Documents, not transferable, to be called “miners’ rights,” and to be in force for twelve months from the date thereof, shall be issued, in the form set forth in the Second Schedule, to any person, not under the age of fourteen years, applying for the same, upon payment in advance of the sum of ten shillings in respect of a right authorising the holder thereof to mine on Crown lands, and of twenty shillings in respect of a right authorising such holder to mine on Native lands and Crown lands, or such other sum as shall not be less than the sum which the Governor may have agreed to pay to the owners of the land as consideration for the right to mine thereon.

A miner’s right for which ten shillings has been paid shall be in force throughout the colony, in all parts thereof outside of a Native district.

A miner’s right for which twenty shillings has been paid shall be in force within the Native district where it is taken out, and in respect of Crown lands throughout all other parts of the colony outside of any other Native district.

The Governor, on receipt of a resolution to that effect from the Councils of the respective boroughs and counties entitled to any portion of the goldfields revenue of any district wherein an augmented fee, as mentioned in the last-preceding section, is paid for miners’ rights issued in respect of mining on Native lands, shall direct the Colonial Treasurer to pay out of the goldfields revenue of such district, or other revenue derived from such district in respect of mining therein, the difference between the ten shillings fee payable in respect of ordinary miners’ rights and the augmented fee payable for miners’ rights issued in the said district.

The Colonial Treasurer shall pay such difference accordingly to the Warden for distribution to the Native owners, and shall deduct the total amount so paid in any year within any district from the total amount of the goldfields revenue accruing in such district before any apportionment thereof is made amongst the boroughs and counties therein.

No such direction as aforesaid shall be given by the Governor unless he shall receive a resolution as aforesaid from the Councils of all the boroughs and counties entitled as aforesaid; and no such resolution shall be capable of being altered or revoked.

The Governor shall notify in the Gazette any direction given under this section in respect of any district; and from and after the date of any such notification the fee to be payable in respect of the issue of miners’ rights therein shall be the same as may for the time being be payable in respect of miners’ rights issued in respect of mining on Crown lands.

Documents, not transferable, to be called “consolidated miners’ rights,” and to be in force for twelve months from the date thereof, shall be issued, in the form set forth in the Second Schedule, to any person, agent, or company applying for the same on payment, in advance, of a sum at the rate of the sum payable for a single miner’s right for one year multiplied by the number of miners’ rights which the consolidated right is to represent.

Documents to be called “business licenses,” and to be in force for twelve or six months from the date thereof, as the case may be, shall be issued, in the form set forth in the Second Schedule, to any person applying for the same on payment, in advance, of three pounds for a yearly license and one pound ten shillings for a half-yearly license respectively.

“Miners’ rights,” “consolidated miners’ rights,” and “business licenses” shall be signed by the Warden or Mining Registrar, or a Postmaster who is authorised to issue them, and dated on the day on which they arc issued.

Every miner’s right shall contain the Christian or first name and surname and the residence of (in case of a miner’s right) the person in whose favour the same shall be issued, and (in case of a consolidated miners’ right) the manager or trustee or trustees to whom, and the name of the company on whose behalf, the same shall be issued.

Every business license shall contain the Christian name or first name and surname and the occupation and residence of the person in whose favour the same shall be issued.

In any case where a miner’s right, consolidated miners’ right, or business license may have been lost or destroyed, and the existence of such right or license can be proved, a duplicate of such right or license may be issued in lieu of such lost or destroyed right or license until the due expiration of the same, and comprising the like rights and privileges, and for which the fee of one shilling shall be paid.

A statutory declaration shall in all such cases be made as to identity and the facts of the case.

If the holder of either a miner’s right or a business license shall neglect, on the expiration thereof, to take out a new right or license, as the case may be, a new right or license dated of the day of such expiration may nevertheless be granted to such holder upon production of such expired right or license within one month from such expiration, and within three months upon payment of the sum of five shillings in addition to the ordinary price of a miner’s right or business license as aforesaid; and every new right or license so issued shall be in such one of the forms in the Fourth Schedule as shall be applicable, and shall be of the same force and efficacy as if issued on the day of the expiration of the former right or license.

Any number of miners’ rights may be issued to any person applying for the same, and the holder of such miners’ rights shall be entitled to occupy, either separately or conjointly, a corresponding number of claims: Provided that in respect of each claim in the number of claims so taken up there shall be employed at least one man.

It shall not be necessary, for any purpose whatever, for any shareholder in any incorporated company to take out or be the holder of a miner’s right in respect of any shares held by him in such company.

A consolidated miners’ right shall on his or their application be granted to the manager or any trustee or trustees of any company of persons who shall have agreed to work in partnership or in conjunction any claim or claims registered under the provisions hereof, on behalf of the persons who shall from time to time be members of such company, and shall during its continuance be held by the manager or the trustee or trustees for the time being of such company on behalf of such last-mentioned persons, and shall be in lieu of and represent and be of the same force and effect as a number of miners’ rights granted for the same period of time equal to the number of miners’ rights by virtue of which the said claim or claims shall have originally been taken possession of.

When any consolidated miners’ right shall be granted, the miners’ rights of the persons in whose behalf the same shall be granted shall be retained by them, and such persons shall be, by virtue of such consolidated miners’ right, respectively deemed holders of miners’ rights within the meaning of this Act during the continuance of such consolidated right. But nothing herein contained shall be deemed to make it obligatory upon any person interested in a consolidated miners’ right to be also the holder of a miner’s right.

A consolidated miners’ right may be granted to any one person out of a number of persons associated together for working a claim, to represent not fewer miners’ rights in number than the total number of persons so associated.

In such case each of the aforesaid persons shall be, by virtue of such consolidated miners’ right, deemed to be respectively holders of miners’ rights within the meaning of this Act during the continuance of such consolidated right. And the person to whom the same is granted shall hold the same only on the behalf of himself and the other persons associated with him as aforesaid.

If any person shall forge or alter any miner’s right, license, lease, or other document issued under the authority of this Act with intent to defeat the provisions of this Act, or to defraud any person whomsoever, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and, on conviction thereof before any Court of competent jurisdiction, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or imprisonment with or without hard labour not exceeding two years, or both, at the discretion of the Court.

If any person—

he shall be liable to a penalty for every such offence not exceeding fifty pounds, or to imprisonment with or without hard labour not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the Court.

At every Warden’s office there shall be a register kept by the Mining Registrar for the registration of all claims and other mining rights.

No license or other document to hold any claim or other mining right shall be issued to any person previous to the registration thereof, and the payment of the prescribed registration fee.

A certificate in writing of the contents of, or of any extract from, any register kept by a Mining Registrar, and purporting to be signed by such Registrar, shall in all Courts and for all purposes be primâ facie evidence of the matter set forth in such certificate without production of the register or proof of the Registrar’s signature to such certificate.

Every holder of a miner’s right shall, subject to the provisions of this Act and to any regulations made thereunder, be entitled to enter upon any Crown land for the purpose of prospecting and searching for gold, notwithstanding such land shall be held under a depasturing lease or license.

Any person who shall be the holder, and any number of persons in conjunction who shall each be the holder, of any such miner’s right, shall, during the continuance thereof, subject to the provisions of this Act and to any regulations thereunder, be entitled to take and maintain possession for mining purposes of a parcel, or of so many parcels as such regulations shall permit, of Crown land, in such manner, of such quantity and dimensions, and with such boundaries, as shall be directed by such regulations.

Such dimensions and boundaries shall be fixed at the time of the taking of such possession, and such boundaries shall be marked, and thereafter during the continuance of such possession kept marked, in such noticeable way as circumstances may permit or as may be prescribed by such regulations.

Any such person or persons who shall have so taken possession of any such parcel or parcels of Crown lands shall, either by himself or themselves, or in conjunction with the holder or holders of any share or shares to be created in such parcel or parcels of Crown land as are hereby permitted, be, during the continuance of such miner’s right or miners’ rights, or of a consolidated miners’ right granted on behalf of such persons, and while be or they shall with reasonable diligence bonâ fide continue to carry on mining operations therein or in connection therewith, entitled to the exclusive occupation for mining purposes of such parcel or parcels, for so long as they shall require it for such purpose.

Any person by whom such parcel of land as aforesaid shall be occupied shall, subject as aforesaid and during such continuance as aforesaid, be deemed in law to be possessed of such parcel of land and the property therein.

The person or persons, or any of them, who shall have lawfully taken possession or be in the lawful occupation of any such parcel of land, or the executors or administrators, or the assignee in bankruptcy, or the guardian in infancy, or the committee or guardian in lunacy, or the purchaser under an execution of the interests of such person or of any such persons, may, in such manner as the regulations shall direct, register such parcel of land or claim by some name; and the owner of any share as hereinafter mentioned in a registered claim may register such share in such manner as such regulations shall prescribe.

No claim shall be registered unless the miner’s right or miners’ rights under which such claim shall be held shall be produced to the officer required to register the same.

Every holder of a miner’s right, and every person on whose behalf any consolidated miners’ right is granted, shall, during the continuance thereof, subject as aforesaid, be entitled to put up and at any time to remove any building or other erection, to cut any live or dead timber, and to remove the same, for building for himself any place of residence or of business, or for mining purposes, or for fuel, or otherwise for his personal use, from any Crown lands not exempted from occupation for mining under this Act; and also, with the consent of the Warden, on such terms and conditions as he shall decide, to make tramways or other roads for the carrying-out and in aid of such purposes.

Claims shall be of such form and area respectively as may be prescribed by regulations affecting the particular class of claim. Claims are classified as follows:—

comprising respectively ordinary claims, double ground, extended claims, frontage claims, special claims, and dredging claims.

Any person desiring the exclusive occupation of land for mining purposes within any district shall mark out the same by causing to be erected at every angle thereof a post not less than three inches square or three inches in diameter, standing not less than two feet above the surface of the ground, and having thereupon some distinguishing mark cut into the wood, or, where this is not possible, then in such manner as shall be prescribed by regulations; and any piece of land so marked out shall be called a claim.

When an angle cannot be so marked on account of the nature of the ground, the post may be placed at the nearest practicable point.

Where wood is not available for the making of posts, a cairn of stones and a trench, or a cairn of stones on rock without a trench, or such other permanent distinguishing mark may be used instead of a post as the Warden shall think sufficient for the purpose intended.

Every claim which is marked out in accordance with this section shall be sufficiently marked for the purposes of this Act notwithstanding that any road may traverse such claim either at the time the claim is marked or at any other time; and no such road shall be deemed to dissever the claim, nor shall it be necessary to demark the line of any such road.

If any person, on receiving a written notice from the holder of a miner’s right requiring such person to indicate and show to such holder the post or other marks defining the claim of the said person, shall refuse or neglect so to do within twenty-four hours after receiving such notice, the holder of such right may assume the claim to be unmarked, and may mark out any ground therein and take possession thereof.

If any person shall hire himself for wages to an employer, the right to hold and occupy any claim, licensed holding, or special claim and to any gold therein shall be vested in such employer.

But, notwithstanding anything in this section contained, any person working for wages or on tribute need not necessarily be the holder of a miner’s right, unless such work be carried on upon Native land, in which case a miner’s right shall be necessary for every person so working.

In the event of non-payment of his wages, any person working on wages shall have a lien upon the claim, licensed holding, or special claim wherein he has been employed to the extent of the wages due to him, but not exceeding three months’ wages, and shall be deemed to be in possession of the said claim, licensed holding, or special claim until the wages are paid and the said lien fully satisfied; and the person so working as aforesaid shall, within seven days after ceasing to work in the claim, if he becomes the holder of a miner’s right, be entitled to register such lien in the Warden’s Court in the district in which the claim is situated.

And in any case where there are several liens registered against the same claim, the Warden shall determine the order of priority in which such liens shall be satisfied, in accordance with the provisions of “The Workmen’s Wages Act, 1884;” and for the purposes of that Act all liens registered within seven days of the registration of the first lien shall be deemed to be registered simultaneously.

Every workman employed on contract in any claim, licensed t holding, or special claim, in sinking shafts, or constructing adits, uprises, levels, winzes, or stoping out-lodes shall be deemed to be a wages-man within the meaning of this Act, and be entitled to all the rights and privileges conferred by the preceding section, and shall have a lien on such claim, licensed holding, or special claim for any moneys due to him not exceeding the sum of one hundred pounds; and, if he becomes the holder of a miner’s right, he shall be entitled to register such lien in the Warden’s Court in the district in which the claim is situate.

No sale or transfer or other disposal of any licensed holding, special claim, or mining right, and no other encumbrance or lien of any kind, shall take precedence of a lien or liens for wages for a period not exceeding three months, duly registered under the provisions of the two preceding clauses. But all such sales, transfers, or other disposals, and all encumbrances or liens of any other description, shall be deemed to be and to have been made and executed subject to all registered liens for wages as aforesaid.

So long as any unsatisfied registered lien for wages exists, the Warden may at any time, upon the application of the person or persons to whom such wages are due upon any such registered lien, make an order that the claim, licensed holding, special claim, or mining right or share or interest over which such lien is registered, shall be sold by public auction, and, after payment of expenses, the net proceeds of such sale shall be paid towards the satisfaction of the lien, and the balance, if any, shall be paid according to the legal priorities to any other person entitled thereto.

Any person working as a tributer in any mine shall, in respect of each day’s labour, have a lien or first claim, equal in value to half the current rate of wages in the district in which such mine is situate, not exceeding twenty shillings per week, upon all earnings of the said mine, or portion of a mine, the result of the labour of the said tributer; and no such tributer shall be deemed a workman representing the area stipulated within the meaning of this Act or any regulation made thereunder unless be receives from the owner or lessee the amounts herein stipulated. Such earnings shall, unless otherwise agreed upon between the parties, be ascertained and computed every three months, except in cases where the contract or agreement relates to working out a specified block of ground, in which case such computation shall, unless otherwise stipulated, be made when the said block of ground has been worked out.

Every such lien as aforesaid may be registered and enforced in like manner as a lien for non-payment of wages may be enforced under section fifty-one of this Act.

It shall be competent for any party of tributers after each washing-up or retorting of the gold or other mineral from time to time to deduct from the earnings of the said mine in their possession an amount equal to one-half the current rate of wages, as above limited, in respect of the time actually worked by such party of tributers.

If the earnings of the mine be in the possession of the owner, lessee, agent, or manager, and if, after demand in writing has been made, the mine-owner, lessee, agent, or manager fails, refuses, or neglects, within two days after receipt of such demand, to pay over to the tributer or tributers any moneys and earnings which it is herein enacted shall be the property of the tributer or tributers, the same may be recovered as a debt due by such owner or lessee to the tributer or tributers: Provided that, in case the earnings for the time worked do not amount to a sum equal in value to half the rate of wages current in the locality in which such mine is situate, as above limited, the tributer or tributers shall not, unless otherwise expressly agreed upon in writing, have any further claim upon the mine-owner or lessee other than the earnings or value thereof so produced.

Any person owning any share or interest in any mine, or in any mining company owning or working any mine, shall be entitled at any time between the hours of noon and one o’clock in the afternoon of any working day to enter such mine with or without an expert, and to inspect the same and all the workings and mining operations therein, and for such purpose the said person and expert shall have at all times free ingress, egress, and regress from any mine as aforesaid.

Every manager of a mine or director or manager of any company as aforesaid who prevents, obstructs, or delays, or causes the prevention, obstruction, or delay, of any person or expert as aforesaid from entering any such mine shall be deemed guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one hundred pounds for every day during which such prevention, obstruction, or delay continues.

Every claim, from and after the day on which the claim has been marked out or taken possession of, shall be bonâ fide and continuously worked from day to day by the number of men to be prescribed in respect of such description of claim by regulations.

Preparations indispensable to the working of the ground in any claim, or any work in connection therewith, or in the erection of machinery for the same shall be deemed to be work in respect of such claim.

No owner of any quartz claim shall be required to employ any men on his claim until the expiration of ten days after the claim has been marked out and taken possession of, provided that the claim shall in the interim be occupied either by the owner thereof or some one person on his behalf.

If the owner of any claim shall fail to comply with the provisions of the last-preceding section, the Inspector or any other person may apply to the Warden in writing to declare such claim forfeited.

The Warden or Mining Registrar shall thereupon issue a summons requiring the owner to appear at the Court on a day to be appointed by the summons.

On the day appointed as aforesaid, the applicant appearing, the Court shall, whether the owner appear or not, proceed to investigate the case and decide the same.

If it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Court that the claim has remained unworked and that it was not protected, the Court may declare the same to be forfeited; and, in case it is proved that the required number of men have not been employed, the Court may—

For a first breach in respect of not working the claim, or of the non-employment of the required number of men, declare the claim or any part thereof or any share or interest therein to be forfeited, and may award costs to the applicant; or may substitute a monetary fine for such forfeiture not exceeding twenty pounds, or may impose neither forfeiture nor fine;

For a second breach shall declare the claim or any part thereof or any share or interest therein to be forfeited, and award costs to the applicant, and without the option of substituting a fine.

If a suit be brought for the forfeiture of any claim by any person or persons other than the Inspector or Mining Registrar, and the claim or any part thereof be declared forfeited, and no fine substituted, the Court, in any case where registration is necessary, may adjudge such person to be first applicant for the ground, and, in case where registration is not necessary, the Court may grant an order to such person authorising him to take possession of the same as the owner thereof under this Act.

Any claim, licensed holding, special claim, lease, residence-site, business-site, or dam-site, which shall be unoccupied, and upon which there is no plant or machinery, and which has been unworked for a longer period than is allowed by the regulations for the district, or for the part thereof in which such claim is situated, or, in the case of residence sites, if the same, shall be unoccupied for a longer period than is allowed by this Act, and during such period shall have no building erected thereon, shall be deemed to be actually abandoned ground, and may without any adjudication of forfeiture or abandonment be taken up for any purpose under this Act, in accordance with the regulations, by any holder of a miner’s right; and the rights of any previous occupant of such ground, notwithstanding the existence of any registration of title thereto, shall be deemed to have expired.

No forfeiture of any claim or any part thereof or any share or interest therein through the neglect, absence, or omission of any workmen employed thereon or of any tributer shall be incurred by reason of non-employment of the required number of men, provided that the owner shall without undue delay employ the required number of men after notice in writing by the Inspector, Registrar, or any holder of a miner’s right has been delivered to him or sent by post to him at his last-known address.

After a claim is occupied and registered, but not before, the owner or owners thereof for the time being may, subject to regulations, from time to time, divide the interest in such claim into such and so many shares as he or they shall think proper; and such shares or any of them may be appropriated to any person or persons, and such owner or owners may assign or encumber or create any interest in such claim, and each and every such interest so created or appropriated shall be registered.

The owner for the time being of any share in such claim may, subject as aforesaid, assign or encumber or create any interest in such share.

The Warden, on sufficient cause shown, on application to him in that behalf, and on proof to his satisfaction that the claims or licensed holdings in respect of which amalgamation is applied for have been fully worked during the whole time of their occupancy, may permit the owners of any two or more adjoining claims or licensed holdings respectively to amalgamate the same; but always so that the amalgamated claim or holding shall not exceed in area the maximum area prescribed for claims or licensed holdings, respectively, as the case may be.

Any claim may become amalgamated provided it is registered before such amalgamation.

If there be held from time to time by or on behalf of the owner or owners for the time being of a registered claim such number of miners’ rights as would have authorised the taking possession thereof when the same was taken possession of, or a consolidated miners’ right representing such number, the same shall be sufficient, and it shall not be necessary that any other miner’s right should be held by any shareholder in such claim as such shareholder.

The word “owner” in this and the three next-preceding sections shall be taken to include any guardian or committee as mentioned in section forty-five.

The Warden may, with the consent of the Minister, grant a license for special claims of greater area, hut not exceeding one hundred acres, and of different form than may be determined by regulations made hereunder, for the purpose of carrying on mining operations under circumstances of extraordinary difficulty, or involving the expenditure of considerable sums of money, or for the encouragement of enterprise in prospecting new ground, or as a reward for the discovery of new workings, or for working old ground; and also may prescribe the terms and conditions upon which any such special claim may be held, occupied, and worked.

If it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Court that any special claim heretofore or hereafter granted has remained unworked for the period prescribed in that respect, and that it was not protected during such period, the Warden may declare the same to be forfeited; or, in his discretion, on sufficient cause being shown, may substitute a monetary fine in lieu of forfeiture, and may allow thereout a sufficient sum to defray any reasonable expenses incurred by the plaintiff, if any, in the prosecution of his suit.

Any person desirous of carrying on mining operations at deep levels under the sea or any portion of the foreshore, by means of sinking shafts above high-water mark and driving adits under the sea, shall make application to the Warden for a special claim of the area intended to be worked; and on receipt of such application, and a deposit of twenty pounds being lodged with the Receiver of Gold Revenue to cover cost of survey, advertisement, and other charges, the Warden shall hear the application and objections, if any, in the same manner as prescribed in respect of applications for licensed holdings, and shall, after hearing the applications and objections, if any, forward such applications to the Minister, with his recommendations thereon.

The Governor may from time to time, subject to any regulations made under this Act, grant special claims under the sea, or of any portion of the foreshore, at any place, whether within the limits of a mining district or outside thereof, on such terms and conditions as he shall think fit, but not for a term exceeding twenty-one years, nor for a greater area than one hundred acres.

No special claim granted under this section shall entitle the owner thereof to any ground within fifty feet of the surface. If any claim applied for be for any part under the foreshore which is under the control of a Harbour Board, the proposed conditions thereof shall be submitted to such Harbour Board before such claim is granted.

The Governor is hereby authorised from time to time to make, alter, amend, or revoke regulations for regulating the applications for and the granting of special claims under the sea or on the foreshore of the sea, and the terms and conditions on which such claims shall be granted, and the rent or royalty to be paid in respect thereof, and the mode of payment of the same, or may declare that any regulations made under this Act shall apply in respect to any such special claim notwithstanding the same may be outside the limits of a mining district.

Any holder of a miner’s right desiring to obtain a license for the occupation of land as a licensed holding under this Act—

Shall mark out the land as provided in section forty-eight, and, in addition, shall have the same surveyed and plans deposited with the Warden, showing the land the applicant desires; and shall lodge an application for a license at the Warden’s office, where every such application shall be recorded, in the order in which it is received, in a book to be kept for that purpose, together with the day and hour of the receipt thereof;

Shall, on the same day, deposit with the Receiver of Revenue such sum for survey, if the land has not been surveyed, and necessary expenses in connection with the land comprised in his application as shall be prescribed by regulations to be made in that behalf, and a further sum of five pounds in respect of each application; the balance of which sums, after deducting therefrom the expense incurred in the said survey, advertising, and otherwise, will be returned to the applicant.

The Warden shall give public notice of the application by advertisement in one or more newspapers published in the district, and shall therein name a day on which the application will be heard; and on such day, or on some subsequent day to which the hearing may be postponed, the Warden shall hear the application, and may, and whether or not any objection has been made to the application, grant or refuse to grant to the applicant or to a person appointed by him a license in the form set forth in the Third Schedule, specifying particularly the metals or minerals authorised to be mined for, the terms of such license, and the rent to be paid in each case.

The conditions upon which every license for a licensed holding or special claim shall be held are as follow:—

That the licensee pay to the Receiver of Revenue half-yearly in advance during every year during which he shall occupy the land comprised in the license, if such land be other than Native land, a rent after a rate of ten shillings in respect of every acre and fractional part of an acre during the whole term of such license; but, if such land be Native land, then such price in respect of the occupation thereof as shall be stated in any agreement made between the Governor and the Native owners of the land in respect of such occupation; and, if no sum be stated in such agreement, then the rent to be paid shall be the same as before mentioned in respect of the occupation of Grown lands.

That the first payment in respect of a special claim is due and payable on the day upon which the Minister consents to the granting of the said claim, and in respect of every other claim and licensed holding is due on the day on which the license is granted by the Warden, and every subsequent half-yearly payment at equal intervals of six months in every subsequent year.

That the licensee shall carry on mining operations in an efficient and workmanlike manner, and shall employ in such operations at least so many men, being able and competent workmen or miners, as shall be prescribed by this Act or by regulations.

But if the number of men required to be employed by this Act or any regulations made thereunder cannot, in the opinion of the Inspector or Warden of the district, be reasonably and advantageously employed thereon, owing to want of water or other causes, the Inspector or Warden may, by order in writing, for a period not exceeding four months, grant permission for the employment of a fewer number of men, such fewer number being the greatest that can be reasonably and advantageously employed.

Any person applying to the Inspector or Warden for permission to work his holding or claim with a fewer number of men shall notify such application by posting notices on the ground and outside the Warden’s Court not less than fourteen days prior to the Inspector or Warden dealing with such application.

That the licensee may at any time, by writing under his hand addressed to the Warden, surrender the whole or any part of the land comprised in his license, and such surrender shall be indorsed by the Warden on such license, and therefrom the rental payable shall be proportionately reduced. But no licensee shall be entitled to make such surrender in part more than twice during the currency of his license.

That the licensee shall be liable to pay royalty in respect of all metals or minerals which may be found in the land described in his license, not being metals or minerals for which heis authorised to mine under his license.

Such other conditions for the protection of the equitable rights or interests of third parties as shall be inserted by the Warden in such license.

Applications for licenses and objections thereto shall be made and notice given in such form and manner as shall be prescribed in that behalf by regulations; and if no such regulations be made and in operation, then in such form and manner as the Warden shall from time to time require.

Every license issued under the authority of this Act shall be signed by the Warden, and he shall affix thereto the seal of the Warden’s Court. Such signing and affixing shall be in the presence of one witness, who shall attest the same.

If any person to whom a license has been granted for a licensed holding fails to take up the same within thirty days after the grant thereof by the Warden, and to pay the rent due in respect thereof, such license shall be cancelled by the Warden as null and void; and the licensed holding shall be open for application as if no such license had been granted.

If any person to whom a license for a special claim has been provisionally granted by the Warden, and approved by the Minister, fails to take up the same within thirty days after notice is sent to him by registered letter by the Registrar that such license is ready for issue to him, and to pay the rent due in respect thereof, such license shall be cancelled by the Warden as null and void; and the special claim shall be open for application as if no such license had been issued.

The Warden shall in each month cause to be transmitted to the Minister copies or abstracts of all licenses issued by him during the previous month, together with a memorandum of every transfer, forfeiture, or other transaction made during such previous month and affecting any licenses issued at any time previous thereto.

Subject to the provisions in respect of forfeiture hereinafter contained, and to the provisions of section two hundred and nine, every license to work a gold-mine issued under this Act shall give to the licensee, for a term not exceeding twenty-one years, an indefeasible right to all gold within the boundaries of the land therein comprised, and an indefeasible and exclusive right to dig and mine for gold therein and thereon and dispose of the same, to erect machinery on such land and to construct works connected therewith, and to do all lawful acts incident or conducive to the carrying-out of those objects.