Forestry Act, 1946

Limited felling licences.

40.—(1) Where—

(a) a prohibition order under the Act of 1928 has been duly served under section 7 of the Act of 1928, or

(b) a prohibition order under this Act has been duly served,

the Minister may, if he thinks fit, either on his own motion or on an application made to him, in the prescribed form and manner, by or on behalf of the owner of the land on which stands the tree to which the order relates, grant to the owner a licence authorising the uprooting or cutting down of the tree, and the authority so conferred shall, unless it is sooner terminated under section 43 of this Act, be exercisable during a period of two years commencing on the date on which the licence is granted.

(2) Where the authority conferred by a limited felling licence is suspended under section 43 of this Act,—

(a) the authority shall not be exercisable during the period of suspension,

(b) if the suspension is removed, the period of suspension shall not be reckoned in computing, for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section, the period during which the authority is exercisable.

(3) Where land has been sold before the 1st day of February, 1946, with a reservation to the vendor of trees standing on the land, subsection (1) of this section shall, in relation to any such tree, the subject of a prohibition order under this Act or a prohibition order under the Act of 1928, have effect as if, for the reference to the owner of the land on which the tree stands, there were substituted a reference to the person who is (by virtue of the said reservation) the owner for the time being of the tree.

(4) Before granting a limited felling licence in relation to a tree standing on land which is for the time being subject to an annuity payable to the Land Commission, the Minister shall have regard to the security for the payment of such annuity.

(5) Where an application duly made for a limited felling licence relates exclusively to one or more exempted trees, the Minister shall not refuse such application.

(6) Where an application duly made for a limited felling licence relates to one or more exempted trees and also to one or more other trees, the Minister shall not refuse so much of such application as relates to an exempted tree or trees.

(7) Whenever the Minister refuses, wholly or in part, an application for a limited felling licence, he shall, if so requested by the applicant, state in writing the ground on which he so refuses the application.