COURT OF INQUIRY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 297, 20 December 1869, Page 2

COURT OF INQUIRY.

Satubday. Heney Lewis ; lam chief surveyor. Mount Arthur as shown on Map No. 4, was laid down hy me from bearings taken from the mouth of the Wangapeka river. I should not call it a mere sketch map, but the main features are approximately correct; The Mount Owen marked there as Stanford's is as correctly laid down as could be done with the means at my command. I do not think it could be five miles out, it might he two or three. A straight line from Mount Arthur tb Mount Owen as shown on the Admiralty map would run through the bought land. By Mr. Adams : None of the mountains on Standford's map have been laid down from actual survey. Joseph Baigent : I know the Owen district. I am in possession of leased - land at the southern base of what I have always understood to be Mount Owen, and which is .-the 4 same as is called by that name on Stanford's map. Standing with your back to Mount Owen and look to the south the most prominent object is Mount Murchison. The peaks of the Mount Owen as shown in Haast's map are neither so high nor so conspicuous as those on what I know as Mount Owen. I and many others have been accustomed to call that Mount Owen from which the river Owen takes its source. If lam correct a straight line from Mount Arthur to Mount Owen would I believe bring the purchased land within the goldfields. It is generally recognised by those on the Buller as Mount Owen. By Mr. Adams : The mountain I call Mount Owen is the highest in the district. The three serrated peaks are on the north-west of the Owen .River, about two miles from the junction. Mount Murchison is more conspicious but I do not know whether it is higher than Mount Owen. There are some high hills between the Owen and the Buller. About six miles below the junction of the Owen and Buller you can see the mountain from which the Owen takes its rise. You can also see it from higher up the river at the Devil's Grip. The three peaks of Mount Murchison are not visible from Nelson as is stated by Mr. Haast. The mountain generally known as Mount Owen can be seen; from the Waimea plain. Neither of the other two can. David Clauk : I was wi th Dr. Hochstetter when he went into the Wangapeka district. He asked roe the names of the hills. I said I had heard that that was Mount Owen. That was the one you can see from the Waimea plain. ,1 afterwards went with Donald to cut a track over the spur leading into the Owen Valley. There were men digging in the district at the<time. The mountain was generally known as Mount Owen 10 years ago. By Mr. Adams : I think it was Musgrave the surveyor told me it was Mount Owen. I was not near the place when he told me this. I was surveying with him in Pigeon Valley at the time. I believe he took the name from the Admiralty chart. I take it from the same chart now. From the junction .of the Owen and the Buller it would be about north-east. There is not snow on it all the summer. Ido not know Mount Murchison, Mount Francis, or Mount Franklyn. I remember the Howard and the Hope. I remember none of the other mountains. Thojia£ Fawcett : I have been in the Wangapeka district 10 years. I went there with Mr. Ugg surveying. I know Mount Owen, I can see it from my house. If diggers were going to the Buller over Mount Owen I should point that out to them as the hill.

This Day.

Mr. Daniell, who at Mr. Kingdon's request was recalled, stated: The words reported to have been made use bf by me at the Wakefield meeting to. the effect that "the only persons who knew officially on the Wednesday of the' sale of the land were the Superintendent, Mr. Greenfield, and Mr. Hodgson- in the Superintendent's Office, and myself, Mr. Catley, and Mr. Gully in the Landoffice;" and this was my firm conviction at the time. Mr. Gully recalled: I did not state on Saturday that I had no interest in the purchased land, as I am interested in it. I knew officially of Culliford's purchase on the previous day. Henri Lewis: I cannot say whether there is an exactly defined range from the Mount Owen as described on Haast's map to that on Stanford's map. Henry Pilkington: I am a miner, and have been in the Wangapeka on and off for the last ten years. I know a mountain at the junction of the Owen with the Buller, but this is not the one that .was shown to me as Mount Owen by. Mr. Haast from the Nelson wharf. I have occasionally seen snow on it at Christmas time. How I came to know Mount Owen was that having come in from Wangapeka, I met Mr. Haast at the wharf, and after asking me the names of several of the peaks, he pointed out to me the one he had named Mount Owen. I could show it from the same ; place now. lam perfectly well acquainted with the whole run of the ranges in that district. I am quite sure that the mountain pointed out to me by Mr. Haast is the one always known to me by the n^me of Mount Owen. 7 By Mr. Adams: Mr. Haast did not point out Mount Owen to me on the spot.' It is a very : peculiar mountain, and having seen it from Nelson 1 could not mistake it when in the neighborhood. .Itis a high peak rising suddenly from a low. range. Ido not personally know the track '. ■ put by , Clark from the Tadmor to the Owen river, : "but I know there was one. If you were to go over the top of the mountain you would see high peaks and broken ranges .on the other side. The whole country is high and. rugged. * I have heard ; of Mount Donald but I'do not know it. ■' -John. Gully': V Several of us have been in the ; . habit of calling a certain mountain that we can, i see from Nelson Mount Owen; but we have lately learned that we i were mistaken. % My .impression J now Js that Haast's Mount Owen cannot be,seen ';■'.- . . frbm.here. ;; ; rV7 VV'77;..7V; ';....::_._, V--";- : -'_■-„_ :\7 : By Mr. M 05 57.71 am draughtsman in the office. 1 I havebeen in. the Habit "of s^ing-Haast's map in V ; tlie;officV aridY^ . .not^vM6l#ft^Nelsbni is intended }■ i, b giye;ar,- general^^ impreispibn of 'the; ranges and

watersheds. I did not know- that showing a range from Haast's to the other Mount Owen was favorable to the purchasers. Ido not assert that there is one clearly defined range, because Mr. Burnett has told me that there is only a broken mass of mountains. Joseph Baigent : I recognise the position of the two peaks marked on the map. There is no leading range between the two. It is a broken country consisting of hills, rivers and valleys. The peaks at the junction of the Owen and Buller are not nearly so high as the one I know as Mount Owen. There is very rarely snow on them in summer. By Mr. .Adams : The Matairi is about 15 miles ' from the Owen. The country in its neighborhood is of the same nature' as that about the Owen. Mount Newton is on its western side and none of any height to the eastward. By Mr. Moss: I have no doubt that the mountain from which the Owen river takes its rise is higher than any other in the range. By Mr. Domett : The mountain is visible from Nelson. It is the only isolated lofty range between here and the Owen valley. It is generally known by those who travel in that direction as Mount Owen, I never heard it questioned before. William Noble: I am a miner, and have been at the Wangapeka about six weeks. I have been in the Uuller district on and off for four years. I know Mount Owen. I crossed it in going from the Buller to the Wangapeka. It is visible from Nelson. I know some hills which are below Mount Owen; none of these could he seen from Nelson. By Mr. Adams: Mount Owen is very high. I was snowed up there about six weeks ago. Ido not know either Mount Arthur or. Mount Murchison. Mr. Cole told me it was Mount Owen. That was since the discovery of the reef. I knew nothing of it before. Mr. Moss said that as great stress had been laid upon Haast's description of the country, he should like to be permitted to ask who assisted him in writing it. The Superintendent said that Mr. Haast wrote his narrative in the first instance, and then got different friends to correct the language. Mr. Travers went over a portion of it, and, also Sir David Monro. I myself did from a third to a half. ' We did not alter the nature of the description, but merely corrected an occasional German idiom, putting it into good English. John Blackett, Provincial Engineer: I know . . the Buller district well. I know Haast's plan. I liave found it tolerably correct as a sketch map. I remember Clark being sent at tbe recommendation of Donald to cut a track from the Tadmor. ta the Lyell in 1863, He expected to get to the Matairi instead of which he arrived at the Owen. From . Clark's report I should gather that he crossed a range between the head of the .Tadmor and the head of the Owen, which I should take tobe the Marino range. I have no particular knowledge of Mount Owen as marked on Haast's map. My attention was never called to it. The mountain crossed by Clark cannot he the one named Mount Owen b> Mr. Haast. Clark was on that occasion supplied with a tracing made from Haast's map. . . . By Mr. Moss : They had this tracing and yet made the mistake of getting into the Owen instead of the Mataii^L I depended upon Clark's information to make an alteration in the sketch map. By Mr. Domett : 1 ha.ye generally considered the mountain we see |rom Nelson to be part of the Marino mouuliiiins. I never remember having mentioned Mount Owen in any report of mine to the Government;" A. S. Dreter : I wish to state that my opinion is that the land in dispute is within the goldfields. Mr. Kynnersley said so. Mr Adams: Do you mean to state distinctly that Mr. Kynnersley said that this land was within the goldfield ? | Witness: No. I. do not say that, but that, ! there was a line on the. map which Mr. Kynnersley looked upon as the boundary and this land is within that boundary. A man at one time came to him about the Owen valley and Mr. Kynnersley told him in my presence that the' land he enquired about was within the golfield. John Bukke: I remember when Mr Kynnersley was Commissioner at Westport. I and a party of. digger., being about to start up the Buller to Inangahua, I went to Mr. Kynnersley and asked him if he had a map of the district. He showed me Stanford's map, and pointed out the different localities on it. ... Mr. Domett : Had it been proved clearly that the land was within the goldfields, it would have been unnesessary to go into the question of the legality of the sale, as of course the land under those circumstances could not have been sold, but without saying that it is clearly proved either one way or the other it will now be necessary to proceed with the question. J. "W. Tatton: A lease in the Wangapeka district was applied for in my own name and those of three others in 1861. We carried on mining operations .under that lease for iron or whatever minerals it might contain. I applied to Mr. Robinson the Superintendent to purchase, and he replied that he could not; sell as it was 1 within the goldfields. The land included the - Blue Creek, Rolling River, and Nuggety Creek. ' About 60 gold miners were then at work there. I afterwards applied to the Commissioner of Crowa Lands for a plan of the country, which was then considered gold-bearing. This plan which included the Rolling Rivex was presented to me in 1863 by Mr. J. C. Richmond. I afterwards tested some mundic from Wangapeka which yielded a. large quantity of gold. -.. By Mr. Adams: I applied for a lease to work iron-sand and other minerals. It was granted to me. Captain Johns had .possession of the lease, which was forfeited, and then I applied to the Superintendent for • a renewal.; I did not take it up because the party I Twas; engaged with .was, broken up. Inilb62 I. applied to purchase, and the Superintendent said he could not sell because it was in the gold district. , We had men aiworfc • for, three Tor four.mon^hs;: 'iyMyiy yy :~yyy :'*■ Mr. I)AT!«kll :^^ ledged that bearing distmt^ibtrt^it ;;.;w^ V man's niggifags/^^ tions for J minih'gvieaS^9t ,>!mi*^et'^er^>.^oiilaV:iuA „ ' suitVthe appli&rits^ andthey^ t^enup.