604
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 23

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 Land Board 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, the Land Board 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, 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 Crown Lands, and the license held by the licensee may, at the discretion of the Land Board, 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 Commissioner of Crown Lands. If any licensee shall not clear any such surveyed line to the satisfaction of such Commissioner within fourteen days of the receipt by him of a notice from such Commissioner, the Land Board 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 Land Board 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 Land Board; 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 Form No. 1 in the Second Schedule hereto and the production of a certificate from the Crown Lands 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 Land Board 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 Minister of Lands 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 Minister 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 Land Board 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.

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 Board 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 Land Board 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 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 be assessed in any other manner the Commissioner of Crown Lands 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 Commissioner of Crown Lands may devise, and for this purpose the accounts and books shall be open to the inspection of a Crown Lands Ranger or other duly authorised officer, and the Commissioner may in addition require the licensee to supply monthly accounts verified by statutory declaration 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 Land Board shall have power to refuse to transfer any license if the licensee or transferee has committed a breach of these regulations, or if, in his opinion, 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 Commissioner of Crown Lands, 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 Commissioner of Crown Lands for any temporary stoppage. Should at any time the mill be closed for a longer time than the Commissioner of Crown Lands thinks necessary or reasonable, it will be competent for the Land Board to give the licensee one month’s notice in writing, and, should the licensee fail or neglect to resume and continue the bonâ fide working of the mill, such Board shall 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 Land Board 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 their opinion, be necessary for working such mill, but not further or otherwise; and the land so surrendered may, subject to such permit, be sold, leased, replanted, or otherwise disposed of as the Land Board shall think fit.