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of run-numbered 57 on the map of the north-eastern Pastoral Districts of the Province, and towards the south-east, the Watershed between the Tuapeka and Waitahuna rivers.
And I do hereby prescribe as follows:—

1st. Seven shall be the number of the members of the said Mining Board.

2nd. No person shall be qualified to be a Member of the said Board unless he shall be of the full age of twenty-one years, holding a miner’s right or lease, and being a natural born or naturalized subject of the Queen, and resident within the said District.

3rd. Edward Croker, Esq., shall act as Returning Officer for the said District.

4th. The Chairman of such Board shall be elected by and from the Members thereof, and every Member of such Board shall continue in office until his successor shall be elected as hereinafter mentioned. But notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, it shall be lawful for any Member of the Mining Board, by writing under his hand, addressed to the returning officer, to resign his seat in such Board, and the same shall thereupon become vacant from the time of the receipt of such writing by the said returning officer.

5th. The first general election of Members in the said District shall take place on Thursday, the 24th day of April next, and on the last Thursday in the month of April. In every subsequent year, seven other Members shall be elected to serve on such Board, in lieu of those previously elected, and whenever any seat in any Board shall become vacant in the interval between two General Elections by death, resignation, or want of such qualification as aforesaid, a Member shall be elected to fill such vacancy.

6th. Every male person of the full age of twenty-one years, holding a Miner’s Right, or Lease, and being a natural born or naturalized subject of the Queen, and resident within the said District, shall be entitled to vote at every Election for as many members as are then to be returned for the said District.

7th. One month, at least, before the said first, or any subsequent Election, the returning officer shall give public notice of such Election, requiring the names of all candidates, and of their proposers, to be forwarded to him within such time not less than fourteen days from the time of giving such notice as shall be named in such notice. And any person desirous of nominating a candidate for the said District, shall within the time named in such notice, forward to the returning officer in writing the Christian and surname of such candidate, and such nomination shall be signed by not less than five persons qualified to vote at such election. And no person shall be capable of being elected at any such election unless he shall have been proposed in manner above mentioned. And his name as a candidate shall have been published fourteen days before such election in some newspaper circulated in the said district.

8th. If the number of candidates nominated as aforesaid for the said District shall not exceed the number to be elected, the returning officer shall, at the said first or any subsequent election, declare such candidates to be duly elected, and they shall be deemed to be duly elected accordingly: but if the number of such candidates shall exceed the number of members to be elected at any such election,

the returning officer shall cause voting papers to be printed with the Christian and surnames of all the candidates in full in the form in the schedule hereto, and shall give public notice that a poll will be taken for the election of members on the day appointed for that purpose. And on that day a poll shall be taken at such place within the said district as the returning officer shall direct, and the poll shall commence at nine o’clock in the forenoon, and close at four o’clock in the afternoon.

9th. The returning officer shall preside at such polling place, and shall have power and authority to maintain and enforce order, and keep the peace at such election, and without any other warrant than this proclamation, to cause to be arrested and taken before a Justice of the Peace, to be dealt with according to law, any person reasonably suspected of knowingly and wilfully making a false answer to any question touching his qualification, or of personating, or attempting to personate, any voter, or of attempting to vote more than once at the said election.

10th. Each candidate shall be entitled to appoint in writing one scrutineer to be present in the polling room, and such scrutineers and the returning officer, and any electors not exceeding six in number shall alone be permitted at any one time to enter or remain in the polling room without the consent of the returning officer, and the returning officer shall have power to cause any person to be removed who shall obstruct the approaches to the polling room, or shall conduct himself in a disorderly manner. And all constables and peace officers shall aid and assist the returning officer in the performance of his duty.

11th. The returning officer shall provide a locked box with a cleft or opening therein capable of receiving the ballot papers, and such box shall stand on a table opposite the returning officer, who shall keep the key of such box.

12th. Every elector before voting shall produce his miner’s right or lease to the returning officer who shall stamp or otherwise mark the same and shall deliver to such elector a ballot paper with such stamp or mark, and every such elector shall without leaving the room strike out the names of every candidate for whom he shall not desire to vote, and in case any elector shall be unable to read or write, the returning officer shall in view of such one of the scrutineers as such elector may desire, strike out the names of such candidates as such elector may designate, and after such names shall have been so struck out, the voting paper shall be deposited in the said box.

13th. It shall be lawful for the returning officer, or for any one candidate or scrutineer, to put to any person tendering his vote the questions following:—

1. Are you of the age of twenty-one years?
2. Are you residing in this district?
3. Are you a natural born or naturalized subject of the Queen?
4. Are you the person named in this miner’s right or lease?
5. Have you already voted at this election?

And no other question shall be put to any person tendering his vote, and no person who shall refuse to answer any such questions, or who shall not answer the same to the satisfaction of the returning officer, or whose miner’s