Aug. 5.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 2717

(8.) Progress-payments on account of assistance will be made from time to time as the work proceeds, on the certificate of an Inspector of Mines or the Engineer in the employ of the local authority.

Subsidies for Water-races and Storage Reservoirs.

126. Assistance by way of subsidy may be granted by the Minister towards the construction of water-races or storage reservoirs, and for that purpose the following provisions shall apply:—

(1.) Every application for assistance towards the construction of a water-race or storage reservoir shall be made to the Minister in writing, and shall be accompanied with a plan of the proposed work and an estimate of its cost.

(2.) The application shall also be accompanied with a statement showing the source of supply from which it is proposed to take the water, the area and estimated depth of proved auriferous ground that the proposed work would command, the number of miners actually engaged in carrying on mining operations within such area, and the extra number of miners that could be profitably employed if the proposed works were constructed.

(3.) On receipt of such application, plan, and statement the Minister shall cause an examination to be made and a report furnished to him by a qualified officer of the public service as to the extent and character of auriferous ground which the proposed work would be likely to command, the extent to which it would be for the benefit of the majority of the miners in the locality, and generally as to its utility.

(4.) After receiving such report, and upon being satisfied that the proposed work will be for the benefit of the majority of the miners of the locality, and also that the applicant’s proportion of the cost is available, the Minister may grant a subsidy towards the proposed work not exceeding one-third the total cost of construction, or he may refuse to grant any subsidy:

Provided that the subsidy shall not be granted until the applicant has supplied to the Minister detailed plans and longitudinal and cross sections of the ground where it is proposed to construct the race or reservoir, together with the dimensions of the channels, the length of tunnels, open ditching and fluming, and other detailed particulars of the proposed work, and a statement in detail of the cost of the proposed work, and the same have been submitted to and approved by the officer who furnished the aforesaid report.

(5.) No assistance shall be given in the case of a water-race if the carrying-capacity is less than fifteen sluice-heads of water, nor in the case of a storage reservoir if its storage-capacity is less than 1,000,000 cubic feet of water.

(6.) Before any assistance is granted towards the construction of any water-race or storage reservoir the rates to be charged for water therefrom shall be submitted to and approved by the Minister.

Subsidies to Local Authorities or Miners’ Associations in aid of Prospecting.

127. In the cases, to the extent, and subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth, the Minister may grant subsidies not exceeding two pounds for one pound in respect of moneys expended by any local authority (being a County Council or, where “The Counties Act, 1908,” is not in operation, a Road Board) or any miners’ association in assisting prospecting operations; and with respect to every such subsidy the following provisions shall apply:—

(1.) The local authority or miners’ association desiring the subsidy shall make application to the Minister setting forth in detail its proposed scheme of assistance.

(2.) The total amount payable by the Minister in respect of subsidy in any one year shall not exceed, in the case of a County Council or a miners’ association, £500, and in the case of a Road Board, £300:

Provided that in no case shall any subsidy be payable unless the scheme of assistance is approved by the Minister, and is in accordance with these regulations.

(3.) The scheme of assistance may comprise the purchase of boring appliances for use in prospecting operations, or the payment of money to parties of prospectors under the hereinafter-mentioned Classes I and II.

(4.) Under Class I a subsidy at a rate not exceeding £1 per week per man may be paid by the Minister in respect of each party of not less than two men whilst prospecting in new ground:

(5.) Except where the prospecting operations consist of trenching for lodes or reefs, no subsidy shall be payable unless the new ground is distant at least half a mile from any place where within the preceding six months more than ten men have been prospecting or mining.

(6.) Under Class II a subsidy of the rates, and in the cases next hereinafter mentioned, may be paid by the Minister in respect of each party of not less than two men.