SALE OF AURIFEROUS LANDS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VI, Issue 284, 10 July 1873, Page 10

SALE OF AURIFEROUS LANDS.

(To the Editor of the " Daily Tii/ies.") Sir — There is a difficulty in the way of settling the country that should at once be met. It is the question of the sale of auriferous ?ands, or lands that may hereafter prove to be auriferous. There is no use in ignoring the strong feeling of the mining population in the matter. It stands in the way of Hundreds being proclaimed on the Groldfields, or of the agricultural occupation of blocks set apart under the agricultural lease or deferred payment system. For some time past the conviction has been growing on me. that the difficulty can be overcome onlj by selling the land in future without the minerals, and by making provision for working them at any time by payment cf surface damage, or even of resuming the lands at a fair valuation where minerals may be discovered sufficiently valuable to render such a course necessary. In the Country of Durham, the surface and the royalty, with the minerals beneath, are distinct properties, and held generally by different proprietors. A, holding the mineral property, wishing to work his coal or lead mines, applies to B, the surface proprietor, to purchase ground for his works, and for a line of tramway to the nearest railway. If they d o not come to terms, it is referred to a board of assessors, permanently appointed for the purpose who determine the cost — and the necessary land is at once taken possession of. I believe the rule followed is. what is called double damage. The intrinsic value of the land taken is ascertained, and double this amount is"^ the price fixed. / I feel sure that a modification of this system could be devised without detriment to the agricultural or pastoral interests, that would enable auriferous land to be worked at any time, would set at rest the vexed question of mining on private property, and remove the hostility of the miners to the alienation of land. There is no reason why the royalty should not be sold separately from the surface. Those who buy land for agricultural or pastoral purposes only require the surface for choir undertaking. If there is value beneath the surface, it is only right that the Government should have it to deal with as a separate property. Whether the royalty should go with the surface was a question keenly discussed when the first settlements were started in New Zealand, and was settled in the affirmative, for the reason mainly, that persons going to such a distant part should have every encouragement. Thei'e should be no difficulty in getting such an amendment of the Waste Lands ilet passed in the Assembly ; if, indeed, the motion did not commend itself to tho General Government, that the Act passed might make the principle applicable to the whole Colony. — I am, &c. John Caegill.

"We have just heard of tho death of Malon, aged 62, the famous sleight ofhand performer, who gave repi-esenta-tions in the environs of Paris, and whose immense portable theatre attracted such crowds on fete days. He was better known by the name 'of Tete-de-Bois, and bis career was a singular one. After having served as a soldier, he was engaged at the Opera-Comique, when he filled for five years the third bass parts. Being carried on by a woman of some fortune, he feft with her for Cairo, where he founded a haberdasher's shop, and then migrated to Rio de Janerio, where he became accountant in a theatre of the second order. There it was that he acquired his talents as a juggler. Having returned to Paris he very soon established a reputation, and realised an independence. He died of inflammation of the chest, and leaves about 12,000f. a year. Terrible riots between whites and blacks have taken place at the village of Colfax, in Louisiana, on the Red River. The quarrel originated in a contest for the possession of the County offices between two sets of candidates, both of which held certificates of election, The negroes, numbering several hundreds, seized the Court-house, built breastworks around it. drove away all the white inhabitants of the neighborhood, and then sacked their houses. They held the entrenchments for several days. At last they were attacked by a large body of white men from the adjoining parishes, who set fire to the Courthouse after a %ht of five hours, and shot the negroes as they ran out of the burning building. It is reported that from 80 *o 100 negroes, were killed, and that all the rest were driven into the woods. Another account states that over 200 negroes were burned to death, in defending the Court-house. The following hint to those who would " build a chimney which will not smoke," is from the Scientific .American: — "The chief point is to make the throat not less than four inches broad and twelvs long ; then the chimney should be abruptly enlarged to double the size, and so continue for one foot or more ; then it may be gradually tapered off as desired." When Prince Bismarck was made acquainted with the Emperor Napoleon's demise, he drily remarked to hia infor-i mant, " Its a pity ; I might have made use of biro again/