THE HERALD WEDNESDAY, DEC. 3, 1919 WHY THE CLAUSES WERE DELETED!

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1210, 3 December 1919, Page 4

THE HERALD WEDNESDAY, DEC. 3, 1919 WHY THE CLAUSES WERE DELETED!

Deaunx; with the question of the withdrawal of clauses 2, 3 and 4 from the recent. Amendment to the Mining ' Act 101.9, Mr R. Scott stated at his political meeting in Alexandra, that the clauses were withdrawn by the Minister (Sir W. Fraser) and not by his (Mr Scott's) Mines committee. We said in our leader last week that the clauses were struck out. by the Mines Committee, of which Mr Scott is chairman. Our authority is Sir W. Fraser, who stated in a telegram to the Vincent County Council date 27th October.—" Wire received, clauses in Mining Bill were struck out in Mines Committee, ltegretto say I cannot sec my way to reinstate them. W. Fraser; We leave ,Mr Scott and Sir William to say who is correct. The mines Committee heard evidence from interested parties against certain of the clauses aruLas a result the ,-tO'-hear-~awy--tToheir&videnee, backea down and withdrew this very necessary legislation. We say backed down, for three or four weeks previously there was no one more emphatic than Sir William on ; the necessity of having, clause 2 made 'law*' The Minister did not know that in the caso of mining rights being cancelled, by a decree of forfeiture the secondary X rightholders stepped \in > 'and toow possession as ' first' iightholdera.' When convinced that""'such' was the* law he declared it to be quite unfair and emphatically said he would alter the law to prevent such "a thing taking place, even if he had to adjourn the court till tho altered law was passed by Parliament. Later he found this procedure was open to objection for on 13th Octobor he wired the chairman of the County Council.—" After careful consideration have 'decided not to ask the Warden to postpone hearing Lane's forfeiture caso of 16th inst. This would not be a propor procedure. Would adviso you however to get your solicitor to oppose the application on your own behalf as possessing option to purchase Lane's rights for ' public purpose. Public Works Department would join with you on this latter ground." AV. Fraser Minister of Public Works. A fortnight later there is a complete change of front, and the clause which the Minister declared was so very necessary was among others withdrawn. The reason advanced for the withdrawal is that opposition arose to the clauses from various interested parties in Central Otago, who seemingly wore able to bring sufficient pressure to 'bear to force the Minister to consent to withdrawal. If isalso claimed that owing to the session being near a finish there was not time to take evidetica from all interested parties and as the amending bill contained much of value to mining generally it was advisable to withdraw the clauses rather than risk losing the bill. We freely . admit the reasonableness' of that contention, provided steps were taken to safeguard the interest of the settlers generally under the anomalous position as at present created by various suits for forfeiture. This was fortunately done by the insertion of a now clause in place- of the one deleted, bub for this the Government are entitled to very little credit. The Government had; no intention of taking any steps to safeguard the position and as far as they" were concerned, the .very thing so vigorously condemned by Sir W. Fraser, the passing of valuable water 1 rights into the :■ possession of private persons, would have happened in this district. The saving clause 'was: inserted; oil; the urgent' -•",. and persistent representation of ' otaer intores ted pal ties,; who experienced the. groatest- difficulty in ; getti.ng the Minister:- to' give-any heed to their request. It'is x suggested that a Commission go into ,|T\e whole question of water rights in Otago, and report on the position. This is very desirable, and; no time must be lost, for the present -\|unsatisfactory .position: is. holding iip" the development of; the district. In," many, ea^es;-valuable water is running to waste, and land ]yin'g,idle. which*^

Mr Hugh Henderson's orchard proper- Vfr ty in the Manuhorikia Valley was privately to Mr Siefred Johnston Fruitlands, at a satisfactory price. • * Tho Alexandra Concert Party gave so successful an entertainment ja the local hall will repeat tho performance at Clyde to-night. . The local rabbit.preserves factory shAt (down yesterday, ;and will ! probabjy remain closed' till the end of February. Tho employees ; have boon on short'' time for a week or two but the scarcity of supplies now force on the manage, ment this regrettable step. It i» possible that alterations and additionmay soon be undertaken when the con*,tractor for this.work will require labour, Saturday is an important day for" members of the local Masonic Lodge, At 2.30 p.m. the foundation stone of the new Masonic Hall will be laid by Bt, Wor. Brother T. Boss, P.D.G.M., assisted by Grand Officers from Dunedin, to about a dozen in number. The cerfemony will be an interesting one, and brother members will be present frdm various parts of tho district. Wo extend congratulations to Mr John M'Knight, J.p,, ; on'hi9 election as • chairman of the Vinclent County for the ensuing term. Mr M'Knight ha 9 beea representative of. the Manuherikia Bid* ing for severalyears; He is one of eight ; brothers, who have; all, more or less, been closely associated with Otago Cent* ral, several of them t&kifeg a prominent part in public affairs. Tho Central Otago train on 10th December, to meet the convenience of visitors to the A. and P. Show at Omakau, will wait at Omakau and leave there at 447; p.m.. This will' enable local residents to travel to Omakau with the usual morning train and return by train.

The weather for the last weok has been very boisterous. A auccoasion of westerly winds wan followed yesterday by a southerly bustor, accompanied by rain, hail and snow showers. A touch of winter in the middle of summer. There is a fairly heavy coating of snow on the high levols. The rainfall registered for week ending to-day wad 54 points. The rainfall for November was 127 points making 1773 points for the eleven' mouths, as against 1313 for corresponding month of last year. Eight degrees of frost were registered on the 30th.

The star picture for Hull's on Saturday first will not be;'' Husband and .Wife " as first anndunced"but another attractive star film entitled " The Captive God." A story ot America about a thousand years ago, and is founded /on an old Astec religious custom.^ .Every yes* the w the country was offered as a human sacrifice to their Gods. Some really magnificent acting, altogether with pageants jn which hundreds of- persons participate* make this picture a notable production. The supports include a scientific film entitled Garden pests, a'subject, which local audiences should be interested in. A comic titled " Kernel Nutt Jn.., sigh..Shoes'' and tb,o aecond of « Ther Mysteries# Myra.'' "The ajiHiual show of the Centra!Otago A. and P. Association takes place on * Wednesday, next, 10th December. Intonding competitors are reminded that entries ni.i-.st be made not later than Tuesday, S#lat H.«p.m. It is hoped that the settlefs\will rally to this annual event and support same not only with. their presenwbut by sending in entries, The interest and success of a show of this nature depends entirely on the number of entries and the keenness of the competition.