2. The area so located or staked shall be divided into two parts, each of rectangular shape, except as already provided, of equal area as nearly as may be, one of which shall be reserved to the Crown, and the locator shall furnish the information and evidence of locating and staking required by Section 6 of the regulations aforesaid in respect of the claim as originally staked, and he shall state which half he desires to lease and which half is to be reserved for the Crown. The location to be applied for and the location to be reserved shall be marked on the ground in the manner prescribed by Section 6 aforesaid;

3. The applicant shall submit with his application a statement supported by affidavit that from surface indications visible, and from geological information available, the tract selected by him as a Crown reservation is as favourable in all respects for the discovery of petroleum as that which he has applied to lease for that purpose. Any attempt to defraud the Crown by making a false declaration as to the relative value for petroleum purposes of the location applied for and that selected for the Crown may, in the discretion of the Minister, be punished by cancellation of the lease issued or the withdrawal therefrom of a portion of the tract so leased.

4. On the posts marking the locations the locator shall place the inscriptions required by Section 6, and in addition he shall place on the posts marking the location to be reserved to the Crown, the words "Crown Reserve," and shall post on the location selected for the Crown a written or printed notice setting out that it is a Crown reservation;

5. In unsurveyed territory the location shall be staked along its greatest dimension, and the bearing of the location line shall be given in degrees and minutes;

6. The locator shall submit with his application a plan in duplicate, drawn to a scale, showing the position of the location as staked on the ground, the manner in which it has been divided, the position of the half he desires to lease, and the half to be reserved for the Crown. The plan shall contain sufficient data to admit of the position of these locations being shown in their proper position on the records of the Department. Unless definite information is furnished as to the exact position of the location so staked the application for a lease will not be considered;

7. In case the lands affected are surveyed lands within the meaning of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulations staking shall not be necessary, but the location shall be described by legal subdivisions, or regular portions thereof, section, township and range, comprising a definite description of the location applied for and of the location to be reserved to the Crown;

8. The minimum area of a location which may be acquired by lease under the provisions of these regulations shall be eighty acres, but in the case of a location of less than eighty acres, where the petroleum and natural gas rights adjoining it are not available, application for a less area, one-half of which shall be reserved to the Crown, may be granted;

9. If the lease issued to an applicant under the provisions of these regulations is relinquished or cancelled the location so ieased as well as the reservation created in connection therewith may, if the Minister so determines, again be open to application under the provisions of these regulations, after notice has been posted in the office of the mining recorder for a period of thirty days;

10. If, for any reason, it is considered necessary or advsiable to have a survey made of any location or locations applied for or leased under these regulations, owing to an alleged conflict of locations, or in order to determine the exact position of such location or locations, or in order to settle any dispute

which may arise respecting the same or respecting any location or locations reserved for the Crown, the Minister may direct that such a survey be made by a Dominion Lands Surveyor under proper instructions, and may require payment in advance of the costs of such survey to be made by the applicant for or the recorded owner of the location or locations to be surveyed in whole or in part, or the Minister may require such portion of the payment of the costs as may seem to him just. Failure on the part of the applicant or lessee to make such payment in advance, when called upon to do so by the proper officer of the Department, shall render the application or lease subject to immediate cancellation in the discretion of the Minister;

11. Application for a lease of any surface rights within forest reserves required for the efficient operation of the rights which may be acquired under the provisions of these regulations shall be made to the Director of Forestry, or to the officer in charge of the reserve affected. The occupancy of land in a forest reserve shall be under the supervision of the officer in charge thereof; 12. The lessee shall do no unnecessary damage to timber, and shall carefully observe the provisions of the regulations relating to forest reserves, which may be made from time to time;

13. No trees on the reserves shall be cut by the lesee or on his behalf without the permission of the Director of Forestry, and when any trees are cut by him he shall carefully clear the ground of all tops and branches and other débris of such cutting, and shall so dispose of them as to prevent danger from fire, in accordance with the instructions of the officer in charge of the reserve. If in order to so dispose of such débris it is necessary to burn it, the lessee shall give due notice of his intention so to do to the officer in charge of the reserve, and before he proceeds to burn such débris shall obtain the consent of such officer, and shall comply with all the conditions imposed by such officer in regard to such burning;

14. The lessee shall cause to be cleared of combustible material such area around any mill or other works constructed or operated by him as may be determined by the forest officer to be necessary, and if in the opinion of the forest officer it is necessary and practicable, the lessee shall construct and maintain a plowed fire-guard around such area;

15. Every engine operated by the power of steam that is used by the lessee shall be provided with and have in use all the most approved and efficient appliances to prevent the escape of fire from the furnace or ash pan or from the smoke-stack of such engine, including a spark-arrester in connection with the smoke-stack, which appliances shall be kept properly fitted and in a proper state of repair, and it shall be the duty of every engineer in charge of such engine to use all necessary means and appliances to prevent the escape of fire; 16. The machinery and equipment which the lessee shall be required to install on the location, as provided in Section 14 of the regulations, shall include a portable fire-engine and equipment, to be maintained in a state of efficiency for immediate use to the satisfaction of the forest officer, together with a reserve of water sufficient for the use of such engine in case of fire;

17. These regulations shall come into force on the sixth day of December, 1920, at the hour of nine o'clock in the forenoon.

ORDERS IN COUNCIL AMENDED.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL APPROVED BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR GENERAL ON THE 29TH OCTOBER, 1920 (P. C. 2615).

The Committee of the Privy Council have had before them a Report, dated 27th October, 1920, from the Minister of the Interior, submitting that by an

Order in Council dated the 11th March, 1910, (P. C. 414), regulations governing the disposal of petroleum and natural gas rights, the property of the Crown in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the North West Territories, the Yukon Territory, and a portion of the Province of British Columbia, were established, section 23 of which regulations provides that—

No royalty shall be charged upon the sales of the petroleum acquired from the Crown under the provisions of the regulations up to the first day of January, 1930, but provision shall be made in the leases issued for such rights that after the above date the petroleum products of the location shall be subject to whatever regulations in respect of the payment of royalty may then or thereafter be made.

By an Order in Council dated the 3rd December, 1919, (P. C. 2433), provision was made that section 23 of the regulations above referred to be rescinded and the following substituted therefor:

The sales of the products of any location acquired under the provisions of these regulations shall be subject to the payment to the Crown of such royalty thereon as may from time to time be fixed by the Governor in Council, the royalty to be collected in such manner as may be specified by the Minister.

The Minister states that representations have been made to the Department of the Interior that failure to fix the royalty which may be charged on the products of petroleum locations has the effect of retarding development, as persons contemplating investment in this industry hesitate to incur the large initial expenditure necessary to insure success without knowing what tax may be placed upon the oil which may be discovered.

The Minister, therefore, recommends that for a period of five years after the date upon which the Minister of the Interior may decide that oil in commercial quantity has been discovered on lands acquired under the provisions of the regulations aforesaid the royalty to be collected by the Crown shall not exceed five per cent of the output of the well or the sales of the products of the location as may be decided by the Minister, nor shall it be less than two and one-half per cent of such sales during that period; that for a further period thereafter of five years the royalty to be collected shall not exceed ten per cent of the sales of the products of the location, nor shall it be less than five per cent of the sales during that period; and that thereafter the royalty shall be ten per cent of the sales of the products of locations acquired under the provisions of the said regulations.

The Committee concur in the foregoing recommendation and submit the same for approval.

NOTE: This Order of October 29, 1920, purports to rescind Section 23 of the Order in Council of March 11, 1910, and substitute therefor a provision as to the payment to the Crown of royalties on petroleum products.

The Orders in Council of March 11, 1910; March 11, 1911; August 12. 1911, and October 16 1913, were all expressly rescinded by the order in Council of January 19, 1914. The Order of January 19, 1914, rescinding all prior orders, substituted section 38 for and in lieu of section 23 of the Order of March 11, 1910.

As it now stands Section 38 of the Order of January 19, 1914, and this substitute Order of October 29, 1920, would both be in force unless the latter would repeal the former by implication. If these orders in Council are governed by the rules of ordinary statutory construction and would be subject to the rule that an act attempting to amend or otherwise change an act that had already been repealed is a nullity. then it would follow that this substitute provision for section 23 of the Order of March 11, 1910, would be a nullity and section 38 of the Order of January 19, 1914, would still be in force.

Oil and gas-

Prospecting license

BRITISH COLUMBIA.

CONTENTS.

PROSPECTING LICENCE.

REVISED STATUTES 1911, VOL. II, CHAPTER 159, P. 1883.

AN ACT to encourage coal and petroleum mining.

HIS MAJESTY, BY AND WITH THE ADVICE AND CONSENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA, ENACTS AS

FOLLOWS:

SHORT TITLE.

Page.

381

381

1. This Act may be cited as the "Coal and Petroleum Act."

2. *

NOTE: Section 2 of the original Revised Statutes, 1911, was repealed and substituted by Section 2 of the Act of March 1, 1913 (p. 253, Chap. 44). The Act of March 4, 1914 (p. 259, Chap. 50), added a paragraph (d) to the substituted section. The Act of March 4, 1914 (p. 259, Chap. 50), also amended subsection (3) of Section 2 of the Act of 1913 by striking out the words that are here shown within the brackets and adding the clause immediately following. The Act of March 29, 1919 (p. 217, Chap. 56), added an additional subsection (4) to the substituted section of the Act of 1913.

Section 2 as substituted and as amended is here given in a continuous body as follows:

2 (1). Any person may, upon complying with the provisions of this Act, secure a licence to prospect for coal, petroleum, or natural gas

(a) Upon any unreserved lands held by the Crown for the benefit of the Province, including any lands covered by water, under which coal-measures or petroleum or natural gas are believed to exist; or

(b) Upon lands the right whereon to enter and raise and get thereout any coal or petroleum or natural gas is reserved to the Crown; or

(c) Upon lands held under lease from the Crown, in which lease the minerals, and power to work, carry away, and dispose of the same, are excepted or reserved. (1913, Chap. 44, Sec. 2.)

(d) Upon timber lands held under special licence from the Crown. (1914, Chap. 50, Sec. 2.)

(2) Any person desirous of securing such licence shall, before entering into possession of the particular lands he may wish to acquire and work for coal, petroleum, or natural gas, place at one angle or corner of the land to be applied for a stake or post at least four inches square, and standing not less than four feet above surface of the ground; and upon such post he shall inscribe his name and the angle represented thereby, thus: "A. B.'s N. E. corner (meaning northeast corner), or as the case may be, and shall forthwith cause a written or printed notice of his intention to apply for such a licence to be posted on some conspicuous part of the land to be applied for by him. (1913, Chap. 44, Sec. 2.)

(3) Within sixty days after such staking the applicant shall cause to be posted in the office of the Commissioner of Lands for the land district or division of a land district, as the case may be, in which the lands are situated a written or printed notice of his intention to apply for such licence, and within the same period shall [publish the said notice in the Gazette, and in some newspaper circulating in the district, for thirty clear days.] commence the publication of the said notice in the Gazette and in some newspaper circulating in the district, and continue the same for thirty clear days. (1913, Chap. 44, Sec. 2; 1914, Chap. 50, Sec. 3.)

(4) Where application is made for a licence under this section, the Minister of Lands may consider whether it is in the public interest to grant the licence, and may, in his discretion, refuse to grant any licence for which application is made. (1919, Chap. 56, Sec. 2.)

NOTE: Section 3 of the original Revised Statutes, 1911, was amended by the Act of March 29, 1919 (p. 217, Chap. 56), by adding after the word "substantiated" in the next to the last line the words inserted here in brackets. The original section as amended is as follows;

3. After the expiration of such thirty clear days' notice, and within three months from the date of its first publication in the Gazette, the applicant shall make application in writing to the Commissioner of Lands for the district or division of a district, as the case may be, within which the land required is situate for a prospecting licence over such land for any term not exceeding one year. Such application shall be in duplicate, and shall be illustrated by plans or diagrams showing approximately the position thereof, and shall give the best practicable written description of the plat of land over which the privilege is sought; and the application shall be accompanied by a fee of one hundred dollars for each and every licence. The applicant shall also furnish statutory declarations, in duplicate, of the staking of the land and the publication of the notices. The Commissioner shall take into consideration any objections that may have been lodged with him, and shall forward one copy of the application, plan, and declarations, and of the objections (if any), together with the fees and his recommendation thereon, to the Minister of Lands, who may, if no valid objection is substantiated, [and if he thinks it expedient,] grant to such applicant a prospecting licence as aforesaid. (1910, Chap. 33, Sec. 3; R. S. 1911, Chap. 159, Sec. 3; 1919, Chap. 56, Sec. 3.)

NOTE: Section 4 of the Revised Statutes, 1911 was repealed by the Act of March 1, 1913 (p. 253, Chap. 44), and a substituted section enacted that reads as follows:

4. Every piece of land sought to be acquired under a prospecting licence pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall be of a rectangular shape, and shall include within the general limits therein defined land not exceeding six hundred and forty acres for each licensee, and such land shall be in one block. Six hundred and forty acres shall measure eighty chains by eighty chains, and all lines shall be run true north and south, and true east and west:

Provided, however, that, when a licence is applied for respecting lands which have been surveyed or previously located, in whole or in part, under the provisions of the “Land Act," such application may be required to̟ conform to such existing survey or the subsequent survey of such prior location. In such event the length of boundaries and the area to be included in such licence shall be at the discretion of the Minister: Provided always that no excess area in any licence shall exceed forty acres, and that a license may be granted for any area less than six hundred and forty acres when deemed advisable. (1913, Chap. 44, Sec. 3.)

NOTE: Section 5 of the Revised Statutes of 1911, Chapter 159, was amended by the Act of February 27, 1912 (p. 149, Chap. 24). This amendatory Act of 1912 was repealed by the Act of March 1, 1913 (p. 253, Chap.