Application Under Mining Act

Bruce Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 3102, 26 September 1899, Page 8

Application Under Mining Act

On Saturday ab Milton, Mr Stratford, S.M., heard evidence connected with an application by George Morrison, of Lawienoe, for the resumption by Government for mining purposes of portion of seotion 181, block 21, Tokornairiro district, now held by William Dunn. His Worship explained that hs had been directed by the Hon. the Minister for Mines to enquire into the application. He was there simply as a Commissioner to hear the evidence and forward it to Wellington. Mr Dalziell appeared for the applicant. Mr Riddell, for Mr Dunn, made an application for an adjournment of the enquiry on the grounds that there are proceedings pending in the Supreme Court, Dunn v Nelson and others ; Dunn v Cameron and others ; that the proceedings instituted by Dunn against and others were commenced in the Supreme Court before this application for resumption of portion of Dunn's land was made to the Minister for Mines; that the proceedings are Btiil pending, and if the result of this enquiry was that Dunn's riparian rights were takeu away owing to this parcel of land being resumed for mining purposes, would be to Dunn's prejudice inasmuch as be would be unable to de;ive any advantage from the proceedings already instituted. Also that in the case of Dunn v Frost and , others in the Supreme Court, the defendants questioned the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The decision having been given in plaintiffs favour, the defendants have appealed, and this will hang up the j proceeding for a considerable time. If I Dunn's riparian rights were taken away he , would not be able to carry on the actions he has already started The last reason Mr Riddell submitted for an adjournment was that the mortgagee had had uo notice of this enquiry, and he was an interested party, aud it is the duty of the applicant to ccc that each interested party ha* received notice of this application. Mr Dalziell having beea heard on the matter of adjournment, His Worship said he saw no sufficient reason why the witnesses who had come there should not be examined. There might be some reason in what Mr Riddell bad said for a recommendation being made to the Minister, on receiving the report, to stay his hand owing to certain litigation in the Supreme Court. He was there merely to take evidence in support of the application and to hear objections to the application. He saw no reason for adjournment on the ground that the mortgagee was not represented. The mortgagee was presumably a resident of New Zealand ; the telegraph wires were not down, aod it was the duty of the mortgagor to acquaint him with the application. Mr Dalziell explained that the application was made pursuant to section 52 of the Mines Act. He would proceed to lead evidence as to the auriferous nature of the land applied for and also its value in connection with discharging tailings, refuse, or waste water from the workings. Robert Hay, civil engineer, said he had been in the neighborhood of the Tokornairiro river on several occasions. Had been surveying on the river, about 20 years ago, in connection with the Burvey of Coombe Hay. He had also experience of the river, about six years ago, in connection with a survey of Meadowbauk. Lately he had inspected the river aud did not think there were any decided signs of silting up. He referred to places below the last dredge and which at yet had not beeu touched by the dredges. He had seen a gr< <»t deal of the river witbiu the last three months. There was a certain anr-unt or Very flue ailc deposits in slack wa er. A deposit of this kind of silt was not likely to be permanent. Judged the height of river banks at Dunn's to be about Bft or 10ft, and the width of the river at from 40ft to 60ft. Could not give evidence as to depth of water. There were indications' of fine silt, but this would be carrie 1 away to sea by freshes iv the river. S'.uicing claims had he^n so long working that any considerable silting up would have shown before now. There had been mining operations going on in the river for upwards of 30 yeara. Saw no evidence of silt/ which had come down having affected drainage of adjoining grounds. He had seen Mr Dunn's section at the roadline in question ; but did not see that Mr Dunn was making n*e of his riparian rights connected with that section which was fenced off from the main portion of Mr Dunn's ground. Had during the past 12 years considerable experience in reporting on mining properties and the superintending of prospecting of alluvial deposits on Otago goldfields. Considering the class of country and the surrounding features, he saw no reason to doubt that tho country from Glenore to the mouth of the Tokornairiro river was auriferous. He knew ivlr M'Gilp's land, which was about two miles below Dunn's laud. Ib had considerable frontage to the river ; the banks there were low and the river within the tide influence. There was more likelihood of silt depositing there owing to mores' ill water. This would teud to make the banks rise ; but he saw no indications of such. To Mr Riddell : Had examined the river from its mouth to Glenore. Knew nature of ground at Glenore — clay, silt, gravel, and boulders resting on a false bottom. Could not say the depth of clay ; it varied greatly ; did not know the average depth of clay. Had not been higher up stream than Glenore of recent date. In his opinion deposits from sluicing claims travel pas* the dredges. Most of it would settle in ihe river at once ; but the lighter portions would go down the river pa-Jt the dredges. He had not taken samples of river water either from above or below tbe dredges. The furthest up dredge at Glenore wa^ about five miles from the bridge at Milton. The distance from the bridge at Milton to the nearest dredge was about 3$ miles. The distance from that dredge and the olaim now Applied for on Mr Dunn's laud was about 4£ Utile*, The f dge* of the banks of the rim

at Mr Dunn's property are higher than the land immediately behind it ; thiß characteristic is not so distinct at Mr Dunn's side oi the river as on the other side. This was a distinctive feature of all .rivers running ! through alluvial land?, and was caused by | deposits being thrown up at different periods lof the year, especially at flood time, for a long period of years. On a terrace behind the river banks at Dunn's, saw gravel formation ; but saw none in the actual banks. Did not prospect for gold on any part of Mr Dunn's property. Saw the land previously, and frequently during the past three monthß. As the number of dredges increased there would be more deposit — stuff held in suspension along the banks of the river. He examined the upper portion of the Meadowbank property along the river, and did not see any more deposit there than the ordinary deposit already desoribed. He did not know of his actual knowledge if there was gold on this land applied for on Mr Dunn's property. If he had to report on it, he could not recommend this claim as an investment without first prospecting it ; but, ac far as he could see, the land should be of the same nature as that at Glenore. He had been over Mr Dunn's land several times and saw no silt on the land. He noticed some indications of silt on the sides of the bank ; but none on top of the bank.— Re-examined by Mr Dalziell : The silt deposit in the river referred to in the first portion of his evidence was of a very fine nature and similar to the silt which came down from sluicing claim ß and past the dredges. Mr Dunn's lowlying land likely to be affected by floods was approximately about 24 acres. The only sill he saw on Mr Dunn's land was fine silt caught by the vegetation at water level and at edge of channel ; this silt would most likely be removed by a fresh in tho river. This silt was no depth. Henry Clark, residing near Tokornairiro river at Clarksville for over 42 years, taid that the river bounds portion of bis property below Glenore. He had farmed the land for over 25 years. It was under [ lease now to Mr Hamilton, who is a farmer oo the other side of the river. He I (Mr Clark) owned this land before the diggmgs broke out at Glenore, whicli would be about 1862 or 1863. Mining had continued, more or less, from that date up to now —not only on the river but on adjacent grounds. There were 'more miners at the Woolshed in the early days than there are now. As to the condition of the river owing to silt, opposite his own property, he could Bee no appreciable difference in the quanticy of silt deposited there as compared with the quantity deposited in 1862 and | 1863. The river had been dirty all along, more or less ; but he did not consider it \ was more dirty now thau when Coombe's sluicing claim was in operation. At different times he heard complaints from some farmers ; others were indifferent. The chief cause of complaint was the dirty nature of the water. He might aay that he had never used the water for his stock — he used wells. Until lately he had for 20 years ' beeu chairman of the Bruce County Council. — To Mr Riddel : His laud would be about two miles from the Milton bridge. He did uot say that the diggers in the olden days made the river dirtier than the dredges. He did not think lhat dredges made the water of rivers so dirty as did sluicing operations. He would not object to water his cattle at the river where there was mining above, which dirtied the water. He knew farmers who allowed their oattle to driok the dirty water ; and he did not think it injured cattle. It had not been proved thac this dirty water of the river injured the cattle. He bad no cattle now except two cows, ami it was more convenient for him to use wlls As it was mo.c convenient for him he sauk the wells before the digi^eis commenced operations at the Woolshed. His evidence as to silt referred simply to the river on his own property. He thought ihe water w#is now abcut as dirty as it was ai>out cix months ago. Aa to complaints, he had heard them from farmeis yeurs ago * the complaints were about the dirty water ; not about silt. He had no interest in mining or dredges, but hal a relative^ who had a small interest in d edging. In 1860, when this road in question was alongside the river, it was never used. He could 'not remember when tbe road given in exchange for it was opened. — To Mr Dalziel : The bank of the river was naturally higher than the adjoining land. These binks had been formed by floods for he supposed thousands of years # j William Hope Miller, farmer, Manuka Creek, had been for forty years in that locality. He had no interest whatever in dredging. He remembered when th diggings first broke oat at the Woolshed — about 1862 or 1863. There was not then a very large mining population there— about from 100 to 150 miners. Tho conditiou of the river at the Woolshed was much the same as it is now. He had not se^n much of the river below Glenore until that day (.Saturday) when he had been on Dunn's ground. He saw deposits of fine silt on the banks of the river ; it was fine silt which had been carried down the river ; in do places the silt was more than an iuch deep. —To Mr Riddell : He did not tuink the same amount of stuff was turned over in the old days as now with the dredges. That being so it was difficult for him to say w! ether there was more gilt goiog down tho river than in the old digging days. Opposite Mr Dunn's property the stream varies in depth. He could not notice any deposit of silt on Mr Dunn's land ; but there was very light silt on the river bauks. He had been a miner at Gabriel's Gully. v\ illiam Tulloch, farmer, said he had lived at Glenore for 37 years, during which time he had been a miner for about ten years. To a small extent he was interested in one of the dredges. His Worship : Not Hutley a-id Riley's ?— (Laughter.) Witness ; No, I wißh I was. He remembered when the diggings broke out in Glenore ; there would be at one time between 300 ani 400 people there. He described the i modes of mining in vogue in the olden days. j He «aw po difference in the condition of tbe i

river then as compared with now. Hf spoke as to the sluicing operations carried on duriug the olden days. There was then more silt carried down the river thau there is now with the dredging operations. The reason of this was that in sluicing the silt is carried directly into the river; whereas in dredging the dredges worked in dams. To Mr Riddell : He wai interested ih the Gold Bank dredge which worked on private property. Some silt from the working of that dredge went into the river. He remembered Mr Dunn coming up to Glenore ; and saying that if wing-dams were built for the silt he would uot have so much to complain about. All the dredge owners built these wing-dams to intercept the silt, Consequently he did not think that dredging operations caused more disturbance of Boil than the old method of sluioing into the river. He did not know the applicant for the resumption of the old road-line on Dunn's property. Witness had & third of a niuth share in the Gold Bank dredge. He had been on Mr Dunn's land in 1859. During the las*, three months be had been onoe on Mr Dunn's. He had prospected near it and had got a few colors ; that was so far back as the year 1862. He could corroborate Mr R. Hay's evidence with regard to the banks of the river on Mr Dunn's property. Supposing this roadliue was resumed, it would probably be used for mining purposes. It wa ß a very likely place for gold ; it had never been prospected. Its area was about 4£ acres. The usual size of a dredging claim in Glenore was about 30 acres. He would not put a dredge on 4£ acres unless he had a larger area to work with it. He has heard that Mr Dunn had riparian rights over this property, but had not examined his titles to find out. He knew there was a writ served on hia company, but he had not paid much attention to it. He was not sure that the writ was served for their company polluting the water passing Dunn's property. He did not know that if the miners resumed this portion of Mr Dunns land Mr Dunn would lose his riparian rights. He had practically retired from all active interest in dredging. He did uot know that Mr Rawlins was taking an active interest in this matter on behalf of the miners. He had heard that Hon. Mr Bolt was interested in a dredge at Glenore. The further hearing of evidence was, at 3 p.m., adjourned until October 16th.