600
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 23

acting contrary to this regulation shall upon conviction be liable to a penalty not exceeding £50; and any Forest Ranger may seize any gun, firearm, net, engine, instrument, or device found in the unlawful possession of any person so trespassing in any forest, and any dogs found in the forest may be destroyed by such Ranger.

16. Whenever a Conservator in any case shall deem it advisable to use an official brand, this shall consist of the device ⚜ branded on a space exposed by the removal of a chip near the base of the tree.

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

18. In the event of any dispute arising as to the correctness of any valuation of timber, or as to the correctness of any statement of timber cut, where royalty or other payment has to be made by a licensee, the decision of the Commissioner of State Forests shall be final; and in the case of any dispute as to the quantity of timber cut, the decision of such Commissioner as to the amount to be paid shall be forthwith complied with, subject, however, to the right of the licensee to proceed in any Court of competent jurisdiction for the refund of any sum alleged to be overpaid.

19. Every licensee shall point out the extent of his cutting when required so to do by any Conservator or Forest Ranger.

20. A Conservator shall have power to reserve trees required for special purposes on any area for which a license may be granted; such trees must be branded with the letters F.R., and when so branded they shall not be cut by the licensee.

21. A Conservator may cause to be seized all timber, wherever found, which he may have reason to believe has been cut in a forest under his management by an unlicensed person; but in case a right to such timber shall be asserted within fourteen days after the notice hereafter mentioned, and such right shall be established to the satisfaction of such Conservator, such timber shall be restored to the claimant.

22. All timber when seized shall be marked with a forest brand, ⚜, and, after due notice of the seizure thereof in writing (to be posted up in the Land Office and at the police-station in the district where such seizure was made), shall, in case the claimant shall not appear and establish his claim within fourteen days therefrom, be sold in such manner and subject to such conditions as the Conservator may direct. In all cases where the address of the reputed owner of such timber is known to the Conservator, he shall cause notice of seizure to be served upon him by means of the post or otherwise, but the non-receipt of such notice by the reputed owner shall not invalidate the sale.

23. All timber cut under a license must be removed during the currency of the license, unless an extension of time be granted by the Commissioner of State Forests; otherwise such timber may be declared forfeited, seized, and sold on behalf of the Crown.

24. The proceeds of the sale of timber so seized are to be accounted for and paid as money payable to the State Forests Account.

25. The right to take, lay off, and use roads and tramways within the area comprised in every license issued under the said Act and these regulations is reserved to the Crown; and the Commissioner of State Forests may authorise the taking, laying-off, and using of any such roads and tramways by any local body or by the holder of any other sawmill or timber license other than the holder of the license over the land upon which such roads or tramways may be authorised, and such last-named holder shall not fell timber upon or in any way obstruct the same; but such authority shall not entitle such local body or other licensee to remove any timber from such land, or confer any rights other than is herein provided.

26. If, for the purpose of removing timber, any licensee-holder shall have lawfully made a tramway or road through any forest, not being a highway, it shall not be lawful for any other person to use such tramway or road, or in any way to obstruct or fell trees across 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 Commissioner of State Forests to determine and declare that the constructor of the tramway or road has forfeited his right to the same: Provided also that, as regards tramways, such Commissioner shall have the power of deciding on the merits of each case as it arises.

27. 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 in manner hereinafter provided, unless the Commissioner of State Forests shall otherwise direct, and the amount of such damage shall be paid by the licensee, together 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 of State Forests, and the license held by the licensee may, at the discretion of the said Commissioner, be absolutely forfeited. All trees shall be felled inwards.

28. The licensee of a sawmill area, or of any other area from which he shall have the right to remove timber, which has been surveyed, shall at all times keep the surveyed boundary clear of fallen timber and of young trees, in order that such boundary may be evident to himself and to his neighbours. If two sawmill or timber-cutting areas adjoin each other, each licensee shall be liable to keep half the common boundary clear, and if any dispute arises as to which portion each licensee should clear it shall be decided by the Conservator. If any licensee shall not clear any such surveyed line to the satisfaction of such Conservator within fourteen days of the receipt by him of a notice from such Conservator, the Commissioner of State Forests may forfeit his license.

29. Royalty on timber shall be paid at the rates specified in the classified scale in the Second Schedule; but where the timber is easily accessible and can be procured without great difficulty the Commissioner of State Forests may increase the amount of the royalty specified.

SAWMILL LICENSES, AND LICENSES FOR THE SALE OF TIMBER IN LARGE QUANTITIES.

30. Generally the area of a sawmill license shall not exceed 200 acres, but the holder may apply to have three additional areas of not more than 200 acres each adjoining the first reserved for his exclusive use: Provided that the reservation of any or all of such additional areas shall be at the discretion of the Commissioner of State Forests; and provided also that such holder shall not be allowed to fell timber on any reserved area until he has complied with the terms of payment, and has otherwise complied with the terms of these regulations.

31. The original license for the first area shall be for a period of three years from the date thereof, and the licensee shall not enter upon any additional or reserved area, nor cut nor take timber therefrom, until it has been granted to him upon the termination or surrender of his original or previous license.

32. The period during which the whole area of 800 acres, or such other area as may be agreed upon, may be reserved for the use of the licensee shall be as follows: For the 200 acres or other area comprised in the original license, three years from the date of such license; and for the remainder, at the rate of one year for each 50 acres: but in no case shall the reservation or any part of it be held for the use of the licensee beyond twenty-one years from the date of the original license.

A license to enter upon any such reserved area shall only be granted upon application in the prescribed form and the production of a certificate from a Forest Ranger that with respect to the original or previous sawmill area the regulations applicable thereto have been duly complied with.

The royalties payable on the reserved areas shall be upon the scale fixed by the regulations for the time being in force when a license to cut timber therein is issued, or may be fixed by auction, or may be at the rates fixed by auction for the original license, as may be decided by the Commissioner of State Forests when granting the license for such reserved areas; and nothing herein shall entitle a licensee to claim that the royalties then payable shall be on the scale set forth in these regulations. The title of the licensee to the reserved areas shall be absolutely dependent upon his complying with the condition as to the continuous working of the sawmill with which they are connected, and with his complying with these regulations, and such title shall accordingly lapse whenever there has been a breach of conditions. Every sawmill license shall be in the Form No. 2 appended to these regulations.

33. In the case of sparsely timbered country, or where the bush has been partly cut or destroyed, and where large initial expenditure by the licensee is required, the Commissioner of State Forests may, in his discretion, authorise the issue of an original license for a sawmill area of any area, and for such term and on such special conditions as the Commissioner may think fit. In any such event the original license shall be for a period of three years, and with this exception the foregoing provisions as to additional areas and the periods for which they may be reserved shall, mutatis mutandis, apply.

34. As far as possible, sawmill areas shall be in a rectangular form, with the proportion of length to breadth of not less than three to one, or shall include one side of a watershed, except where previous surveys or other circumstances render this impracticable.

35. 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.

36. Upon the application being granted by the Commissioner of State Forests the applicant shall, as may be agreed,