64 VICT., No. 15.-See 1 & 2 Edwd. VII., No. 20.

[Assented to, 5th December, 1900.]

E it enacted by the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. THIS Act may be cited as the Land Act Amendment Act, 1900, and shall be construed as one with the Land Act, 1898, hereinafter referred to as the principal Act.

Short title.

Amendment of 62

2. SECTION seventeen of the principal Act is amended by striking out all the words after "Government Gazette," and by Viet., No. 37, sec. 17. inserting in lieu thereof: "Provided that if two or more applicants shall lodge applications for the same land on the same day, or if two or more applications for the same land are received through the Post Office on the same day, the applications shall be deemed to be lodged or received at the same time. In such case the right of priority shall be determined by lot, in the manner prescribed in the next following section; but the Minister may, in lieu thereof, in his discretion appoint such persons as he may think fit to hold an inquiry and select the person to whom the land shall be granted."

3.

Amendment of 62

Land Act-Amendment.

3. SECTION sixty-six of the principal Act is amended by Vict., No. 37, sec. 66. striking out "homestead lease or," in line four thereof, and by striking out, after the word "prescribed," in line six, the words "and a sum of at least four shillings an acre has been expended on it in statutory improvements," and by striking out the word "Minister," in line seventeen, and inserting "Governor" in lieu thereof.

Amendment of sec.

37.

4. THE following words in section sixty-six of the principal 66 of 62 Vict., No. Act are hereby repealed:- "The Minister may estimate the value of the improvements remaining to be made, and upon the licensee or conditional purchaser entering into a covenant to continue to pay rent under the terms of his lease or license until the rent so covenanted to be paid amounts to the half of such estimated value."

5. THE provisions of section sixty-six of the principal Act shall Extension of sec. 66 extend to grazing leases granted under Part VI. thereof, and to homestead leases granted under the Homesteads Act, 1893.

to grazing leases.

Amendment of 62

6. SECTION sixty-nine of the principal Act is amended by inserting, in line two thereof, immediately after the word "Crown," Vict., No. 37, sec. 69. the words "and such lessee is eligible to select or hold land as a grazing lease.

Governor may dispense with certain improvements to homestead farms.

Amendment of sec.

37.

7. WHERE in the case of any homestead farm granted under section seventy-eight of the principal Act, or under the Homesteads Act, 1893, a habitable house, costing not less than thirty pounds, has been erected, or, in lieu thereof, thirty pounds has been expended in clearing, or clearing and cropping, or, in lieu thereof, two acres of orchard and vineyard have been properly prepared and planted, and kept in good order, and the Minister is satisfied that a sum equal to Thirty shillings an acre of one-fourth of the acreage of the holding has been expended in clearing and cropping within five years from the date of the occupation certificate, and a further sum of Thirty shillings an acre of one-fourth of the said acreage has been likewise expended within seven years from the same date, and that, from the nature or situation of the land, or the composition of the soil, or because of the heavy nature of the clearing, its further cultivation would be out of proportion to the probable returns, or otherwise impracticable, the Governor may discharge the lessee from obligation to make further improvements.

8. SECTION one hundred and two of the principal Act is 102 of 62 Vict., No: hereby amended by striking out the words "or more than twenty thousand acres, at a rental of ten shillings per thousand acres," in the fourth and fifth lines thereof, and by substituting the words " at the same rental prescribed for pastoral leases within the division in which the land is situated."

9.

Land Act- Amendment.

9. SECTION one hundred and thirty of the principal Act is amended by inserting, in line one, after the word "split," the word Amendment of 66 remove."

62

Vict., No. 37, sec.

130.

10. SECTION one hundred and thirty-four of the principal Act is amended by striking out the words "and registered," in the first Amendment of line of sub-section two.

11. SECTION one hundred and forty-six of the principal Act is struck out, and the following is inserted in lieu thereof :

146. ON the expiration by effluxion of time of any pastoral lease not open to renewal on the same or any other conditions to the same lessee, or upon any pastoral lessee being deprived by the Minister, acting under this Act, of the use of any land held under a pastoral lease and comprised within an agricultural area or reserve, the pastoral lessee shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, receive from the Minister the fair value of all lawful improvements then on the land of which the lessee has been deprived, or which being outside such land and comprised in such pastoral lease have become lessened in value by reason of such deprivation. If a pastoral lease be renewed to a succeeding lessee, the previous lessee shall be entitled to receive from the succeeding lessee the fair value of all such improvements existing on the land. The amount of compensation to be paid to a lessee by the Minister or a succeeding lessee for improvements shall, in all cases, be determined, as far as may be, in the manner prescribed in section one hundred and forty-eight of this Act, as if the Minister or the succeeding lessee were a selector.

12. SECTION one hundred and forty-eight of the principal Act is struck out, and the following is inserted in lieu thereof:

148. THE holder of a pastoral lease shall be entitled to claim from any person who, under this Act, selects the whole or any portion of such pastoral lease the fair value of any lawful improvements then existing upon the land applied for, or which being outside such land but comprised in such pastoral lease have become valueless or lessened in value by reason of the pastoral lessee being deprived of the land selected:

Vict., No. 37, sec. 134.

Amendment of 62 Vict., No. 57, sec. 146.

Minister to pay for certain cases.

improvements in

Amendment of 62 Vict., No. 37, sec. 148.

appointed.

(1.) The value of such improvements shall be ascertained
by one competent person appointed by the Arbitrators to be
selector and one by the lessee; any difference of
opinion between such valuers to be determined
by the Resident Magistrate of the district acting
as umpire.

(2.)

Pastoral lessee to be notified of applica

tion.

Selector to be notified

of lessee's claim.

Selector may refuse to pay.

Date of arbitration to be fixed by Minister.

Meeting of arbitrators.

Amount of award to be paid within sixty days.

Party in default to be bound by arbitrator attending.

Costs.

Land Act-Amendment.

(2.) Within sixty days from the date on which the lessee
is informed by the Minister that any land has
been applied for in his pastoral lease, the lessee
shall furnish the Minister with a full and com-
plete statement of the improvements (if any) for
which he claims compensation, and shall, at the
same time, name a competent person as his
arbitrator. The Minister shall thereupon inform
the selector of the claim of the lessee, and shall
require the selector to forward to him the amount
claimed within sixty days of the date of the
notification: Provided that if the land is not
surveyed at the time it is selected, the said sixty
days shall commence to run from the date on
which the lessee is informed that the land has
been surveyed.

(3.) If the selector thinks that the improvements are
rated at more than their value, he may,
within the sixty
sixty days allowed, inform the
Minister that he refuses to pay the amount
claimed, and shall then name an arbitrator to
meet the arbitrator of the lessee at the Court
House of the District on a day to be fixed by the
Minister, and the Minister shall notify the
selector and lessee accordingly.

(4.) The arbitrators shall meet and decide upon the
amount to be paid; any difference of opinion to
be determined by the Resident Magistrate for the
district acting as umpire, and the decision arrived
at shall be final. The Resident Magistrate may
adjourn such arbitration if he think fit, and in
such case shall notify the parties accordingly.
The amount fixed shall, within sixty days, be
paid to the Resident Magistrate, who shall pay it
to the lessee, forwarding the receipt of the lessee
for the money to the Minister.

(5.) If either of the arbitrators fails to attend, the case shall be heard and decided by the other arbitrator attending, and in the event of neither party attending, the claim for improvements shall be considered as withdrawn.

(6.) The arbitrators shall have power to award such costs as in their opinion shall be deemed sufficient; not, however, exceeding in any case Fifty pounds.

(7.)

Page 353.

13.

Land Act-Amendment.

Removal of improve

(7.) Provided always, that nothing herein contained
shall prevent any pastoral lessee from removing, ments.
with the Minister's permission, any such improve-
ments which, in the opinion of the Minister, are
capable of removal without permanently deterior-
ating the value of the land on which they are, if
such removal is carried out within three months
from the approval of the application to purchase.

Amendment of 62

SECTION one hundred and fifty-two of the principal Act is amended by inserting, in line six, immediately after the word Viet., No. 37, sec. "town," the words: "for taking, diverting, conserving, and using 152. water for mining, industrial, and other purposes, or for."

14. THE Governor may, by notice in the Government Gazette, define and set apart for residential leases any unalienated town, suburban, or rural lands, and may in like manner declare any such land as open for selection, and may withdraw any such land from being so open, and may, by regulations, prescribe the terms and conditions on which such leases may be granted. Before any land is ~

64 Vict., No. 15.-Section 14 amended by No. 29 of 1906: Strike
out all the words after "area" in the ninth line.

in fee simple.

tions in that behalf, shall be sold or granted

Residential leases.

Gazette notice to be

15. A NOTICE inserted in the Government Gazette, signed or purporting to be signed by the Minister or the Under Secretary for equivalent to Lands, to the effect that any lease, license, or other holding is re-entry. forfeited for default in payment of rent, or for breach or nonobservance or non-performance of the conditions thereof, shall be deemed equivalent to a re-entry and recovery of possession by or on behalf of the Crown within the meaning of the proviso for re-entry expressed in or implied by the lease, license, or other instrument.

In the name and on behalf of the Queen I hereby assent
to this Act.

ALEX. C. ONSLOW, Administrator.

By Authority: RICHARD PETHER, Government Printer, Perth.