Govt move unwelcome to Mr Tizard

Press, 22 June 1985, Page 2

Govt move unwelcome to Mr Tizard

Wellington reporter

The decision by the Minister of Forests, Mr Wetere, to withdraw his consent for mining and prospecting in part? of the Maruia State forest on the West Coast has not been welcomed by the Minister of Energy, Mr Tizard. Mr Wetere’s decision had left him (Mr Tizard) with no option but to decline the licence applications for those areas, Mr Tizard said.

That was because Mr Wetere’s decision earlier this week (“The Press,” June 20) had taken away almost all of the power Mr Tizard might have had except over a very small area. Mining and prospecting applications lodged by Mr

Afton Blackadder had involved State forest land in the Maruia Valley. The mining application had covered 140 ha and the prospecting application 315 ha, and almost all the land was in State forest. Mr Tizard said that had Mr Wetere allowed his consent to remain in force he would have been prepared to grant the mining and prospecting licences in line with the Planning Tribunal’s recommendations after a three-day hearing in Greymouth last November. He said the licences could still be granted for the remaining piece of land — a legal road vested in Inangahua County. He was waiting to hear Mr Blackadder’s wishes on that piece of land.