The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 1830.

Kumara Times, Issue 1155, 11 June 1880, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 1830.

Although the “ Kumava Eduction Reserve Act, 1870,"'’ came into operation on the first day of the present month, the residents on the .Reserve must not for one moment flatter themselves that they are delivered out of

the hands of the Philistines—to wit, the School Commissioners of Westland. The one point gained, however, hy the Act coming into operation is that the whole of the hinds generally known as the Kumara Education Reserve are now brought under the jurisdiction of the Warden of the district, and every holder of a miner’s right or business license may exercise the same respectively over the aforesaid lands, subject to the provisions of the “ Miners Act, 1877, and in accordance with the laws relating to goldfields. To prevent a serious misconception that exists in the minds of many of the present holders of licenses on the Reserve as to their being no longer amenable as tenants of the School Commissioners, wc may quote section 4 of the Act, which says : shall affect ally leases, contracts, licenses, or agreements lawfully made and existing at the time of the coming into operation of tins Act, otherwise than as provided in section seven herein.” On referring to section 7 we find that provision is made by which the termination of all existing leases may be effected, provided those ehiefly interested are favorably inclined, as the section reads :—“ At any time durthe currency or at the termination of any lease heretofore granted or hereafter to to be granted, the Governor may, with the consent of the School Commissioners aforesaid, cause the whole or any portion of tire said land to be sold by public auction, subject to valuation for improvements, as provided for in sections forty-three and forty-seven of ‘ The Mines Act, 1877,' ” The whole question thus resolves itself into the sale of the land by public auction so as to enable those now lease-holders to become freeholders ; and to carry the object out by coming to amicable terms with the School Commissioners as to the date of sale and the upset value to be placed on the sections, is, we take it, one of those matters that require the immediate attention of the Plumam Education Reserves Committee.