A ROYAL COMMISSION.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 818, 16 May 1910, Page 4

A ROYAL COMMISSION.

SILTING OF OHINEMTJBI EIVEB, In accordance with a promise given during last session the Government has appointed a Boyal Commission to inquire fully into the silting up_ of the Ohinemuri and Waiau Rivers in conse* quence, it is alleged, of the deposit therein of mining tailings. The commission will consist of Mr. W. Ferguson (formerly engineer to the Wellington Harbour Board), who will be chairman; the Hon. E. Mitchelson(Auckland); Mr. F.- E. Flatman (Geraldine); and Mr. C. R. Vickerman (superintending engineer to the Pnblic Works Department). Mr. P. Galvin, formerly editor of the Mines Journal, has been appointed secretary to the commission. Among the matters which will engage the attention of the commission, which leaves for the north to-day, will be to inquiro into the condition of the tailings deposited in the Ohinemuri and Waiau Rivers, the effect upon the land in the vicinity, and upon navigation; the reme-. dial measures which, should be adopted, without injury, to any other person, corporation, or interest; the probable cost of carrying out any such recommendations; and whether a proportion of such cost shonld not be charged against the revenue derived by local bodies in the vicinity of the rivers, from the mines using these watercourses as sludge channels.