court may refuse to make a partition, and the Court may in place thereof, if it thinks fit, make such interlocutory order adjusting the intermediate beneficial occupation of the land among the various owners, or the mesne profits arising therefrom, as it shall deem just and fair, irrespective of the person using or occupying such lands: But no such interlocutory order shall in any case, pending the result of an appeal in any Court whatsoever or to Her Majesty’s Privy Council, prejudice the rights of any person claiming as an owner or part owner of or claiming any estate or interest in the land the subject of such application for partition.

The Court may, on any partition hereafter to be made, or as a continuation of the proceedings in any former partition, apportion any survey charge amongst the several subdivisions of the land the subject of such charge; and such apportionment shall, subject to approval by the Surveyor-General, be final and conclusive.

All the words in line two of the last paragraph of section sixty-five of the Act, after the word “Act,” to “alienation,” in line five inclusive, are hereby repealed.

From and after the passing of this Act, the Native Land Court and every Judge thereof shall, in dealing with all questions as between Natives and Natives affecting the title to any Native land, or to land or personal estate owned by Natives, be absolutely free from the control or interference of any superior Court other than the Appellate Court,

In any case in which, but for this Act, recourse might be had to the Supreme Court, the remedy shall be by application to the Appellate Court, which shall have full power on such application to deal with and finally determine all questions at issue, and to grant such relief as to such Court shall seem just, or as shall in the opinion of the Court be necessary, having regard to the nature of the case and the rights of the parties.

The Appellate Court shall have supreme jurisdiction in all questions as between Natives and Natives affecting the title to any Native land, or to land or personal estate owned by Natives, and shall exercise or decline to exercise such jurisdiction free from the interference or control of any other Court whatsoever, nor shall any proceeding relating to any such matter as aforesaid be removed from the Appellate Court into any other Court by writ of certiorari or otherwise.

In any proceeding in the Supreme Court relating to any judgment or order of the Native Land Court or of the Appellate Court, or of any Judge of either of the said Courts respectively, proof that such judgment or order was given or made in a matter exclusively between Natives and Natives in relation to Native land, or land or personal estate owned by Natives, shall be conclusive evidence that such judgment or order was given or made by such Court or Judge with full and sufficient power, jurisdiction, and authority.

Nothing herein contained shall prejudice or affect any proceeding actually pending or commenced in the Supreme Court or in the Appeal Court of New Zealand or in Her Majesty’s Privy Council at the date of the passing of this Act.

In any case in which application has been or shall be made to the Chief Judge under section thirty-nine of the Act for relief in respect of any order of the Court determining the succession to the estate of any Native deceased, if it shall appear to the Chief Judge that the applicant has a primâ facie claim to such relief, but that relief cannot be afforded under the provisions of section thirty-nine, and that the time within which an application for rehearing or an appeal might have been lodged has, without any neglect or default on the part of the applicant, been allowed to lapse, the Governor may, on being certified to the above effect, by Order in Council, empower the Appellate Court to deal with such application as a valid appeal under the Act, anything in the Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding; Provided that no Order in Council shall be issued as aforesaid unless such application has been made within three years from the date of the order complained of. Nor shall any such appeal affect any right or title acquired for valuable consideration prior to the issue of such Order in Council. Applications which have been dismissed for want of jurisdiction under section thirty-nine of the Act may, for the purposes of this section, be treated as subsisting applications.

The Chief Judge may dispense with the affidavit or statutory declaration required by section thirty-nine of the Act in any case in; which he shall deem the same to be unnecessary.

Sections sixty-one and sixty-six of the Act are hereby repealed.

Except as hereinafter provided, no subdivisional or other survey of land within the meaning of the Act shall be made without the authority of the Surveyor-General first obtained: Provided that the Court or a Judge may authorise such surveys to be made for the information of the Court, in dealing with any matter before it, as may in the opinion of such Court or Judge be necessary or expedient.

Where under the provisions of section sixty-five of the Act a defined portion of land has been vested in the Surveyor-General in satisfaction of survey charges due to the Crown, such land shall on notification to that effect in the Gazette become Crown land within the meaning of “The Land Act, 1892.”

Any unsatisfied charging-order made prior to the passing of the Act in respect of the costs of any survey may be surrendered by the person entitled to the benefit thereof, and an order under section sixty-five of the Act substituted.

In any order under section sixty-five the Court may include in the cost of survey interest at the rate of five per centum per annum from the date of the approval of the survey by the Chief Surveyor: Provided that no interest shall be allowed for more than five years in the aggregate.

Any person entitled to the benefit of a charge by way of mortgage under section sixty-five of the Act, who shall for the purpose of completing his title thereto pay any fees due in respect of the land the subject of such charge, shall be entitled to add the amount so paid to the amount due and recoverable by virtue of such charge as if such amount had been originally included therein. The receipt of the officer entitled to receive such fees indorsed on such charge shall be sufficient evidence that such payment has been made, and that the same was due as aforesaid.

So much of sections seventy, seventy-one, and seventy-two of the Act as is inconsistent with sections ninety-one to ninety-five, inclusive, of “The Public Works Act, 1891,” is hereby repealed.

When any land heretofore acquired, or hereafter to be acquired, by the Crown from Natives is subject to any valid and duly-registered lease, and is required for purposes of settlement, the Minister of Lands may require the Board of Land Purchase Commissioners to report thereon; and upon the recommendation of the Board the Governor may, by Order in Council, absolutely determine such lease either as to the whole or any part of the land, and the Crown shall at any time after the expiration of six months from the date of the gazetting of such Order in Council be entitled to enter into possession of such land, subject only to payment of such compensation as may be agreed on between the Minister of Lands and the persons entitled thereto; or, in default of such agreement, the amount of compensation, and the person or persons to whom such compensation is payable, shall be determined in the manner provided by “The Public Works Act, 1894,” in the case of land taken for a Government work, and shall include the value of the goodwill of such lease, and the full value of improvements on the land: Provided that, where such lease is determined in respect of only part of the land comprised therein, the lessee, by notice in writing given to the Minister of Lands within twenty-eight days after the gazetting of the aforesaid Order in Council, may require the lease to be determined as to the residue of the land, and in such case the Governor, by Order in Council, shall determine the same, whereupon the foregoing provisions as to compensation shall apply to such residue.

Any lessee or other person holding moneys belonging to Natives, and being unable to pay such moneys by reason of any doubt or dispute as to who are the persons entitled to receive the same, may by leave of the Court, or a Judge, pay such moneys to the Public Trustee, whose receipt shall be a sufficient discharge to the person paying the same. Payment of rent by a lessee under the provisions of this section shall be deemed a payment made in accordance with the terms of the lease. Such payment may be authorised as aforesaid in respect of rent to accrue due during the currency of the lease as well as of rent already due.

The Public Trustee shall hold such moneys subject to the order of the Court, for the benefit of and to be payable to such persons as the Court shall by order from time to time direct: Provided that any lessee availing himself of this provision shall be chargeable with commission at the rate of two pounds per centum on all moneys paid by him to the Public Trustee, which charge shall be levied as a fee of the Public Trust Office. All orders heretofore made under section ten of “The Native Land Court Act 1886 Amendment Act, 1888,” are hereby annulled as from the date hereof. The proviso to section fifty-nine of the Act. is hereby repealed.

Section three of “The Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act Amendment Act, 1894,” is hereby amended by striking out the words “being a barrister or barristers of the Supreme Court of New Zealand,” and by adding to the said section the following proviso:—

Section six of “The Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act Amendment Act, 1894,” is hereby repealed.

The Validation Court under “The Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act, 1893,” may remit in whole or in part any fines pay-able in respect of stamp duties on deeds evidencing transactions the subject of validation.

Every salaried officer holding an appointment as Clerk or Interpreter to the Native Land Court shall, by virtue of such appointment, be eligible to act in the like capacity, or the same officer may act in both such capacities, in the Validation Court, and no appointment by the Governor shall be necessary, anything in “The Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act, 1893,” to the contrary notwithstanding.

All applications under section one hundred and eighteen of the Act in respect whereof the applicant shall have failed to pay the required fees, and to comply with the regulations, within one month from the date of the passing of this Act, shall be deemed to have been abandoned by the applicant, and shall be dealt with accordingly.

Section two of “The Owhaoko and Kaimanawa-Oruamatua Reinvestigation of Title Act, 1886,” shall be read and construed as if the words “The Native Land Court Act, 1886,” had been used in the last line thereof instead of “The Native Land Court Act, 1880”: Provided that the foregoing amendment shall not operate to the prejudice of any right at present existing.

All acts done and orders made by any Judge of the Native Land Court, purporting to have been done or made under “The Native Land (Validation of Titles) Act, 1892,” and “The Native Land Court Certificates Confirmation Act, 1893,” or under either of the said Acts, shall be as valid and effectual as if such Judge had been duly authorised to exercise jurisdiction under the said first-mentioned Act in terms of section fifteen thereof.

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in “The Maori Real Estate Management Act, 1867,” or “The Maori Real Estate Management Act, 1888,” any real or personal estate heretofore vested in any trustee, either original or substituted, appointed under either of the said Acts shall vest and shall be deemed to have vested, without any conveyance or assignment thereof, in the cestui qui trustent (if not otherwise under disability) on whose behalf the estate was held, on their respectively attaining the age of twenty-one years; and for this purpose the definition of the term “hereditaments” in the said Acts respectively shall be deemed to have included land held under memorial of ownership or certificate of title under any Native Land Act: Provided that nothing herein contained shall prejudicially affect any right or title already acquired.

No will or testamentary disposition by a Native deceased shall avail as against the title of any person who shall have acquired for valuable consideration any estate or interest from any person found by the Court to be entitled as successor to such Native, unless application for probate or administration with will annexed shall have been made within three months from the date of the death of the testator; nor shall any application for probate or administration with will annexed be received after the expiration of two years from the death of the testator.

Section two of “The Native Lands Claims and Boundaries Adjustment and Titles Empowering Act, 1894,” is hereby repealed, and the following section substituted in lieu thereof:—

Nothing in the Act or this Act contained shall operate to prevent any Native or Natives from renewing any mortgage existing over his or their land prior to the passing of the Act, nor from raising upon mortgage any sum of money required for discharging any mortgage which he or they may have executed before the passing of the Act: Provided always that every such mortgage shall be subject to inquiry and confirmation by the Court in manner provided by the Act.

With respect to every corporate body of Native owners of land created under any public or private Act for the time being in force, the following provisions shall apply, anything in such public or private Acts to the contrary notwithstanding: —

For the purpose of providing funds wherewith to road, survey, and generally open up for sale, lease, or to utilise the lands of the corporation, it shall be lawful for the Public Trustee, out of any moneys standing to the credit of the Public Trustee’s Account or otherwise, to raise from time to time such sums as the committee, with the consent of a majority of the proprietors in general meeting, may recommend, or such less sums as he may think fit; and all such sums so advanced shall be a charge upon and over the lands of the corporation for which such sums are advanced respectively, or the present and future rents, issues, and profits of the said lands, and the proceeds of sale thereof.

All such loans shall be raised from such sources, in such manner, and on such terms as to payment of principal, interest, sinking fund, and otherwise, as the Public Trustee may think fit. All sinking funds shall be held and invested by the Public Trustee.