Law changes may snag gold hunt

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34104, 17 March 1976, Page 22

Law changes may snag gold hunt

The expedition organised by Mr Trevor Lee, of Invercargill, to search for the gold believed to be in the wreck of the sailing ship General Grant at the Auckland Islands, may run into difficulties because of two new acts of Parliament.

Mr Lee is the skipper of the Bluff fishing boat Atlantis which he took down to the islands in January when the expedition led by Commander John Grattan was there looking for the treasure reported to be in the Grant. He said yesterday that another boat and all the necessary equipment had been organised, and he and his 10 other expedition members were now waiting for Lands and Marine Department permission to sail. However, in September last year amendments . to the Historic Places Act and the Antiquities Act were passed, and will come into force on April 1These amendments will make salvage work on old shipwrecks difficult. Under the Historic Places Amendment Act it will be an offence for anyone to destroy. damage, or modify the site of a shipwreck which occurred more than 100 years ago. without the written permission of the His-; toric Places Trust. The General Grant went down in May, 1866. The maximum fine for such■ an offence will’be $5OOO. Under the Antiquities Amendment Act any gold recovered by the expedition will be deemed prima facie 1

to be the property of the ! Crown. Notification of the find must be given to the Secretary' for Internal Affairs or a museum. It will be an offence under the Act to acquire or attempt to acquire any artefact otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the Act. So, under the new laws,'it ■appears that Mr Lee’s expedition, if it gets under way after April 1. Will be in breach of the law if it so much as ’ shifts one stone from the site of the wreck, i let alone removes any gold lor artefacts. Mr Lee said yesterday that he believed there to be be-

iween ana -slam worth of gold in the General Grant. He said he knew the i ship's manifest had shown only 2576 ounces of gold (worth today less than half a million dollars), but that “all those records were screwed up.” He said that he had located a wreck site on his visit to the islands in January, and it was not where the Grattan expedition had been working. The new expedition was going “to check it out." Of the 11 members of his expedition two were divers, he said, and he had every intention of lifting the gold if I it was found. If the work' ■was difficult, then the At--lantis would come down with more divers, he said. Mr Lee said the weather iwas bad at the Aucklands in March, and he would! just as soon not go until next month. He said the expedition members would stay; there until they were satisfied.