Situated in Block I, Thames Survey District (S.O. 19439).

In the Auckland Land District; as the same are more particularly delineated on the plan marked P.W.D. 41820, deposited in the office of the Minister of Public Works at Wellington, in the Wellington Provincial District, and thereon coloured pink.

As witness my hand, at Wellington, this 19th day of March, 1917.

W. FRASER,
Minister of Public Works.

French Commission appointed to deal with Private Interests of the Allies in Enemy or Enemy-occupied Territory.

PUBLIC notification is hereby given of the existence of a Commission which has been established at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Paris, and which is instructed to compile records concerning Allied private interests in enemy or enemy-occupied territory (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria, or occupied districts in France, Russia, Belgium, Luxemburg, Servia, Montenegro, and probably also Roumania).

The Commission's objects are two:—

(1.) To furnish parties interested, through the medium of competent neutral Ambassadors, particulars regarding their property situated in enemy or enemy-occupied territory. (These particulars are sought only when the applicant formally expresses his desire therefor.)

(2.) To prepare records of claims which it would be possible to value subsequently.

For further information application should be made to the French Vice-Consul at Auckland, who will furnish interested parties with the necessary directions for the formulation of their claims.

ARTHUR M. MYERS,
Minister in Charge of Public Trust Office.

Plants declared to be Noxious Weeds by the Otorohanga Town Board.—Notice No. 1874.

Department of Agriculture, Industries, and Commerce, Wellington, 15th March, 1917.

IT is hereby notified for public information that the Otorohanga Town Board has, by special order, declared the following plants to be noxious weeds within the meaning of the Noxious Weeds Act, 1908, in the district under the jurisdiction of the Board:—

Broom.
Ox-eye daisy.

Gorse.
Pennyroyal.

W. D. S. MACDONALD,
Minister of Agriculture.

Notice to Mariners.—No. 22 of 1917.

NEW ZEALAND TIME-SERVICE ARRANGEMENTS.

Marine Department,
Wellington, N.Z., 21st March, 1917.

THE following information relating to the New Zealand time-signal arrangements has been received from Dr. C. E. Adams, the Government Astronomer, and is hereby published for general information. It will come into operation on 27th March, 1917, when Notices Nos. 55 of 1914 and 57 of 1915 will be superseded.

GEORGE ALLPORT,
Secretary.

POSITION OF OBSERVATORY.

The adopted position of the Transit Instrument at the Hector Observatory is longitude 11h. 39m. 4·27s. (=174° 46′ 4″), east of Greenwich, latitude 41° 17′ 3.8″ south; height, 418ft. above 1909 mean sea-level.

TIME SERVICE.

1. Accurate Time-signals.

Time-signals are given by three electric lights mounted vertically on the Observatory flagstaff. The lowest light is green, and is 30ft. above the ground; the middle light is red, and is 36ft. above the ground; the highest light is white, and is 42ft. above the ground.

The green light is switched on at 50 minutes, the red light at 10 minutes, and the white light at 5 minutes to the hour; all three lights are extinguished simultaneously at

the hour. The switching-on of the lights must be considered as only approximately correct; the time-signal is given by switching off the lights at the exact hour. This signal is given at 20h., 21h., and 22h. of Greenwich mean time.

The corresponding Greenwich mean time (counted from noon) and New Zealand civil mean time (counted from midnight) of the time-signals are as under:—

• Approximate. † Time-signal.

The signal is repeated at 21h. and 22h. G.M.T.

2. Approximate Time-signals.

When owing to bad weather or other causes accurate time-signals cannot be given, approximate ones will be given on application being made for them to the Observatory; but in these cases the green light will not be shown. The error of an approximate time-signal can usually be supplied by the Observatory as soon as a satisfactory observation has been obtained.

3. Time-signals by Telephone, by Telegraph, and by Wireless Telegraph.

Arrangements can usually be made to give time-signals by telephone, by telegraph, or by wireless telegraph, on application being made to the Observatory.

Officiating Ministers for 1917.—Notice No. 11.

Registrar-General's Office,
Wellington, 20th March, 1917.

PURSUANT to the provisions of the Marriage Act, 1908, the following names of Officiating Ministers within the meaning of the said Act are published for general information:—

Church of the Province of New Zealand, commonly called the Church of England.
The Reverend RUPERT THOMAS HALL.

Presbyterian Church of New Zealand.
The Reverend WILLIAM McNEUR.
Mr. GEORGE MORRISON YULE.

W. W. COOK,
Registrar-General.

Examination for Elementary Kindergarten Certificates, January, 1917.

Education Department,
Wellington, 21st March, 1917.

THE following is a list of candidates who passed the Examination for Elementary Kindergarten Certificates held in January, 1917:—

W. J. ANDERSON,
Director of Education.

Member of House of Representatives elected, Hawke's Bay Electoral District.

Clerk of the Writs Office,
Wellington, 16th March, 1917.

THE Clerk of the Writs has received a return to the writ issued on the 17th day of February, 1917, for the election of a member of Parliament to serve in the House of Representatives for the electoral district of Hawke's Bay, and by the endorsement on such writ it appears that

Sir JOHN GEORGE FINDLAY has been duly elected to serve as a member for the said district.

J. HISLOP,
Clerk of the Writs.