Land.

An Act to amend and consolidate the Laws affecting Crown Lands in British Columbia.

[Assented to 2^nd March, 1874]

Whereas it is expedient to amend and consolidate the Laws affecting Crown Lands in British Columbia:

Therefore, her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1.The "Land Ordinance, 1870," and all Proclamations, Statutes, Ordinances, and

Acts thereby repealed, and the "Land Ordinance Act, 1873," shall be and are hereby repealed; but such repeal shall not prejudice or affect any rights acquired or payments due or penalties incurred prior to the passing of this Act, in respect of any land in this province.

2. In the construction and for the purposes of this Act (if not inconsistent with the context or the subject matter), the following terms shall have the respective meanings hereinafter assigned to them:

"Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General" shall mean and include the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General, and any person for the time being lawfully acting in that capacity.

"Commissioner" shall mean the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General of this Province, or the person acting as such for the time being, and shall include every Stipendiary Magistrate for the time being in charge of any District, and every person duly authorised by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to act as and for the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or the Surveyor-General, as Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works in any District or Districts for which no such Assistant Commissioner of Lands and Works as aforesaid has been appointed:

Words imparting the singular number shall include more persons, parties, or things than one, and the converse.

Unsurveyed Land.

3. Any person being the head of a family, a widow, or single man over the age of eighteen years, and being a British subject, or any alien upon his making a declaration of his intention to become a British subject, before a Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, or other officer appointed therefor, which declaration shall be in the Form No.1 in the Schedule hereto, and upon his filing the same with the Commissioner, may record any tract of unoccupied, unsurveyed, and unreserved Crown Lands (not being an Indian settlement) not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent, in that portion of the Province situate to the northward and eastward of the Cascade or Coast Range of Mountains, and one hundred and sixty acres in extent in the rest of the Province. Provided, that such right shall not be held to extend any of the Aborigines of this Continent, except to such as shall have obtained permission in writing to so record by a special order of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

4. Any Chartered or Incorporated Company may acquire such right by obtaining permission in writing by a special order of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

5. Any person desiring to record such unoccupied, unsurveyed, and unreserved land as aforesaid, shall first place at each angle or corner of the land to be applied for, a stake or post at least four inches square, and standing not less than four feet above the surface of the ground; any stump of a tree may be used for a post, provided it be squared as aforesaid, and of the required height and dimensions; and upon each post a notice in the following form shall be affixed;

And if such land shall not be staked off and marked, the applicant shall not have the right to the land intended by him to be recorded; and if such land, not having been so staked and marked, shall nevertheless be recorded in favour of the applicant, he shall have no right at law or in equity therein and thereto. After the land is so staked and marked, the applicant shall then make application in writing to the Commissioner of the District in which the land is so staked and marked, the applicant shall also make application in writing to record such land; and in such application the applicant must enclose a full description of the land intended to be recorded, and enclose a sketch of the plan thereof, and such description and plan shall be in duplicate; the applicant shall also make, before a Justice of the Peace or Commissioner, and furnish the Commissioner with a declaration of the duplicate; in the Form No. 2 in the Schedule hereto: and if the applicant shall in such declaration make any statement knowing the same to be false, he shall have no right at law or in equity to the land, the record of which he may have obtained by the making of such a declaration.

6. Every piece of such occupied, unsurveyed, and unreserved land as aforesaid, sought to be recorded under the provisions of this Act, shall, save as hereinafter is provided, be of a rectangular or square shape, and 160 acres shall either measure 40 chains by 40 chains (equal to 880 yards by 880 yards), and 320 acres shall measure 40 chains by 80 chains (equal to 880 yards by 1760 yards). In the event of any of the following lesser quantities only being staked and marked as aforesaid, 40 acres shall measure 20 chains by 20 chains (equal to 440 yards by 440 yards0, 80 acres shall measure 20 chains by 60 chains (equal to 440 yards by 1320 yards). All lines shall be run true North and South, and true East and West.

7. Where such land is in whole or part bounded by any mountain, rock, lake, river, or other natural boundary, or any public highway, or by any pre-emoted or surveyed land, such natural boundary, public boundary, public highway, pre-empted or surveyed land, may be adopted as the boundary of such land; and it shall be sufficient for the applicant to show to the Commissioner that the form of the land conforms, as nearly as may be true North and South, and true East and West.

8. The Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General may, however, in carrying out any Government Survey, or any survey authorised by this Act or by him if in his opinion circumstances require it, survey pre-emption claims or purchased lands recorded previous or subsequent to the date of this Act, and also unsurveyed, unoccupied, and unreserved land as aforesaid, recorded under the provisions of this Act, by such metes and bounds as he may think proper; and every survey so made and certified by him in writing, shall be binding upon all parties affected thereby; and the survey so certified shall be deemed, in any Court of this Province, to have been done in this clause contained shall apply to any land when a Crown Grant thereof has or shall have been issued.

9. Upon the compliance by the applicant with the provisions hereinbefore contained, and upon payment for the sum of two dollars to the Commissioner, the Commissioner shall record the land so sought to be recorded in favour of the applicant, and shall give to such applicant , hereinafter called a "settler", a certificate of such record according to the Form No. 3 in the Schedule hereto; and such record shall be made by the Commissioner in triplicate, the original to be handed to the settler, a duplicate to be retained by the Commissioner for local reference, and the triplicate to be forwarded forwith to the head office of the Lands and Works Department, to be finally registered in the Land Office Register.

10. The settler shall, within thirty days thereafter, enter into occupation of the land so recorded; and if he shall cease to occupy such land, save as hereinafter is provided, the Commissioner may, in a summary way, upon being satisfied of such cessation of occupation, cancel the record of the settler so ceasing to occupy the same, and all improvements of buildings made and erected on such land shall be absolutely forfeited to the Crown, and such settler shall have no further right therein or thereto, and the certificate of record given to such settler shall be deemed to be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and the said land may be recorded anew by the Commissioner in the name of any person satisfying the requirements in that behalf of this Act.

11. The occupation herein required, shall mean a continuous bona fide personal residence of the settler, his agent, or family, on the land recorded by such settler, but Indians and Chinamen shall not be considered agents.

12. Every settler, as well as his agent and family (if any), shall be entitled to be absent from the land recorded by such settler for any one period not exceeding two months during one year. He shall be deemed to have ceased to occupy such land when he shall have been absent, continuously, for more than two months.

13. Any such land shall be deemed to be abandoned when the same shall have been occupied by the settler, his agent, or family, for more than four months in the aggregate in one year, or for more than two months consecutively.

14. No person shall be entitled to hold, at the same time, two claims by record; and any person so recording more than one claim shall forfeit all right, title and interest to the prior claim by him, and to all improvements made and erected thereon, and the land included in such prior claim shall be open for record by any one else complying with the provisions thereof.

15. Any such settler may have the land recorded by him surveyed at his own expense (subject, however, to a rectification of boundaries) by a Surveyor approved of and acting under the instructions from the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works. Within three months from the completion of any such survey, and a deposit of a map thereof in the office of the Commissioner a written and dated statement, describing the land settled upon, and the locality of his improvements, based upon the survey made, and shall also make and file with such Commissioner a declaration in duplicate, in the Form No. 4 in the Schedule hereto, signed by himself and two residents in the locality of such land, or two persons acquainted with the facts; and unless two or more parties are claimants of the same land, the Commissioner, at the expiration of such three months, shall record such land so rectified by such survey, in the name of such settler as a homestead setter of surveyed lands, without any further declaration by such settler.

16. If, within three months after the making of such survey and a deposit of the map of such survey in the office of the Commissioner, and a notice thereof published in the British Columbia Gazette, the settler shall fail to make and furnish the written and dated statement and declaration required as aforesaid; or if such declaration shall be fraudulently obtained, or if it shall contain wilfully false statements, the land recorded by such settler, with all improvements thereon, shall be forfeited to the Crown, and such settler shall have no further right therein or thereto; and the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works may cancel the record of such land in the books of the Land Office, and the certificate of such record given to the settler, on the making of such record, shall thenceforth be deemed null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

17. Where any official survey shall be made, in which shall be included the land recorded by any settler, and a map of such survey shall have been deposited in the office of the Commissioner, and a notice thereof shall, within three months thereafter, make and file with the Commissioner a written and dated statement, describing the land settled upon by the settler, and the locality of his improvements thereon, based upon the survey made, giving the number of the Township, Section, Quarter Section, or fraction thereof, if any, as the case may be; and shall also make and file with the Commissioner a declaration in the Form No. 4 in the Schedule hereto, signed by himself and two residents in the locality of such land, or two persons acquainted with the facts; and unless two or more parties are claimants of the same land, the Commissioner shall, at the expiration of such three months, record such land so rectified by such survey in the name of such settler, as a homestead settler of surveyed land, without any further declaration by such settler.

18. If, within three months after the making of such survey and a deposit on the map of such survey in the office of the Commissioner, and a notice thereof published in the British Columbia Gazette, the settler shall fail to make and furnish the written and dated statement and declaration required as aforesaid, or id such declaration shall be fraudulently obtained, or if it shall contain wilfully false statements, the land recorded by such setter shall be forfeited to the Crown, and such settler shall have no further right therein or thereto; and the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works may cancel the record of such land in the books of the Land Office, and the certificate of such record given to the settler, on the making of such record, shall thenceforth be deemed null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

19. When the land shall have been surveyed, and in the event of two or more parties claiming the same legal subdivision or fraction thereof, the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works shall have power to hear, settle, and determine the right of the adverse claimants, and to make such order in the premises as he may deem just; and for all or any of the purposes aforesaid he shall have the full power to summon and examine, under oath, the parties and witnesses, and such decision and order (if any) shall be final.

20. When any settler hall die, his heirs shall have six months, from such death, in which to record in their favour the land recorded by such settler; and the right of such heirs to so re-record shall be a prior right to that of any one else in such land; but if no such record is made within the time above prescribed the land shall thereafter be open to be recorded by any one complying with the provisions of this Act as to recording unsurveyed, unoccupied, and unreserved land.

21. Where any official survey shall be made, in which shall be included the land the right to which has been acquired previous to the passing of this Act, but for which a Crown Grant has not been issued, and a map of such survey shall have been deposited in the office of the Commissioner, and notice thereof shall have been published in the British Columbia Gazette, the lawful claimant of such land shall, within three months thereafter, make and file with the Commissioner a written and dated statement, describing the land claimed and the locality of his improvements thereon, based upon the survey made, and fully describing the legal subdivision claimed, and shall also make and file with the Commissioner, signed by himself and two residents in the locality of such land, or two persons acquainted with the facts; and unless two or more parties are claimants of the same land, the Commissioner shall, at the expiration of such three months, enter such land so rectified by such survey in the name of such claimant in the district register.

22. If, within three months after the making of such survey and a deposit of the map of such survey in the office of the Commissioner, and a notice thereof published in the British Columbia Gazette, the claimant mentioned in the proceeding clause shall fail to make and furnish the written and dated statement and declaration required as aforesaid; or if such declaration shall be fraudulently obtained, or if it shall contain wilfully false statements, the land so entered, with all its improvements thereon, shall be forfeited to the Crown, and such land in the books of the Land Office, and the certificate given on the making of such record shall thenceforth be deemed null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

Surveyed Land.

23. the land described as follows shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to be "Surveyed Lands":

1. Land surveyed into sections of one mile square, or 640 acres, or fractions thereof, with quartersection posts placed upon the section lines every forty chains:
2. Land surveyed into section of 160 acres, or fractions thereof, with all exterior lines run:
3. Land which may hereafter be declared surveyed land by Public Notice in the British Columbia Gazette:
4. Land in New Westminster District which has been surveyed into irregular lots exceeding or less than 160 acres:
5. Land in Vancouver Island which has been surveyed into 100 acre sections or fractions thereof:
6. Land in Vancouver Island which has been surveyed into section of 100 acres, or less, with all the exterior lines run, marked, and posted.
7. Land in Vancouver Island which has been surveyed into blocks of 1,000 acres, or less, with the North and South lines run and posted every twenty chains, and the East and West lines every fifty chains:
8. Land in Vancouver island which has been surveyed into Districts five miles square, with exterior lines running North and South run, marked, and posted every twenty chains, and exterior lines East and West run, marked, and posted every fifty chains, and all or some of the range lines run, marked, and posted every twenty chains.
9. The districts upon Vancouver Island, known as the Districts of Comox, Mountain, Nanaimo, Cranberry, Cedar, Chemainus, Somenos, Comaiken, Quamichan, Cowichan, Shawnigan, North Saanich, South Saanich, Highland, Lake, Esquimalt, Metchosin, and Sooke.

Provided, always, that land surveyed during the year 1873, and hereafter surveyed, shall not be open for pre-emption until notice that such land is open for pre-emption shall have been published in the British Columbia Gazette.

24. Any person being the head of a family, a widow, or single man over the age of eighteen years, and being a British subject, or any alien upon his making a declaration of his intention to become a British subject, before a Commissioner, Justice of the Peace, or other officer appointed therefor, which declaration shall be in the Form No.1 in the Schedule hereto, may pre-empt any tract of surveyed, unreserved, unoccupied, and unrecorded land (not being an Indian settlement) not exceeding three hundred and twenty acres in extent in that portion of the Province situate to the Northward and Eastward of the Cascade or Coast Range of Mountains, and one hundred and sixty acres in extent in the rest of the Province. Provided that such right of pre-emption shall not be held to extend to any of the Aborigines of this Continent, except to such as shall have obtained permission in writing to so pre-empt by a special order of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

25. Any Chartered or Incorporated Company may acquire such right by obtaining a special permission in writing from the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

26. Any person desiring to pre-empt land as aforesaid, shall apply in writing to the Commissioner for leave to pre-empt such land, which application shall be in duplicate; and in such application he shall describe the land as surveyed, according to the rules from time to time to be made in that behalf by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works; and shall make before a Justice of the Peace, or the Commissioner, and furnish the Commissioner with, a declaration, in duplicate, in the Form No. 5 in the Schedule hereto; and if the applicant in such declaration shall make any statement, knowing the same to be false, he shall have no right at law or in equity to the land, the pre-emption of which he may obtain by the making of such declaration.

27. Upon compliance with the provisions of the preceding Section, the Commissioner, upon payment by the applicant of a fee of two dollars, shall record such land in the name of the applicant (hereinafter called the "homestead settler,") and shall give to such homestead settler a certificate thereof according to the Form No. 6 in the Schedule hereto; and such record shall be made by the Commissioner in triplicate, one part to be handed to the homestead settler, another part to be retained by the Commissioner for local reference, and the third to be forwarded forthwith to the head office of the Lands and Works Department, to be finally registered in the Land Office Pre-emption Register.

28. The homestead settler shall, within thirty days thereafter, enter into occupation of the land so pre-empted; and if he shall cease to occupy such land, save as is herein provided, the Commissioner may in a summary way, upon being satisfied of such cessation of occupation, cancel the claim of the homestead settler so ceasing to occupy the same, and all improvements and buildings made and erected on such land shall be absolutely forfeited to the Crown, and the said land shall be open to pre-emption and may be recorded anew by the Commissioner as a pre-emption claim , in the name of any person satisfying the requirements in that behalf of this Act.

29. The occupation herein required, shall mean a continuous bona fide personal residence of the homestead settler, his agent, or family, on the land recorded by such homestead settler, but Indians or Chinamen shall not be considered as agents.

30. Every homestead settler, as well as his agent and family (if any), shall be entitled to be absent from the land recorded by such homestead settler for any one period not exceeding two months during one year. He shall be deemed to have ceased to occupy such land when he shall have been absent, continuously, for a longer period than two months.

31. Any such land shall be deemed to be abandoned when the same shall have been unoccupied by the homestead settler, his agent, or family, for more than four months in aggregate in one year, or for more than two months consecutively.

32. Any number of persons, not exceeding four, uniting in partnership for the purpose of pre-empting, holding, and working land, shall be eligible to pre-empt, as a firm, an area of land to the extent to each partner in the firm of one hundred and sixty acres west, and three hundred and twenty acres east, of the Cascades. Each partner in any such firm shall, by himself or agent, represent his interest in the firm by actual residence upon some portion of the land so held by such firm; but it shall not be necessary in such case that each partner or his agent shall reside on his particular pre-emption. Partners in such firm, or their agents may reside together on one homestead; provided such homestead be situated upon some portion of the land pre-empted and occupied by such firm. For the purpose of obtaining a Certificate of Improvement to land so pre-empted, it shall be sufficient to show the Commissioner that improvements amounting in the aggregate to two dollars and fifty cents per acres on the whole land, has been made on some portion thereof.

33. A homestead settler shall be entitled to receive from the Commissioner a certificate, to be called "Certificate of Improvement," in the Form No. 7 in the Schedule hereto, upon his proving to the Commissioner, by the declarations in writing of himself and two other persons, or in such other manner as the Commissioner may require, that he has been in occupation of his pre-emption claim from the date of the record thereof, and has made permanent improvements thereon to the value of two dollars and fifty cents per acre and has occupied such land for two years, and such declaration shall be in the Form No. 8 in the Schedule hereto. Such certificate shall be in triplicate, one part to be handed to the homestead settler, another part retained by the Commissioner for local reference, and the third part transmitted forthwith to the head office of the Lands and Works Department; and it shall be the duty of the Commissioner to note the issue of such certificate by the homestead settler, and on the duplicate thereof retained in the Commissioner's office.

34. All declarations authorised to be made under the provisions of this Act shall be subscribed by the person making the same, and shall be filed with the Commissioner, who is thereby fully authorised and empowered to take the same; and shall be made before such Commissioner, or before any Justice of the Peace, under and subject to the provisions and penalties of the "Oaths Ordinance, 1869."

35. No homestead settler shall be entitled to hold, at the same time, two claims by pre-emption; and any person so pre-empting more than one claim shall forfeit all right, title, and interest to the prior claim recorded by him, and to all improvements made and erected thereon; and the land included in such prior claim shall be open for pre-emption.

36. After the grant of a Certificate of Improvement as aforesaid to the homestead settler, a Crown Grant or Conveyance, in the Form No. 9 in the Schedule hereto, of the fee simple of and in the land mentioned as recorded in such certificate shall be executed in favour of the said homestead settler, upon payment of the sum of five dollars therefor, and without any payment for the land; but no such Crown Grant shall be executed in favour of any alien who may have declared as aforesaid his intention of becoming a British subject, until such alien shall have become, according to law, a naturalised British subject.

37. No transfer of any surveyed or unsurveyed land pre-empted or recorded under this Act shall be valid, until after a Crown Grant of the same shall have been issued.

38. In the event of the death of any homestead settler under this Act, his heirs or devisees (as the case may be) if resident in the Province, shall be entitled to a Crown Grant of the land included in such pre-emption claim, if lawfully held and occupied by such homestead settler at the time of his decease, but subject to the issuing of a Certificate of Improvement as aforesaid; but if such decease, the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General is hereby authorised and empowered to make such disposition of the pre-emption claim, and such provision for the person (if any) entitled thereto, or interested therein, as he may deem just and proper.

Leases.

39. Leases of any extent of unpre-empted and unsurveyed land may be granted for pastoral purposes by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, to any person or persons whomsoever, being bona fide settlers or homestead settlers, pre-emptors, or purchasers of land in the vicinity of the land sought to be leased, at such rent as such Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall deem expedient; but every such lease of pastoral land shall, amoung other things, contain a condition making such land liable to settlement, pre-emption, reserve for public purposes, and purchase by any persons whomsoever, at any time during the term thereof, without compensation, save by a proportionate deduction of rent; and to a further condition, that the lessee shall, within six months from the date of such lease, stock the property demised in such proportion of animals to the one hundred acres as shall be specified by the Commissioner.

Provided, however, that no such pastoral leases shall be granted on Vancouver Island.: Provided, also, that no pastoral lease shall be granted upon any of the Islands adjacent to Vancouver island, or to the Mainland of the Province, upon which any land is occupied by settlers, pre-emptors, or persons holding lands under Crown Grant.

40. Leases of unoccupied and unsurveyed land, not exceeding five hundred acres in extent, may be granted by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, for the purpose of cutting hay thereon, to any person or persons whomsoever, being bona fide settlers, or homestead settlers, pre-emptors, or purchasers of land, at such rent as such Lieutenant-Governor in council shall deem expedient. The term of such lease shall no exceed five years; but every such lease shall, amoung other things, contain a condition making such land liable to settlement, pre-emption, reserve for public purposes, and purchase by any other person whomsoever, at an time during the term thereof, with such compensation for improvements made thereon, to be paid to the leaseholder, as shall be fixed by the Commissioner of the District.

41. lease of any extent of unpre-empted or unrecorded Crown Lands may be granted by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, to any person, persons, or corporation duly authorised in that behalf, for the purpose of cutting spars, timber, or lumber, and actually engaged in those pursuits, subject to such rent, terms,, and provisions as shall seem expedient to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council: Provided, however, that any person may hereafter acquire a settler's or homestead settler's claim to or upon any part of such leased land by complying with the requirements of this Act. Such settler or homestead settler shall, however, only be entitled to cut such timber as he may require for use upon his claim; and if he cut timber on the said land for sale, or for any purpose other than for such use as aforesaid, or for the purpose of clearing the said land, he shall absolutely forfeit all interest in the land acquired by him, and the Commissioner shall cancel his claim thereto.

42. The application for any such lease must be in writing, in duplicate, addressed to the Commissioner, who shall retain the original in his office, and transmit the duplicate, through the head office of the Lands and Works, to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, who shall alone decide on any such lease.

43. Before any lease is granted for pastoral, hay, or timber purposes, the applicant shall give to the Commissioner of the District in which the land lies, thirty days' notice in writing of his intention to apply for such lease. Such notice shall specify:

1. The locality and number of acres applied for;
2. The name of the applicant;
3. The date of the notice;

A copy of such notice shall be posted at each of the undermentioned places:

1. On a conspicuous part of the land referred to;
2. Upon the walls of the office of the Commissioner of the District;
3. On the Court House of the District, if any;
4. On the nearest public Inn or Tavern;
5. On the outer door of the Post Office of such District.

44. Any person desirous of objecting to such lease, shall give his written reasons therefor, within the time specified in the above notice, addressed to the said Commissioner; and the said Commissioner shall, as soon as possible, forward the same, with his report thereon, to the Commissioner of Lands and Works.

45. If no objection is made, as aforesaid, to the issue of such lease before the said notice expires, the lease applied for may be issued, if advisable.

46. Persons who have pre-empted lands, or shall hereafter record or pre-empt any lands heretofore leased, or which may hereafter be leased for any of the purposes aforesaid, shall have the right of passing and repassing over such leased lands without being deemed trespassers:

Provided, always, that such persons shall not commit wilful waste or damage in passing over such lands. Any persons who records or pre-empts land held under a pastoral lease, and who bona fide cultivates at least ten acres thereof per annum, shall have the privilege of pasturing not more than fifty head of his own stock on the said leased land in the winter time, that is, between the first day of November and the first day of April following, upon his paying to the lessee named in the pastoral lease, on account of the actual expenses incurred in and about the leasehold, an annual sum proportionate to the number of cattle grazing upon the land.

47. It shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to grant leases to any person for any purposes other than for pastoral, hay, and timber purposes, upon such terms and conditions as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall think fit: Provided, always, that every lease shall contain a condition making such land liable to settlement, pre-emption or purchase by any persons whomsoever, at any time during the term thereof, with such compensation for improvements made thereon to be paid to the leaseholder as shall be fixed by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, or his Assistant for the time being, in the District where the land is situated: Provided that if the lessee be dissatisfied with the decision of either of the aforesaid parties, he shall be entitled to submit such decision to arbitration, under the provisions of "The Public Works Amendment Act, 1873."

48. Every person lawfully entitled to hold land under this Act, or under any former Act, Ordinance, or Proclamation, and lawfully occupying and bona fide cultivating lands, may divert so much and no more, of any unrecorded and unappropriated water from the natural channel of any stream, lake, or river adjacent to or passing through such land, for agricultural or other purposes, as may be reasonably necessary for such purposes, upon obtaining the written authority of the Commissioner of the District to that effect, and a record of the same shall be made with him, after due notice, as herein mentioned, specifying the name of the applicant, the quantity sought to be diverted, the place of diversion, the object thereof, and all such other particulars as such Commissioner may require; for every such record the Commissioner shall have any exclusive right to the use of such water, whether the same flow naturally through or over his land, except such record shall have been made.

49. One month previous to such authority being given, the applicant shall post up in a conspicuous place on each person's land to be affected by the proposed diversion of any stream, lake, or river, and on the District Court House, notices in writing stating his intention to take and convey and divert such water (as the case may be), specifying all particulars relating thereto, including direction, quantity, purpose and term.

50. The owner of any water privilege, or right acquired by record, shall have no exclusive right to the water privilege so recorded, until he shall have constructed a ditch for conveying the water to the place where it is intended to be used. And in case any such ditch shall not be of sufficient capacity to carry the quantity of water recorded by the owner of such ditch, then the exclusive right of such owner shall be limited to the quantity which such ditch may be capable of carrying, notwithstanding such record, until such ditch shall be enlarged so as to be capable of carrying the quantity of water recorded by such person.

51. Priority of right to any such water privilege, in case of dispute, shall depend on priority of record.

52. The right of entry on and through the lands of others, for carrying water for any lawful purpose upon, over, or under the said land, may be claimed and taken by any person lawfully occupying and bona fide cultivating as aforesaid, and (previous to entry) upon paying or securing payment of compensation, as aforesaid, for the waste or damage so occasioned, to the person whose land may be wasted or damaged by such entry or carrying of water.

53. In case of dispute, such compensation or any other question connected with such water privilege, entry, or carrying, may be ascertained by the Commissioner of the District in a summary manner, without a jury, or if desired by either party, with a jury of five men.

54. Water privileges for mining or other purposes, not otherwise lawfully appropriated, may be claimed, and the said water may be taken upon, under, or over any land so pre-empted, or recorded, or heretofore purchased, by obtaining a grant or licence from the Commissioner of the District; and, previous to taking the same, paying reasonable compensation for waste or damage to the person whose land may be wasted or damaged by such water privilege, or carriage of water.

55. Any owner of any ditch or water privilege shall wilfully waste any quantity of water heretofore or hereafter acquired by record or otherwise, by diverting any more of it from its natural course, through any ditch or otherwise, than the quantity actually required by him for irrigation or any other purpose, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for each such offence, to be recovered before a Justice of the Peace, Stipendiary Magistrate, or Commissioner, in summary manner, and in default of payment by distress, or by imprisonment for any period not exceeding six months; and no owner of any first record to any ditch or water right shall have any right to interfere with or prevent the construction of any dams, break-waters, or other improvements made or hereafter to be made for the purpose of saving or economising the water of any creek, lake, or water-course of any kind; provided that the construction or use of such dam or break-water does nor will divert such water from its proper channel, at the point or place where such owner takes the water used by him to his ditch or channel. Provided also that the construction and use of such dam or break-water shall not injure the source from which such water is taken, or the property of any party or parties, by backing water, flooding or otherwise. Provided also that all disputes arising upon any matter or thing in this Clause contained, shall be decided in a summary manner before any Justice of the Peace, Stipendiary magistrate, or Commissioner, who shall have full power to make such decision as shall seem to him to be just and equitable.

Ejectment.

56. Any person lawfully occupying a claim, by record or pre-emption, or holding a lease under this Act may, in respect thereof, institute and obtain redress in an action of ejectment or of trespass, in the same manner and to the same extent as if he were seized of the legal estate in the land covered by such claims; but either party thereto may refer the cause of action to the Stipendiary Magistrate of the District wherein the land lies, or to a Justice of the Peace, who is thereby authorised to proceed summarily, and make such order as he shall deem just. Provided, however, that if requested by either party, he shall first summon a jury of five persons to hear the case, and their verdict or award on all matters of fact shall be final.

Jury.

57. It shall be lawful for any Magistrate, by an order under his hand, to summon a jury of five persons for any purpose under this Act, and in the event of non-attendance of any persons so summoned he shall have the power to impose a fine not exceeding twenty-five dollars.

58. Any person affected by any decision of a Magistrate or Commissioner under this Act may, within one calendar month after such decision, but not afterwards, appeal to the Supreme Court in a summary manner, and such appeal shall be in the form of a petition, verified by affidavit, to any Judge of such Court, setting out the points relied upon; and a copy of such petition shall be served upon the Commissioner whose decision is appealed from, and such time shall be allowed for his answer to the said petition as to the Judge of the Supreme Court may seem advisable; but no such appeal shall be allowed except from decisions on points of law.

59. Any person desirous of appealing in manner aforesaid, may be required, before such appeal be heard, to find such security as may be required, before such appeal be heard, to find such security tot he satisfaction of the Commissioner whose decision is appealed from; and such appeal shall not be heard until after security tot he satisfaction of the Commissioner shall have been given for the due prosecution of such appeal, and submission thereto.

60. The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall at any time, and for such purposes as may be deemed advisable, reserve by notice published in the British Columbia Gazette any lands not lawfully held by record, pre-emption, purchase, lease, or Crown Grant.

62. Persons desiring to purchase unsurveyed, unoccupied, and unreserved Crown Land, must first have the land required surveyed at their own cost by a Surveyor approved of and acting under the instructions of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General; and such lands shall be surveyed on the rectangular or square system now adopted by the Government, and all lines shall run due north and south and due east and west, except where from the nature of surveys made it would be impossible to conform to the above system, and the said survey of the said land shall be connected with some known point in previous surveys, or with some other known point or boundary, unless otherwise ordered by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General; and the regulations as to the sale, purchase, and price of said land shall be the same as are herein provided for in the case of the sale of surveyed land, but no tittle can be acquired to any such land until after such land shall have been surveyed and such survey shall have been accepted by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General in writing, and payment made for the said land. Provided, further, that when there are two or more applicants for the same tract of land, and a prior right to either or any of the applicants is not established to the satisfaction of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General, the same may be tendered for by the applicants and sold to the highest bidder.

63. Unless otherwise specially notified at the time of sale, all Crown Lands sold shall be subject to such public rights of way as may at any time after such sale be specified by the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General, and to the right of the Crown to take therefrom, without compensation, any stone, gravel, or other material to be used in repairing the public roads, and to such private rights of way, and of leading or using water for animals, and for mining, engineering, or irrigation purposes, as may at the time of such sale be existing.

64. Pre-emptors who have recorded land as a pre-emption purchase, under the "Land Ordinance, 1865," prior or subsequent to the 20^th October, 1870, and who have paid a deposit of two shillings and one penny per acre, shall complete the purchase of the said land under the provisions of the "Land Ordinance, 1865," subject, however, to all the provisions of this Act, as to the rectification of boundaries upon official survey.

65. Persons who have purchased unsurveyed lands under order in Council, dated 5^th September, 1873, at two dollars and fifty cents per acre shall be entitled, upon complying with the provisions of this Act as to the purchase of unsurveyed land, to purchase said land at the rate of one dollar per acre.

66. The Crown Grant of any land sold under the provisions of this Act shall not be issued until full payment therefor shall have been made, and such Crown Grant shall be in the Form No. 9 in the Schedule hereto.

67. All agreements, contracts, and leases, heretofore entered into between any person and any officer acting on behalf of the Government shall, notwithstanding any defects therein, be valid and effectual to all intents and purposes, and the covenants, provisoes, and agreements therein contained may be enforced by action, suit, or other proceeding at law or in equity instituted in the name of Her Majesty's Attorney-General for the Province.

68. All Certificates of Improvement heretofore issued to any pre-emptor shall be valid and effectual, notwithstanding any defect therein, or in the evidence on which the same was issued.

69. All surveyed land heretofore pre-empted, shall be held to have been legally pre-empted and as if the same had been unoccupied , unsurveyed, or unreserved Crown Lands; provided that the requirements of the Acts and Ordinances regulating the pre-emption of land have been otherwise complied with.

70. All sales heretofore made of reserved land shall be held to be valid, and the Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall have power to sell any land heretofor reserved.

71. All roads, other than private roads, shall be deeme common and public highways.

72. Unless otherwise provide for, the soil and freehold of every public highway shall be vested in Her Majesty, Her heirs and successors.

73. It shall be lawful for the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, in his discretion, to make public highways, and to declare the same by notice in the British Columbia Gazette, setting forth the direction and extent of such highways and by himself or his agents to enter and take possession of any private roads and any lands in the Province, and the timber thereon, for the purpose of laying out public roads of any width not exceeding 66 feet, and to vary and alter any existing roads; also to enter and take any gravel, timber, stone, and other materials required for the construction of any bridge or road, and also to enter upon any land for the purpose of cutting any drains that the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works may think necessary.

74. It shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to sell any vacant lands of the Crown, or make free grants thereof, to any person or company, for the purpose of dyeing, draining or irrigating the same, subject to such regulations as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall see fit.

75. It shall be lawful for the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to set apart in each School District in the Province a piece of land not exceeding 160 acres, for School purposes.

Timber in Townships.

76.In the subdivision of townships which may consist partly of prairie and partly of timber land, such of the sections or subdivisions of sections containing Islands, Belts, or other tracts of timber, may be subdivided into such number of wood lots of not less than ten, and not more than twenty acres in each lot, as will afford, so far as the extent of wood land in the township may permit, one such wood lot to each quarter section prairie farm in such township.

77. Provided, that in case an Island or Belt of timber be found in the survey of any township to lie in a quarter section or several quarter sections, but in such manner that no single quarter section shall have more of such timber than twenty-five acres, such timber shall be taken to be appurtenant to such quarter section or quarter sections, and shall not be further divided into wood lots.

78. The Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works or Surveyor-General may require any person holding a claim within thirty days after receiving a notice from the Commissioner so to do, he shall forfeit all right and title at law and in equity to the land claimed by him.

79. The Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works may insert notices in the British Columbia Gazette, requiring all persons from whom the balance of purchase money is due on any lands pre-empted or purchased by them under any Act or Ordinance heretofore passed, or under this Act, to pay tot he Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, within twelve months from the first publication of such notice (and such notice shall be published continuously for such twelve months), the balance remaining unpaid of the purchase money due on such lands; and if, within such twelve months, any person holding land on which the balance of the purchase money is due to the Government and unpaid, shall not pay such balance, the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works may cancel all or any records or agreements concerning such land; and all money paid by him thereon, shall be absolutely forfeited, and he shall have no further right at law or in equity to the land so partially paid for.

80. Nothing herein contained shall exclude Free Miners from entering upon any land in this Province, and searching for and working minerals: Provided, that such Free Miner, prior to so doing, shall give full satisfaction, or adequate security, to the satisfaction of the Commissioner, to the pre-emptor or tenant in fee simple, for any loss or damage he may sustain by reason thereof. If the amount of compensation (if any) cannot be agreed upon, the Stipendiary Magistrate or Gold Commissioner of the District wherein the land lies, with the assistance, if desired by either party, of a jury of five persons to be summoned by him, shall decide the amount thereof, and such decision and award shall be final. If there be no such Stipendiary Magistrate or Gold Commissioner in the said District, the Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction in the matter.

81. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed so as to interfere prejudicially with the rights granted to Free Miners under the "Gold Mining Ordinance, 1867," or any subsequent Acts or Ordinances relating to Gold Mining.

82. The Schedule hereto shall form part of this Act.

83. Each Commissioner appointed under this Act shall keep a book or books, in which he shall enter the date and particulars of every record, certificate of improvement, or other document relating to or in any manner affecting any pre-emption claim within his district.

84. All fines and fees payable under this Act shall be deemed to be made payable to the use if the Crown.

85. Any person who previous to the passing of this Act has acquired a right to any Crown land in this Province (except by purchase) shall, except as herein provided, complete his title thereto under the provisions of the "Land Ordinance, 1870," and the "Land Ordinance Amendment Act, 1873," in the same manner as is the said Acts were in force.

86. This Act may be cited for all purposes as the "Land Act, 1874," but shall not come into force until the Lieutenant-Governor's assent thereto has been proclaimed, by notice, in the British Columbia Gazette.