. Boundaries of Land applied for to be defined.

Persons intending to apply for a lease of Auriferous Crown Lands shall, previous to making application as hereinafter directed, erect or cause to be erected at each angle of the land proposed to be leased, a post, three inches square, and standing at least three feet in height above the surface of the ground; and such posts shall be maintained at the expense of the applicant until the application shall have been granted or refused by the Governor.

3. Mode of Application.

Application shall be made in the form in the Schedule hereunto annexed marked A., and shall be addressed in duplicate to the Warden of the Gold Field within which the land so applied for is situated.

4. Applicant to make a deposit.

At the time of applying for such lease, the applicant must deposit with the Warden the sum of twenty pounds (£20) as a guarantee for the payment of any expenses which may be incurred for, the survey of the land applied for, or by reason of any objection to such application being allowed, and such Warden shall give to the applicant a receipt therefor, in the form in the Schedule hereunto annexed marked B., and any surplus which may remain over such expenses shall be returned to the applicant.

5. Official Survey.

Upon receipt of such application and deposit, the Warden aforesaid shall, as soon as may be, direct a Surveyor to proceed to the land applied for and to survey the same, and to report as to the area, boundaries, and description thereof, the character of the ground, the likelihood of any river, creek, or permanent water spring, or artificial reservoir which may be included within the boundaries of the said land, being required for, or the feasibility of the same being applied to public purposes, or for the use of the miners generally, and also as to any claims to prior occupancy which shall come to his knowledge, enquiry as to which it shall be his duty to make, while making the said survey; and to furnish a plan of such land on a scale of sixteen inches to the mile, together with a tracing of so much of the general map of the district as will be sufficient to connect the particular area applied for with at least one trigonometrical station, or in the absence of any such, with some fixed point.

6. Surveyor to affix notice.

The Surveyor shall, at the time of making the survey hereinbefore directed, place a notice, in the form in Schedule hereunto annexed, marked C., in some conspicuous place on the ground; and shall post a copy of such notice on the outside of the Warden’s office.

7. Priority of Application.

In the event of more than one application being made for the same land, or any part thereof, such one of such applications as shall have been first left with the Warden shall be first considered; and in case any two or more of such applications shall be left with the Warden at the same time it shall be in the discretion of the Governor to which of the applicants the lease shall be granted.

8. Objectors to give notice.

Any person objecting to the issue of a lease so applied for, shall, within twenty-one days after the posting of the notice by the Surveyor, forward to the Warden full notice of all such objections, and shall (except in cases of encroachment) deposit the sum of ten pounds (£10); and such Warden shall give to the person making such deposit a receipt, in the form in the Schedule annexed marked D; as security for the due prosecution of his objections, and in satisfaction of any expenses to which the Applicant may be put by such objections if disallowed; and if such objections should not be prosecuted or should fail, so much of such Deposit shall be handed over to the Applicant as may be necessary to repay the expenses of such Applicant; and the balance (if any) shall be refunded to the person so objecting.

9. Cases of Encroachment.

When application shall have been made for a lease of any land, to the whole or any part of which any person other than the Applicant shall claim to be entitled, by virtue of prior occupation under a miner’s right or business license, the objection to the granting of such lease may be heard by the Warden in the same way as a case of encroachment under the Gold Fields Act; and such Warden shall immediately report the hearing of any such objection, and the decision arrived at thereon, to the Superintendent of the Province.

10. Enquiry into Application.

After the expiration of twenty-one days allowed for objections, the Warden shall appoint a time and place for holding an enquiry into the truth of the particulars alleged by the applicant, and of the objections (if any) made by each objector, and two clear days’ notice of the holding of such enquiry shall be given to each of the persons interested therein.

11. Proceedings at Enquiry.

At such enquiry the Warden shall take evidence in relation to the application and objections, and immediately thereafter shall forward to the office of the Provincial Secretary the application and objections.