Land Grants Act 1858 (SA)

A. D. 1858.

No, 19.

@ (iu (4 ,452 J P-= -. <'4h Ad P2z~3-7 T y - 4%' c7 +#&

An Act to remorse dsibts ~ R e c t i q th E twlidify of certain Lam? Grants,

and to .facilitdfe ilEl; issuing o f Ln, ,d~ ,nnts, and to ~egulate the

pnymcwt of fees thereon. L -- !c-- 1 P

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[Asscntud 10, 24th ~cckmbcr,	18SR.]	.ky/-r~;' 4-Hx	-
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HERNAS qoestioi~s hare arisen as to the validity of certain p,;,bl,.+,p //--

W Land (irilnts, by reason of thc grcat seal of the Province not having been affixed thereto: Arid whereas, by an Ordinance, No. - - g>-

S of 1846, to regulate fees on instruments passing uncI&T@ii~ublic L. f+ .?@g -

seal of the Province, and certain other instruments, it was amongst	---.
o t c r things enacted, that it should be lawful for the Colonial	/flxd?7dT&' LF~L

Trcasurcr to take and rcccive for and in respect of every deed of	-4-	\
grant, and other conveyance passed under the public seal of the Pro-
vince, or under the Governor's seal, the sum of One Pound sterling,
to be appropriated to Her Majesty, Her Heirs, and Successors, for

the public uses of the Province and the s,ppppport of the Government ,

And whereas, bp a certain other Act, No. 3 of 1856, in- Y- ,'

thereof': - c

tituled, " An Act to reduce the amount of Fccs payablc on the

Registration of Land Grants," it was enacted, that it shall be lawful

for the Treasurer to clemand and receive from the purchaser of any

waste lands of tlic Crown that should thereafter be sold, the sum of

Five Shillings for each and every Land Grant of such land, instcad

of the sum of One Pound, to be paid at the time of completing the 9

purchase thereof: And whereas, by a certain other Act, No. 3 of J ,&pp' .'

the twenty-first year of the reign of Hcr prcscnt Majesty G e n Victoria, intituled An Act to simplify the laws relating to the transfer and encumbrance of Freehold and other interests in Land." i t was amongst other things enacted, that, upon the first brin in *f

any land under the operation of the said Act, t h e r e H t, o -

x2 the

the Registrar-C+cmml thc sum of Onr F;u.tlliilg iill the Pound sterling on the value of such land, to constitute an ass~lrancc f~u ld: And

,'I whereas i t is expedient that all fees and sums of rnonry to be hcre-

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. * after chnrged nncl papablc upon Land Grants shoultl be paid at one

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, and the same time; and to tlle name pcrsnn: i lnd whcre;is, by a

< F* d - 4 /-t S r ,

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A I . / C ,=	, certain Act. 1% o. 5 of thc twmtr--fir6 Tictniin, int i tdcd Act

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2 ' for regulating the s a l ~ and othr; disposal of - thc Waste Lililds bp-

longing to thc C'rowii in South hnstralia," t l ~ ( h c l x o r is anJhorizeti . -. -

and re uired, in the I I R I I ~ C i ~ ~ l d on 1)::li:llf of. -GY, to conrcy

, C ~ W. '

and -P-- n lenate in fke-simple, or for any bcrcstate or i n t e r m e

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purchaser or y~1rc11aser.s thcrcof, m v waste lands of tllc C'rown in the said Province, which coxlvepnccs ancl alimations shall be made in

such fbrms as s m f r o m time to timc lw drcu~r t t ctspcdicnt by the -.----.

Governor, with the advice ancl consent of tlw Ihsecutivc C'ouncil,

,, and sllall bc sealcc1 with tlie	!	ublic seal of the. saitl lJ;mincc:	h i d
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~ l - 7 whcrcas it is --U expedient to pi v1 e or thc v~litlity 8 + of mc.11 c+?sLcpnEs

p&. P/ j'r PG and alienations as shzll hereafter bc made, in ally- form so approved

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. %'L- . as aforesaid, without the-turc ot. tllc G owrnor, without the

great seal of' the lyrovincc bcing xff ixXthcre~o, h r l to cxpcditc nlid

f'acilitatc: thc i s s l h i o ~ h n t l __ --- Grants-13c it tllct~$ol.c l':lliictc>tl, bp

i

the Gover~m--in-Chief of the l'ro~iiicc of So~ltll - l ~ \ t i. i ~ l i ~ ~. with thc.

advice and consent of the Legislatiw Chnnril :incl 1 i o i l h, o of I l sscmbl~

of tlie said Province, in the pcsen t Parliaalcnt iisscwlilc~t, as follo~vs-

W

I h, W-,&& MI--* P7 &/ .&.-/-,-/ .

( Tp*w 2 I- c---& czLe---G * , *

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165	Q	2 Y -' 14	L	L ,J(?
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or alicnations, --- qhall, after the passmg ~f this Act, be chargeable A- ",,L ZYU,.~ JdZ?/[++L

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and paid to the Treasurer, at the time afofesaid, on account of affixing J,. ,,

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thereto the s t anzso - to be authorized as aforesaid. .L LX L'. /

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4. In referring to this Act, it shall be sufficient to make use of the Shmt tith

expression, '' %he Land Grants Act."

L

N k Ezcellency Sir Richard Qvums f icDonnel l, C.B., to the Right Hon. Sir E. B. Lytton,

Hart., M.P., Her M a j e s t y Primipal Secretmy of State for the Colonies. -

hTo. 292. Government House, Adelaide, 20th January, 1859.

Sir-I haye the honor to transmit herewith two Acts, to which I gave the Queen's assent, on

the 24th ultimo, intituled respectively "An Act to establish the validity of certain registrations under the Act No. 23 of 1855-6;" and " A n Act to removc doubts affecting the validity of certain Land Grants, and to facilitate the issuing of Land Grants, and to regulate the payment NO. 19,1868.

of fees thereon." Enclosures 3 and 4.

2. The former Act merely confirms the validity of certain duplicate Land Grants which had becn registered, but did not bcar the signature of the Governor. I t had not been considered, by

the Law Officers, necessary to ~ i g n those duplicates, and, accordingly, they were left unsignedby me; but so much uneasirievs was felt by purchasers of land on the subject, that the enclosed Act was passed to set all doubts at rest.

3. Not merely were these doubts occasioned through want of the Governor's signature to

duplicates, but there were further doubts felt by myself as to the validity cf most of the recent (itrants; as they were merely stamped with a copy of thc public seal of the Province; a method safer and more convenient than affixing the impression of the seal itself with a wafer, because the latter was liable to be lost.

4. As further legislation was felt necessary in reference to this ppint, I was induced to con- sider whether the period had not arrived for facilitating the issuo of Land Grants, a matter of ,U*-

/ serious importance to the public. Much land is purchased in this Colony by farmers and settlers,

who, from time to time, save sufficient to pay a portion of the purchaqe money of an ad'oinin

Section, and obtain the r e w e e r on security of the Land Grant itself. The necevslty ----!be or t e

Grant bearing the Governor's actual signature occasioned the transmission of each Grant from	- -
the office of the Treasurer, after receipt of the purchase money, to the office of the Chief Secre- tary, whence it was sent to the Governor's oiHce, and thence returned to the Chief Secretary, by whom it was transmitted to the Surveyor-General.

5. Numerous and, on the whole, well-founded complaints reached me, from time to time, of

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the hardshi and inconvenience occasioned to the most deserving purchasers of land, by the abovc.. /

unnccessan y tedious and circuitous progress of each Land Grant through the various Public __F

Offices; and I saw no remed so effectual as d 4-with the actual sie;natur_~ of the Gover-

nor; whose f r q u e n i e, moreover, in various parts of the Province was, under the old

system, an aprarat ion of the inconvenien. felt by purchasers. As from 6 2,000 ?&,,j,

Land Grants are issued each year, you will easily perceive that the matter was one of consider- *V;- S. /

able im ortance to the ublic; and I am not aware of any reason for allowing an inconvenience

t*n le&mpanied ' with some counterb~lancing advantage.

6. I should not, perhaps, have so readily consented to, or rather have myself suggested

for dispensjng yj th the Governor's signsture, if the old m had still prevailed, of regardin

Waste Lands of t& Crown as being entirely Imper~a T- property, so much so as to be withdrawn

the control of the Local Legislature. Under that system, there might perhaps have existed

apparcnt reason for requiring the actual signature of the Queen's representative to an instr

which alienated, not merely a legal, but a beneficial interest of the Crown in the land o

Province.

7. I considered, however, that the 18th and 19th Vic., cap. 56, wldch repealed t l ~ o

Imperial Wastlz Lands Act of these Colonies, and which by its 5th section entirely gives over to this Colony the regulations and control of all s*nd the dis osal of the waste lands of the Crown here, had thereby so a l t e r e d T E 3 d syatem as to ~ e p r i v h a n i n ~ and weight, as well arguments as p jud ices, in favor of requiring the Governor's signature to land grants, at the cost

of frequeninconvenience to the ublic --n%-'

8. The Act now transml e glres a power of a t least substituting a srimple and apeedz mode of assurance for one which formerly caused much delay; and 1 this day in E x e c i p e K'

Council suggested to my Ministry the propriety of a t once exercising it, and accordingly I this 20f/-A~-55

new form of land grant under the enclosed Act, to be issued after the 13th Eaolosure S, -

_i step, hosbever expedient, may seem to involve a partial abandonment of a

1 p r o g a t i v e (though the Governor in Council can at any time resume it), and as, moreover, I: am

C not a t this moment aware of t h o exact practice followed as m s s o e	of land grants in the
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Chief Secretary's Office, Adelaide, March 17, 1869.

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?? of the powers conferred by OTICE is hereby given, that under and by virtue Act," His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief, with the The Land Grants p-

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advice and convent of the Executive Council, hath

deemed expedient and approved the form of grant of	Ay-.$ ?. /$d.-. - -
.the Waste I~rrnds of the Crown within the Province of
Snuth Australia hereinafter given, and hath also, with
the like advice and consent, authorized a stamp, being a
copy of the Great Seal of the Province of South Aus- tralia, to be used for the purpose of stamping all grants of the aforesaid Waste Lands of the Crown, and that
grants in the said form, signed by the Treasurer and
Kegistrar-General, and btarnped with the said stamp,

will, without the eignature of the Governor, be valid ?

and effectual for granting such Waste ~ a n d s as a -

By command,

WM. YOUNG~USBAND,

Chief Secretary.

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~ O U T E AUSTRALIA. i