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13

PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE

No. 12. Copy of Telegram from the Hon. W. Gisborne to the Commissioner of Ceown Lands, Nelson. 26th November, 1869. Snow Attorney-General correspondence about auriferous land, and your telegram, and he will give you his opinion on point raised in yours of yesterday. The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Nelson. W. Gisbobne.

No. 13. Copy of a Letter from the Commissioned of Crown Lands to the Hon. W. Gtsiiobne. Sin,— Crown Lands Office, Nelson, 27th November, 1869. In accordance with your telegram of the 26th instant, I communicated with the AttorneyGeneral respecting the question proposed in mine of the 25th, and have now the honor, at his request, to repeat the question in writing, in order to its being formally laid before him, as follows : —■ " As desirous of complying with the caution contained in your telegram of yesterday's date, will you inform mo whether, in case of a prospector or explorer finding auriferous land, and in order to secure himself, should demand to purchase under the thirty-second or thirty-fifth sections of " The Nelson Waste Lands Act, 18G3," the Government can authorize me, as Commissioner, to refuse to sell, and engage to relieve me from any possible legal consequences of such refusal." I have, &c, H. C. Danieli, W. Gisborne, Esq., Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Commissioner.

No. 14. Copy of a Letter from the Hon. W. Gisbobne to the Commissioner of Ceown Lands, Nelson. Colonial Secretary's Office, Sib, — Wellington, 6th December, 1569. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo, in which you refer to the caution to Commissioners of Crown Lands and Waste Lands Boards against the sale of auriferous lands, and the infringement thereby of the public interests, and request to be informed whether, in case of application for the purchase of such land under the thirty-second or thirty-fifth section of " The Nelson Waste Lands Act, 1863," the Government authorizes you to refuse to sell, and engages to relieve you from any possible legal consequences of such refusal. I quite recognize the propriety of your request, and am anxious to give you every information which may remove any misunderstanding on this subject. The Government cannot of course authorize any officer to commit an illegal act, and has no wish to dictate to those who administer the land regulations its own view of their duty in any case in which the law leaves to them the exercise of a discretion. It must, however, be borne in mind, that the Crown, which grants the land, has a duty to perform as well as those who conduct iis sale, and, if it believes that the alienation (in fee simple) of auriferous land is likely to inflict public injury, its duty is to warn those who sell and those who buy such land, that a Crown Grant does not divest the Crown of the right to the gold in that land, and that the Crown reserves to itself the enforcement of its rights in case the public interest should appear to it to demand that enforcement. In the Province of Nelson, if application is made for the purchase, as ordinary rural land, of land known, or believed at the time of application, to be auriferous land, the Commissioner of Crown Lands and Waste Lands Boards can exercise those powers which the law has conferred upon them, and either reserve such land under section 9 of " The Nelson Waste Lands Act, 1863," or, in their discretion, offer it under section 70 for sale at public auction, at an upset price, assessed by the Board, of not less than £10 per acre ; or, if offered for sale and not sold at auction, offer the same for lease at a rent of 10 per cent, on the assessed value. As the neglect to exercise such powers may, in certain cases, be productive not only of loss to the revenue, but may also occasion public discontent and social disorder, the object of the caution is to urge Commissioners and Waste Lands Boards not to neglect the exercise of their powers, and also to draw their special attention to tiie evils which may result from that neglect. In the event of any such application for the purchase of auriferous land coming before you, it would be your duty to inform the Governor's delegate under the Gold Kelds Acts of the application, and also call upon the Board to consider the question of reserving the land under section 9, or dealing with it under section 70 of the Nelson Waste Lands Act. Should the Board not see fit to do either, and should the delegate not include the land within a gold field, then, though you could not refuse to, and should properly proceed with the sale, the Government would still have the power of ■claiming the gold, and would probably exercise that power, especially if it appeared that the purchaser had bought as rural land, land which ho knew or believed to be auriferous. I do not say that the Crown would necessarily take this view, but it is probable that it would do so; at any rate it is competent to it to do so ; and such a power is a salutary check both upon purchasers of Crown lands, and the administrators of the law regulating land sales. In cases in which land has been in good faith bought as rural land, and afterwards is discovered to be auriferous, the question whether the Crown would be advised to assert its right must be determined by special circumstances in each case. The Crown has never yet asserted that right in this Colony, though I believe there are many instances in which the purchasers of Crown lands have themselves mined, or authorized others to mine, for gold therein. In none, however, of the British Colonies, so far as I have been able to ascertain, has the Crown given up its rights. I have, <fee, The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Nelson. W. Gisbobne.