NELSON GOVERNMENT GAZETTE. 107

GOLDMINING LEASE REGULATIONS.

1. INTERPRETATION.

Whenever the term "Warden" is used in these Rules or Regulations, it shall be taken to mean Commissioner, Warden, or Resident Magistrate, or any other officer entrusted with the superintendence of the Goldfield, or any portion of it, and holding a commission under the hand of the Governor, duly empowering him to have charge thereof.

2. WHAT LANDS MAY BE LEASED.

Auriferous Crown lands in the Province of Nelson may be leased under these Regulations, except—

(1) The whole or any part of any land which any person other than the applicant is entitled to occupy, and actually does occupy, for mining purposes or for residence, by virtue of a Miner's Right or Business License.

(2) The whole or any part of any land in or over which any person other than the applicant has any interest or authority other than those above-mentioned, which he may lawfully use and exercise for mining purposes, or for discovering the existence of gold or other metal or mineral.

3. BOUNDARIES OF LAND APPLIED FOR TO BE DEFINED.

Persons intending to apply for a lease of auriferous Crown lands shall, previous to making application as hereinafter directed, erect, or cause to be erected at each angle of the land proposed to be leased, a post three inches square, and standing at least three feet in height above the surface of the ground; and such posts shall be maintained at the expense of the applicant until the application shall have been granted or refused by the Governor.

4. MODE OF APPLICATION.

Application shall be made in the form in the Schedule hereunto annexed, marked A, and shall be addressed in duplicate to the Warden of the Goldfield within which the land so applied for is situate.

5. APPLICANT TO MAKE A DEPOSIT, ETC.

At the time of applying for such lease, the applicant must deposit with the Receiver of Gold Revenue a sum equal to one year's rent, not being more than twenty pounds (£20), of the said land so applied for, as a guarantee for the payment of any expenses which may be incurred by the survey of the land applied for, or by reason of any objection to such application being allowed; and such Receiver shall give to the applicant a receipt therefor in the form in the Schedule annexed, marked B, and any surplus will be held for the first year's rent if the application is approved of; and if the application is disallowed or withdrawn, or if the applicant within one month after notice by the Warden that the lease is prepared, shall not accept the same, the amount will be returned to the applicant, after deducting all expenses incurred as aforesaid.

6. OFFICIAL SURVEY.

Upon receipt of such application and deposit, the Warden aforesaid shall, as soon as may be, direct a surveyor to proceed to the land applied for, and to survey the same, and to report as to the area, boundaries, and description thereof, the character of the ground, the 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, 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.

7. SURVEYS MADE AT EXPENSE OF APPLICANT.

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

8. 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.

9. 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 ganted.

10. OBJECTORS TO GIVE NOTICE.

Any person objecting to the issue of a lease so applied for shall, within fourteen 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 with the Receiver of Gold Revenue a sum, to be fixed by the Warden, not exceeding ten nor less than five pounds, and such Receiver 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.