The Switzers Auriferous Land Sale.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 185, 27 May 1873, Page 6

The Switzers Auriferous Land Sale.

Our readers will remember that on the recommendation of the Gold-fields Committee of the House of Representatives last session, a Commission was appointed by the Superintendent and Executive to enquire into the sale of 50 acres of land at Acton's Flat, Switzers. Messrs T. L. Shepherd and J. P. Maitland were appointed Commissioners, and their report was the other day laid upon the table of the Provincial Council. After stating the whole of the circumstances, compiled from all available evidence on the subject, the Commissioners say:—

" We come to the following conclusions : That the fifty acres of land originally applied for bv Acton, and eventually sold to Macdon aid, are undoubtedly auriferous; that| Acton's application, after having been before I the Board on several occasions, was finally refused ; and although there were, at the time of Macdonald's application, no gold workings actually on the ground, there had bejn for years, and even at the time, work ings in the immediate vicinity, and in one claim from which a great deal of gold had been taken, and had been carried on close to the boundary of the fifty acres ; that this being the case when the application to purchase was made, an oversight occurred, and a departure from the usual practice in not calling upon the Warden for a report upon the ground. This omission seems, as far as we ; can discover from the practice in force with | regard to such amplications, to have occurred |in the Gold-fields Secretary's office. That, i had the Warden been called upon at any ; time from 1868 to report, he would have reI ported against the sale, and the sale in con- ; sequence would, in all probability, not have : taken place. That Macdonald misled the | Board by stating in his application that the | land had been previously agreed to be sold to i Acton, whereas, in fact, the sale of it had ; been refused. That Macdonald made the | application to purchase under an arrangeI ment with Bastings—namely, to convey the I freehold to him, if obtained, for the sum of I two hundred pounds beyond the purchase uionev, which was given effect to. "Finally, we recommend a strict adherence to the practice of calling for a report from the I Warden, or other suitable person, before j dealing with any application for the purchase j ( f land within gold-fields, as the omission of J this, in this case, was the main cause of a i block of auriferous land passing into the j hands of one person, which experienced i miners believe might have been profitably I worked by a considerable number of men in ordinary claims.—We have, t&c, (Signed) Twos. L. Shepherd. J. P. Maitland."