The Short Title of this Act is “The State Forests Act, 1908.”

This Act is a consolidation of the enactments mentioned in the Schedule hereto, and with respect to those enactments the following provisions shall apply:—

Savings.

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

The Governor in Council may from time to time by Proclamation set apart any forest lands forming part of the Crown lands in New Zealand as and for State forests within the provisions of this Act.

All State forests under the enactments mentioned in the Schedule hereto shall be deemed to be State forests under this Act.

The Governor may appoint some one of the responsible Ministers of the Crown in New Zealand to be the Commissioner of State Forests for the purposes of this Act.

Subject to the provisions of this Act, all State forests created under this Act, and all forest reserves already proclaimed as such under the provisions of any Act heretofore in force or otherwise, shall respectively be deemed to be in the possession of and under the control of the Commissioner.

The Commissioner shall, on behalf of His Majesty, have all such powers, authorities, and duties as are or under this Act may be conferred or imposed upon him; and all acts or things done by him under the authority of this Act shall be binding on His Majesty, and on the Commissioner for the time being acting under this Act.

The Commissioner shall not be liable either in person or estate for any act or thing done by him under the authority of this Act.

The Minister of Finance shall cause a separate account to be kept in the Consolidated Fund, called “the State Forests Account,” to which shall be paid all rents, license fees, fines, awards for damage, the value of articles confiscated, and all other revenue of what kind soever accruing from the management of the State forests under this Act, and which shall be charged with the salaries of all persons engaged in such management, and the contingent expenses relating thereto, and with the repayment of all moneys borrowed under this Act, and the interest thereon.

The Commissioner may from time to time borrow from any persons willing to lend the [same, or from the Minister of Finance, and the said Minister may lend out of any trust funds under the control of the Government of New Zealand, or out of any other funds available for investment, the sum of ten thousand pounds, and such further sums as Parliament from time to time authorises.

All sums so borrowed shall be paid into the State Forests Account, and shall be applied in the management, improvement, and development of all or any State forests under the control of the Commissioner, or in the execution of any works authorised by this Act in or in connection with any State forest.

In computing the amount that may be borrowed under this Act, all moneys borrowed under the corresponding provisions of “The New Zealand State Forests Act, 1885,” and outstanding on the coming into operation of this Act, shall be taken into account.

All moneys so borrowed, and the interest thereon, shall be deemed to be a first charge upon the revenues arising from State forests, and shall be repaid out of such revenues within the period of twenty years, computed from the date of the advance; and the Governor shall, by regulations gazetted, fix and determine the mode in which such repayment shall be secured and effected, and the rate of interest and sinking fund in respect of each advance, and the nature and terms of the securities to be given.

If the Commissioner is hereafter authorised to borrow in excess of such ten thousand pounds, the additional amount authorised shall rank equally with the said ten thousand pounds as a first security on the State Forests Account.

The Commissioner may grant licenses to cut timber in any State forest; but every such license shall be subject to the regulations for the time being in force under this Act regulating the cutting of such timber.

The Commissioner may grant to any such licensee all such way-leaves over any part of any State forest as may be necessary for the purpose of leading and carrying away any timber cut therein, but every such way-leave shall be subject to the regulations for the time being in force relating to the use of way-leaves.

The Commissioner may grant to any such licensee the right of floating timber cut by him, either in log or in raft, down any river or stream within the limits of the forest in which the same has been cut, in manner provided by “The Timber - floating Act,.1908,” but such licensee shall in every such case alone be liable for any injury done by the exercise of such right.

The Governor may, for the purposes of this Act, from time to time appoint all the officers and servants required for the purposes of this Act, including one or more Conservators of State Forests.

The salaries of all officers and servants engaged in or about the administration of this Act, and all other expenses whatsoever to be incurred in such administration, shall be subject to the appropriation of Parliament.

The Governor may from time to time fix and determine what part or parts of any State forest created under this Act shall be under the management of any Conservator appointed as aforesaid.

The Governor may from time to time by Order in Council make regulations for all or any of the purposes following, that is to say:—

Subjects of regulations.

Any such regulations may be made applicable to State forests generally or to any part or parts thereof.

The Governor in Council may by any such regulation impose reasonable fines not exceeding fifty pounds for any one offence.

Every regulation made under this Act shall be published in the Gazette and in some newspaper generally current in the district comprising any State forest affected thereby, and shall come into operation and shall have the force of law on a day to be named therein, and the production of a Gazette containing what purports to be a regulation made under this Act shall be sufficient proof thereof.

Where any license or grant of privilege made under this Act becomes liable to forfeiture by reason of the breach or non-performance of any condition or provision therein contained or implied, the Commissioner, without any proceeding at law or compensation to the licensee or grantee, may cancel the same, and make a new license or disposition of the rights and privileges described therein to any other person at any time during the term of the license or grant so cancelled:

Provided that the Commissioner, if he sees fit, may refrain from enforcing the forfeiture of such license or grant for non-payment of rent or other moneys.

The Commissioner may from time to time set apart any portion of any State forest for occupation by labourers employed in connection with such forests; and may, subject to appropriation by Parliament, apply moneys forming part of the State Forests Account for the erection of dwellings on the land so set apart; and may grant to any labourer a license to occupy any such land, with or without a dwelling thereon, subject to the payment of rent for the use of the same with or without a purchasing clause, and subject to such regulations as to the mode and terms of such occupation as from time to time are made by the Governor in Council in that behalf:

Provided that the area granted to any one person shall not exceed twenty acres.

The Governor may from time to time by Order in Council delegate to the Commissioner or to any Conservator any of the powers vested in him by this Act, excepting the powers conferred by sections fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen hereof; and the Commissioner may, with the consent of the Governor in Council, from time to time delegate to any Conservator any of the powers vested in him by this Act.

Any such delegation may be made subject to such terms and conditions as in each case is deemed expedient, and may from time to time be revoked or altered.

The Governor may from time to time by Order in Council direct that any of the powers given by this Act to or delegated to any Conservator under this Act shall, from and after a date to be mentioned in such Order, be exercised by such Conservator only with the consent and approbation of any local authority exercising jurisdiction within any district comprising all or any part of any State forest, and may by any such Order annex to any such direction as aforesaid any terms or conditions he thinks fit.

The Commissioner may from time to time, with the consent of Parliament, establish schools of forestry and agriculture within any of the State forests created under this Act; and may, out of the State Forests Account, provide for the cost of erecting, establishing, and maintaining any such school; and may from time to time regulate the mode and class of instruction to be given in such schools:

Provided that the same shall not be inconsistent with the principles set forth in the Acts for the time being in force for regulating the education of the people in New Zealand.

Any Conservator or other officer appointed under this Act may without warrant apprehend any unauthorised person found cutting or removing any timber or bark on or from any lands forming part of a State forest under this Act, and any person so apprehended shall be taken as soon as reasonably may be before some Justice to be dealt with according to law.

If any person is found within any State forest, or on any road in its vicinity, having in his possession any tree or part of a, tree, and, on being thereunto required by any Conservator of forests or other officer under this Act, or by any person having a right to cut wood on any such forest or part thereof, or by any one acting on behalf of such person, refuses to give a satisfactory account of the manner in which he became possessed of any such tree or part of a tree, he may be taken by the party interrogating him before any Justice, and if he does not satisfy the Justice that he came lawfully by the said tree or part of a tree, he shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds over and above the value of such tree or part of a tree so found.

All fines imposed by this Act or any regulation made thereunder shall be recoverable only on summary conviction before any Justice or Justices.

The Commissioner may from time to time enter into agreements with local authorities, subject to moneys for the purpose being voted by Parliament, to give them subsidies for planting reserves or for establishing plantations.

The Governor in Council may from time to time by Proclamation rescind, amend, or alter, in part or in whole, any previous Proclamation issued under section three hereof, and declare any open lands, or any lands where the bush is cut, burned, or otherwise destroyed, or which may no longer be required for State-forest purposes, to be no longer within the provisions of this Act; and all lands so proclaimed shall, from and after the date of the gazetting of such Proclamation, be deemed to be Crown lands and subject to “The Land Act, 1908”:

Provided that no such Proclamation shall be issued in respect of any land on the ground that it is no longer required for State-forest purposes until a plan showing the extent and position of the land, and a statement of the reasons why it is no longer required for State-forest purposes, has been laid before Parliament for a period of thirty days without any resolution objecting thereto being passed by either House.

The Commissioner may at any time establish a school of forestry and agriculture on that parcel of land containing three thousand eight hundred and ninety-one acres, more or less, and known as the Kioreroa Block, situated in the Puma and Whangarei Survey Districts, as the same is defined in the Schedule to “The Whangarei High School Act, 1878.”

From and after the opening of such school the land aforesaid shall become vested in His Majesty for the purposes of such school, and shall no longer be vested in the Board of Governors of the Whangarei High School as provided by the said Act.

“The Whangarei High School Act, 1878,” shall be repealed from and after the day upon which it is notified in the Gazette that the school for forestry and agriculture authorised to be established has been opened under this section.