Section eleven of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by omitting from subsection four thereof the words “by reason of any notice as herein first mentioned.”

Section fourteen of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by omitting the words “five years” wherever they occur, and substituting the words “seven years”; and by omitting from paragraph (b) of subsection one the words “as provided in section eighty hereof.”

Section thirty-three of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by adding to subsection two thereof the words “Any such information may be laid within twelve months after the time when the matter of the information arose.”

Section forty-four of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by inserting, before the word “fraudulent” in subsection one, the words “negligent, improper, or.”

Section sixty-five of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by inserting at the commencement thereof the words “Except in the case of lands disposed of under section one hundred and twenty-eight, one hundred and twenty-nine, one hundred and thirty-one, or one hundred and thirty-eight hereof.”

Except where otherwise specially provided, the rent payable in respect of a lease or license issued after the commencement of this Act, under the Land Act, 1908, or the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, shall be computed and payable as from the date of the lease or license, and not from the commencement of the term thereof, if the date of commencement is later than the date of the lease or license.

Paragraph (b) of section eighty-two of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby repealed.

Section ninety of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:—

For the purposes of sections ninety-seven and three hundred and forty-one of the Land Act, 1908, land held by a company the shareholders of which are less than twenty in number shall be deemed to be held in common by every member of the company, and land held by any member of the company shall be deemed to be held by the company.

Every person who hereafter acquires an allotment under the Land Act, 1908, or the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, and who makes any disposition of such allotment, or of any part thereof, whether by way of assignment or sublease, shall, unless the Board (taking into consideration the circumstances of the case) otherwise determines, be disqualified for the period of ten years after the date of such disposition from acquiring any Crown land or settlement land, or any interest therein respectively.

Nothing in this section shall prevent the acquisition of any lease or license by any executor, administrator, trustee, or beneficiary under any will or intestacy.

Section one hundred and nine of the Land Act, 1908, section eleven of the Land for Settlements Administration Act, 1909, and section twelve of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, are hereby repealed.

Rent the payment of which has been postponed in the manner provided by section thirteen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, shall not be deemed to be rent in arrear within the meaning of section one hundred and sixteen of the Land Act, 1908 (relating to rebates on punctual payment of rent), so long as the interest prescribed by the first-mentioned section is duly paid.

For the purposes of this section interest at the rate prescribed by the said section thirteen shall be payable on the first day of the months of January and July in each year of the period during which the payment of rent is postponed as aforesaid.

Lands which have been offered for sale by auction under section one hundred and twenty-three of the Land Act, 1908, and not sold shall, for the period of six months thereafter, be open for sale on application at the same upset price at which they were offered at auction.

On the application of the lessee or licensee of any rural land which has been selected under Part III of the Land Act, 1908, or under the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, and on payment by the lessee or licensee of the prescribed valuation fee, the Board shall request the Valuer-General to cause a new valuation of the land to be made, and the value as determined by the Valuer-General shall be final and conclusive. If the value so determined is less than the original value as determined by the Board, the rent payable in respect of the land shall, as from the date of the new valuation, be reduced proportionately.

Section one hundred and thirty of the Land Act, 1908, as amended by the Schedule to the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “other purposes” where those words first occur, the words “from year to year or.”

Where any lease or license under Part III of the Land Act, 1908, is forfeited for any cause, the lessee or licensee shall, unless the Board (taking into consideration the circumstances of the case) otherwise determines, be disqualified for the period of ten years after the date of the forfeiture from acquiring any Crown land or settlement land, or any interest therein respectively.

Nothing in this section shall prevent the acquisition of any lease or license by any executor, administrator, trustee, or beneficiary under any will or intestacy.

Section one hundred and thirty-four of the Land Act, 1908, shall not apply to any Crown lands held under lease as a small grazing-run.

Section one hundred and forty-two of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by omitting from subsection one the words “which in his opinion is of approximately equal value”; and by omitting from the same subsection the words “ten per centum,” and substituting the words “twenty-five per centum.”

Section one hundred and forty-four of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by inserting, before the words “be entitled” in subsection two, the words “except in the cases referred to in section one hundred and thirty-four hereof”; and by adding to the said subsection the words “and also for the value of his interest in the unexpired term of his lease or license.”

Any moneys which by section one hundred and forty-five of the Land Act, 1908, are authorized to be expended in the construction or maintenance of roads and bridges may, with the consent in writing of the Minister, be expended in or towards the construction or maintenance of wharves affording access to the land in respect of which those moneys are payable.

Notwithstanding anything in section one hundred and forty-five of the Land Act, 1908, the amount of thirds or fourths payable in respect of any land disposed of after the commencement of the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and fourteen, shall not exceed such amount as would be payable if the capital value of the land were three pounds an acre.

Notwithstanding anything in Part III of the Land Act, 1908, or in the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, the Land Board may, by notification in the Gazette and in some newspaper circulating in the district, declare the land comprised in any forfeited or surrendered lease or license under either of the said Acts to be open for sale or selection thereunder, subject to the following conditions:—

On the application of the lessee or licensee of any rural land (other than settlement land) the Board may dispense with the personal residence on the land of the lessee or licensee in any case where it is satisfied that the land has been acquired for the use and benefit of the lessee or licensee or of his family, and that the lessee or licensee, by reason of his vocation or calling, is unable to comply with the conditions as to residence.

Where the Board dispenses with personal residence under this section it may impose such conditions as it thinks fit, and in particular shall in every case require that—

Every applicant for exemption under this section shall at the time of his application be required to make a statutory declaration in the prescribed form to the effect that his own and his wife’s income from all sources do not together exceed three hundred and fifty pounds per annum.

Any lessee or licensee of Crown lands who, with the approval of the Board, plants any part of the land comprised in his lease or license with trees suitable to the locality shall, so long as he satisfies the Board that the plantation is properly fenced and maintained, be entitled (during the remainder of the term of his lease or license) to such reduction of his rent as the Board in each case determines.

Section one hundred and seventy-one of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (c) all words down to and including the words “from the date,” and substituting the words “The licensee shall, after the expiration of not less than six years of the term.”

Section one hundred and ninety-three of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “this Part of this Act,” the words “at a rental not less than the rental under the surrendered lease.”

Personal residence on a small grazing-run by the lessee may (if the improvement conditions of the lease have been complied with) be dispensed with by the Board after the expiration of ten years from the date of the lease:

Provided that the lessee shall make provision to the satisfaction of the Board for a substitute, who shall remain in continuous residence on the land during the remainder of the term of the lease.

This section shall not apply to settlement lands.

Lands subject to the Hauraki Plains Act, 1908, or the Rangitaiki Land Drainage Act, 1910, and lands the revenue from which are paid into the Native Land Settlement Account pursuant to section four hundred and eighteen of the Native Land Act, 1909, shall not form part of the national endowment, and section two hundred and fifty-eight of the Land Act, 1908, and the Fourth Schedule thereto are hereby modified accordingly.

The owner of a license issued under regulations made under the Land Act, 1892, or the corresponding regulations under the Land Act, 1908, for the occupation of pastoral lands within the Hauraki Mining District, who has complied with all the conditions of such license may at any time during the currency thereof acquire the fee-simple of the land comprised in his license (exclusive of minerals) in the manner prescribed by Part II of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, save that the price shall be ascertained and determined in the manner provided in the next succeeding subsection.

The price shall be ascertained as follows:—

The fee-simple acquired under the last preceding section does not include any metals, precious stones, minerals, coal, and oil on and under the land. All such metals, precious stones, minerals, coal, and oil shall remain the property of the Crown, notwithstanding the grant of the fee-simple to the owner.

Where the holder of any lease of or license to occupy Crown lands or settlement lands heretofore or hereafter granted has exercised or exercises, in respect of such lands or any part thereof, a right to acquire the fee-simple conferred by any Act, and the Crown thereafter exercises a right of resumption of such lands conferred by either the Mining Act, 1908, or the Coal-mines Act, 1908, there shall not be included in the assessment of the compensation to be paid by the Crown pursuant to the provisions of either of the said Acts the value of any metals, minerals, precious stones, coal, or oil upon or under such lands, unless the lease or license under which the land was held at the time of the acquisition of the fee-simple conferred upon the holder thereof, expressly or by implication, the right to extract for his own benefit such metals, minerals, precious stones, coal, or oil:

Provided that any holder of any such lease or license who before the commencement of this Act acquired or claimed to acquire the fee-simple of the land comprised in his lease or license, and who or whose assigns has or have before the commencement of this Act taken proceedings in the Supreme Court for the purpose of determining the effect of the grant of such fee-simple in respect of the property in either metals, minerals, coal, or oil, shall, if the Crown at any time exercises the right of resumption of such lands or of any part thereof, be entitled to have included in the compensation to be paid by the Crown the value of such right (if any) as by the judgment in such proceedings of the Supreme Court or of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, or of His Majesty in Council upon appeal from any such judgment, he shall be found to have acquired in respect of metals, minerals, precious stones, coal, or oil on or under such land by his acquisition of the fee-simple.

The holders of perpetual leases issued under section one hundred and sixty-one, section one hundred and sixty-three, or section one hundred and sixty-seven of the Land Act, 1885, and the holders of leases of small grazing-runs of Crown land or of settlement land, may acquire the fee-simple of the land comprised in their leases respectively, and the provisions of subsection two of section twenty-eight hereof shall, mutatis mutandis, extend and apply to the acquisition of the fee-simple pursuant to this section:

Provided that this section shall not be deemed to authorize the acquisition of the fee-simple of any national endowment land, or the acquisition of any small grazing-run, in excess of the area specified in section ninety-seven of the Land Act, 1908, or in section sixty of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912; or the acquisition of any village-settlement allotment in excess of the maximum area prescribed in section two hundred and three of the Land Act, 1908.

Section three of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended—

Where in the Land Act, 1908, or the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, or in any amendment thereof respectively, it is provided that any matter shall be referred to arbitration, the said matter shall be so referred only in the event of the failure of the parties concerned to arrive at an agreement without arbitration.

For the purposes of section nine of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, the Minister shall, if necessary, determine who are to be deemed the parties to a reference to arbitration under that section.

Section eleven of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended by omitting from paragraph (b) the words “the date of”; and also by omitting from the same paragraph the words “competed at least twice unsuccessfully at any previous land ballot,” and substituting the words “being duly qualified applied for land at least twice unsuccessfully.”

Section fourteen of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended by omitting the words “of less than six hundred and forty acres of land under this Act, or under the provisions of any former Land Act, on any tenure,” and substituting the words “of land the area of which is less than the maximum area permitted by section ninety-seven hereof.”

Section twenty of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended by inserting, after the words “British subjects” in subsection five, the words “or by the subjects of any foreign country whose subjects are directly or indirectly entitled by virtue of any treaty to acquire real property in New Zealand.”

Section twenty-eight of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended by adding to subsection three the words “and in disposing of the other allotments preference shall be given to applications by sons of the lessee over twenty-one years of age who have resided on the run for not less than seven years of the ten years immediately preceding the expiry of the lease”; and by adding the following subsections:—

Notwithstanding anything in the Land Act, 1885, the holder of a lease of a small grazing-run issued under that Act, and the holder of a new lease for a second term of a small grazing-run issued pursuant to the provisions of that Act, shall, with respect to the land comprised in his lease, have the same rights (including the right of renewal) as if such lease had been issued under Part V of the Land Act, 1908, and the provisions of the last-mentioned Act shall extend and apply, and the provisions of the Land Act, 1885, shall cease to apply, to all such leases accordingly.

The right to the renewal of a lease of a small grazing-run as conferred by the last preceding subsection shall be subject to the provisions of section twenty-eight of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912 (relating to the subdivision of the land comprised in leases of small grazing-runs on the expiry of such leases).

Where before the commencement of this Act the lessee of a small grazing-run under the Land Act, 1885, was not offered a new lease on the determination of his original lease, as provided by section two hundred and nine of that Act, but was granted a license of the land comprised in his lease under section one hundred and thirty of the Land Act, 1908, and is the holder of the said license on the passing of this Act, he shall be deemed for the purposes of this section to be the holder of the original lease as if the term of the original lease had not expired before the commencement of this Act.

Section thirty-four of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended, as from the passing of that Act, as follows:—

Where, before the passing of this Act, a deposit equal to ten per centum of the price of the land to be acquired has been paid, the excess of that deposit over the deposit required by this section shall be deemed to have been paid in lieu of the first annual instalment of the price.

Section thirty-seven of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, is hereby amended by adding the following proviso thereto:—

Section forty-five of the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, is hereby amended by inserting, after subsection five, the following subsection:—

The provisions of the Land Act, 1908, relating to preference being given to certain classes of applicants at ballots of Crown land shall extend and apply to ballots of settlement land, and paragraph (i) of subsection one of section fifty-one of the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, is hereby accordingly repealed.

Where settlement land is disposed of by way of sale pursuant to section fifty-seven of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, the following provisions shall apply:—

All lands notified as open for selection under the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, and not selected on the day mentioned in such notification, or not disposed of pursuant to section fifty-seven of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, shall, for a period of six months, remain open for selection at the rental specified in the notification, or remain open for sale on application at the upset price at which the said lands were offered at auction.

Every purchaser of settlement land under this section who makes any disposition of his allotment or any part thereof, whether by way of sale or lease, shall be disqualified for a period of ten years after the date of such disposition from acquiring any Crown land or settlement land, or any interest therein respectively. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent the acquisition of any lease or license by any executor, administrator, trustee, or beneficiary under any will or intestacy.

Subsections two and three of section fifty-seven of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, are hereby repealed.

Section three hundred and twelve of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by omitting the words “six hundred acres,” and substituting the words “fifteen hundred acres.”

Where land subject to the provisions of Part XIII of the Land Act, 1908, has been mortgaged and subsequently acquired by the mortgagee under section one hundred and twelve of the Land Transfer Act, 1908, or section eighty of the Property Law Act, 1908, the mortgagee may hold the land without being required to make the declaration prescribed by section three hundred and forty-two of the Land Act, 1908:

Provided that the conveyance or transfer executed by the Registrar of the Supreme Court shall not be registered until, and the deeds and documents of title shall be retained by the Registrar of the Supreme Court until, the bona fide resale by the mortgagee of the said land to a person qualified to make the required declaration.

The Governor, by Order in Council gazetted, may, on the recommendation of the Land Board, declare that any land comprised in a kauri-gum reserve shall from a date to be specified in the Order cease to be subject to the Kauri-gum Industry Act, 1908, and on and after the date so specified the land to which the Order relates shall become subject to the provisions of the Land Act, 1908.

Section thirty-three of the Kauri-gum Industry Act, 1908, and section nine of the Kauri-gum Industry Amendment Act, 1910, are hereby repealed.

All moneys received after the passing of this Act from the sale, lease, or other disposal of the North Island Main Trunk Railway endowment lands shall be deemed to be land revenue.

Section sixteen of the Reserves and other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act, 1912, is hereby repealed.

Where the Governor decides that the land comprised in any lease of a grazing-farm under Part IX of the Land Act, 1908, is suitable for close settlement, the Land Board shall subdivide the land into two or more allotments, and shall dispose of the same by way of lease in the manner and subject to the conditions provided in the case of subdivision of small grazing-runs by section twenty-eight of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, all the provisions of which section shall extend and apply to such lease.

Part IV of this Act shall not, nor shall Part II of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, nor shall section fifty-nine of that Act, have any application to the Cheviot Estate administered under Part IX of the Land Act, 1908.

The Minister may, on the recommendation of the Board, declare any Crown lands occupied under lease or license (whether the said lands form a continuous area or not) to be a special district for the purposes of this section; and may, without such recommendation, declare any lands hereafter disposed of by the Crown (whether by way of lease or license, or otherwise) to be a special district as aforesaid.

For the purpose of affording access to the lands within a special district the following provisions shall apply:—

Revenues derived from lands in special district to be applied towards construction of roads in district.

The Governor may from time to time, by Order in Council gazetted, make regulations for controlling the expenditure of moneys under this section, and such other regulations as he deems necessary or expedient for the purpose of effectually carrying out the provisions of this section.

The provisions of sections one hundred and forty-five to one hundred and fifty-one of the Land Act, 1908 (relating to the payment of thirds and fourths), shall not apply to moneys derived from lands within a special district and applied in pursuance of this section.

There shall not be included in a special district under this section any land if there is a reasonably sufficient and convenient means of access to and of exit from that land available throughout the year.

Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this section, the Minister may at any time, by notice in the Gazette, abolish a special district constituted under this section as from a date to be specified in such notice, and the moneys thereafter derived from the lands within the said district shall be paid in the manner prescribed by section nineteen of the Land Act, 1908, as amended by section five of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912. All moneys in a deposit account on the abolition of the special district shall thereupon be paid into the Land for Settlements Account or into the Consolidated Fund in the proportion that the total amount derived from the sale of land and paid into the deposit account bears to the total amount derived from the letting or other disposal of land and paid into such account.

Where on the expiry of a pastoral license the land comprised in the license is subdivided into two or more runs, the Board shall determine the upset rent in respect of each subdivision, and the outgoing licensee shall have a right to a new license over such one of those subdivisions as he selects, at the upset rent thereof, for a similar term to that of the original license.

On the expiry of the original license the licensee shall be entitled to receive the value of the improvements on the subdivision or subdivisions of which he has not been granted a new license, and the provisions of section two hundred and forty-four of the Land Act, 1908, shall, mutatis mutandis, extend and apply accordingly.

Section two hundred and thirty-one of the principal Act is hereby amended by adding the following subsection: —

No person under the age of twenty-one years shall hereafter be granted a lease or license under Part VI of the Land Act, 1908.

A run may, at the discretion of the Board, be put up to auction or offered for selection by ballot subject to a condition that the licensee shall be required to reside on the run for the same period as in the case of lessees of small grazing-runs, or for such less period as the Board in each case determines.

Section two hundred and forty-four of the Land Act, 1908, is hereby amended by adding to subsection three the words “and all other substantial improvements of a permanent character made thereon with the consent of the Board and the Minister”; and by omitting from subsection five the word “Governor,” and substituting the word “Minister.”

Notwithstanding anything in section two hundred and forty-four of the Land Act, 1908, if the Governor determines that the whole of any pastoral run shall be again let for pastoral purposes, the licensee thereof shall be entitled to receive a new license of the run, at a rent to be fixed by arbitration, for a similar term to that of the expired license.

In cases where the term of a lease or license of a pastoral run issued under the provisions of any Act, including the Pastoral Tenants’ Belief Act, 1895, has expired before the commencement of this Act, and the holder of the expired pastoral lease or license is at the commencement of this Act in possession of the run formerly comprised in such pastoral lease or license, or of part thereof, under the terms of any temporary license under section two hundred and fifty-five of the Land Act, 1908, or under any occupation license under section one hundred and thirty of the Land Act, 1908, or under an extension granted pursuant to section twenty-seven of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, or under any other temporary license or authority, the determination pursuant to section two hundred and forty-four of the Land Act, 1908, whether the whole or part of such pastoral run should be again let for pastoral purposes shall be made within six months after the commencement of this Act.

If such determination is that the whole or a defined portion of such pastoral run should be again let for pastoral purposes, the holder of the temporary license or right under which the run is held at the commencement of this Act shall be forthwith entitled to receive a new license of the run, or of such defined portion thereof, for the same term as the term of the said original expired pastoral lease or license at a rent to be fixed by arbitration, unless the Board determines that the run should be subdivided into two or more runs, in which case the holder of the temporary license shall be deemed to be an outgoing licensee for the purposes of section fifty-one hereof.

The provisions of sections fifty-one and fifty-six hereof shall in all respects apply to every new license issued under the provisions of this section at the expiration of such new license.

Notwithstanding anything in the Land Act, 1908, or in this Act, the Board may, with the approval of the Minister, at any time before or after the expiration of a pastoral lease or license of a run, determine that, for the purpose of more convenient boundaries, part of such run shall cease to form part of that run, and be added to an adjoining run.

Every determination under section two hundred and forty-four of the Land Act, 1908, and every pastoral license in respect of such run or adjoining run thereafter issued, and every right of renewal conferred by this Act, shall be made, issued, and granted in respect of the run and the adjoining run respectively as so respectively altered in boundary and area:

Provided that a new license shall not take effect with respect to such part of the area as is then comprised within the area of an adjoining run until the expiry of the existing license of the adjoining run.

The lessee or licensee of any pastoral lands shall not burn or permit to be burned any snow-tussock on the land comprised in his lease or license, and shall not burn or permit to be burned any other tussock except in the months of July, August, and September.

Any lessee or licensee who commits a breach of this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

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

Subject to the provisions of section sixty of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, as to limitation of area, the owner of a lease in perpetuity of settlement land shall have a right at any time within five years after the passing of this Act to purchase the fee-simple of the land comprised in the lease at a price ascertained and determined in the manner provided by the next succeeding subsection.

The price shall be computed as follows

The right of purchase hereby conferred shall be exercised by giving notice to the Commissioner.

The delivery of the notice to the Commissioner shall constitute a contract between the lessee and the Crown for the purchase and sale of the said land.

The lessee shall in the notice notify whether he elects to purchase for cash or upon deferred payments.

If the lessee elects to purchase for cash,—

If the lessee elects to purchase upon deferred payments,—

On the completion of a purchase by the lessee in the case of purchase for cash, or by the licensee in the case of a purchase on deferred payments, the Board shall certify to the Minister that the lessee or licensee is entitled to a Crown grant of the land purchased, and a Crown grant accordingly shall in due course be issued to him.

The fee-simple so granted shall continue to be subject to any right, title, interest, or incumbrance existing or vested in any person other than the lessee or licensee at the time of such completion.

The Governor may, by Order in Council, make such regulations as he considers necessary for carrying into effect the provisions of this section.

Notwithstanding anything in section sixty of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, the owner of a lease in perpetuity of settlement land, or of a renewable lease of any such land, which together with all other land of any description owned, held, or occupied by him under any tenure (whether in severalty or jointly with any other person) exceeds a total area of three thousand acres, calculated in the manner provided by section ninety-seven of the Land Act, 1908, may (subject to the provisions of subsection three hereof, and to the conditions prescribed by the last preceding section or by the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, respectively) acquire the fee-simple of so much of the land comprised in his lease as, together with all other land owned, held, or occupied by him as aforesaid (but exclusive of that part of the land comprised in his lease of which he does not propose to acquire the fee-simple), shall not exceed the said area of three thousand acres.

The lessee shall continue to hold the balance of the land comprised in the lease on the same terms and conditions as those on which he held the land comprised in the original lease, save that the rent payable under the lease shall be proportionately abated.

A plan of the part proposed to be acquired shall be submitted to the Board for its approval, and such approval shall be given only in cases where the Board is satisfied that the balance of the land will not be injuriously affected for the purposes of closer settlement.

Such modifications of the methods of ascertaining the price as may be necessary for the application of the provisions of section fifty-nine of the Land Laws Amendment Act, 1912, and section sixty of this Act, respectively, to the purchase of the fee-simple of part only of the land comprised in a lease shall be made and prescribed by regulations.

For the purpose of providing funds for the acquisition of land under the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, the Minister of Finance, on being authorized so to do by the Governor in Council, may from time to time raise, on the security of and charged upon the public revenues of New Zealand, such sums of money as he thinks fit, not exceeding in each financial year the sum of six hundred thousand pounds.

The sums so raised shall, as and when raised, be paid into the Land for Settlements Account, and shall bear interest at such rate, not exceeding five per centum per annum, as the Minister of Finance prescribes.

This Act shall be deemed to be an authorizing Act within the meaning of the New Zealand Loans Act, 1908, and the moneys hereby authorized to be raised shall be raised under and subject to the provisions of that Act accordingly.

Part VI of the New Zealand State-guaranteed Advances Act, 1909, is hereby repealed.

Out of the moneys raised under the last preceding section there shall be set aside in each financial year a sum not exceeding one hundred thousand pounds.

The moneys so set aside shall be expended, under the authority of the Minister of Lands, in the formation and construction of roads and bridges within or affording access to blocks of Crown land:

Provided that in no case shall any such money be expended in connection with any block of land unless that block is set apart for selection under this section pursuant to Proclamation in that behalf.

Before any such works as aforesaid are commenced with respect to any block the Surveyor-General shall report to the Minister of Lands on the value of the block, and on the description and estimated cost of the roads and bridges which in his opinion should be formed and constructed for the purpose of opening up the block for settlement.

The total amount of moneys expended as aforesaid in opening up any block (together with interest thereon at the rate of four and a half per centum per annum) shall be allocated to the sections or other subdivisions of that block in such amounts as the Minister of Lands directs, having regard to the relative extent to which the sections or subdivisions have been benefited by the expenditure of the money.

The sum allocated to each section or subdivision is hereby charged thereon, and shall be taken into account in fixing the price, value, or rent at which the land is disposed of; and what would otherwise be that price, value, or rent shall be increased accordingly.

Out of the purchase-money, rent, or other proceeds received in respect of the disposal of the land subject to such charge a duly proportionate part shall be applied in or towards satisfaction of the charge, and shall be paid into the Land for Settlements Account.

The Governor in Council may from to time make regulations prescribing—

The Minister of Lands shall prepare and lay before Parliament, within fourteen days after the commencement of the first session in each financial year, a statement showing, for the last preceding financial year,—

Sections seventy-seven to eighty-three of the New Zealand State-guaranteed Advances Act, 1909, and sections twenty-two and twenty-three of the New Zealand State-guaranteed Advances Amendment Act, 1910, are hereby repealed.

In this section “the principal Act” means the Land for Settlements Act, 1908.

The Minister may at any time, by notice in writing under his hand, notify an owner that the land of such owner, or a part of such land defined in the notice, is required for purposes of settlement.

The right to give such notice shall be subject to the same limitations as the right to take lands compulsorily is subject to pursuant to section fifteen of the principal Act.

Such notice shall be served on the owner of the land, and may also be served on every other person who, so far as is known to the Minister, has any estate or interest therein. After service of the notice on the owner the Minister shall cause such notice to be gazetted.

After the service of the notice no notice requiring an increase of value of the land, or of any part thereof, upon the subsidiary roll referred to in section thirty-one of the principal Act shall be given by the owner or accepted by the Valuer-General.

Within six months after the gazetting of the notice the owner shall notify the Minister, in writing, of the owner’s election either—

If the owner elects as set forth in paragraph (a) of the last preceding subsection, the following provisions shall apply:—

If the owner elects as set forth in paragraph (b) of subsection six hereof, he shall enter into an agreement with the Minister within six months after such election.

If the owner—

then in any of such cases the land may at any time within five years after the gazetting of the notice referred to in subsection two hereof be taken compulsorily under the provisions of the principal Act without a recommendation by the Board, and the price to be paid shall be determined as provided by the principal Act, but as if the land had been taken at the date of the gazetting of the said notice.

If the owner elects as set forth in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) respectively of subsection six hereof, then in either of such cases the Minister may agree with the owner that there may be excepted from the lands required to be sold, and be retained by the owner, a defined part of the lands described in the notice gazetted.

In this section the term “owner” means, with respect to any land, the beneficial owner of the legal or equitable fee-simple thereof, and if any land is so owned jointly or in common by two or more persons, each of them shall be deemed to be the owner thereof.

Land shall be deemed to be acquired by way of aggregation within the meaning of this section when any person becomes the owner thereof who is already the owner of any other land.

When any person becomes at one and the same time the owner of two pieces of land theretofore owned by different persons, each of those pieces of land shall be deemed to have been acquired by way of aggregation.

If after the commencement of this Act any land is acquired by way of aggregation the following provisions shall apply:—

The taking of land under this section shall not be subject to any of the restrictions, conditions, limitations, or provisions of the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, in respect of the taking of land.

No Proclamation shall be so made at any time after the expiration of two years from the date of the registration of the transfer or other instrument under which the land was acquired by way of aggregation.

Compensation shall be paid by the Crown for all land so taken in manner provided by the Public Works Act, 1908, in respect of land taken by the Crown for a public work, and all the provisions of that Act with respect to compensation shall apply accordingly:

Provided that, in the case of land acquired by way of purchase, the compensation shall not exceed the purchase-money paid or agreed to be paid for the land by the owner who acquired it by way of aggregation, and, in the case of land acquired otherwise than by purchase, shall not exceed the sum at which the land was assessed for the purposes of stamp duty.

All compensation so payable, and all costs and other expenses incurred by the Crown in the taking of such land, shall be paid out of the Land for Settlements Account constituted under the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, in the same manner as if the land had been taken under that Act.

All laird so taken under this section shall be administered and disposed of under the Land for Settlements Act, 1908, and shall be deemed to have been acquired under that Act accordingly.

Nothing in this section shall apply to any land situated within a borough or town district.

Nothing in this section shall apply to the acquisition of land in pursuance of any right existing at the commencement of this Act to acquire the fee-simple thereof.

The Minister shall in each year cause to be prepared a report setting forth particulars as to lands taken by the Governor under this Part of this Act during the preceding period of twelve months. Such report shall in each year be laid before Parliament within thirty days after the commencement of the session thereof.