Amends sec. 9.

Jury de med. ling. abolished.

Form of affirmation for certain persons.

Peremptory challenge.

Right of Crown to

In sub-section (2) by inserting the words "in civil cases, and twenty dollars in criminal cases between "dollars" and "for" in line one: In sub-section (3) by inserting the words "in civil cases, and fortyeight dollars in criminal cases" between "dollars" and "for" in line one; and by adding to the said sub-section (3) the words "and if the trial lasts more than one day, then upon the opening of the Court, upon each day of such trial, the further sum of thirty-two dollars in civil cases, and forty-eight dollars in criminal cases.”

7. Sub-section (16) of section 9 of the "Jurors' Act" is hereby amended by striking out the word "city," and inserting at the end of clause, "of any municipality."

8. And whereas it is expedient to make certain provisions applicable to criminal cases in relation to juries:

Therefore, be it enacted that no alien shall be entitled to be tried by a jury de medietate linguæ, but shall be tried as if he was a natural born subject.

9. Any Quaker or other person allowed by law to affirm, instead of swearing, in civil cases, or solemnly declaring that the taking of any oath is, according to his religious belief, unlawful, who is summoned as a grand or petit juror in any criminal case, shall, instead of being sworn in the usual form, be permitted to make a solemn affirmation, beginning with the words following:-"I, A. B., do solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm," and then may serve as a juror as if he had been sworn, and his declaration or affirmation shall have the same effect as an oath to the like effect; and in any record or proceeding relating to the case, it may be stated that the jurors were sworn or affirmed; and in any indictment the words "upon their oath present" shall be understood to include the affirmation of any juror affirming instead of swearing.

10. If any person arraigned for treason or felony challenges peremptorily a greater number of persons returned to be of the jury than twenty, in a case of indictment for treason or felony punishable with death, or twelve in a case of indictment for any other felony, or four in a case of indictment for misdemeanor, every peremptory challenge beyond the number so allowed in the said cases respectively shalbe void, and the trial of such person shall proceed as if no such chall lenge had been made; but nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the challenge of any number of jurors for cause.

11. In all criminal trials, four jurors may be peremptorily chalmake juror stand aside until panel lenged on the part of the Crown; but this shall not be construed to gone through. affect the right of the Crown to cause any juror to stand aside until the panel has been gone through, or to challenge any number of jurors for cause.

be exercised.

12. The right of the Crown to cause any juror to stand aside until When right may not the panel has been gone through, shall not be exercised on the trial of any indictment or information by a private prosecutor for the publication of a defamatory libel.

exhausted.

13. Whenever in any criminal case the panel has been exhausted When panel has been by challenge, or by default of jurors by non-attendance, or not answering when called, or from any other cause, and a complete jury for the trial of such case cannot be had by reason thereof, then, upon request made on behalf of the Crown, the Court may, in its discretion, order the Sheriff or other proper officer forthwith to summon such number of good men of the district, county, or place, whether on the roll of jurors or otherwise qualified as jurors or not, as the Court deems necessary and directs, in order to make up a full jury.

(1.) Such Sheriff or officer shall forthwith summon, by word of mouth or in writing, the number of persons he is so required to summon, and add their names to the general panel of jurors returned to serve at that Court, and, subject to the right of the Crown and of the accused respectively as to challenge or direction to stand aside, the persons whose names are so added to the panel shall, whether otherwise qualified or not, be deemed duly qualified as jurors in the case, and so until a complete jury is obtained, and the trial shall then proceed as if such jurors were originally returned duly and regularly on the panel; and if, before such order, one or more persons have been sworn or admitted unchallenged on the jury, he or they may be retained on the jury, or the jury may be discharged, as the Courts directs:

(2.) Every person so summoned as a juror shall forthwith attend and act in obedience to the summons, and if he makes default shall be punishable in like manner as a juror summoned in the usual way; and such jurors so newly summoned shall be added to the panel for such case only.

14. In all criminal cases, less than felony, the jury may, in the Jury may separate in discretion of the Court, and under its direction as to the conditions, some cases. mode, and time, be allowed to separate during the progress of the

trial.

15. Nothing in this Act shall alter, abridge, or affect any power or Effect of this Act on authority which any Court or Judge has when this Act takes effect, authority of Court or Judge. or any practice or form in regard to trials by jury, jury process, juries, or jurors, except in cases where such power or authority is expressly altered by, or is inconsistent with, the provisions of this Act.

VICTORIA, B. C.:

Printed by RICHARD WOLFENDEN, Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty.

H

ER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1. Section 14 of the "Land Act," and section 1 of the "Land Act Repeals sec. 14, and substitutes: Amendment Act, 1890," are hereby repealed, and the following section

tion.

"14. The occupation in this Act required shall mean a continuous Meaning of occupabonâ fide personal residence of the pre-emptor, or of his family, on the land recorded by him."

2. Section 15 of the "Land Act" is hereby amended by striking Amends sec. 15. out the words "agent and" contained in the first line thereof.

3. Section 16 of the "Land Act" is hereby amended by striking Amends sec. 16. out the word "four" in the third line, and by substituting the word "six " therefor.

4. Section 29 of the "Land Act" is hereby repealed and the follow- Repeals sec. 29, and ing is substituted in lieu thereof :

substitutes:

"29. Every person desiring to purchase unsurveyed, unoccupied, and What must be done unreserved Crown lands shall give two months' notice of his intended purchase unsurveyed by person desiring to application to purchase, by a notice inserted, at the a notice inserted, at the expense of the lands. applicant, in the British Columbia Gazette, and in any newspaper circulating in the district wherein such land lies; such notice shall not include a greater area of land than six hundred and forty acres, and shall state the name of the applicant, the locality, boundaries, and extent of the land applied for; such notice shall be dated, and shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the land sought to be acquired, and

Surveyor to classify lands.

What kind of land each class shall consist of.

on the Government Office, if any, in the district. He shall also place at one 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; and upon such initial post he shall inscribe his name, and the angle represented thereby, thus: "A. B.'s N. E. corner," (meaning North-East corner), or as the case may be. Except such initial post is so planted before the above notice is given all the proceedings taken by the applicant shall be void. He shall also deposit ten per cent. of the purchase money with the Commissioner, together with his application to purchase, within ninety days from the date of the publication of his notice in the British Columbia Gazette, and he shall have the land required surveyed, at his own cost, by a duly authorized Provincial Land 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 be 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 wherever possible the said survey shall be connected with some known point in previous surveys, or with some other known point or boundary:

(1.) It shall be the duty of the Surveyor to classify the lands so surveyed as first class, second class, or third class lands, adopting for the purposes of such classification the distinctions contained in the next ensuing sub-section, and he shall make full and accurate fieldnotes of his survey, and upon completion of the survey shall file such notes and a report of his survey in the office of the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, accompanied by a statutory declaration verifying such notes, and showing the area of first class, second class, or third class lands which are embraced by such survey:

(2.) Lands which are suitable for agricultural purposes, or which are capable of being brought under cultivation profitably, or which contain timber suitable for lumbering purposes, (i. e., lands which contain milling timber to the average extent of five thousand feet per acre to each one hundred and sixty acres), or which are wild hay meadow lands, shall rank as and be considered to be first class lands. Lands which are suitable for agricultural purposes only when artificially irrigated, and which do not contain timber valuable for lumbering purposes, as defined above, shall rank as and be considered to be second class lands. Mountainous and rocky tracts of land which are wholly unfit for agricultural purposes, and which cannot, under any reasonable conditions, be brought under cultivation, and which do not contain timber suitable for lumbering purposes, as defined above, or hay meadows, shall rank as and be considered to be third class or pastoral lands.