TIMBER RIGHTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 119, 16 November 1909, Page 4

TIMBER RIGHTS.

•AN IMPORTANT PROPOSAL. DEPUTATION TO THE PREMIER. A number of Taranaki sawmillers and persons interested in the dairying industry waited on the Prime Minister yesterday, introduced by Mr. W. T. Jennings, M.P., and asked for an amendment to the Public Works Act on lines which were explained by Mr. M. Myers. Several members of Parliament were also present, and Mr. Jennings said that a good many other members of Parliament had expressed sympathy with the proposals to be made. Section 184 of the Public Works Act, said Mr. Myers, was a' very useful ono to sawmillers. It meant that people who had any timber or the right to cut timber were enabled to go before a Magistrate where .. f there was no practicable road and 'amain an order for the construction of a tramway br road over private lands.- l But 'there" were defects in the Act which "meant that the sawmillers did not derive .the full benefit contemplated by the section. The Tight that 1 was given undelr the Act was limited to five years, and tho section did not give the magistrate power, no matter how great the interests involved, to grant any renewal of the right. In one particular case there were very large blocks of timber from which were supplied the butter and cheese boxes for nearly the whole of Taranaki. It would be impossible to bring anything like all the timber out in four or five years, and if the sawmillers, got an order for the construction of the tramway over, private land, it would iwvolve the expenditure of many thousands of pounds. Upless they could make fairly sure of the continuance of the right beyond that period, it would not pay them to go on with the work of construf/tion. The deputation, therefore, suggested that the magistrate should have power to continue the right for a further term on | payment of compensation to the owner or occupier. ""feyh e y a^ s0 asked for an 'amendment making it clear that the road or tramway should ' be the property of the applicant at the conclusion of ' the period ; also that power should be given for a surveyor to' go on to the land for the purpose of detming the line of the | road or tramway," and that a definition of a "practicable" route should be included in' the Act. Sir Joseph Ward, in implying, said he would be Very'-glald to give the representations of the deputation very careful consideration. He understood clearly what they wanted, and he also understood the difficulties that had to be overcome. It was unnecessary to tell them that 1 the difficulty was the inroad upon private rights. If provision had only to be made to ensure legitimate rights in one particular, the importance of the industry concerned would warrant favourable consideration, but making the amendment general in its application was a 'more serious consideration. The amendments as drafted by Mr. Myers 'made the point very clear, and would be carefully considered when Cabinet dealt with the matter.