112

and sixty-seven, and published in the Govern-
ment Gazette of the said Province, No. 82,
of the 31st December, 1867, and those made
by the Hon. John Hall and published in the
County of Westland Gazette, No. 6, of the
8th May, 1868, and do hereby make the
following regulations in lieu thereof.

Given under my hand at Hokitika this
twentieth day of July, one thousand
eight hundred and seventy.

C. Hoes.

I. INTERPRETATION CLAUSE.

In the construction, and for the purposes of these regulations, the following terms shall, if not inconsistent with the context or subject matter, have the respective meanings hereby assigned to them, that is to say—

The word “Warden” shall mean Warden, Sub-Warden, Justice of the Peace, Resident Magistrate, or any other officer entrusted with the superintendence of the goldfields, or any portion thereof, and holding a commission duly empowering him to have charge thereof, and shall include Wardens and Assessors, except where it is otherwise specially provided.

The word “person” shall mean the holder of a miner’s right, business or other licence or lease.

The word “claim” shall mean the portion of land which each person or party shall be entitled to occupy, or occupy and mine in, under any miner’s right, business or other licence or lease to be issued under the provisions of “The Gold Fields Act, 1866.”

The words “new gold workings” shall mean ground previously unworked.

The words “prospecting area” shall mean the extent of ground allowed and protected for the purpose of prospecting under section II, clause 1.

The words “prospecting claim” shall mean that portion of ground granted and defined by the Warden on gold being struck thereon.

“Ordinary claims” shall mean all claims except river, spur, quartz, or extended claims.

“River claims” shall mean all claims situated in beds of rivers, creeks, gullies, or water-courses.

“Spur claims” shall mean all claims situated in or upon spurs, terraces, or hills.

“Quartz claims” shall mean all claims in quartz reefs, veins, or lodes.

“Extended claims” shall mean an extended area granted in abandoned or worked ground.

The word “business” shall mean and include any vending or disposing of any goods, merchandise, or chattels, whether by hawking or any other manner.

Words importing the singular number shall include the plural number, and words importing the masculine gender shall include the feminine gender.

2. THE MINER’S RIGHT.

Every person residing on a goldfield, and engaged in mining for gold, shall take out a miner’s right, such miner’s right to be produced for inspection when demanded by the Warden or other officer, or by any person duly authorised in that behalf in writing by the Warden.

II.—PROSPECTING.

1. Prospecting Areas in Alluvial Ground

The Warden may, upon the application of any persons forming a party of not less than four for a prospecting area, register an area not exceeding 600 yards by 600 yards in ordinary ground, the same not being within a radius of one mile of any existing workings or within a radius of half-a-mile of any other such registered area, and shall grant protection for the same, and such protection shall continue in force until gold be struck, or the ground abandoned for the space of one clear day, or until gold workings approach such protected area within a radius of one mile.

All such areas shall be marked with posts six inches through and four feet above the surface of the ground; and a notice shall be kept posted on each of such boundary posts with the words “prospecting area” legibly written on a board not less than nine inches square. The boundaries shall be shown by trenches cut from each side of each corner post one yard in length and one foot in width, thus—

Provided that on gold being struck in any such protected area, the party shall mark out the prospecting claim to which they are entitled, and proceed as directed in clause 4 of this section; every such protected area shall be re-registered every three months, or all right to such shall at once cease. Protected areas not to be considered “workings” until the prospecting claim is granted on such areas.

2. Prospecting Areas for Quartz Reefs, &c.

The Warden may, upon any person who is the holder of a miner’s right applying for a prospecting area for a quartz reef, register an area not exceeding one mile square, and shall grant protection for the same, and such protection shall continue in force until a prospect be obtained within any such protected