The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1869.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IV, Issue 302, 27 December 1869, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1869.

After a long .aud,. patient hearing, the inquiry in to' the" "sales' of land at Wangapeka, was brought. to a close on Thursday last, and we at once confess that the miners have produced a- -far stronger case than hail -.been:. anticipated-. With reference to the position of Mount 'Owe'ri, 1 f -ih'e weight of evidence has un„(lqubte r <lly^gqne, to, .show .that . the mouti•'.tain'generally known by that name to 'residents in the district is the one to which the proclamation of the boundary of the South West 'Gofdnelds 'appears to refer, although at., the same .time, it was- stated upou oath that the intention of Mr. Curtis .and former '. 'Superintendents has always been to exclude the Wangapeka from the goldfield; the wording of the Gazette however clearly coincides with the general features of the country as laid down ou Stanford's map, on which -Mount Owen is shown to correspond with the description giveu of it by the miners. But, granting this to be the mountain referred to iii the proclamation, a' direct line from that point to Mount Arthur runs so close to the disputed lavd — some say that it actually strikes'tbe'reef — that it appears to be still ope.v to .question whether or not the debateable ground wculd be within the boundary. The miners unhesitatingly assert that it is so, but this has certainly not been iucontestably proved to he the case; arid it is a poiut that can never be determined to the satisfaction of all panics without & correct survey of," at" a!!, eveuts, the fifteen 'miles which' intervene- between Mount Owen and- the -Koliitur. river. Of course, if it be shown that the purchases areSyi thin- the goldfield the sales are invalid; but' in the eveut of. its being proved that they are outside the boundary, it becomes a question," which can be decided by the Supreme Court alone. * ; Most sincerely do we s hope,, that the matter will be pressed forward -.with all possible speed, aud that no time will be unnecessarily lost in obtaining some definite decision upou a question, in the speedy solution of, , which- the whole province, . both town aud country, is,so largely interested.