Act No. 1 of 1903
GEORGETOWN SETTLEMENT REVIVAL | |
An Act to
revive an Act entitled "An Act for laying out and establishing a town on
the Island of Exuma". | 1 of 1903 |
[Commencement 11th
May, 1903] |
WHEREAS by an Act
entitled An Act for the laying out and establishing a town on the Island of
Exuma, and passed in the thirty-second year of his late Majesty George III
commissioners were appointed with power to purchase land at Exuma and to lay
out a town to be called Georgetown and to make plans and form lots and make
conveyances of the said lots: | Preamble |
AND WHEREAS the
said land so to be acquired was vested in the said commissioners upon the
trusts in the said Act mentioned: |
AND WHEREAS the
said commissioners acquired the said land and laid out the said town and made
conveyances of the said lots, but are long since defunct and no successors have
been appointed in their place to discharge the trusts of the said Act: |
AND WHEREAS there
now exists no public authority with power to deal with the land so acquired by
the said commissioners, or to grant titles to the unoccupied lots thereof: |
AND WHEREAS it is
desirable that facilities should be given to persons desiring to take up the
said unoccupied lots: |
AND WHEREAS
difficulties have arisen with reference to the titles of persons at present
occupying lots in the land so acquired. |
1. This Act
may be cited as the Georgetown Settlement Revival Act, and the Act which this
Act revives (hereinafter called the principal Act) may be cited as the
Georgetown Settlement Act. | Short title. |
2. (1) Subject
to all rights lawfully acquired and to the possessory rights by this Act hereinafter
recognised the whole of the unallotted portion of the tract of land adjoining
the harbour of Exuma puchased under the principal Act by the commissioners
therein named (hereinafter called the commissioners) shall be vested in the
Crown Lands Officer for The Bahamas for the time being (hereinafter called the
Crown Lands Officer). | Unallotted portion of
certain land adjoining the harbour of Exuma vested in Crown Lands Officer. |
(2) The plan now
in the Crown Lands Officer's office and marked "A plan of Georgetown in
the Island of Great Exuma" together with a copy thereof certified so to be,
under the hand of the Crown Lands Officer, shall be lodged in the Registry of
Records, and shall be endorsed by the Registrar General with a certificate of
the receipt thereof and sealed with his official seal; the said plan shall
thereupon be returned to the Crown Lands Officer and the said copy preserved in
the Registry of Records and in all legal proceedings, the said plan or the said
copy, upon its appearing that the same purports to be duly endorsed and sealed
as aforesaid, shall be sufficient evidence of the extent of the tract of land
acquired by the commissioners. | Plan of Georgetown and a certified copy to be lodged
in the Registry of Records. |
3. The
Crown Lands Officer shall have all the powers, duties and responsibilities of
the commissioners under the principal Act and shall be deemed to be in all
respects the successor to the said commissioners, and (save as hereinafter
provided) all the enactments of the principal Act with reference to all acts to
be done and all powers to be exercised by the said commissioners or a majority
of them shall with the necessary modifications apply to the Crown Lands Officer: | Powers, duties and
responsibilities of Crown Lands Officer. |
Provided that the
Crown Lands Officer shall not exercise any power or perform any duty under this
Act except by the direction or with the approval of the Governor in Council. |
4. Subject
to all rights lawfully acquired the Crown Lands Officer may from time to time
as occasion arises and to such an extent as he in his discretion may think fit
exercise any power and perform any duty conferred or imposed upon the
commissioners by section 4 of the principal Act. | Crown Lands Officer may
exercise powers and perform duties. |
5. The
Crown Lands Officer shall have power to make grants of the lands vested in him
by this Act on the same terms as those on which grants of Crown land are made
in other parts of The Bahamas, and all grants by the Crown Lands Officer shall
with the necessary modifications be in the same form used for grants of Crown
land. | Grants of land, how to be
made. |
6. In any
action or proceeding instituted by the Crown Lands Officer for the recovery of any
land under the powers conferred upon him by this Act the burden of proof shall
be upon the defendant to show that he is lawfully entitled to such land. | Defendant to show that he
is entitled to land. |
7. It shall
not be lawful for the Crown Lands Officer to bring any action or institute any
proceedings for the recovery of land by virtue of the powers conferred upon him
by this Act in any cases where the persons now in occupation of the said land
and the persons through whom they claim have been in undisturbed possession
thereof for a continuous period of ten years prior to the first day of January
one thousand nine hundred and three. | Undisturbed possession for
ten years to bar action for recovery of land. |
8. All sums
received by the Crown Lands Officer under this Act shall be paid into the
Treasury to the credit of a special fund and shall be expended in aid of public
works to be executed upon the Island of Exuma in such a manner as may be
directed by any Act. | Disposition of monies
received. |