THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1873.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1418, 15 February 1873, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1873.

Though it is to the County Council of Westland that application has been made re yarding the Coal Reserve on the south side of the Grey River, by a gentleman whose word is sufficient guarantee of his good faith when he says that he makes the application on behalf of a projected company of influence, the disposal of the reserve really rests more with the Governor than with any other body corporate or single, and it might expedite a desirable enterprise if Mr O'Neil were at once advised to direct his application to head-quarters. A* the earae time it may not be out of place for the .Council, since the subject lias once again and jin a tangible form been brought under their attention, to intimate their feeling regarding the appropriation of a valuable but as yet undeveloped County property. Before doing so, or before doing anything which they may deem expedient, it may be well that the Councillors, seeing that many of them, as novices in the direct management of County affairs, naay be ignorant of the purposes for which the property was reserved, should inform themselves as to the facts. Tt may be well also that the public generally should know in what position tho property stands— its position as defined, nojfc by J Nature, but by Law. Neither the Council, nor the Colony generally we are . sure, can have any desire but that of pro- : motxng the development of coal-fields regarding which so much has been spoken and so little done, and of promoting also ' the project of constructing a railway which in the end shall form a section of a general system ; but some consideration should also be given to the original design of the reserve, not, perhaps, vrith a view of having that design carried out implicitly, but with the purpose of carrying out as many purposes pointing in one direction as are possibly attainable. As it is not always convenient for " the million" to dive into the dusty records of reserves,

we shall endeavor to relieve them of the irksome task by exhuming as much as we are enabled to do by an examination of all available Gazettes, Ordinances, and Acts of Parliament. Imprimis, we find the reserve in question was made so temporarily on September 18th, 1865, by a notice in the Canterbury Gazette, and in the name of Edward ' Jollie, Provincial Secretary. It is desi cribed as to consist of five thousand acres, and the specific object of its reservation | is thus stated: — "This reserve is made for the purposes following — that is to say, by means of the revenue derived from the letting, sale, or other disposition of the said land for coal-mining purposes, to provide a fund for the improvement of the navigation of the River Grey, and the improvement of the adjoining land and cownship." What was then done temporarily was, on December 9th, 1865, confirmed by the Provincial Council of Canterbury, and the phraseology in which the purpose of the reserve is stated is exactly the same. In the session of 1867, and by the same Council, a special Ordinance was passed, known as the " Grey River Coal Field Reserve Ordinance," by [ which the Superintendent of Cautp-rbury I was empowered to lease the reserve under certain conditions, but the Ordinance differs from the Gazette notices, inasmuch as it does not contain the words " the adjoining land and township," but simply says "for the improvement of the navigation of the River Grey." Both the Gazette notices and the Ordinance, it will be observed, were previous to 1868, and this is a fact of some importance when considered in connection with the 24th S clause of the •' Westland Waste Lands Act, 1870." It is there provided—first, "that with regard to reserves of the Waste Lands of the Crown, made before January Ist, 1868, and granted by the Crown to the Superintendent of Canterbury, they shall be deemed to revest in the Crown, but shall continue to be reserves for the uses or purposes for which they were reserved ; second—that with regard to reserves of which no Crown grant had been issued to the Superintendent, &c, before January Ist, and before the coming into operation of this Act, the same shall remain and vest in the Crown, remaining as reserves for the purposes reputed." This brings us to a certain point in what would appear to be a perfectly plain history of the reserve, but the proverbial coach-and-six here comes in, and of course it is driven by a lawyer, Mr Sewell. In March, 1873, there was published in this journal portions of a triangular correspondence between the General Government, the County Chairman (Mr Hoos), and the Corporation of Greymouth. That correspondence, as published, commences with a letter from Mr Sewell, in which lip says, apparently on advice, thcii the ''reserve y/as invalid, as at the time it was made there was no authority for making a reiser ye for the purpose of raising such a fund. He adds--" There is, however, under the Westland Waste Lands Act, 1870, a power to reserve it for such a purpose, and the purpose authorised would be the endowment of the Municipality of Greymouth." This letter was addressed to Mr Hoos, who took a different view as to the validity of the reserve, but, strangely enough, agreed that it should be made invalid, and, only a little less strangely, suggests that it should be reduced. He makes one wise suggestion, however, and that is that there is no utility in endeavoring to make navigable a shingle-bed river above Greymouth, while a railway on the Westland side would excellently serve the purpose. The correspondence, so far as published, concludes with a letter written by Mr Fox, from which it is well for a full understanding of the Government's understanding of the matter that we should quote at some length. On February 23, 1871, Mr Fox writes :— " When my letter of the 13th December was written, attention had not been called to the fact that the land had been granted to the Superintendent of Canterbury, and dealt with by Ordinance ; but as this is so the Government, though still of opinion thai fchp purpose for which the reserve was made was riot 6n# fo? whiah the law entitled the Superintendent to' make it, do not think it advisable to disturb or disregard what has been done, especially as it is probable that the reserve has been validated by the 24th section of 'The Westland Waste Lands Act, 1870.' "Unless, therefore, the grant to the Superintendent is repealed by scire facias it must be deemed to be good. "Assuming the grant to b. 9 valid, the land is now vested in the Governor, and the Governor in Council can change the purposes upon which the whole or any part is held, and can order the whole or any part to be sold, in which case the proceeds of sale would go to the County Council public account. Or, the Governor in Council could vest the whole or part in the Greymouth Corporation for endowment. "Looking, however, at the original purpose for which the land was reserved, . it is clear that the primary purpose was : of a general kind, and that the improvement of the township was only secondary. " Upon the whole the Government are of opinion that it would be inequitable, either to deprive the town of Greymouth of all interest in the reserve, or to give the whole of it to the Municipality. " A portion of the land will, therefore, be vested in the Corporation of the town of Greymouth as endowment, and the rest will remain vested in the Governor, and will either be leased by him, or the | whole or a part of such remaining portion will be sold, and the proceeds or rents, or both, as the case may be, paid to the land fund of Ihfa County of Westland."