MILITIA AND VOLUNTEERS.

Colonial Defence Office,
Auckland, 26th August, 1864.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been pleased to make the following appointments, viz.:—

In the Dunedin Militia

JOHN CARGILL to be Major. Date of Commission, 16th August, 1864.

T. RUSSELL.

Instructions as to Conducting Investigations under "The Enquiry into Wrecks Act, 1863."

Postmaster General’s Office,
Auckland, 29th August, 1864.

THE following instructions are published for the guidance of Customs Officers, Magistrates and others, in conducting investigations under "The Enquiry into Wrecks Act, 1863."

THOMAS B. GILLIES,
Postmaster-General.

1. Duties of Customs Officers, &c.

   1. Any Customs Officer, or other person authorised by the Act who shall apply (§ 7) to a Resident Magistrate, or two Justices to hear any case in reference to the wreck of any vessel shall make such application in writing, stating therein the particulars of the case in respect of which such investigation is required.

   2. The Customs Officer or other person authorised shall before the commencement of the investigation furnish a copy of such application to each of the Master, Mate and Engineer of the wrecked vessel.

   3. The Customs Officer, or other authorised person shall superintend the management of the case at the investigation (§ 9).

   4. Should the Court be of opinion that any person connected with the wreck shall be prosecuted criminally, the Customs Officer, or other authorised person, shall lay an information and prosecute in the usual way.

2. Duties of Magistrates.

   1. Having taken evidence, the Magistrate or Justices, shall in all cases prepare a report to the Governor containing a full statement (1) of the case, and (2) of their opinion thereon, such report, (3) to be signed by the Magistrate or Justices, and (4) by the Nautical Assessor if there be one and he concurs, (5) and to be forwarded to the Governor through the Postmaster-General, (6) together with the whole of or such extracts from the evidence as the Court shall think necessary (§ 9 and 10). Should the Nautical Assessor not concur in the report, he should forward his dissent and reasons therefor, to the Governor (§ 10).

   2. The Court has power, provisional on the Governor’s confirmation, to cancel or suspend the certificate of any Master, Mate, or Engineer, and in any case in which it may be considered proper so to cancel or suspend a certificate the Court should,—

      1. Take care that a Nautical Assessor sits with the Court.

      2. Call on such Master, Mate or Engineer, to deliver up his certificate which under § 24 of the "Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862," he is bound to do.

      3. State in open Court their decision, provisional on Governor’s confirmation, in respect to cancelling or suspending the certificate. (Merchant Shipping Act, 1862, § 23, par. 3.)

   3. State, in their report to the Governor, the fact of a copy of the statement of the case upon which the investigation was ordered having been furnished to the owner of the certificate before the commencement of the Investigation. (Merchant Shipping Act, 1862, § 23, par. 6.)

   4. See that the Assessor concurs in the report, and signs it as so concurring. (Ibid.)

   5. Transmit the report with the whole evidence taken and the cancelled or suspended certificate to the Governor through the Postmaster-General, for confirmation and transmission to the Board of Trade. (Ibid, par. 3.)

POSTAL.

Appointment of Postmasters.

General Post Office,
Auckland, 16th August, 1864.

IN virtue of the powers delegated to me by His Excellency the Governor, the following appointments have been made in the service of the Colony.

THOMAS BANNATYNE GILLIES,
Postmaster-General.

Otago.

Ferdinand Falck, to be Postmaster at Arrow River, from 1st July, 1864, vice J. R. McKean, resigned.
John Alexander Campbell, to be Postmaster at Dunstan Creek, from 12th July, 1864.
Daniel McClusky, to be Postmaster at Weatherstone, from the 1st July, 1864, vice F. Tallet, resigned.
Thomas Stark, to be Postmaster at Puarua, from 1st July, 1864, vice R. Christie, resigned.
John Mulloch, to be Postmaster at Kyeburn, from 1st July, 1864, vice A. Touter, resigned.
Charles Nicholson, to be Postmaster at Miller’s Flat, from 1st July, 1864, vice W. Miller, resigned.
George A. Welch, to be Postmaster at Maori Point, from 1st July, 1864, vice H. W. Perryman, resigned.

Registrar-General’s Office,
Auckland, 25th August, 1864.

PURSUANT to the provisions of an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand, passed in the eighteenth year of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and intituled "The Marriage Act, 1854," the following Name of an OFFICIATING MINISTER within the meaning of the said Act, is published for general information:—

Free Church of Scotland.

The Reverend Thomas Alexander.

I, JOHN B. BENNETT, Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in New Zealand, do hereby certify that the foregoing name of an OFFICIATING MINISTER within the meaning of the "Marriage Act, 1854," has been sent in to me, in addition to the names in lists published in the New Zealand Gazette, No. 3, of the 26th January; No. 4, of the 11th of February; No. 9, of the 12th of March; No. 10, of the 25th of March; No. 11, of the 6th of April; No. 15, of the 27th of April; No. 20, of the 25th of May; No. 21, of the 6th of June; No. 25, of the 2nd of July; No. 26, of the 9th of July; No. 27, of the 20th of July; and No. 31, of the 16th of August, in the present year.

Given under my hand, at Auckland, this 25th day of August, 1864.

JOHN B. BENNETT,
Registrar-General.

Printed for the Provincial Government by DANIEL CAMPBELL, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.