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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 miners of the district 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 hereinafter 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 have been 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 persons objecting to the issue of a lease as 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; 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 therein, 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 he shall forward to the office of the Provincial Secretary the application and objections, if any, thereto, and the evidence taken by him as aforesaid, with his opinion thereon, together with the reports, plan, and tracing furnished to him by the Surveyor as hereinafter directed.

12. Governor to issue Leases.

The Governor will, if he shall think fit, upon the recommendation of the Superintendent of Otago, issue to any Applicant a lease of the land applied for, or any part thereof, after the time prescribed by the thirty-second section of the Gold-fields Act, 1862; viz., three months after notice of the intention to grant the same shall have been published in the Government Gazette, and at least one of the local newspapers best calculated, in the opinion of the Governor, to give publicity to the same amongst the persons specially interested.

13. Date of Lease.

Every lease will bear date the day of execution thereof by the Governor, and will be transmitted to the Warden, at whose office the same may be obtained, and the Warden shall deliver the same to the Applicant, or such person as shall be duly authorised to receive and execute the same, upon his application therefor, and execution thereof, within the time hereinafter prescribed.