Reserves Act 1977

4

(of the Conservation Act 1987)

Act to give effect to Treaty of Waitangi

This Act shall so be interpreted and administered as to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

[note: this section applies to the Reserves Act 1977]

10

Delegation of Minister's powers

(1)      The Minister may from time to time delegate any of his powers and functions under this Act (not being the power to approve any bylaw)   to any ... local authority... either as to matters within his jurisdiction generally, or in any particular case or matter, or any particular class of cases or matters, or in respect of any reserve or reserves.

...

(3)        Subject to any general or special directions given by the Minister, any person, committee, body, local authority, organisation, or officer to which or to whom any powers have been so delegated may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been directly conferred on that person, committee, body, local authority, organisation, or officer by this Act and not by delegation.

(4)        Every person, committee, body, local authority, organisation, or officer purporting to act under any delegation under this section shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be acting within the terms of the delegation.

(5)        Any such delegation may at any time be revoked by the Minister in whole or in any part, but that revocation shall not affect in any way anything done under the delegated authority.

(6)        No such delegation shall prevent the exercise by the Minister himself of any of the powers and functions conferred on him by this Act.

12

Minister's powers

(1)        Where the Minister considers that any private land or any interest in or over private land or any interest in a Crown lease should be acquired by the Crown for the purposes of a reserve or for the improvement, protection, or extension of or access to an existing reserve, or to establish a public right to wander at will on foot within specified limits in any reserve, or to provide recreational tracks in the countryside,—

(a)        the Minister may, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty, treat and agree for the purchase or taking on lease of the land or any interest therein or the acceptance of the land or interest therein as a gift, and for any such purpose enter into any contract he thinks fit; or

(b)       the land or interest therein (other than a public right to wander therein) may be taken or otherwise acquired under the Public Works Act 1981;

provided that no Māori land or interest in Māori land may be taken under this paragraph without the consent of the Minister of Māori Affairs;

provided also that, notwithstanding anything in subsection (2) of section 23 of the Public Works Act 1981, where any Māori land in multiple ownership is proposed to be taken under the Public Works Act 1981 for the purposes of a reserve and the title to the land is not registered under the Land Transfer Act 1952, a copy of the notice and description referred to in subsection (1) of the said section 23 shall be served on the Registrar of the Māori Land Court in accordance with Part 10 of Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993, and the provisions of that Part shall apply accordingly.

...

25

Effect of revocation of reserve or change of classification or purpose

...

(3)        Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) or subsection (2), where any land the reservation of which is revoked had been transferred to the Crown by way of gift for the purposes of a reserve, the following provisions shall apply:

(a)        the case of land that immediately before its transfer to the Crown was Māori land, the Minister, unless he considers it would not be in the public interest, shall offer the land, on such terms and conditions as he thinks fit, to the former owner or, if he is deceased, to his descendants, those descendants being as determined by order of the Māori Land Court:

(b)       in the case of any other land, the Minister, unless he considers it would not be in the public interest, shall offer the land, on such terms and conditions as he thinks fit, to the former owner or, if he is deceased, to his personal representative.

...

46

Grant of rights to Māoris

(1)      The Minister may from time to time, by notice in the Gazette, grant to Māoris the right to take or kill birds within any scenic reserve which immediately before the reservation or taking thereof was Māori land, provided the taking and killing of the birds would not be in contravention of the Wildlife Act 1953 or any regulations or Proclamation or notification under that Act.

(2)        Where any scenic or historic reserve includes any ancestral burial grounds of Māoris, the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, grant the right to bury or inter the remains of deceased Māoris in a place to be specified therein.

(3)        Any rights so granted may at any time in like manner be withdrawn or varied by the Minister.

77A

Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata

(1)        Notwithstanding any enactment or rule of law,—

(a)        if satisfied that any Māori land or Crown land held under a Crown lease by Māori should be managed so as to preserve and protect—

(i)         the natural environment, landscape amenity, wildlife or freshwater-life or marine-life habitat, or historical value of the land; or

(ii)        the spiritual and cultural values which Māori associate with the land,—

the Minister may, subject to subsection (2), treat and agree with the owner or the lessee for a Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata to provide for the management of the land in a manner that will achieve those purposes;

(b)       a Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata under this section may be in perpetuity or for any specific term or may be in perpetuity subject to a condition that at agreed intervals of not less than 25 years the parties to the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata shall review the objectives, conditions, and continuance of the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata; and on such review the parties may mutually agree that the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata shall be terminated, or the owner or lessee may terminate the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata on giving such notice (being not less than 6 months) as may be agreed. The Crown shall have regard to the manawhenua of the owner or lessee in any such review;

(c)        while any Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata under this section remains in force, sections 93 to 105, as far as they are applicable and with the necessary modifications, but subject to the terms of the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata, shall apply to the land affected thereby in all respects as if it were a reserve, notwithstanding that the land or the interest of the lessee may be sold or otherwise disposed of;

(d)       every such Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata shall run with and bind the land that is subject to the burden of the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata, and shall be deemed to be an interest in land for the purposes of the Land Transfer Act 1952;

(e)        where a Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata is entered into under this section, the District Land Registrar of the land registration district affected, on the application of the Commissioner, shall, without fee, enter in the appropriate folio of the register relating to the land that is subject to the burden of the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata a notification thereof;

(f)        subject to sections 78, 82, 83, 84, 89, 90, 95, 105, and 110, any money payable as consideration for a Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata shall be paid out of money appropriated by Parliament; and references in those provisions to a conservation covenant shall be read as references to a Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata.

(2)        In the case of a Crown lease other than a lease administered by the Department of Conservation, the consent of the Minister of Lands shall be required before a Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata is entered into, and that Minister may give consent subject to the inclusion of any condition in the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata or conditions, and may agree to a reduction in rent if, having regard to the basis for fixing the rent, it appears fair and equitable to do so.

(3)        In the case of a Crown lease administered by the Department of Conservation, the Minister may agree to a reduction in rent if, having regard to the basis for fixing the rent, it appears fair and equitable to do so.

(4)        Where the burden of a Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata under this section applies to land comprising part of the land in a certificate or instrument of title, a District Land Registrar shall not enter in any register a notification of the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata unless—

(a)        the land to which the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata relates is defined on an existing plan approved under the Land Transfer Act 1952 or a new plan approved under that Act; or

(b)       the document incorporating the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata is accompanied by a certificate given by the Surveyor-General, or the Chief Surveyor of the land district in which the land is situated, to the effect that the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata is adequately described and properly defined—

(i)         for the nature of the Nga Whenua Rahui kawenata; and

(ii)        in relation to existing surveys made in accordance with regulations for the time being in force for the purpose; and

(iii)       in accordance with standards agreed from time to time by the Director-General and either the Surveyor-General or Chief Surveyor, as the case may be.

86

Payment of rates on Māori reservations

Where—

(a)        pursuant to subsection (12) of section 439 of the Māori Affairs Act 1953 (as added by section 11(2) of the Māori Purposes Act 1972), the notice constituting a Māori reservation under the said section 439 specifies that the reservation shall be held for the common use and benefit of the people of New Zealand; and

(b)        pursuant to subsection (7) of that section, the Māori Land Court has vested the reservation in a body corporate or in trustees to hold and administer the reservation—

the Minister may, by agreement with the body corporate or the trustees, contribute towards the payment, out of money appropriated by Parliament for the purpose, of the whole or part of any rates from time to time levied on the land.