SUPREME COURT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 492, 27 April 1909, Page 11

SUPREME COURT.

CROWN LAND TRANSACTION. WHAT WAS INTENDED TO BE SOLD? :• ;Thb decision of Mr. Justico'Chapman in the case of , the- Commissioner of.- Crown Lands, Taranaki, versus John Blackball Bonnie was given yesterday. This, was- a .proceeding, instituted . under .'the Declaratory Judg-; menis Act, 1908, to obtain ;.'a .'judicial'interpretation of certain provisions of the Lands Act. - - Lii 190' i Mr. iJennio obtained a leaso for. '.990 ' years of 244 acres of heavy, bush land in tho Taranaki district from the Crown. The lease , was'granted under 'Section 121, part 3, of the Land Act, 1892, Section 19 of the. Mining Act, i IB9B, and its amendments, and Section 2 of the Bush and Crown Lands Settlements Act, 1903, and tho provisions of those statutes; wore incorporated in the lease, which- also contaiuod the .following ." proviAnd-, it is hereby further; declared that the: lessee shall luavo no. right or claim to any., of tho minerals,: metals, or valuable stono under the' surfacc of _ tho land, hereby granted; and r the less'co's rights aro t| limitcd to .tlio;"snrface soil, comprised in his. lease ; and also that all persons lawfully engaged in working'such minoralsj metal, stono, etc., shall have tho Tight to sink. shafts under or through the land, and to take, ■_ water-, courses over, the same, and the right of ingress, egross,. and, regress." .Three years after... the granting of .the lease .the Land Laws Amendment' Act,; 1907; was'.passed,-.Section";2o, of; .which. Act. provided as follows' 'The owner of; a leaw in perpetuity shall have a'.right at' any- time hereafter during the existence of tho lease' te:'purcliaso tho fee-simplo of 'the land comprised ui ; the lease, at ii prico equal to' tile, capital value: of the,land at the time of .the '"purchase thereof.'' The 'question .upon ■ which;; hisiHonour."was ;asked a de-. elaratlon .was : whether .it was intended by Section 20 : of .tlio Act of 1907 to confine , the right .off purchaso to tho land held tinder tho' base, that is the. surface only, leaving : tho sub'soil and- tho minerals "still tho property of. tho Crown,-or .'whether .;it^was, intended by : that scctioh' tt.give-to the'lesccc's the.fullost right to purchase the •. fee-simple,; including tho subsoil and minerals. ■' ■ ' His Honour held that. the. section , last quoted gave tho lessee the right to purchase the fesimpk. invthe fullest sense, .and,that, if ho purchased under "that _ provision, the right of tho Crown to the minerals''reserved' by. tho leaso was gone. ' ' ;. u ' ;- 1