73. In case any Native has died, or shall die, entitled to any estate, share, or interest in any Native land, or Titled land, whether held under Native usage or custom, or in severalty, or as tenant in common or joint tenant, without having made any valid disposition thereof by will, the Commissioner, on the application of any Native claiming to be interested therein, shall inquire and ascertain who ought to succeed to such estate, share, or interest in such Native or Titled lands.

74. The Commissioner shall, by notice, to be published as herein-before provided, appoint a time and place for the hearing of such application.

75. If, on any such hearing, any document purporting to be a will is produced, the Commissioner shall, after proof of death, make the inquiries following:—

(a.)	Whether at the time of executing such document the devisor was in a fit state, mentally or bodily, to make such will?page 52
(b.)	Whether the document was duly attested by two disinterested persons, having no interest directly or indirectly in the real estate thereby intended to be devised?
(c.)	Whether the real estate has been devised out of the right line of descent, according to Maori Usage and Custom, and if there are any children, grandchildren, or great-grand-children of the deceased person living?

76. After the passing of this Act, no document purporting to he a will or devise of the real estate of any Native shall be valid unless

77. In the case of any devise of real estate to a person other than a Native (as the term Native is defined in the interpretation section hereof) the Commissioner having made the inquiries as hereinbefore directed shall order that the person so found to he entitled under the will shall pay to Her Majesty the Queen a duty of ten pounds per centum of the value of the estate so devised to him or her, and such other stamp duty as may be imposed on any will under the provisions of the Stamp Act for the time being in force within the Colony.

78. After making the inquiries hereinbefore required to be made, the Commissioner shall decide thereon.

79. The Commissioner thereupon shall make an order, in duplicate called a Succession Order, which shall be signed by him and sealed in favour of the person or persons found to be entitled to succeed to such Native Land or Titled land, and shall set forth therein the death and if proved the date of the death of the owner, a description of the land and the name and place of abode, and occupation of the person or persons entitled to succeed. If any person found to be entitled to succeed to any share or interest shall be a minor or other person under disability, the Commissioner shall order the estate of such minor or other person under disability to vest in Trustees then to be appointed. The age of such minor, as nearly as it can be ascertained, shall be entered in such Succession Order. A page 53 Succession Order shall be given to each of the persons mentioned therein as Successors, and the duplicate thereof shall be filed of record in the office of the Chief Commissioner, and a copy thereof shall be inscribed in the District and General Register of Titles.

80. The Succession Order so made shall have the same force and effect in favour of the successor as the instrument (if any) under which the deceased Native owner was entitled had in his favour at the time of his decease, and as regards land hold under Crown Grant shall be entitled to registration under the Land Transfer Act, or the Deeds Registration Act, in like manner as a valid will.

81. Whensoever any Native claims to succeed to the estate, share, or interest of any deceased person (which is not the subject of any valid fill), who shall have died possessed of any estate hold under "The East Coast Native Land Act, 1868," and "The East Coast District Land Titles Validation Act, 1871," or any certificate or Crown Grant made under the authority thereof or any other Act referring to Native lands in which the estate created thereby is one of "joint tenancy" and not of "tenancy in common." For the purpose of this Act and notwithstanding any Act now in force, or the making of any such certificate or Crown Grant under the authority thereof, all Native owners of such lands (where the fee simple thereof has not been disposed of by conveyance) shall, after the passing of this Act, be, and be doomed to be, "tenants in common," and shall be entitled to succeed to any real estate as such; and a Succession Order shall be issued to such person or persons as hereinbefore provided; and such order shall s ow on the face thereof that it was made for land the subject of a title in "joint tenancy."

82. If any person shall feel himself aggrieved by any decision of a Commissioner in any matter of succession, he may apply to the Chief Commissioner for a rehearing thereof, which shall" be dealt with in the manner prescribed herein in section 24 in cases of incomplete title. A decision on a rehearing shall be final and conclusive.