GOLD MINING LEASE REGULATIONS.

West Coast Times, Issue 731, 27 January 1868, Page 4

GOLD MINING LEASE REGULATIONS.

1. What land may be leased. All auriferous Crown Lands in the West Canterbury Goldfields not in the occupation of any person other than the applicant for mining purposes, business sites in all unsurveyed townships, and all residence areas, may be leased. Provided that the lessee of such land shall not be entitled to interfere with the owner of any water-right, race, dam, reservoir, puddling, or sludge channel, lawfully held by such owner prior to the granting of such lease. 2. Land in surveyed townships. Land set apart for sites for business purposes in surveyed townships may be leased- Provided that in the event of the lease being obtained, the lessee does not interfere with the surface of such site. ' 3. Compensation. Any person lawfully holding any land as a residence area, business sites in un- \ surveyed townships, or tent ground, at the time of the application for such lease may, if the Warden shall think necessary at the granting of such lease, be removed ! therefrom, and shall receive such compensation as hereinafter provided. 4. Boundaries of land to be defined. Persons intending to apply for a lease of auriferous Crown Lands shall, previous to making application as hereinafter directed, erect, or cause to be erected, at each angle of the land proposed to be leased, a post, three inches square, and standing at least three feet in height above the surface of the ground, and such posts shall be maintained at the expense of the applicant until the application shall have been granted or refused by the Superintendent, and the applicant shall post and maintain a board not less than nine inches square on each corner post with the words "Applied for a lease," the name and address of the applicant, the number of acres applied for, and the date of application. 5. Mode of Application. Application shall be made in the form in the Schedule hereto annexed marked A, and shall be addressed in duplicate to the Warden of the Goldfields District within which the land so applied for is situated. 6. Applicant to make a deposit. At the time of applying for such lease the applicant must deposit with the Warden the sum of twenty pounds (L2O), as a guarantee for the payment of any expenses which may be incurred for the survey of the land applied for, or by reason of any objection to such application being allowed ; and such Warden shall give to the applicant a receipt therefor in the form in the Schedule hereto annexed marked B, and any surplus which may remain over such expenses shall be returned to the applicant. 7. 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 sur-

vey the same, and to report as to the area, boundaries, and description thereof, the character of the ground, the likelihood of any river, crock, or permanent water springs, 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 the 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 ou 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. 8. Surveyor to post notices. The Surveyor shall, at the time of making the survey hereinbefore directed, place a notice in the form in the Schedule hereto annexed and 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, and shall advertise the same three times at least in one of the local papers. 9. 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 be left with the Warden at the same time, the Warden shall decide the right of priority by lot. 10. Objectors to give notice. Any person objecting to the issue of a lease so applied for shall, within twentyone 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 (L 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 for the due prose 3ution of his objections, 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. 11. Mode of objection. 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 j by the Warden in the same way as a case j 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. 12. 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 b}- the applicant, and of the objections (if any) made by each objector, and two clear days' notice of the holding of such enquiry, together with a copy of such objections, shall be given to each of the persons interested therein. IS. Proceedings at enquiry. At such enquiry the Warden shall take j evidence in relation to the application and objections, and immediately thereafter he shall forward to the office of the Superintendent the application and objections (if any) thereto, and the evidence taken by j him as aforesaid, with his opinion thereon, together with report, plan, and tracing furnished to him by the Surveyor as hereinbefore directed. 14. Superintendent to issue leases. The Superintendent may, if he shall think fit, upon the recommendation of the Warden of the district, issue to any applicant a lease of the land applied for, or any part thereof, after the time prescribed by the 29th section of the " Gold-fields Act 1866," viz., ten days after notice of the intention to grant the same shall have been published in at least one of the local newspapers best calculated to give publicity to the same amongst the persona specially interested. 15. Date of lease. Every lease shall bear date the day of execution thereof by the Superintendent, and shall 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, and upon delivery to the Warden of a receipt, shewing that a fee of one pound, together with the first halfyear's rent, has been paid. 16. Execution of lease. Upon receiving the lease the Warden shall cause notice to be given to the lessee j or lessees requesting his or their attendance at the Warden's office, or other convenient place, to execute and take delivery thereof within a reasonable time not exceeding thirty days from the date of such notice ; and should the said lessee or lessees, or his or their lawful attorney, as herinafter provided for, fail to comply therewith, or to show reasonable cause for an extension of the time allowed for the purpose, the Warden shall report the circumstances to the Superintendent, and the Superintendent may thereupon declare the lease forfeited, or take such other action therein as he may think fit. J 17. Proceeding in case of refusal to lease. If any lease so applied for shall be refused either in the first instance, or after a failure to comply with the terms of the notice in the preceding clause, or if any application foj; a lease shall be withdrawn, a notice thereof shall be published, and the Warden shall thereupon instruct a Mining Surveyor to proceed without I delay to the ground described in such mining lease, and cause all posts, notices, &c, by which such ground shall have been distinguished as applied for under the Leasing Regulations to be removed ; and further to post notices at each angle of the lease applied for, and at the Warden's office, for the information of the miners in the vicinity that such ground is open to persons holding Miner's Rights or Business Licenses, or to applicants for a lease, as if no lease of the said ground had ever been applied for. 18. Costs. All costs and expenses incurred by, or on behalf of, or by direction of the Government, by reason of the withdrawal of any application for mining leases, or of the non execution of any such lease : within the time aforesaid, shall be consi-

dered expenses incurred within the meaning of the sixth clause of the leasing regulations. 19 Term. The term of the lease cannot in any case exceed fifteen years. 20. Areas of leases. The extent of any lease granted under these Leasing Begulations shall be on quartz lodes or veins, not less than one hundred (100) yards, nor more than four hundred (400) yards in length along the line of the lode, by a width of not less than two hundred (200) yards measured across the lode, in ordinary workings an area not exceeding ten (10) acres, according to the difficulties that may have to be encountered in working the ground. 21. Rents. The rents received shall in all cases be at the rate of five pounds per acre, and the said rents shall be made payable halfyearly in advance during the entire term, and the day on which the lessee or lessees shall receive official notification of the granting of such lease shall be deemed to be the day upon which the first payment shall be due. 22. Attorney may be appointed. In case of the inability of any lessee or lessees by reason of absence, sickness, or any other lawful impediment, to execute a lease, the lawful attorney or attorneys of such lessee or lessees shall be permitted to execute such lease for and on his or their behalf. 23. Power of Attorney. All such attorneys shall be appointed under power of attorney, in the form, or to the effect set forth in the Schedule hereto annexed, marked E, and the execution thereof shall be attested by a Justice of the Peace, and every such power of attorney shall be registered in the office of the Registrar of Deeds before it shall be acted upon. 24. Fine for withdrawal of application Out of the sum of twenty pounds (L2O) deposited by any person making application for a gold mining lease, shall be de ducted the sum of five pounds (L 5) in addition to the previously authorised costs and expenses, in case such person shall withdraw his application, or forfeit or abandon his claim, or not accept his lease within one month after notice of the granting of such lease. 25. Right of ingress and egress. The Warden shall have the right of ingress and egress to, from, and across any land for which a gold-mining lease may or shall be issued under the Leasing Regulations, and of granting to any person or the public such rights of ingress or egress, and of granting to any holder of a Miner's Right the privilege of entering on such land for the purpose of cutting waterraces, or tail-racees, and of leading head water or tail water through the same. 26. Machinery must be placed on the ground. Within three months of the execution of the lease, machinery to the value of not less than L3OO shall be placed upon the lease. 27. Men to bep ut on the lease. Two men shall be allowed to occupy any lease for the space of three months after the execution of the lease, at the expiration of which time twelve men shall be constantly employed upon the lease until the expiration of one month after the shaft is bottomed, after which time the number of men to be constantly employed shall be at the rate of four men to the acre. 28. Quartz leases, The Leasing Regulations shall not apply to leases applied for on quartz veins or lodes, but for the encouragement of working reefs the Superintendent may impose such conditions on any lease as may be applied for as he may think fit. 29. Breakage of Machinery. In the event of the breakage of any machinery or other accident which may prevent the working of the ground, the Warden may grant protection for such reasonable space of time as he may deem necessary. 30. Forfeiture. In the event of any lessee or lessees failing to comply with any of the conditions of the lease or any of the terms contained in the Leasing Regulations, the lease shall be forfeited.