ANNO QUINQUAGESIMO OCTAVO ET QUINQUA- VICTORIÆ REGINÆ. A.D. 1895. **** No. 642. An Act to amend the Pastoral Laws. [Assented to, December 20th, 1895.] E it Enacted by the Governor of the Province of South Australia, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council BE and House of Assembly, in this present Parliament assembled, as follows: 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Pastoral Act Short title and incorAmendment Act, 1895," and, except so far as inconsistent therewith, poration. shall be read as one with "The Pastoral Act, 1893," hereinafter called "the Act of 1893." 2. The expression "Crown Lands Acts" in the Act of 1893, and Interpretation. all Acts incorporated therewith, shall extend to and include this Act. "Unstocked country" means pastoral land which has never been stocked, or which has been unstocked for more than two consecutive years. 3. The enactments mentioned in the Schedule hereto, to the Repeal. extent mentioned in such Schedule, are hereby repealed, but such repeal, or any repeal effected by this Act, shall not affect any right, interest, or liability already created, incurred, or existing, nor anything lawfully done or suffered under any enactment hereby repealed; and any proceeding in respect of any such right, interest, or liability may be carried on as if this Act had not been passed. references. 4. In sections 64, 66, and 83 of the Act of 1893, the references Alteration of to sections 66, 72, 62, and 35 shall be read and construed as if they were to sections 68, 74, 64, and 36, respectively. Improvements, Amendment of sec. 64 of Act of 1893. Limit of sub-division. Re-letting of lands. Commissioner not bound to recover improvement moneys or protect improve ments. The Pastoral Act Amendment Act.-1895. Improvements. 5. Sub-division (a) of section 64 of the Act of 1893 shall be extended to include any application for a lease of any land in Class C which has been unoccupied for more than three years, and is situate more than fifty miles from the seaboard. 6. If the area held by an outgoing lessee is reduced by subdivision for letting to an incoming tenant below the carrying capacity of five thousand sheep in Class A, ten thousand in Class B, or thirty thousand in Class C, or a proportionate number of cattle, the improvements shall be valued for the protection of the outgoing lessee as if the area let was of such carrying capacity; and as regards any amount which the outgoing lessee may be entitled to for improvements, and which the incoming lessee may not be liable pay; pay, such amount shall be paid by the Commissioner to the outgoing lessee at the time when the outgoing lessee is entitled to payment of the sum which the incoming lessee is liable to but as regards water improvements, made with the sanction of the Commissioner, the same shall be valued as if there had been no sub-division of the area held by the outgoing lessee, and the outgoing lessee shall be paid therefor accordingly. 7. Before re-letting on lease any lands which had previously been held under a pastoral lease the Commissioner shall obtain a report from the Surveyor-General, for the purpose of ascertaining whether such lands, owing to the nature of the soil, the rainfall, or proximity to seaboard, or to a railway already constructed or about to be constructed, are suitable for sub-division into smaller holdings for grazing and cultivation purposes; and if the Surveyor-General shall report that such lands, or any portion thereof, are not suitable for such sub-division, then such lands, or such portion thereof, shall be dealt with as provided in this Act and in Act No. 585 of 1893: Provided that this clause shall not apply to any re-letting by way of renewal, or a surrender for a new lease. the shall 8. Nothing in the Act of 1893 contained shall impose upon Commissioner any liability to make any payment in respect of any improvements, except as expressly provided by that Act, nor make it incumbent upon the Commissioner, except upon receiving to his satisfaction a full and sufficient indemnity from the outgoing lessee, to require payment for any improvements from any incoming lessee, nor to protect any improvements or the interests of an outgoing lessee therein further or otherwise than as the Commissioner in his discretion shall think fit; but if the Commissioner shall be dissatisfied with the indemnity offered by the outgoing lessee, or Ishall from any cause fail to enforce any claim or remedy which is vested in him on behalf of the outgoing lessee, the outgoing 1essee Ishall be at liberty to sue or otherwise enforce his claim or re medy in his own name as fully to all intents and purposes as the Commis sioner could do. 9. Every The Pastoral Act Amendment Act.-1895. 9. Every application for a lease shall be accompanied by a deposit Applicants for leases to make deposit on equal to five per centum on the price to be paid for the improve- account of improvements (if any), as notified in the Government Gazette, in addition to ments. the deposit of twenty-five per centum of the first year's rent required by section 26 of the Act of 1893. 10. If the successful applicant for a lease shall fail to execute the Forfeiture of deposit. lease, or to pay or arrange for the payment of the balance of the purchase-money of the improvements, within the time and in manner prescribed, he shall forfeit to the Commissioner all moneys (if any) deposited by him in respect of improvements. The deposit under section 9 shall be credited against the first instalment of the purchase-money. 11. The moneys so forfeited, less all proper deductions, shall be Application of retained by the Commissioner, or paid over to the outgoing lessee, forfeited deposit. as the case may be, in the same manner in all respects as the purchase-money of the improvements would have been retained or paid over if the applicant had duly completed the purchase. 12. Notwithstanding anything contained in "The Crown Lands Repayment of deposits Amendment Act, 1890," or in any pastoral lease granted after the for improvements if other equivalent passing of that Act, the Commissioner shall repay all or any part of improvements made. the amount deposited by the lessee as security for the maintenance of the improvements on the land if the lessee shall have maintained such improvements in good repair, reasonable wear and tear excepted, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, so soon as the lessee shall have made other improvements on the land leased equal in value to the amount of the deposit. 13. The amount to be deducted by the Commissioner, pursuant to section 50 of the Act of 1893, in respect of costs of and incidental to the recovery of the moneys to be received from the incoming lessee shall be the cost actually incurred, but shall in no case exceed five per centum of the moneys so received. 14. All moneys paid by the Commissioner to an incoming lessee, pursuant to section 63 of the Act of 1893, for compensation for loss or depreciation of improvements, shall be expended by such lessee in replacing or making good such improvements, unless he shall have paid the purchase-money thereof in full; and in every lease hereafter to be granted under the Act of 1893 a covenant to this effect shall be expressed or implied against the lessee. 15. A lessee may be released from his liability to repair improvements which are on the lease, and are of no value to such lease, if he shall make other improvements in lieu thereof to the satisfaction of the Commissioner. 16. Section 25 of Act 585 of 1893 is hereby amended by Amendment of sec. striking out "may" in the fourth line, and inserting in lieu thereof 25 of Act of 1893. "shall, at intervals of not less than three months, until applications are accepted." 17. Section The Pastoral Act Amendment Act.-1895. 17. Section 47 of Act 585 of 1893 is hereby amended, by adding at end thereof-" and, as regards lands which shall not be offered for lease within six months after the expiration of the lease, the amount as so determined of all improvements thereon shall be paid by the Commissioner to the outgoing lessee upon the lessee giving up possession thereof." 18. Section 60 of Act 585 of 1893 is hereby amended by striking out all words after "interval” in fifth line and inserting in lieu thereof "at the rental at which the land shall have been last offered for lease; and in the event of any land being ultimately re-let at a rental below what the lessee shall have paid under this section, such lessee shall be repaid the excess, and a lessee so continuing in occupation shall observe the terms and conditions of his expired lease, except as hereinafter provided." Conditions of Leases. 19. In any lease to be granted under Part VIII. of the Act of 1893, and in any pastoral lease hereafter to be granted of land which the Commissioner shall be satisfied is waterless or vermin infested, or otherwise especially inferior for pastoral purposes, the covenant relating to the stocking of the land mentioned in paragraph (c) of Schedule A to the Act of 1893 may, if the Commissioner shall think fit, be qualified by a provision, to be inserted in the lease, that if the Commissioner shall be satisfied that during the first six years of the term a sum equal to Five Pounds per square mile of the leased land has been expended by the lessee in (a) Destroying vermin upon the land, or erecting vermin-proof fencing thereon; or (b) Constructing improvements, consisting of wells, reservoirs, tanks, or dams of a permanent character and available for the use of cattle or sheep, and which increase the carrying capacity of the land: the lessee shall not be bound to increase the stock to more than ten head of sheep or two head of cattle (or their equivalent) per square mile, at any time during the term of the lease, or any renewal thereof.. any well 20. If any lessee shall, except upon a reserve, discover artesian well upon his run yielding a supply of not less than five thousand gallons per diem of water suitable for stock, he shall be entitled to a remission of five years' future rent in respect of an area of one hundred square miles of the land surrounding such comprised in his run for every such well so discovered, but exceeding in respect of any run four such wells. The area to be affected by such remission shall be selected by the lessee, with approval of the Commissioner. not the 21. Section |