do hereby, by virtue and in exercise of the powers delegated to the Executive Government of the said Province in this behalf by His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand in Council, under the authority of "The Gold Fields Act Amendment Act, 1867," and of any and every other power in anywise enabling me in this behalf, proclaim and declare, that from and after the day of the date hereof the said Regulations so made as aforesaid by His Excellency the then Governor of New Zealand, and proclaimed in the said New Zealand Gazette, bearing date the twenty-fifth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, shall be and the same are hereby revoked. And by and with the advice and consent aforesaid, and by virtue and in exercise of the powers aforesaid, I do hereby make the Regulations hereinafter contained for the depasturing of stock upon all the waste lands of the Crown within the Gold Field called and known as the Otago Gold Field; for which a lease or license for depasturing purposes has not been granted, or has been cancelled or suspended, that is to say—

Regulations.

Depasturing Regulations.—Otago Gold Fields.

1. The Superintendent may from time to time divide the Otago Gold Field into Districts for the purposes of these Regulations, to be called Depasturing Districts, and until otherwise appointed the several Districts described in the First Schedule hereto, shall be Depasturing Districts under these Regulations.

2. A Board of Wardens shall be established in each Depasturing District, consisting of a chairman and such number of members as the Superintendent may from time to time direct.

3. The Chairman of the Board in each District shall be nominated by the Superintendent, and shall have a casting vote in cases of equality.

4. The Wardens for each District shall be elected annually on the first day of August in each year, but should that day fall upon a Sunday in any year, then upon the day next following.

5. The Wardens in the respective Districts shall be elected by the votes of the freeholders and agricultural leaseholders, holders of miners' rights, business licenses, and mining and mineral leases, resident in the respective Districts present at such meeting.

6. The Superintendent shall make regulations for the first election of Wardens.

7. The Board of Wardens shall have power to regulate their own proceedings, to frame rules for subsequent elections, to compute the quantity of stock capable of being depastured within the district, and to divide the district, if required, into separate districts for sheep cattle—subject always to the conditions and regulations hereinafter contained. Provided that no such rules shall be of any effect until assented to by the Superintendent, and unless the same are published in some newspaper circulating in the District.

8. In these regulations the expression “great cattle” shall be construed to mean and include horned cattle, horses, mules and asses, male and female, and the offspring of such above six months of age; and the expression “small cattle” shall be construed to mean sheep and goats, male and female, and the weaned offspring of such; and the expression “gold field” shall mean the Otago Gold Field; and the word “district” shall mean one of the Depasturing Districts described in the First Schedule hereto, and every other District which may hereafter be appointed by the Superintendent under these Regulations.

9. Every holder of a miner’s right having a claim within a District, and every holder of a business license occupying land by virtue of such license, within a District, shall be entitled to run two head of great cattle free of charge. Provided all cattle so depastured free of charge be branded, otherwise such cattle shall be deemed to be depastured without license, and in contravention of these regulations.

10. The person, or in the case of a lease to two or more persons jointly, the persons, holding or occupying any land within a District, under or by virtue of any mining, mineral, or agricultural lease, shall be entitled to run three head of great cattle free of charge, provided that in the case of a lease to two or more persons jointly the number of cattle which they shall be together entitled to run shall be no more than three head.

11. Holders of miners’ rights or business licenses, and mining, mineral, and agricultural lessees, within a District may run cattle therein in excess of the number which they are allowed to run free of charge, on obtaining a depasturing license under these Regulations, and other persons resident in such District, not being holders of miners’ rights or business licenses or such lessees as aforesaid, may run cattle within the District on obtaining a depasturing license under these regulations.

12. Persons desirous of obtaining a depasturing license must first deposit with the nearest Gold Receiver an application in writing in the form contained in the second schedule hereto.

13. After the receipt of such application, the Gold Receiver shall submit the same to the Board of Wardens of the District, whose decision thereon will be notified in writing and posted outside the said Gold Receiver’s office. The applicant shall then forthwith pay to the Gold Receiver the assessment fee payable under these regulations; and the Gold Receiver shall, upon the production of a certificate of the Board of Wardens signed by the Chairman setting forth the district where and the number of great and small cattle which the applicant shall be entitled to depasture, receive the assessment fee and give the applicant a receipt and a depasturing license in the form in the third schedule hereto annexed. If the assessment is not paid within three days after the decision of the Board of Wardens is notified, the application shall be deemed to have been abandoned.

14. The assessment fees payable annually under these regulations shall be:—

For every head of great cattle, ... 3s. 6d.

For every head of small cattle, ... 0s. 7d.

And when six months or more of the annual period shall have expired, then only one half of the above fees shall be charged.

15. Depasturing licenses granted under these regulations shall remain in force only until the 31st March next following the date thereof.

16. The Chairman of the Board of Wardens shall keep a register of brands, and a list of depasturing licenses issued, with the date of issue, and the names of the licensees, and the quantity and description of stock which each person is authorised to depasture, and the brand to be used, shall be posted in the Warden’s office, so that it may be inspected at any time by the public.

17. If the brand described in the application has been allotted to any other person, the applicant shall amend his application by inserting therein some other brand not previously allotted to any other person.

18. Depasturing licenses granted under these regulations will not authorise the licensees to depasture cattle on any Waste Lands of the Crown within the Otago Gold Field held or occupied under any license or lease from the Crown.

19. No person shall depasture cattle, great or small, on the gold field, unless the same be and be kept branded in the manner provided by these regulations; and all cattle depastured under these regulations shall be and be kept branded with the distinctive brands of the person authorised to depasture the same in the manner herein provided; and all cattle found on the gold field without such brand shall be deemed to be depastured on the gold field in contravention of these regulations, and without license.

20. Any person committing a breach of these Regulations will be liable to the penalties provided by the "Gold Fields Act, 1866."