248. THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

£4,000 REWARD.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 13th September, 1861.

THE Government of New Zealand is pre-
pared, subject to the undermentioned
conditions, to give rewards to the amount of
£4,000 for the discovery of efficient means
for rendering the Flax, and other fibrous
plants of New Zealand, available as articles
of export, viz.:-

£2,000
To the person who shall, by some process
of his own invention, first produce from the
Phormium Tenax, or other fibrous plant
indigenous to New Zealand, forty tons of
Merchandize.

£1,000
To any person, other than the person
entitled to the first reward, who shall, by
some process of his own invention, next
produce from the Phormium Tenax, or other
fibrous plant indigenous to New Zealand,
forty tons of Merchandize.

£1,000
Viz.:-£200 to any person, not exceeding
five in all, other than those entitled to the
first and second rewards, who shall, by any
process, whether of his own invention or not
produce from the Phormium Tenax, or other
fibrous plant indigenous to New Zealand,
twenty tons of Merchandize.

Every claim for the above rewards must
be preferred before the 1st January, 1864.

The Merchandize must be saleable as an
article of Export from the Colony of New
Zealand, and have been produced at a cost not
exceeding 75 per cent. of its value at the Port
of Entry from which it is exported; and the
process used must be fully made known, with
a view to the discovery being at once made
available to the public.

His Excellency the Governor of New
Zealand will from time to time appoint
Commissions, to consist of not less than three
persons, to act at such places as circumstances
may require, and each claim for reward will
be referred to such Commission as may be
considered the most convenient for its proper
investigation. The acts of the majority will
be deemed the acts of the Commission.

Each Commission shall be at liberty to
adopt such means as it may deem most fit
for determining the value and cost of produc-
tion of the Merchandize, for ascertaining the
process employed, and for fully investigating
in all respects and reporting upon the vali-
dity of any claim.

Every competitor wishing to have flax
inspected must apply to the Collector of
Customs at the nearest Port, who shall
forthwith give notice to the Commissioners
acting for the particular locality, who shall
forthwith appoint some convenient time and
place for the inspection, and communicate
the same in writing to the competitor. Any
competitor may exhibit to the Commissioners
any quantity of flax not less than five tons at
a time.

For each quantity inspected and approved
by the Commissioners they shall give the
competitor a certificate signed by a majority
of them, a duplicate of which must be
forthwith deposited at the Collector's Office,
at the nearest Custom House.

When the total quantity shall have been in-
spected by instalments and more than one cer-
tificate is given to a claimant, then each certifi-
cate after the first shall state in words the quan-
tity already passed and approved on behalf
of the same competitor. Whenever the
quantity approved of on behalf of any one
competitor amounts to forty tons, the Com-
missioners shall certify in words at length
the date on which the full quantity was
passed, and the name of the competitor,
which certificate they shall immediately
deposit with the Colonial Secretary, keeping
one copy for themselves, and giving the
competitor one. The date of such certificate
shall be deemed the day on which the
claimant produced the forty tons of mer-
chandise required.

Whenever any quantity of flax is brought
for inspection, satisfactory proof will have
to be given to the Commissioners that no
part of the flax has been already in-
spected by them.

One half of the reward will be paid at
once to any person whom the Governor, on
the report of a Commission, shall declare in
writing to be entitled to the same, after
which no other claim to a reward of the
same class will be entertained; and the other
half of such reward will be paid upon satis-
factory proof being given to the Governor,
or his appointee in London, of the bona fide
sale of twenty tons of the merchandise in
Europe, at an advance of not less than
twenty per cent. upon the actual cost of the
article landed in Europe.

All costs and expenses connected with the
carriage to or removal from the place of
inspection of any flax offered for inspection,
and all other expenses, if any, connected
therewith, to be borne by the competitor.

WILLIAM FOX.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 13th September, 1861.

THE following Supplementary Instructions
(received from Her Majesty's Principal
Secretary of State for the Colonies), which
have been issued by the Marine Department
of the Board of Trade to Officers in British
Possessions abroad, relative to the mode to be
adopted for disposing in the most advantageous
manner of the Wages and Effects of deceased
Seamen, are published for general information.

WILLIAM FOX.