Mar. 22.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 601

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.

37. 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 of State Forests may dispose of such kauri or other timber growing within such limits, to be sawn at a mill erected within or adjacent to the said area, or to be removed for manufacture elsewhere.

38. It shall be optional with the Commissioner of State Forests to decide whether the royalty shall be paid either wholly or partly before the issue of the sawmilling license or during its continuance. Such royalty shall be paid in cash, or partly in cash and the balance by instalments spread over such period as the Commissioner of State Forests 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 be assessed in any other manner the Commissioner thinks fit. In cases where the royalty is payable on the actual output of the mill, such output shall be ascertained and verified by inspection of the books of the mill, or by such other means as the Conservator may devise, and for this purpose the accounts and books shall be open to the inspection of any Conservator, Forest Ranger, or other duly authorised officer, and the Conservator may in addition require the licensee to supply monthly accounts verified by affidavit showing clearly the output of the mill.

39. A sawmill license may be transferred on payment of a fee of £1 1s. to the Receiver of Land Revenue; but the Commissioner of State Forests shall have power to refuse to transfer any license if the licensee or transferee has committed a breach of these regulations, or if, in the opinion of such Commissioner, the transfer would be prejudicial to the public interest.

40. The holder of every sawmill license other than for kauri must, within six months of the date of his license, provide and fit up, either upon his sawmill area or on some other site approved of or granted by the Conservator, a substantial and fully equipped sawmill plant, including all the necessary buildings thereto appertaining, which sawmill plant shall be of sufficient capacity and shall be kept in continuous working-operation, unless valid and satisfactory reasons can be given to the Conservator for any temporary stoppage. Should at any time the mill be closed for a longer time than the Conservator thinks necessary or reasonable, it will be competent for him to give the licensee one month’s notice in writing, and, should the licensee fail or neglect to resume and continue the bona fide working of the mill, the Commissioner of State Forests may declare the license forfeited, and may immediately reoffer for license the sawmill area and the attached reserve as if the rights of the previous licensee had never existed. The licensee may within three months from the date of forfeiture, however, remove any building or machinery he may have erected. Whenever a sawmill licensee applies for a license to cut timber upon any area reserved for him under the powers hereinbefore contained, he shall then surrender his license for the original area or such other area as he then holds, and such last-mentioned area will be deemed to be worked out, and the land and remaining timber, if any, will immediately and absolutely revert to the Crown: Provided, however, that the Commissioner of State Forests may, within a period of six months from the date of the surrender, permit him to remove any remaining timber purchased and then on the land, or may permit him to work his mill, or use such tramways or roads upon the land so surrendered, for such time and upon such conditions as may, in his opinion, be necessary for working such mill, but not further or otherwise; and the land so surrendered may, subject to such permit, be leased, replanted, or otherwise disposed of as the Commissioner of State Forests shall think fit.

41. Nothing herein shall give a licensee any right to apply for a license for any reserved area, or to surrender any area he holds for the purpose of obtaining the same, unless the Commissioner of State Forests, upon the report of the Conservator or otherwise, is satisfied that all suitable milling-timber that can reasonably be cut has been removed by the licensee from the area to be surrendered by him.

42. No timber other than what is necessary for work in connection with the establishment of a sawmill shall, in cases where it is stipulated that a sawmill shall be erected, be removed from the area under license until such times as the milling plant is erected thereon.

43. The license, for the purpose of fulfilling conditions, is to date from the time the applicant is notified of completion of survey, or from the date of the license when no survey is required.

44. The Commissioner of State Forests may, at his discretion, authorise the acceptance of promissory notes bearing good indorsements as part payment of royalty in advance. Such indorsements shall be deemed to be good if the Conservator officially recommends the acceptance of the same.

45. The applicant for a sawmill area shall state in his application what timber he proposes to use, and if such application is entertained he will be charged with such timber only, but such proposal must include all generally marketable timber on the land. Other timber not included in the application shall not be cut or used excepting for tramways or buildings.

46. No black-, red-, or white-pine, totara, miro, or other milling-timber of less than 12 in. in diameter at the butt will be included in the valuation, and the cutting by the licensee of any timber under the size specified, unless specially authorised, will be deemed to be unlawful: Provided, however, that smaller timber for laying tramways, building sheds, or other such purposes connected with the sawmill, may be cut and used in quantity to be approved by the Conservator.

47. In the event of an existing sawmill license or of any sawmill license hereunder being renewed, it shall be subject to the regulations for the management and utilisation of the bush for the time being in force: Provided that before the issue of any renewed license the licensee shall produce a certificate from the Forest Ranger or other person duly appointed in that behalf to the effect—

(1.) That the timber has been cut in a continuous and regular manner;

(2.) That the sawmill has been kept continuously in operation, when not stopped by causes considered unavoidable by the Conservator;

(3.) That, where so provided against, no trees or saplings under 12 in. in diameter have been cut for sale, or destroyed by the act of or by the neglect of the licensee or his servants, and that none of the provisions of the regulations under which the license was granted have been violated.

48. If at any time it shall appear necessary to ascertain what damage has been committed in a forest either by a licensee or other person, then the Conservator shall appoint a valuator to ascertain and assess the amount of such damage, unless the Commissioner of State Forests shall otherwise direct; and no new license shall be granted until the amount of damage so assessed shall have been paid, in addition to the sum due by way of rent, royalty, and expenses of valuation.

49. If at any time during the currency of the license the Forest Ranger shall report, or it otherwise appears, that the timber on the licensed ground is being improperly cut, the Commissioner of State Forests may, by notice in writing to the licensee, suspend the license pending investigation, and such Commissioner may cancel such license if it is found that the regulations have been infringed, without prejudice to any proceeding for damage done, recovery of rent or royalty due, or otherwise.

SPECIAL LICENSES BY APPRAISEMENT ON AUCTION.

50. Special licenses for single trees or clumps of trees may be granted at the discretion of the Conservator, on payment of such fees as may be fixed by him.

51. It shall be a condition precedent to the sale of any quantity of timber other than a single tree that a Forest Ranger or other officer shall first report on the estimated quantity, quality, and general position and value of such timber; and such report shall be forwarded by the Conservator to the Commissioner of State Forests, who shall decide in what manner the timber is to be disposed of.

52. Timber sold by auction shall be subject to such terms of payment as may be fixed by the Commissioner of State Forests in each case. If any balance of purchase-money remains unpaid for the space of seven days after the time limited for payment thereof, such Commissioner may declare the contract of sale, and all rights and privileges of the purchaser thereunder, to be at an end, and thereupon any moneys paid in respect of such contract shall be absolutely forfeited to Her Majesty.

53. Before any license is issued to any purchaser of timber bought at auction, all timber so sold shall be branded by a Forest Ranger [symbol] on a space exposed by the removal of a chip near the base of each tree sold, and only such timber as bears such brand shall be felled, cut, sawn, or removed by the licensee.

LICENSES TO HAND-SAWYERS, WOODCUTTERS, AND SPLITTERS.

54. Areas of from 1 to 20 acres may be granted to hand-sawyers on the same terms and under similar conditions as those for sawmill licenses, but no additional area shall be reserved for the use of the applicant, and no such license shall be issued for a longer period than two years. Hand-sawyers and splitters shall have the right to construct saw-pits and huts on sites approved by the Conservator.

55. Licenses to cut firewood, or to split posts, slabs, rails, palings, shingles, and fencing-stakes, in forest reserves when