LAND ACT 1958 - SECT 353 Exemption of portion of certain half-yearly payments of rent if portion of mountainous land under clean grass or cultivation

LAND ACT 1958 - SECT 353

S. 353(1) amended by No. 7228 s. 7(Sch. 4 Pt 19(lc)).

    (1)     If on or before the due date of any half-yearly payment of rent a lessee or selection purchase lessee of any Crown land (except land acquired and taken by or for the Crown by purchase or otherwise) situate in the parishes set forth in the Fourteenth Schedule to this Act (which land is hereinafter referred to as "mountainous land") makes application to the Minister for the exemption provided for in this section and proves to the satisfaction of the Minister that he has reduced an area of not less than one-tenth of such land to clean grass or cultivation he may be granted an exemption from the payment of such a proportionate part as the Minister thinks fit of the next ensuing two half-yearly payments of rent in respect of the portion of the land which in the opinion of the Minister has been reduced to clean grass or cultivation.

S. 353(2) amended by No. 7228 s. 7(Sch. 4 Pt 19(lc)).

    (2)     Upon any renewed application from time to time by the said lessee or selection purchase lessee in respect of the said portion or any additional portion on or before the due date of any half-yearly payment of rent he may, on satisfying the Minister that the said first-mentioned portion continues to be properly grassed or cultivated and that the additional portion (if any) of the area of such land has been reduced to clean grass or cultivation, be granted a proportionate exemption from the payment of the next ensuing two half‑yearly payments of rent in respect of the said first‑mentioned portion and additional portion (if any) reduced in the opinion of the Minister to clean grass or cultivation.

S. 353(3) amended by No. 7228 s. 7(Sch. 4 Pt 19(lc)).

    (3)     If any such lessee or selection purchase lessee of mountainous land proves to the satisfaction of the Minister—

        (a)     that four-fifths of the area of his land has been reduced to and for a continuous period of ten years kept in clean grass or under cultivation or both in sequence;

        (b)     that all fees and all half-yearly payments of rent not exempted by this section have been paid; and

        (c)     that all other conditions of his lease or selection purchase lease have been complied with—

he shall be entitled to apply for and obtain from the Governor in Council a Crown grant of such land.

    (4)     No exemption from any such payments shall be granted under this section in respect of any portion which was under grass or cultivation before the first day of March One thousand nine hundred and nineteen except in cases where the benefits to such portion from being under grass or cultivation has substantially disappeared or no longer exists.

S. 353(5) amended by Nos 55/1987 s. 57(3)(Sch. 5 item 34), 52/1998

s. 311(Sch. 1 item 46), 13/2019 s. 221(Sch.  1 item 25.3).

    (5)     References in this section to a lessee or selection purchase lessee shall be deemed and taken to include references (where the case so requires) to his executors or administrators or to his trustee assignee or receiver in bankruptcy or (if the lessee or selection purchase lessee is a represented person) to the guardian or administrator appointed in a guardianship order or an administration order made under the Guardianship and Administration Act 2019 .

    (6)     The Governor in Council may from time to time by proclamation published in the Government Gazette amend the Fourteenth Schedule to this Act by adding thereto—

        (a)     the name of any other parish in any county mentioned therein; or

        (b)     additional paragraphs containing the names of any parishes in any other counties—

and the said Fourteenth Schedule so amended shall have the same force and effect as if such amendment had been enacted in the said Act.

    (7)     A copy of every proclamation made under this section shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament as soon as may be after it is made.

No. 3709 s. 309.