DUNSTAN.

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 378, 1 August 1874, Page 2

DUNSTAN.

(From our ovon Correspondent.

As yet nothing has been heard of • any decision being given by the District Court in the late appeal case. Although it may be improper to refer much to a case Trhich is still pending, but having promised to gi^e my opinion on that and other -water rights, I think I may do so without anyone being alarmed of the decision -whatever it may be being affected thereby. Fn*at then I loot upon the holding of water for tho use of towns under mining rights to be analogous or on a par with tho other vexed question lately attracting attention viz., that of defiling streams by x the miners. Should it be'decided that anj- party of miners can be stopped and liable to damages for defiling streams, the whole body af miners are liable? to be treated the same, and if forfeiture is declared in this case, the water supplying the whole of the Coldfields towns stands the same risk. It has long been admi! ted that the mining Acts do not explicitJy protect the minors agaiust an action tor polluting streams, though ab the same-timeat is impossible for them to caivy on operations without doing so, and may thereby be committing a breach of some law, if not the mining law itself. The fact that nearly all the Gold-fields towns in the Province are receiving their water supply from ■ under mining rights, shows that if through such use those rights are liable to be cancelled, legislation is as much needed to secure tlice rights a3 it is to secure miners against the polluting of streams. Li the piescnt case when the right "was granted the then Goldfields Secretary and the Govern-, ment oi: the day, seem to hfrve recognised the necessity of ■such request being needed, for it cannot be disputed but that this right wa3 granted mainly for tho use of the town of Clyde. The other purposes • mentioned may be coustrued to mean mining, driving machinery, or any other purpose that the holder may think fit. It is now contended that the Government had no power to grant such aright, and the decision of the "Warden, corroborates this view of the case v If it is admitted now that the Government we're -without such power, it must have been apparent to them then,- and the fault lies with them for not bringing legislation to bear on the matter, so that the right they gave would be legalised ; but having* satisfied the applicant and the then residents of Clyde, who were content to get water at any price, they left unprotected by law what cannot be looked" on as a master-stoke of policy even if it had been legally completed, for they gave the only available water fov the town into the hands of a private party without any conditions to restrict them from levying black mail on the inhabitants for the use thereof. When the town became incorporated the citizens grumbled at- the water tax along with other rales, and to avoid such tha owner was induced I o sell half his interest to the Corporation, he doing so believing that such -would secure his title to the water, as- the Town Council had been threatening to try the question of his title. Now the appellant comes and says, and the Judge admitted the question to be a serious one, that there was no power to make such a sale, as the town was outside* the goldfields. Assuming, then, that the water is liable to forfeiture for not being used for mining purposes, and that its uso within the boundni'v of the town was also illegal, the case is r>iore against the Government than the holder of the right, and it behoves them in a manner to defend such an action brought on by a private individual. I can recognise f.be right of fclie GrOT-ernment to sfep ir» on grounds oi: public policy, and resume possession of a right held by a private party, when wanted or employed for public purposes, by paying that party compensation : but he ha? been led step by step, a& it were, into the belief that his right was becoming every day more secure. In tho first instance they toll him he may have the right if the inhabitants of Clyde can get water ; they refuse to allow him to alter or extend his race on this plea ; he sells half his interest on certain conditions, so that his title would be made more secure. On the strength of this he erects very expensive machinery to utHiso the water for pumping his coalpit. To all these- then the Got era ment or their representatives may be said to be aiders and abettors, and as such they have a right to defend ths case, or step in and resume possession by paying compensation, or provide means to secure him a legal title, and not leave him at the mercy of being dragged from one Court to another at the instance of any private individual, even if he does come forward claiming .to b& a public benefactor, and attempting to show that the- water could be more beneficially used. But though I maintain that it is tho duty of the Government to protect the present holder, I have not the least expectation that they will do so. What has transpired already in the Assembly relating ta the Maerewhenua dispute betokens that the miners.- wiil have to fight the battle uusuded against these very formidable opponents, the freeholder and the squatter. The other case, which lies nearer our doer, will show what protection the miners are likely to get from our present Executive. The petition of the minors at Tinkers laid before the Provincial Council relative to the thre^tep,e4 injunction bjr ibs TMDafgtS <£$»

ITalakanui Siation. for dt'fiiiUg certain water which runs through some freehold land. A compromise wa3 under negotiation between the Government and the runholder, he to receive nn area of ground in lieu of the piece Trhich the polluted water runs through. The member in charge of tlie petition urgod the Government to mato some provision, so as not to depopulate one of .the most prosperous goldfields in the province , and before leaving, he was assured that the matter vra3 in a fair way of being fecttlccl ; but scarcely had he reached home when ho was told by the manager of the station that he had been informed by his solicitors that the Government had refused to negotiate in the matter, and that he was at liberty to take what steps he chose in prosecuting his case. In like manner will be treated the recommendation that a Commission bo appointed to enquire inio the whole of tlie water rights in New Zealand; and we may yet find that the proffer of the Government to have a case stated for the Appeal Court, in re the Maerewhenua case, -will turn out to be a delusion, and all this from a Government that has in its composition one goldfields member, and the miners champion of twelve months ago, who resented more strongly than the present Provincial Solicitor the sale of the land to Campbell, and who first brought tho Maerewhenua case before the Government, claiming the same to be one tbat was their duty to defend. Yet no recommendation has reached the Assembly from this Government relative to ths Commission alluded to, and nothing as to tho pollution case ; and we need not be surprised if we again hear the same story that the Goyernmeut " will not interfere." '