THE COMMISSIONERS ON GOLD FIELDS WATER SUPPLY,

5

G—No. 18.

Mining Leases. Your Commissioners are of opinion that to further encourage the investment of capital in mining enterprise, the Governor should have the power to grant leases of auriferous and mineral lands to an extent not exceeding 40 acres in each lease. They are also of opinion that in this Province, at least, the rent of £2 10s per acre per annum is excessive, and ought to be reduced to .£1 per acre per annum. This consideration weighs with them the more, because valuable mineral land, or wdiat may hereafter prove to be such, is freely alienated for ever at the price of £1 per acre. The provisions of the Victorian Statute, subject to the restriction as to the area, and the giving of section twenty-eight a more general applicability to the discovery of deep leads, under all circumstances, accord with the views of your Commissioners. Local Legislation, Mining Board. Your Commissioners have agreed, and their opinion would seem to be justified by the action taken by the Government on the present and previous occasions, that it is necessary to have some permanently constituted body to legislate on such details of mining law as may well be regulated by bye-laws. They are of opinion that such a body should not be left to be constituted by the mere will, evidenced by petition or otherwise, of perhaps a small section of the mining population. If the institution be a good one, it should be compulsory and permanent. They are well aware of the defects of the first attempts in the Colony of Victoria to give effect to a system of local legislation, and desire to be taught by that experience. They consider that such bodies should bo constituted on a large basis ; that the number should not exceed one for each Province or County ; that a certain number,—but never tin; whole of the members—should retire annually : in short, they consider that the provisions of the Victorian Mining Statutes of 1865, with such modifications as may be necessary to make it suitable to the circumstances of New Zealand in the way above-mentioned, is exactly in accordance with their views. Administration of Justice. No part of the A^ictorian Statute has received more full consideration than that part which relates to tbe administration of justice. The manifest defects and imperfections of the Act of 1866 in this respect lnis been a source of complaint, as well to those who have had to administer the law, as to tho public. A ludicrous instance of the carelessness with which the Act was passed, and the absurd consequences which have arisen from its blunders, the 68th Section may be referred to, which enacts, " Every such AVarden shall have power in every case brought before him to make such decree or give such judgment as shall be just, without regard to any rule of law or the practice of any Court of Equity, and to award damages and reasonable costs or direct, payments to be made to either party." This Section is evidently taken from the Victorian Statute, Section 101, which enacts, inter alia, " and in the exercise of its jurisdiction every Court of Alines may make such decree in the nature of an award as may be just and without regard to any rule of law affecting the form only of relief or to the practice of any Court of Law or Equity." The Section of the New Zealand Act referred to has been made the basis of many decisions in the Wardens' Courts, and of an assumption on the part of the Wardens that they had a general equitable jurisdiction which is nowhere expressly given by the Act; and it is only recently, and since some of their decisions have been reviewed by the superior Courts, that they have partially refrained from making orders requiring the performance of acts and assumed duties by persons who had not been brought before their Courts. Curiously enough, this statutory blunder has heen the subject of amendment in "The Gold Fiells Act Amendment Act, 1867 " (No. 2), Section 8. Taking into consideration the great amount of existing machinery for administering justice, your Commissioners do not think it desirable that the subject be further complicated by the establishment of new tribunals. There seems to be nothing in the management of Gold Fields or in the nature of mining tenure requiring a large equitable jurisdiction to be given to inferior Courts. Your Commissioners are of opinion that the Resident Magistrates' Courts have already nearly all the powers necessary for adjudicating upon those matters of dispute which ordinarily arise amongst miners. That power should bo given them to try cases with Assessors, similar to the provisions regarding trials in tho Wardens' Courts of Victoria. The Wardens' Courts would therefore cease to exist in New Zealand, and a great deal of complication and unnecessary difference in practice in the administration of justice would be avoided. Regarding Assessors, your Commissioners are of opinion that the miners would be quite willing to act in that capacity without payment, in cases brought before the Courts, if provision were made for preparing lists from which names could be taken in rotation. A gricultural Settlement. The Commissioners have given this subject their most careful consideration, and are warranted in stating that the Argicultural Leasing Regulations, on the whole, have proved most beneficial in the settlement of bona fide farmers and settlers on the soil. It is, however, true, that instances have occurred, where capitalists have secured large tracts of valuable land by means of dummies, and by the mere fencing of land, using same as grazing paddocks only. The Commissioners have suggested regugulations which, it is believed, will prevent monopoly and evasion of the law, by compelling occupiers to crop 20 per cent of the land taken up by them, before they can acquire a legal estate, and giving them two years to comply therewith. The Commissioners also recommend the reduction of rent payable under leases, believing that such reduction will prove an incentive to settlement on the waste lands of the Crown. The Commissioners also recommend that miners should be permitted to occupy three acres of land for cultivation purposes, under their Minei-s' Right, as the existing regulations, permitting the occupation of one acre, have proved most advantageous, and is calculated to cause the miner to settle permanently. While admitting the great importance of agricultural settlement, and the necessity of giving proper facilities therefor, yet, on the other hand, we desire to record our opinion, that in no case should lands, required for mining purposes, be leased for any other purpose than mining, and the officer administering 2