3188

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 76

(4.) The subsidy may be discontinued by the Minister on one month’s notice to the subsidized party.

117. (1.) In every case where any subsidy has been paid in respect of the construction of any shaft, tunnel, or adit level the Warden may, upon such terms and conditions as he thinks equitable, grant to any person, being the lawful holder of any claim adjacent thereto, the right to use the same for the purpose of working the claim.

Rewards for the Discovery of New Mining-fields.

118. With respect to rewards payable by the Government or any local authority for the discovery of new mining-fields under sections 420 and 424 of the Mining Act, the following provisions shall apply :—

(1.) The person claiming the reward shall make application therefor in writing to the Minister in the case of a Government reward, or to the local authority in the case of a reward offered by such local authority.

(2.) The application shall set forth briefly but clearly the date, nature, and the site of the discovery, and the circumstances under which it was made.

(3.) The Minister or local authority receiving the application shall forward it to the Warden exercising jurisdiction nearest to the site of the discovery where the site is in a mining district, or if the site is outside a mining district then to the Commissioner of Crown Lands of the land district in which the site is situate.

(4.) The Warden or Commissioner, after making full inquiry into the matter, shall report thereon to the Minister or local authority, stating whether and to what extent the statements in the application are true, and, in the case of a genuine discovery of a new mining-field, the number of miners bona fide engaged in mining operations thereon at the expiration of twelve months after the date of the discovery.

119. The amount of the reward (in no case exceeding £500) shall be computed at the rates hereafter specified for every full number of ten miners bona fide engaged in mining operations on the new field at the expiration of twelve months after the date of the discovery.

120. If the reward is offered by the Government such rate shall be as follows :—

(1.) £50 where the new field (whether of gold, silver, tin, copper, or diamonds) is distant not less than three miles from the nearest known similar field at the date of the discovery, whether such similar field was then worked or not.

(2.) £37 10s. where such new field is distant less than three miles and not less than one mile from such similar field.

(3.) £25 where such new field consists of (a) the discovery of a new lead or lode, distant less than one mile and not less than half a mile from the nearest known lead or lode at the date of the discovery, whether such known lead or lode was then being worked or not ; or (b) the recovery of an old lead or lode which, at the date of the recovery, had been lost.

121. If the reward is offered by a local authority such rates shall be those hereinbefore specified, or such modification thereof as, with the approval of the Minister, the local authority thinks fit to make.

EXAMINATIONS FOR MINE-MANAGERS’ AND BATTERY SUPERINTENDENTS’ CERTIFICATES.

The Board.

122. With respect to the Board of Examiners for Mine-managers’ and Battery Superintendents’ Certificates the following provisions shall apply :—

(1.) At all meetings of the Board the quorum shall be four, and the Chairman appointed by the Governor-General shall preside :

Provided that if at any meeting the Chairman is absent, the members present may appoint one of their number to act as chairman at such meeting in his stead, and, whilst so acting, the person so appointed shall have all the powers of the Chairman.

(2.) (a.) Each member of the Board who is not otherwise employed in any Department of the Public Service shall receive by way of travelling-expenses the sum of £1 11s. for each day of twenty-four hours he is absent from his place of abode for the purpose of attending at a meeting of the Board.

(b.) For any portion of a day he shall receive one twenty-fourth of the full daily rate for each hour’s absence.

(c.) In computing the time of absence, a fraction of an hour if less than half an hour shall not be taken into account, but half an hour or more shall be reckoned as one hour.

(3.) He shall also be repaid all reasonable sums properly expended by him for fares by railway, coach, or steamer in travelling for the said purpose.

(4.) Each member of the Board who is not otherwise employed in any Department of the Public Service shall also be paid such fee as the Minister may from time to time authorize for each paper set by him.

Certificates by Examination.

123. The examination for certificates as mine-managers or battery superintendents shall be held at such times and places as are appointed by the Board, and with respect to such examinations the following provisions shall apply :—

(1.) For the better conduct of the examinations the Board may appoint supervisors, with such functions and powers as the Board thinks fit.

(2.) Every candidate for a certificate by examination shall at least one month before the date fixed for the examination, and in the form No. 88 in the Fourth Schedule hereto, make application in that behalf to “ The Secretary of the Board of Examiners under the Mining Act,” at Wellington, and shall forward therewith a fee of £2 2s. in the case of a first-class mine-manager’s certificate, a fee of £1 1s. in the case of a second-class mine-manager’s certificate, and a fee of £1 1s. in the case of a battery superintendent’s certificate.

(3.) For the purpose of enabling the Board to determine whether the candidate possesses the requisite practical experience, his application shall specify, with sufficient particularity for identification and reference, the respective mines in which he has been employed, and the period and nature of his employment therein, including, in the case of a battery superintendent’s certificate, the nature of the chemical process used in the mine, and of the machinery and appliances connected therewith.

(4.) For the purposes of section 249 (2) of the Mining Act the requisite practical experience of a candidate for a battery superintendent’s certificate shall be actual employment for not less than twelve months in the working of the chemical process used in the mine, and of the machinery and appliances connected therewith.

(5.) The evidence in writing from previous employers in proof of the nature and extent of the candidate’s practical experience, to be supplied to the Board as required by section 249 of the Mining Act, shall be so supplied at the same time as the application is forwarded, or as soon thereafter as is possible.

(6.) Every candidate for a certificate as Battery Superintendent shall furnish to the Board a certificate from the Director of a School of Mines, or from a Battery Superintendent or other competent person, that he has a practical knowledge of the assaying of gold and silver-ores and bullion. Such certificate shall specify with exactness the nature and extent of the candidate’s experience and the place or places where it has been gained.

(7.) The subjects of examination for certificates as mine-managers shall be as follows :—

Subject I, Mining.—The laying-out, timbering, and construction of shafts and underground workings ; blasting and explosives ; boring (some one form each of hand, placer, and diamond drills to be described.)

Subject II, Mechanics.—Pumping appliances and mine-drainage ; tapping water and dam-construction in mines ; winding in shafts ; hauling on underground planes ; compressed-air and steam-power plants ; strength of materials ; elementary electricity (to include knowledge of fundamental principles, definition and application of electrical units and terms, advantages and disadvantages of direct and alternating current-generators and motors, principle of a rotary transformer, principles of insulation, advantages and disadvantages of electrical winding-engines). (A knowledge of wiring and other details of electrical machinery is not required.)

Subject III, Ventilation.—Ventilation of mines and knowledge of mine gases ; rescue apparatus used in mines ; methods of dealing with underground fires.

Subject IV, Arithmetic and Law.—A knowledge of mine accounts, fractions, decimals, percentages, square root, area of rectangle, triangle, trapezoid, circle, &c. ; volume of cube, sphere, prism, pyramid, prismoid, &c. ; measurement of timber ; estimation of ore in mines and at grass ; a knowledge of Parts V and VI of the Mining Act and regulations.

Subject V, Surveying.—A knowledge of surveying and levelling, both underground and at the surface ; also of mine plans and sections.