85

D.—4

533. Mr. Jones.] What do you say as to the rest ?—The rest is all right. 534. Hon. E. Blake.] Is the proper width of this comparatively long strip about 10 chains— along the western limit of the reserve? —That is plenty and abundance. There is no alluvial there or place for quartz. [Exhibit No. 98.] 535. What do you say about 93 ?—That is quite correct. 536. You see there is a little patch in 94, south of Baker's Creek—what do you say to that piece ? —There is nothing there. 537. Between Baker's Creek and Fagan Creek ?—There is nothing there. There is a pretty wide flat there, but there is no gold. They prospected it, but had to abandon it. 538. What sort of prospecting has been done there? —They brought a low-water tunnel— an open low-water tunnel—a few chains, and then they worked it. It was subsidised by subscription, I think ; but eventually they had to give it up. I never saw any gold got in that flat. 539. That flat runs right through up to Section 97 : what do you say is the width of it ?—A mile pretty well. 540. You see it is hatched ?—On the other side, at the base of the hills, and all along the terraces, the gold-bearing ground starts. The ground has been worked, and worked successfully, on the east side of the flat. As to that long strip [indicating on map] there are three leads of gold; but I do not think they extend to greater width at any point than 300 yards, but it is very provident to make a large provision for mining, and I think it should be reserved for a mile in width all along in 94, 95, and 97. Outside that strip there is no gold got. There are several water-races that extend beyond a mile, and they must naturally be protected by rights. The reserve should be a mile in width. 541. What do you say about the reserve along the beach ?—There is plenty of reserve there. 542. Then there is the Grey Valley, No. 5 [Exhibit No. 99]. Let us deal with Sections 86 and 87 together ? —This corresponds exactly with my views, that this land should be reserved as it is shown here. Beyond those places where that present reserve is shown it is a long way ahead of where any gold' has 'been found. Going towards the north-west it is quite correct—l quite approve of Sections 86 and 87. When you go outside the reserved ground, as marked by me exactly as the hatching shows, the mining ceases. There has been no gold worked there, and there is no need of reserving it. 543. We will pass to 89, the Big Eiver Block, Slatey Creek. What do you say about that?— That is quite correct up the Caledonian Creek until it reaches the point where the reserve spreads out. The reserve is exactly what I would make myself. On the other part along the Big Eiver there is nothing. There has never been any gold got there. 544. You agree with that ?—Yes. 545. Were you present when these maps were hatched by Young and Fenton ?—No; I was not there. I have never seen these maps until I saw them here now. I was not present at the marking of any of these reserves. I supplied information, or part of it. Hon. E. Blake : The witness supplied certain information, and these maps were prepared on his information and the information of others. In some cases they correspond with his views, and in others not. 546. Mr. Jones.] Will you mind looking round at the Maruia Block, Sections 25, 26, 27, and 28. Will you state to the Court, commencing at Section 25, what you consider should be reserved out of that block for gold-mining purposes ? —I have gone up that river, and lam perfectly satisfied that, as far as regards the workings carried on for the first twenty miles, that if there is any gold in the river it is in the ordinary bank reserve. There is no working extending beyond 100 ft, on each side of the river. I did not see myself, judging from the character of the country, that there is any need to reserve more than 100 yards on each side. That would carry you a good bit up the hill; and on the other side Ido not suppose there is any reason to expect payable gold. There are very few people there. Ido not think there is any reason to expect that gold will extend more than 100 yards on either side. 547. Starting at that end, where do you get the last gold-working?—At Thompson's, Warwick Eiver. 548. Now, from Warwick Eiver, going up to the head of the Maruia, are there any goldworkings?—No. Some people said there were gold-workings at a place reported to me, but I saw no vestige of it—l saw no trace of it. 549. And you think it was not at all necessary for the Government to make this reserve in the interests of gold-mining, present or future ? —I do not think so. The land in many places is good for settlement. It would be useful to humanity in some other form. 550. But not for gold-mining ? —No. 551. As to Doughboy, Section 30, what do you say ?—There are no workings up the Doughboy for a mile and a half or two miles at least. Then it opens out a little bit above, and there is a certain portion of land, perhaps 15 chains on each side of the creek, which should be reserved. That would be abundant provision for gold-mining there. In the lower portion there is no gold-mining. 552. With that exception, the land should not have been reserved?— No. 553. I will now come to Westland [Exhibit No. 90, Westland group]. I will ask you about Block 2b : what have you say to that block?—l went through it and all round it, and Ido not see the slightest reason for reserving that as a mining reserve at all. The gold-diggings are on the east side of it, but never extended beyond the Chesterfield track. No gold-mining ever extended beyond the Chesterfield track. It is not difficult ground to work. If there was gold there they would have found it. 554. We will now go to Block 6, the Kumara Block: will you state what you think about that ?—The western portion, the bulk of the whole block, has never been worked. There has never been any work at all done in it. It is used for other purposes. It is very fit for agriculture, I should say, judging by the character of the timber growing on it, and I do not see any reason