MINING COMMISSIONERS REPORT.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 83, 13 June 1871, Page 7

MINING COMMISSIONERS REPORT.

•I The f<dlowing sumiliary of the recommendations contained in the Report submitted to 1 ;Ti.; Honor the wo take from i lav ' J: -u ;o Standard' of the 3rd hist. : j The Commissioners recommend that pasI toral tenancy and agricultural settlement 0:1 I Goldiieids should be separated from nay new j speaking of the principle which shoal I guide I Parliament in preparing si now Act, they j refer to the tenure of mining properly, which ; they consider 11 ider the existing i;i\i r to bo in a confused and unsatisfactory state. Under ing harsh and inconvenient to the miner. jjut in ibeir opinion the miner's right bears even more unjustly cm them ars a body, and in addition to the recommendation thai this j matter should ho carefully considered, they express an opinion that millers' tights should be made available for the whole Colonv, and that thov should be opened for a term of year;. They also recommend thais nne more convenient mode of registration ami transfer oi mining property siiould lie ]>rovided, a:id that security over milling property might Ijo given by something akin to the Agricultural ' Produce Lien Act'. Ihidor the head Water ■ Rights, various recommend, itions are 111 ido. The principal are these ;—Tiiat the tenure of '■ Water iUghts should bo by lease, for a term r of year: 1 ., not above ten, at an annual rental, 1 lie. That such licenses should give (lie ! power to cut races and divert water with or 1 without Miner's right. That the right to 1 construct races through private lands should • be retaiut .1, ; rovidhig for compensation for •■ damages. Teat this right embrace the land - 1 and seven foot on each side of the vr.ee. ■ That this rio;ht to divert water should not !,, • confined to the gold minora, but should be 'ijopeii for other branches of industry. The 1 j Commissioners noxtoomplain of the hardships - which are now felt from the present law as i I regards business licenses. They recommend -■ that the (i over nor should have po.vevto grant 1 lease,-; of auriferous lands to an e\tent of 10 1 acres in each base, and that the rent per • acre should be LI. The Commissioners ap- - prove of a permanently constituted Mining ■ imard being formed. Under the heading o! t Admin i itratiou of .Justice, the Commission!, tvi - recommend that Wardens' Courts are nunc- • cessary, and that, as regards cases with asr' sessorr,, tltey iulievn miners would be willing 1 lo act wi'lnuf payment incases brought be

prevent monopoly and evasion of fclio law, occupiers should be compelled to crop over 20 por cent of the land taken. They recommend that there should be a reduction »> r rent, ; and that miners should be permitted to occupy three acres on their miners' rights. Blocks of land for agricultural purposes, with grazing rights, they strongly recommend should be opened up throughout the Goldfields for selection under the leasing regulations. The oppressive taxation under which the mining industry labors had also been considered, and a reduction of the export duty on gold to one-half, in the meantime, is recommended, with the hope that .it might finally bo abolished. They suggest that Goldhelds officers should be removed from one district to another at intervals of not more than three years.. The Commissioners refer to the subject of Chinese immigration, and deprecate the increase of Chinamen in the Province as injurious to its best interests. With respect to Witter Supply, they concur in the suggestions made by his Honor the Superintendent, that money should be advanced by way of loan as one moans of making the provisions of Part 111. of the Immigration and Public Works Act available in Otago. They suggest, however, that care should be taken that large works of general advantage may not be injured by the dissipation of funds in small schemes, and that the administration of the Act should not injuriously interfere with private enterprise. They expressed approval of a Goldfields Secretary; and the Commission recommends to favorable consideration the advisability of urging upon the Colonial Legislature the establishment in thisTColony of a branch of the Imperial Mint.—%'he report concludes witli the expressed wish that the various resolutions passed at the meetings of the Commission, together with the report, should lie printed, and that copies should be sent to the members of Assembly and Superintendents of Provinces.