NELSON SOUTH-WEST GOLD-FIELDS. 25

likelihood of any river, creek, or permanent water spring, or artificial reservoir which may be included within the boundaries of the said land, being required for, or the feasibility of the same being applied to public purposes, or for the use of the miners of the district generally; and also as to any claims of prior occupancy which shall come to his knowledge, inquiry as to which it shall be his duty to make while making the said survey; and to furnish a plan of such land, on a scale of sixteen inches to the mile, together with a tracing of so much of the general map of the district as will be sufficient to connect the particular area applied for with at least one trigonometrical station, or, in the absence of any such, with some fixed point.

8. SURVEYS MADE AT EXPENSE OF APPLICANT.

All surveys shall be made at the expense of the applicant.

9. SURVEYOR TO AFFIX NOTICE.

The surveyor shall, at the time of making the survey hereinbefore directed, place a notice in the form in Schedule hereunto annexed, marked C, in some conspicuous place on the ground, and shall post a copy of such notice on the outside of the Warden's office.

10. PRIORITY OF APPLICATION.

In the event of more than one application being made for the same land, or any part thereof, such one of such applications as shall have been first left with the Warden shall be first considered; and in case any two or more of such applications shall be left with the Warden at the same time, it shall be in the discretion of the Governor to which of the applicants the lease shall be granted.

11. OBJECTORS TO GIVE NOTICE.

Any person objecting to the issue of a lease so applied for shall, within twenty-one days after the posting of the notice by the Surveyor, forward to the Warden full notice of all such objections, and shall (except in cases of encroachment) deposit a sum to be fixed by the Warden, not exceeding ten nor less than five pounds, and such Warden shall give to the person making such deposit a receipt in the form in the schedule annexed, marked D, as security for the due prosecution of his objections, and in satisfaction of any expense to which the applicant may be put by such objections if disallowed; and if such objections should not be prosecuted or should fail, so much of such deposit shall be handed over to the applicant as may be necessary to repay the expenses of such applicant, and the balance (if any) shall be refunded to the person so objecting.

12. CASES OF ENCROACHMENT.

When applications shall have been made for a lease of any land, to the whole or any part of which any person other than the applicant shall claim to be entitled by virtue of prior occupation under a Miner's Right or Business License, the objection to the granting of such lease may be heard by the Warden in the same way as a case of encroachment under the Gold-Fields Act, and such Warden shall immediately report the hearing of any such objection, and the decision arrived at therein, to the Superintendent of the province.

13. INQUIRY INTO APPLICATION.

After the expiration of twenty-one days allowed for objections, the Warden shall appoint a time and place for holding an inquiry into the truth of the particulars alleged by the applicant, and of the objections (if any) made by each objector, and two clear days' notice of the hearing of such inquiry shall be given to each of the parties interested therein.

14. PROCEEDINGS AT INQUIRY.

At such inquiry, the Warden shall take evidence in relation to the application and objections, and immediately thereafter he shall forward to the office of the Provincial Secretary the application and objections (if any) thereto, and the evidence taken by him as aforesaid, with his opinion thereon, together with the report, plan, and tracing furnished by him to the Surveyor as hereinbefore directed.

15. LEASES ISSUED AFTER TIME PRESCRIBED.

The Governor shall, if he shall think fit, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Nelson, issue to any applicant a lease of land for, or any part thereof, after the time prescribed by the 29th Clause of "The Gold-Fields Act Amendment Act, 1865," viz.,