Feb. 22.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 435

Result of Elections of Trustees of a Land-drainage District.

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Wellington, 19th February, 1900.

THE following result of the election of Trustees of the Maungatua Drainage District has been received from the Returning Officer, and is published in accordance with the provisions of “The Land Drainage Act, 1893.”

HUGH POLLEN,
Under-Secretary.

Maungatua Drainage District, County of Taieri :
Neill Black.
John Hoddinott.
George Lyall.
Francis Elgan McLean.
John Stevenson.

Notice published pursuant to the Provisions of Section 15 of “The Public Trust Office Consolidation Act, 1894.”

Public Trust Office,
Wellington, 20th February, 1900.

NOTICE is hereby given that, no person having taken out administration, the Public Trustee has filed in the Office of the Supreme Court at Wellington an election to administer the several intestate estates of the persons deceased whose names, residences, and occupations, so far as known, are hereunder respectively set forth, their gross properties being estimated not to exceed £250 in each case.

Edith Henrietta Prudence Loring, late of Dunedin, in the Provincial District of Otago, widow. Filed on the 13th day of February, 1900.

Laurence or Lawrens Johnson, late of Tuapeka Flat, in the Provincial District of Otago, miner. Filed on the 16th day of February, 1900.

Jens Christensen, late of Beaumont, in the Provincial District of Otago, miner. Filed on the 19th day of February, 1900.

J. C. MARTIN,
Public Trustee.

Notice of Vesting of Land in the Public Trustee under “The Unclaimed Lands Act, 1894.”

WHEREAS I, the undersigned, the Public Trustee, have, for the purposes of “The Unclaimed Lands Act, 1894,” made due inquiries with respect to the land described in the Schedule hereunder written, and the owner thereof, and have, in respect of the said land, given the notices prescribed by section 4 of the said Act, and have in all respects complied with the provisions of the said section: And whereas I have not thereby ascertained who the owner is, and believe that such owner is not in the colony, nor has such owner established his title to the said land, as required by the said Act: I hereby give notice that the said land is, under and by virtue of the said Act, vested in me, as the Public Trustee as aforesaid, as from the date of the publication hereof, and will be administered under the said Act, the assessed value of the said land being less than £100.

Dated at Wellington, this 19th day of February, 1900.

J. C. MARTIN,
Public Trustee.

SCHEDULE.

All that parcel of land, containing 1 acre, more or less, being Rural Section 7526, Akaroa Survey District, in the Provincial District of Canterbury.

Bonus for the Production of Mineral Manure.—Notice No. 580.

Department of Agriculture,
Wellington, 12th December, 1899.

THE following sum is hereby offered as a bonus for the discovery and working within the colony of a deposit or deposits of marketable mineral manure, viz.:

£500 IF FOUND ON CROWN LANDS ;
£250 IF FOUND ON FREEHOLD LANDS.

The following are the conditions under which the bonus is offered and will be paid :

1. That the raw material is easily accessible, and within reasonable distance of a railway or seaport.

2. That the committee appointed by the Minister for Agriculture to examine the deposit is satisfied that there is sufficient to meet all ordinary demands for five years.

3. That the manure can be disposed of at a price which will allow of it being remuneratively used for agricultural purposes.

4. That the composition of the phosphate shall average not less than 40 per cent. of phosphate of lime (tricalcic phosphate); provided, however, should a phosphate of a lower average composition be discovered, the committee may recommend that a portion of the bonus be granted.

The terms of payment will be—
One-fifth on the committee reporting favourably of the discovery ;
One-fifth on delivery of first 200 tons ;
The remaining three-fifths by equal payments on delivery of each additional 150 tons.

Applications addressed to “The Hon. the Minister for Agriculture, Wellington,” will be received up to and including the 1st day of July, 1900.

W. C. WALKER,
For Minister for Agriculture.

Bonuses for Encouragement of New Zealand Hemp (Phormium tenax) Industry.—Notice No. 535.

Department of Agriculture,
Wellington, 13th February, 1899.

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, 1900. 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.