HAURAKI MINING LANDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15664, 18 July 1914, Page 10

HAURAKI MINING LANDS.

INQUIRIES OF COMMISSION.

THE' ORDER OF REFERENCE.

The commission which has been appointed to inquire into the advisability of amending the existing legislation affecting the administration of timber, and the disposal and occupation of Crown lands within the Hairraki mining district,, will hold its first sitting at Thames on Tuesday next, and durint; the ensuing four weeks it will take evidence at various other centres in the mining district.

The full scope and purpose of this commission are shown in the order of reference, which is as follows:— the past administration of timber areas under the provisions and regulations of ..the Mining Act has been in the best interests of the State;" whether the existing dual control.of the same by the mining warden and the Land Board should be abolished, and whether the Land Board of the district should alone deal with all applications for the sale of timber; whether it is desirable to continue the existing classification of- timber areas as (a) warden's timber areas, and (b) Land Board's timber ■ areas; whether the existing tenures under which'land in the Hauraki mining district and Te Aroha township can be occupied are satisfactory and in the best interests of settlement; to what extent, if any, it . is desirable to amend the said tenures* having due' regard to mining and other interests; whether the holders of leases or licenses from the Crown in T6 Aroha township should be enabled to acquire the freehold thereof, and, if so, on what terms and conditions; to what extent the provisions of and the regulations under the Mining Act, 1908, the Land Act, 1908, or any other enactment of th 6 General Assembly relating to the disposal of timber an occupation of land within such mining district should be amended.