July 30.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1203

Bonuses for Encouragement of New Zealand Hemp (Phormium tenax) Industry.—Notice No. 430.

Department of Agriculture,
Wellington, 1st November, 1895.

Bonus No. 1.

A BONUS of £1,750 is offered for a machine or process for dressing New Zealand hemp (Phormium tenax) which shall be an improvement on the machines or processes now in use, and which shall, after trial, be found to materially reduce the cost of production, improve the product, or increase the quantity of dressed fibre.

The following are the conditions:—

1. All applications for the bonus must be sent addressed to the Hon. the Minister for Agriculture, Wellington, and must reach him not later than the 31st March, 1897. Each application must be accompanied by a description of the machine or process, particularly stating improvements on present machines or processes, and also the cost at which the machine or process can be supplied.

2. The applicants must be prepared to submit their machines or processes to examination at such time and place as the Government may direct.

3. The Government shall appoint a committee of three or more experts, to whom all applications shall be submitted. Such committee shall, after perusal, state what machines or processes they deem worthy of consideration, and may inspect the same at any place within the colony; and, having so inspected the whole or any of them, may direct that the whole or any of them be brought for further trial to such place as they may think fit.

The cost of bringing the machines or appliances on to the ground, from within the colony, supplying the necessary shafting, motive-power, and buildings, to be defrayed by the Government. If any machine sent from beyond the colony is awarded the bonus or part thereof, then the cost of bringing such machine shall be borne by the Government.

The following shall be the basis of the test:—

The committee shall supply a sufficient and equal quantity of green hemp to each machine or process as a test.

The committee shall take into consideration—

The time occupied by each machine or process in the operation;

The cost of labour and time required after the fibre has left the machine or process before it is ready for baling;

The percentage of dressed fibre and tow produced by each machine or process;

The cost of producing the same;

The cost of the machine, and the simplicity and durability of the working parts.

On completion of the tests the committee shall furnish a report to the Minister on all the machines or processes which they have examined or tested, and shall state,—

(1.) The machine or process which they consider on the whole the most efficient and economic.

(2.) Whether they consider that any machine or process tested so materially reduces the cost of production, or improves the product, as to be worthy of the whole bonus or of a part only.

(3.) Whether, in the event of no one machine or process being entitled to the whole bonus, they deem any machine or process worthy of a part of the bonus, and, if so, how much.

Bonus No. 2.

A bonus of £250 is offered for a process of utilising the waste products of the hemp.

The first three conditions of Bonus No. 1 to apply to this also.

The committee shall supply a sufficient and equal quantity of the waste products to each process as a test.

On completion of the tests the committee shall report to the Minister, and shall give the following particulars of each process: (a.) The nature of the article made. (b.) The quantity produced, and the cost of production. (c.) The value of the product. (d.) Whether any of the processes are of sufficient importance to warrant the Minister in giving (1) the whole, or (2) any part, of the bonus; (3) if a part only, how much.

JOHN McKENZIE,
Minister for Agriculture.

Bonus for the Manufacture of Potassium Cyanide.

Department of Industries and Commerce,
Wellington, 17th January, 1895.

NOTICE is hereby given that a bonus of £1,000 will be paid for the erection of a plant and the manufacture in New Zealand of the first 200 tons of crude cyanide of potassium from colonial produce.

1. The plant must be capable of producing at least 70 tons of crude cyanide of potassium annually.

2. The crude cyanide of potassium so manufactured shall contain at least 70 per cent. of potassium cyanide.

3. The bonus will be paid in two equal instalments, the first instalment being payable on the production of the first 100 tons, and the second instalment on the production of the second 100 tons, of crude cyanide of potassium containing the required percentage of potassium cyanide.

4. On the completion of the plant, notice in writing must be sent to the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Wellington, who will appoint an officer to inspect the same, together with the raw material then available from which the cyanide of potassium is proposed to be manufactured.

5. The officer so appointed shall from time to time inspect the process of manufacture, in order that he may satisfy himself that the whole of the cyanide of potassium is being manufactured from material of New Zealand production; and before any bonus is paid such officer will be required to certify that he is satisfied the crude cyanide of potassium is the product of New Zealand material only, and that it contains the required percentage of potassium cyanide.

6. The bonus must be claimed for the first 100 tons on or before the 31st March, 1897, and for the second 100 tons on or before the 30th September, 1898.

J. G. WARD.

Applications for Position of Inspecting Engineer.

Mines Department,
Wellington, 9th July, 1896.

WRITTEN applications, stating qualifications, and accompanied by testimonials, will be received at this office up to Monday, the 17th of August next, for the position of Inspecting Engineer to the Mines Department, at a salary of £450 a year, and an allowance of 12s. 6d. a day while absent from Wellington on the public service, to cover all expenses excepting steamboat-, railway-, and coach-fares and horse-hire, the cost of which will be paid by the department.

The person to be appointed must be qualified to hold a first-class certificate as a mine-manager under “The Mining Act, 1891,” and the amendments thereto, and also under “The Coal-mines Act, 1891.” He will also be required to visit the mining centres throughout the colony as well as the various coal-mines, and to prepare an annual report thereon for the General Assembly. The Inspecting Engineer must also report on applications for assistance towards the construction of roads, tracks, and bridges in mining districts, for subsidies towards prospecting, the construction of mining works such as water-races, dams, reservoirs, &c., and, under the direction of the Minister of Mines, take general control of all works towards the cost of which money is contributed by the Mines Department from votes provided by the Legislature.

A. J. CADMAN,
Minister of Mines.

Bonus for the Production of Quicksilver.

Mines Office,
Wellington, 19th September, 1895.

NOTICE is hereby given that a bonus of fourpence (4d.) per pound will be paid on the production of the first one hundred thousand pounds weight (100,000lb.) of good marketable retorted quicksilver, free from all impurities, from any mine in New Zealand, on the following conditions, that is to say:—

1. That at least one-third of the quantity is produced on or before the 31st March, 1897, and the remaining two-thirds on or before the 31st March, 1899.

2. No bonus will be payable until the whole of the one hundred thousand pounds (100,000lb.) of quicksilver has been produced as stipulated to the satisfaction of an officer to be appointed by the Minister of Mines, and on whose certificate alone the bonus will be paid.

3. In the event of more than one person producing the required quantities of quicksilver before the dates named, inquiry will be made by the officer above referred to, when, if it is found that each applicant is equally entitled to a bonus, the amount will be divided in proportion to the quantities produced by each applicant, but in no case shall any bonus be paid until at least one hundred thousand pounds (100,000lb.) of quicksilver has been produced in the aggregate.

A. J. CADMAN,
Minister of Mines.