56

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 3

allowing the same to spread, shall be guilty of an offence,
and shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £50; but the
payment of such penalty shall not prevent the recovery from
the wrongdoer of the value of any damage which may be
done by such fire.

6. Any person who shall permit any fire lighted by him
   outside the boundaries of any such forest to spread into or
   cause injuries to such forest shall be guilty of an offence,
   and shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £20; but the
   payment of such penalty shall not prevent the recovery from
   the wrongdoer of the value of any damage which may be
   done by such fire.

7. Any person who shall unlawfully injure or destroy any
   timber or other tree or shrub growing in any forest, nursery,
   reserve, or plantation, shall be guilty of an offence, and
   shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £5 for every
   timber-tree so injured or destroyed, and a penalty not ex-
   ceeding £1 for every other tree or shrub so injured or
   destroyed. But in no case shall the aggregate penalty be
   more than £50.

8. Any unlicensed person who may be found digging for
   kauri-gum or other products within the boundaries of any
   forest shall be liable to a penalty of not exceeding £20.

9. Any person who shall suffer any cattle or animal of any
   kind to wander in any forest, or to browse upon or other-
   wise destroy any timber or other trees or shrubs therein, shall
   be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable to a penalty not
   exceeding £5; and the payment of such penalty shall not
   prevent the recovery from the wrongdoer of the amount of
   any damage which may be done by any such cattle or
   animal; but nothing in this or any other regulations con-
   tained shall apply to cattle being driven on any public road
   through any forest, or temporarily wandering without neg-
   lect of the person in charge of the same.

10. Any Ranger or other person may drive any cattle or
    other animal as aforesaid to the nearest public pound, and
    the same shall not be released therefrom except upon pay-
    ment to the Commissioner of Crown Lands of the usual
    driving-fees and poundage-charges.

11. Any person who shall trespass in any forest shall
    be guilty of an offence, and on conviction thereof shall
    be liable to a penalty not exceeding £50. Any person,
    whether licensed or not, who may be found trespassing in
    or near any forest during the months of November, Decem-
    ber, January, February, and March, or who shall in the
    opinion of any Crown Ranger be doing any act whereby there
    is a danger of the forest being destroyed by fire, shall be
    guilty of an offence, and shall be liable to a penalty not
    exceeding £50.

12. Any person who shall hinder or obstruct any officer
    concerned in the management of any forest in the execution
    of his duty shall be guilty of an offence, and be liable to a
    penalty not exceeding £20.

13. Applications for licenses to cut timber in any forest
    shall be made at the office of the Commissioner of Crown
    Lands of the district in which the forest is situated.

14. Every application shall be made on one of the forms
    prescribed for that purpose, and may be accompanied by a
    sketch showing the position and extent of the area selected,
    and shall state the particular purpose for which the license
    is required; and the applicant shall, where required, deposit
    the amount of survey-fees, which shall be forfeited if the
    application be abandoned or not proceeded with for the
    space of one month.

15. As far as possible sawmill areas shall be in a rect-
    angular form, the proportion of length to breadth not exceed-
    ing three to one, or shall include one side of a watershed,
    except where previous surveys or other circumstances render
    this impracticable.

16. As soon as practicable after payment of survey-fees
    for a sawmill area the necessary survey and valuation shall
    be made, the survey to be made in accordance with such
    regulations as the Surveyor-General may prescribe.

17. Upon the application being granted by the Commis-
    sioner of Crown Lands, the applicant shall, as may be agreed,
    pay the value of the timber included in the area to the
    Receiver of Land Revenue, or execute such agreement as
    may be prescribed, after which a license may be issued.

18. Whenever the department in any case shall deem it
    advisable to use an official brand, this shall consist of the
    letter F branded on a space exposed by the removal of a
    chip near the base of the tree.

19. All trees when branded shall be felled above the
    official brand.

20. In the event of any dispute respecting the correctness
    of the valuation or the correctness of any statement of
    timber cut, the decision of the Commissioner of Crown
    Lands, or of some officer specially appointed by him, shall
    be final; and in the case of any dispute as to the quantity
    of timber cut, the decision of the Commissioner as to the
    amount to be paid shall be forthwith complied with, subject,
    however, to the right of the licensee to proceed for the refund
    of any sum alleged to be overpaid.

21. Any licensee cutting timber outside his boundary-line
    shall pay the value of the timber, and shall be liable to a
    penalty not exceeding £5 for each tree, at the discretion of
    the Justice or Justices before whom the case may be
    brought; but the payment of such penalty shall not pre-
    vent the recovery of the amount of any damage which may
    be done by such licensee.

22. Every licensee shall point out the extent of his cutting
    when required so to do by any officer appointed under the
    authority of the Land Act or these regulations.

23. The Commissioner of Crown Lands shall have power
    to reserve trees required for special purposes on any area
    for which a license may be granted; such trees to be
    branded with the letters F.R.

24. The Commissioner of Crown Lands may cause to be
    seized all timber cut on Crown lands, wherever found, which
    he may have cause to believe has been cut in a forest by an
    unlicensed person; but in case a right to such timber shall
    be asserted within fourteen days after the notice hereafter
    mentioned, and shall be established to the satisfaction of
    the Land Board, such timber shall be restored to the
    claimant.

25. All timber when seized shall be marked with the forest
    brand, F, and, after due notice of the seizure thereof
    in writing, to be posted up in the Land Office or at the
    police-station in the district where such seizure was made,
    shall, in case no claimant shall appear and establish
    his claim within fourteen days therefrom, be sold in such
    manner and subject to such conditions as the Commissioner
    may direct.

26. All timber cut under a yearly or half-yearly license
    must be removed within four weeks after the expiration of
    the license, unless an extension of time be granted by the
    Commissioner; otherwise it may be declared forfeited, seized,
    and sold on behalf of the Crown.

27. The proceeds of the sale of timber so seized are to be
    accounted for and paid to the Receiver of Land Revenue.

28. If, for the purpose of removing timber, any license-
    holder shall have made a tramway or road upon land being
    waste lands of the Crown, and not being a highway, it shall
    not be lawful for any other person to use such tramway or
    road without permission of the person making the same first
    obtained: Provided that, if such tramway or road shall not
    be used at any time for ninety consecutive days for removing
    timber, it shall be lawful for the Land Board to determine
    that the constructor of the tramway or road has forfeited
    his right to the same: Provided also that, as regards tram-
    ways, the Board reserves to itself the power of deciding on
    the merits of each case as it arises.

29. All trees shall be felled and removed from the forest in
    such a way as to cause the least possible amount of injury
    to the young growth. Should needless damage be caused,
    it shall be estimated by the Commissioner of Crown
    Lands, or by some officer to be appointed by him, and the
    amount of such damage shall be paid by the licensee, to-
    gether with any special costs that may be incurred. In
    default of payment of such moneys within fourteen days
    after demand, the same may be recovered from the licensee
    as liquidated damages at suit of the Commissioner, or any
    officer appointed by him in that behalf, and the license
    held by the licensee may, at the discretion of the said Com-
    missioner, be absolutely forfeited. All trees shall be felled
    inwards.

SAWMILL LICENSES.

30. Generally the area of a sawmill license shall not ex-
    ceed 200 acres, but the holder may apply to have three
    additional areas adjoining the first reserved for his exclu-
    sive use for a period not exceeding one year for each
    100 acres from the date of appropriation; provided that he
    shall not be allowed to fell timber on any portion until he
    has complied with the terms of payment. When the pur-
    chased area comprises inferior or partially-cut bush, and
    the reserve applied for contains superior or virgin bush,
    the Commissioner of Crown Lands shall have power to with-
    hold the reserve in whole or in part as he shall think fit.
    The title of the reserve shall be absolutely dependent upon
    the licensee’s title to the sawmill area with which it is
    connected, and shall accordingly lapse whenever the sawmill
    area has been forfeited for breach of conditions.

31. The area of a license to cut and saw kauri or other
    large timber may include the whole or part of one side of a
    watershed within specified limits, and the Commissioner
    may dispose of such kauri or other timber growing within
    such limits, to be sawn at a mill erected within or ad-
    jacent to the said area, or to be removed for manufacture
    elsewhere.

32. It shall be optional with the Land Board to decide
    whether a royalty shall be paid in cash or partly in cash
    and the balance by instalments spread over such period as
    the Board may think expedient, and the said royalty may be
    assessed either on the estimated number of superficial feet of
    milling timber in the forest, or on the actual output of the
    mill, such output to be ascertained and verified by inspection