PETROLEUM NEWS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 43, 12 August 1911, Page 4

PETROLEUM NEWS

THE MLXISTEirS BILL. The Mining Amendment Act, introduced by the Hon. 1!. McKenzic, empowers the (iovwnor to issue Orders-in-Oouncil extending anv of the provisions of the Mining Act, 1908, so as to apply them to prospecting, mining for and storing petroleum, and other mineral oils and natural gas, and to define, the districts within which such 'Order-in-Oouncil shall take etl'ect. Compensation shall not be payable in respect of the value of oil or gas taken under these provisions from land the owners of which have consented to the issue of a prospecting warrant. Regulations to control these operations may be made by Order-in-Council. Under the original Act, the warden could only issue prospecting warrants in respect of Crown lands; this power is to be extended to all lands, subject to the consent of the owner and lessee, if any. The Minister's, consent to the issue of a water-race license is no longer to be necessary except where more than twenty heads of water are required to be taken from within a mining district to a 'place outside it. Leases and licenses for prospecting for mineral oils and natural gas on education reserves and endowments may be granted on certain conditions.