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assist in developing the agricultural resources of the
Province, has voted a sum of £150, with a view to enable
a first and second prize to be offered for the most ap-
proved drainage ploughs—the first prize to be £100, the
second prize £50,—the prizes to be awarded on such
terms, and in such amounts, as the Government may
consider advisable.

This notice is hereby given that in accordance with the
vote of the Council, a competition of Draining Machines
will be held during the month of August next, in a stiff
clay soil, in a locality to be hereafter selected, contiguous
to Dunedin.

The following particulars are published for the
information of intending competitors:—The judges to
be appointed shall be composed of machinists and agri-
culturists; and in awarding the prizes the following
points will be kept in view:—

1st. To secure a machine which will remove the soil
and finish a drain to the depth of at least 42 inches, and
which will leave the drain ready for the pipes with the
least amount of manual labor.

2nd. Or, failing the above, a machine that will remove
part of the soil, and loosen the remainder to a depth of
say 36 to 42 inches, so that it could be quickly removed
by manual labor.

Each machine to be capable of adjustment so as to
cut different widths of drains, to suit main, sub-main,
and ordinary drains, say 12 inches wide at bottom for
main drains, and 2½ or 3 inches for small drains.

In determining the merits of the respective ma-
chines, the Judges will consider the quality of the
work done, the price of the machine, and the cost of the
drain, as completed in each case, and other things being
equal, the preference will be given to the machine which
removes the smallest quantity of earth compatible with
the full attainment of the object desired, and which can
be supplied at the lowest cost.

Should the judges consider that the machines exhi-
bited do not merit the full amount of the premium, the
prizes will be awarded only to such an extent, and in
such amounts as they may recommend.

D. REID,
Secretary for Works.

Provincial Secretary\'s Office,
Dunedin, 23rd February, 1875.

BONUS FOR GOLD-SAVING APPARATUS.

NOTICE.

THE Provincial Council of Otago being desirous of
stimulating invention, and securing the use of gold-
saving apparatus in connection with hydraulic mining
adapted to the purpose of extracting gold from auriferous
earth more completely than any of the machines or
methods at present in use, has voted the sum of £250, to
be offered as a bonus for the invention of such an appa-
ratus, subject to such competition and regulations as
His Honor the Superintendent may seem fit.

This notice is hereby given in accordance with the vote of
the Council, that plans and proposals for such an appa-
ratus will be received for consideration, up till the first
day of August next ensuing.

The following particulars are published for the infor-
mation of intending exhibitors of plans. The plans and
proposals will be submitted to a body of judges, com-
posed of experienced miners, and such other persons as
His Honor the Superintendent may appoint, and in con-
sidering them the following points will be kept in view:—

1. The cost of the apparatus as it appears on the plan,
   and its probable cost by tear and wear.

2. The steadiness with which it can be secured in any
   part of a tail race, and be moved from one part to another
   and again secured.

3. Its adaptability to the different widths and falls of
   tailraces used in different districts; to the varying quan-
   tities of water used either by choice or necessity for
   flushing the same; and to the different kinds of wash-
   dirt from which gold is obtained in the Province.

Inventors are expected to be conversant with the
machines and methods at present in use, and not to offer
simple reproductions of the same. They are also expected
not to offer reproductions of machines or methods which
have fallen into disuse. They can obtain practical infor-
mation on these and other points, by application through
the post to the Central Mining Association at Naseby.

If, in the opinion of the judges appointed, any plan
shall appear to be worthy of adoption by the miners in
this Province, the Government undertakes to furnish
copies of the same to each of the Mining Associations in
the Province with full instructions as to the intentions of
the inventors, and the payment of the bonus will then be
determined in the following manner, payment being due
within eight months from the date at which the copies of
the plans and instructions have been issued to the various
Mining Associations:—

By the fact of the apparatus being used by at least
twenty-five sluicing companies in the Province, employing
an average of at least five men each, for the period of six
months, and the intention of the same companies to con-
tinue the use thereof; such fact and such intention being
verified by the affirmation before a Warden, of the
Managers or representatives of such Companies.

In the event of two or more plans being considered
worthy of a trial, the Government will determine in what
manner the competition shall be carried on, and the best
plan discovered.

As the bonus is only intended to stimulate inventive
genius, every inventor may reap a further benefit from
his invention if he think fit, by taking out a patent.

Plans and proposals intended for submission under this
notice, are to be addressed to the Goldfields Secretary,
Dunedin, on or before the date first above-mentioned.

D. M\'KELLAR,
Goldfields Secretary.

Cromwell, 5th March, 1875.

NOTICE TO APPLICANTS FOR UNRESERVED
LAND, under "Otago Waste Land Act, 1872."—
It is hereby notified to the Applicants whose names ap-
pear in the subjoined Schedule, that they have been de-
clared to be the purchasers of the Sections set opposite
their names in the Schedule, and that the purchase money
of these Sections must be paid to the Receiver of Land
Revenue in Invercargill, on or before Wednesday, the
14th day of April, 1875, otherwise the applications will
be deemed withdrawn, cancelled, and void, and the
deposit made at the time of lodging the application will
be forfeited.

SCHEDULE.

J. T. THOMSON,
Chief Commissioner.

Waste Land Board Office,
Dunedin, 17th March, 1875.

TUESDAY, 20TH APRIL.

THE undermentioned Town Sections will be sold by
Auction at the Land Office, Invercargill, at noon,
on Tuesday, the 20th day of April proximo:—