Auckland Provincial Government Gazette. 533

Injuries to Claims.

16. No person shall remove, injure, destroy, or deface any posts, pegs, logs, fence, notice, or any mining plant of any description, or interfere with any mark or boundary, without permission of the owner of the claim on which the same is situated.

Notice before Blasting.

17. Five minutes previous to the discharge of any blast of gunpowder, or other explosive substance, within fifty feet from the surface of the ground, due notice of such intended discharge shall be given by the persons preparing the same to all other persons working, residing or passing, within a distance of one hundred yards from the place of such discharge. When any road or footpath passes through any such claim, a red flag, not less than one foot square, shall be exhibited at each extremity of the intersection of the claim by such road or footpath for five minutes before the discharge.

Prevention of Accidents.

18. Any person who may sink a shaft, or make an excavation on his claim, shall substantially fence in, to the satisfaction of the Mining Inspector, such shaft or excavation to the height of at least four feet, and maintain the same during the occupancy of such claim, and shall leave it so fenced on relinquishment or abandonment of the claim. Where from the nature of the ground it is impossible to prevent the descent of rocks, boulders, stones, earth, or other heavy substances when disturbed by working, it shall not be lawful to mine on such claim, unless notice boards with the words “Danger from Stones,” in letters not less than four inches in length, painted thereon, shall be placed at intervals of ten yards along any line of road or footpath near to the place where such rock, stone, or heavy substance is likely to fall.

19. No person shall remove any props or timber, the removal of which may endanger life or injure the workings of any claim, and no person shall draw slabs or timber out of any shaft without filling in such shaft as timber is removed.

Amalgamation.

20. The owners of any number of adjoining claims not being licensed holdings may amalgamate the same, provided the area of such amalgamated claim shall not exceed thirty acres. Such owners desiring amalgamation shall sign in duplicate a writing in the form in the Schedule hereto appended, marked E, and deposit the same in the office of the Mining Registrar, who shall return one of such writings, sealed with the seal of the office, to the parties, and thereon the several claims mentioned in such writing shall be amalgamated, and thenceforth be held and worked as one claim.

Rent to be returned if License refused.

21. A deposit paid in respect of rent upon any application for license under section thirty-nine of the Act, shall be returned to the applicant if the license shall be refused by the Warden, but no such deposit shall be returned upon the withdrawal of any such application for license; provided that if previous to the advertised day for granting such license the applicant shall desire to withdraw any such application for the purpose of immediately making another application for a license to include the same and other ground, he may be permitted to do so, subject to such reduction as rental for occupation as in the opinion of the Warden the circumstances may require: and the balance of such deposit so paid in respect of rent upon the previous application, shall then be retained by the Receiver of Revenue in part payment of the deposit required to be made under such new application.

Tunnelling.

22. The owner of any claim who shall desire to make, or to use any already made, level, adit, drive or tunnel through other Crown lands, whether held as claims or not, shall apply to the Warden, in writing, in the form hereto appended marked Schedule F, who, upon hearing all parties, may make such order as to him shall seem just, and may grant to the applicant a certificate in the form hereto appended marked Schedule G, with conditions prescribing the mode in and the terms on which such level, adit, drive or tunnel may be made or used, and the Warden shall fix the compensation, if any, to be paid to any person who may be injured thereby. In making any such application, it shall be the duty of the applicant to satisfy the Warden that all parties affected thereby have received due notice of the same.

Debris.

23. The owner of any claim who shall be unable to discharge the debris from his workings upon his own ground may, on application to the Warden in the form hereunto annexed, marked Schedule H, obtain authority to discharge the same upon or convey the same over any adjacent claim or claims or unoccupied ground, with permission to occupy thereon sufficient space for the discharge of such debris, provided such discharge, conveyance, or occupation does not interfere with the working of such adjacent claim or claims; and it shall be the duty of the applicant to satisfy the Warden that all parties likely to be affected thereby have received due notice of such application, and if there be no valid objection thereto, the Warden may grant such authority in the form hereto annexed, marked Schedule I, with such conditions as he may think fit.

Protection of Claims.

24. Permission to hold a claim unworked, as provided in Section sixty-one of the Act, shall be applied for in the form hereto annexed, marked Schedule K.

25. The Warden may grant permission to any person wishing to retain possession of quartz or other auriferous substances, to have the same protected for a period not exceeding six months, provided that such substance is properly stacked, and that a board with the owner’s name, address, and date of stacking legibly written or painted thereon, be posted close to such stack.

Notice of Protection to be posted on claims.

26. On all protected claims there shall be erected in some conspicuous place near the entrance to the workings thereof, a board not less than nine inches square, standing at least five feet above the ground, with the word “Protected” and the number of the protection certificate legibly painted or marked thereon.

Notices of Forfeiture by Inspector.

27. All notices of liability to forfeiture required to be given by the Inspector under Section ninety-two of the Act in respect of any licensed holding, water-race, dam, or reservoir, shall be in the form hereto appended, marked Schedule M, or to the like effect, and when any rights under a machine, business, or