Closer Settlement Acts Amendment Act of 1923 (14 Geo v No. 18) (Qld)

10632 LA~ D, CROWN. Closer Settlement Acts Amendment Act. 14 GEO. V. No. IS. Con~ ersion of 4. Any sugar worker who is the holder of a special ~ ~ e; ~ ~: : !~ S lease of land under the Principal Act, the lease whereof tenure. is subsisting at the passing of this Act, shall, subject to the approval of the Minister, at any time after the passing of this Act, be entitled to surrender such lease and to have the same land opened for selection as a Perpetual Lease Selection under this Act and the Principal Act, with priority of application to him; Pro- vided, however, that such sugar worker shall, within one month from the date of opening or within such further time as the Minister may allow, complete his application to select the portion. Upon such surrender and selection the Minister shall make every necessary adjustment of rent and survey fee paid as between the Crown and the selector. State advances. 5. Any selection selected, acquired, or held under this Act and the Principal Act shall be deemed a security on which advances may be made to the holder thereof under the State laws in force for the time being relating to State Advances for workers' dwellings or in respect of agricultural land or farm land. Regulations. 6. The Governor in Council may from time to time make regulations for the effective execution of this Act, and the provisions of section two hundred and nine of the Principal Act shall apply to such regulations. 14 Geo. V. No. 18. THE CLOSER SETTLEMENT ACTS AMENDMENT ACT OF 1923. An Act to Amend the Closer Settlement Acts in certain particulars. and to Make Further and Better Provision for the Settlement of Lands acquired under those Acts, and for other consequential purposes. [ASSENTED TO 10TH OCTOBER, 1923.J -BE it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, - by and with the advice and consent of the Legis- lative ~ \ ssembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows ; - Short title 1. This Act may be cited as "The Closer Settlement ~ ~~ struction Acts Amendment Act of 1923," and shall be read as one of Act. with *" The Closer Settlement Act of 1906" and the several «< 6 Edw. VII. No. 32, 8upra, page 8901.

LAND, CROWN. 10633 1923. Closer Settlement Acts Amendment Act. enactments amending the same (those Acts and this Act are hereinafter collectively referred to as the Closer Settlement Acts) and with *" The Land Act of 1910" and its several amendments (hereinafter collectively referred to as the Principal Act). 2. Save as hereinafter otherwise expressly provided, Interpreta. the terms used have the same meanings as are respectively tion. assigned to them by the Principal Ant. 3. After section twenty-one of t" The Closer Settle- ment Act of 1906 " the following section is inserted : - "[21A.] When any resumption is made under the Crown may Closer Settlement Acts and compensation for such withdraw resumption is payable, the Minister shall for a period ; ~ ~ : mption. of one month after the amount of such compensation has been finally determined by the Land Court or Land Appeal Court (as the case may be) have the right to elect whether the Crown will pay such amount or will discontinue such resumption; and if the Minister before the expiration of such period, by notification in the Gazette, elects to discontinue such resumption, the resumption shall be discontinued accordingly and the proclamation of resumption and all proceedings thereon or thereafter relating to the resumption shall be treated as a nullity. The claimant shall be entitled to payment of the proper costs and expenses incurred up to the date of the discontinuance, and the amount thereof shall, when necessary, be fixed by the Land Court or Land Appeal Court, as the case may be." 4. After section thirty-six of t"The Closer Settle- ment Act of 1906 " the following sections are inserted : - Close " r [3 S 6 e A tt . l ] emNeontwt iAthcststa, nadninyglaanndythacinqgU. Icroedntauinndeedr inthothsee FSaerttmlemLeeanstes. Acts may be opened for selection under the provisions of those Acts and the Principal Act as Settlement Farm Leases, and any such land when selected shall be a holding within the meaning of the Principal Act: Provided that any such land may, if the MinisterGroup thinks proper, be opened for Group Selection as Settle- Selection. ment Farm Leases, and in such case the provisions of " 1 Geo. V. No. 15 and Amending Acts, supra, pages 8775, 9177, 9180, and 10096. t 6 Edw. VII. No. 32, supra, page 8901.

10634 LAND, CROWN. Closer Settlement Acts Amendment Act. 14 GEO. V. No. IS, the Principal Act relating to Group Selection shall apply, with, however, the following modifications :- (a) Before any such lands are actually notified to be open for selection as Settlement Farm Leases they shall be allotted by the Minister amongst applicants approved by him. (b) At such time after the date of allotment of any portion to an approved applicant as the Minister may ·determine, such allottee may enter upon the portion for the purpose of effecting his improvements or maintaining existing improvements. (c) Within three months from the date of allot- ment of any portion to an approved applicant such allottee shall personally commence to occupy the portion, and shall continue there- after to occupy the portion. He shall commence to improve the por- tion forthwith upon occupation; and, having commenced to make improvements, shall thereafter make progress to the satisfaction of the Minister, and shall, unless excused by the Minister, maintain in good order and condition all improvements on the portion, whensoever or by whom effected. If an allottee fails to occupy his portion within the specified time, or to the satisfaction of the Minister to improve the portion allotted to him or maintain all improve- ments, he may be called upon by the Minister at any time prior to the date of the issue to him of a license to occupy to show cause to the satisfaction of the Minister within a time to be fixed by the Minister why the allotment of the portion to him should not be cancelled, and his rights (if any) in the portion should not be forfeited. If he fails to show satisfactory cause for such failure the allotment of the portion to him may be cancelled and his rights (if any) in the portion may be forfeited by the Minister without any further notice or process. (d) Subject to the provisions of the last preceding paragraph hereof, at any time after the

LAND, CROWN. 10635 1923. Closer Settlement Acts Amendment Act. expiration of a period of six months from the date of allotment to an allottee the portion may be notified to be open for selection as a Settlement Farm Lease, with priority of application to such allottee. Within one month from the date of opening or within such further period as the Minister may allow, the allottee shall complete his application to select the portion. [36B.] (1.) The opening notification in declaring land Wh!,t . open for selectjon as Settlement Farm Leases shall- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ lon (i.) Appoint a place and a time, not being less than twenty..;eight days from the date of the notification, at which the land will be open for selection; and at and after the time so notified the land shall be open for selection accordingly ; (ii.) Declare the maximum area of land which may be applied for or·held by anyone person in the whole area to which the notification has reference; (iii.) Specify the numbers of the portions and their respective areas and the annual rent per acre to be paid for each portion ; (iv.) State the term of the lease, which may be any number of years not exceeding twenty-eight years. (2.) The notification may also- (i.) Declare the value or state a provisional valua- tion of any improvements upon a portion; (ii.) Declare that lots which are not contiguous may be applied for and held as one selection; (iii.) Impose a condition that the selection shall be enclosed and kept enclosed with a rabbit- proof fence or with a marsupial-proof fence or with both a rabbit-proof and marsupial- proof fence, or impose a condition for the destruction of specified noxious plants within a time to be specified, or all or any of such conditions; (iv.) Impose a condition that a specified area of the selection shall be cultivated and placed under a specified crop within a specified time or at a specified rate of progress until the specified area is so cultivated; N

10636 LAND, CROWN. Closer Settlement Acts Amendment Act. 14 GEO. V. No. IS" Maximum area. Maximum area in a district. Maximum area in the State. (v.) Restrict for a period of six months or less the right of applying for any particular portion or portions comprised in the notifica- tion to persons who do not hold any land under this Act or the Principal Act or the Closer Settlement Acts in Queensland, or who do not hold any freehold land in Queensland otherwise than town or suburban land; (vi.) Impose a condition that the selector shall, within a period to be specified by the Minister, provide the selection with a water facility to the satisfaction of the Minister: Provided that the Minister, on good cause shown, may in. his discretion grant such extension of such specified time as he may deem advisable. For the purposes of this paragraph the term "water facility" means and includes a, bore, well, earth tank or dam, or any other method or process for the conservation or utilisation of water: the term also includes all necessary or convenient pumping, storing, delivery, and reticulating appliances, or any of them. [360.] (1.) The maximum area declared by any notification opening lands for selection as Settlement Farm Leases, whether by Group Selection or otherwise, shall not exceed three thousand eight hundred and forty acres for any Settlement Farm Lease. (2.) The Governor in Council may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare the maximum areas of land which may be held in the aggregate in any district named in the Order by anyone person as Settle- ment Farm Leases. Thereafter no person shall at the same time apply for or hold in such district two or more Settlement Farm Leases the aggregate area of which is greater than the maximum area of land permitted to be selected as such in that district. But any alteration of the boundaries of a district or any declaration of a maximum area within a district shall not prejudice any rights accrued with respect to a then- existing selection. (3.) No person shall at the same time apply for or hold in the State two or more Settlement Farm Leases the aggregate area of which exceeds three thousand eight hundred and forty acres.

LAND, CROWN. 10637 1923. Closer Settlement Acts Amendment Act. [36D.] Subject to the provisions of the Principal Personal Act, every Settlement Farm Lease under this Act, residence. whether in Group Selection or otherwise, shall be subject to the condition of personal residence during the whole term. [36E.] The holder of a Settlement Farm Lease shall Cultivation. be entitled to use the whole or any part of his selection for agricultural, dairying, orchard, or general farming purposes. For the purposes of section one hundred and fifty-five of the Principal Act, any cultivation, or orchard or dairying, or farming fixed improvement effected under the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be an improvement. [36F.] The annual rent reserved for a Settlement Rent Farm Lease shall be during the first period of seven years an amount to be determined by the Minister, having regard to the compensation money (if any) paid by the Crown for the acquisition of the land and to the rate per centum paid by the Crown as interest on such compensation money. The rent for the second and each succeeding period of the term shall be determined by the Land Court. The Court, in determining the rent of a Settlement Farm Lease, shall have regard to- (a) The quality and fitness for agricultural purposes of such area (if any) of the land as the selector has been notified to cultivate, and the quality and fitness of the remainder of the land for grazing purposes, or the quality and fitness of the land for grazing purposes only in cases where the selector has not been notified to cultivate any area of the land; (b) The distance of the selection from railway or water carriage; (c) The natural supply of water and the facilities for the raising and storage of water; (d) The amount which experienced persons would be willing to pay for land of similar quality in the same neighbourhood'; (e) Any other matters which in the opinion of the Court affect the rental value of the land : Provided that, in determining the rent, regard shall not be had to any increase in the value of the holding attributable to improvements.

10638 LAND, CROWN. Closer Settlement Acts Amrndment Act. 14 GEO. V. No. 18, 1923. Advances to [36G.] Portions allotted and selections held as Settle- ~ ~ ~ ~ 'f: ~ : es. ment Farm Leases shall be deemed to be agricultural lands or farming lands for the purposes of advances by the State Advances Corporation. For the purposes of this section, the expression " State Advances Corporation" means the State Advances Corporation created by "*The State Advances Act of 1916": the term includes any Primary Producers' Advances Corporation or any other Corporation created by Statute as the successor of the State Advances Corporation in relation to advances to settlers or primary producers. Section 72 of [36H.] The provisions of section seventy-two of the :?:t :; ~ incipal Principal Act shall, mutatis mutandis, apply to any land a.pply. which is opened for selection under ;=t,ny tenure from the Crown in force at the time of such opening and which immediately theretofore comprised the whole or part of a Settlement Farm Lease the lease whereof has expired. General [36J.] Save as modified by the provisions of this applica~ i~ m Act relating to Settlement Farm Leases, all the pro- ooff PprroinvclsilpOanls VI • S • IOns 0 f t he Pr' mC.lpa1 Act (oth er t h an sectI.On £if ty- Atocgt rel:; rttinag ei z ght m ) wh g ich . are applicable to Grazing Homestea . ds homesteads. shall be applIcable to Settlement Farm Leases applIed for, granted, selected, acquired, or held under the Closer Settlement Acts and the Principal Act; and without limiting the general application of the provisions of this section, the provisions of the Principal Act with respect to Grazing Homesteads relating to applications, priority, approval, deposits, licenses to occupy, issue of leases, improvements, certificates of performance, survey fees, personal residence, subletting, rent and payment or postponement thereof, forfeiture, resumption, compensa- tion, noxious plants, prickly-pear, surrender, transfer and transmission, mortgage, disqualifications and incapacity of persons to select, agistment, ringbarking, and timber, with such modifications of the aforesaid provisions or any of them as the Governor in Council may from time to time, by Order in Council' published in the Ga.zeUe, prescribe and declare, shall apply to Settlement Farm Leases." Regulations. 5. The Governor in Council may from time to time make regulations for the effective execution of this Act, and the provisions of section two hundred and nine of the Principal Ac!sha~~ ppIJl~ o such re~ ~ lations. * 7 Geo. V. No. 17, supra, page 9603.