WASTE LANDS BOARD.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 212, 21 March 1873, Page 6

WASTE LANDS BOARD.

. A meeting of the Board,was held last week. There were present, the.-Chief Commissioner, Messrs Strode,.Tolmie, Butterworth, and Clarke/ ■ ■■.■ ■--■• The report of Mr.-Warden Robinson, on the application of Sir" F. D. Bell, to purchase land in "the Dunback and Waihemo districts, hitherto withheld from sale, was read. It .showed that a portion of the ground applied for was auriferous, and that a number of men were employed mining.thereon. A man named Cox-had been, mining in a gully which run through- sections--35 36 on plan Noi 2. He had a license for- two water-races and a certificate for tail-races, both granted before the land was withdrawn from the Goldfields. Cox considered that he had plenty of profitable work for many years to come, and it was plain that he had washed away a good deal of ground, _" Mr. Robinson thought that there was good gold about the locality ; but the supi ply of water was limited. He did not -think, however, that payable workings would be opened up at any distance from the lines of the gullies;- but j thoughtfthat- the sides of all the gullies |in sections 35, 36, and 40 may some [ day be profitably sluiced. As regards j section, 44, he could not. learn that it J was auriferous. On the opposite side lof the river to section 13 there are j workings,, and there seems to be anarI row run of gold, as shown on the plan. He had been credibly informed that good returns had been made from the riverbed. On plan 3 he marked the points of a quartz reef, slightly opened up on section 17. It did hot seem to have been tested. It was probably a continuation of the reef whichruns through Sir I\ D. Bell's property, which was pretty well opened up a few years ago, but abandoned. There seem to'be no indications of gold on section 18. Section 51 has a large . frontage, to the river, but there were no workings in the solid bank, although there is every indication of gold. Cox,' Gorlahd, and others mining here have no legal right to work the ground, as it is not .within a Goldfield boundary. They are therefore at the mercy of the pastoral tenants. He therefore tboughtthatit would be impolitic to sell sections 35, 38, and 40, .Waihemo district, or sections- 11, 12, 13,- and 14, Dunback district; sections 18 and 14, Waihemo, ought to be sold as they are; and section 51 might also be sold, if one chain frontage to the river be reserved for mining purposes. He failed to see that much good could result from keeping the land back from sale: To render the land available for mining purposes it should be thrown back into the Goldfields. Ihis land was withdrawn on the 4th "November, 1868, and he would suggest, unless sufficient reason can be Ishown to the contrary, that the.entire block then withdrawn should again be included in the Goldfields. . This would not interfere with the sale ofsuch:portions as may not be auriferous," or in the way of mining. The Board resolved that the question of the. extension of the Goldfields be referred to the Governmentfand that" the reserves be maintained. ■ J ; - ■

A letter from the Sev. Mr. ..Dasent was read, referring to.an application for a portion of tbe -Union"Church reserve, Naseby, for Church of England purposes. Also letters from the late trustees of the ground aud chairman of the Athenaeum in opposition to the application. No decision regarding them was arrived at by the 'Board,- *■ Star.'