FLAW IN MINING LAWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21423, 22 February 1933, Page 11

FLAW IN MINING LAWS

SPECULATORS' ACTIVITY HAMPERING' BOARD'S WORK NEED FOR LEGISLATION An important aspect of the-development of goldmining by the Unemployment Board was discussed yesterday by an Auckland authority on mining matters. Suggestions were made in articles in the New Zealand Herald recently that care would be necessary to prevent exploitation by speculators of the board' 6 activities, and this authority supported the warning by stating that at present there is not sufficient protection for the board or for the men it assists to take up gold prospecting when good paying ground is discovered. The board has spent large sums of money in these enterprises and its subsidised miners are doing a lot of hard work. Yet when their efforts are successful, the mining law permits speculators, who may have been con6dently awaiting the results of the prospectors' labours, to walk in and peg out the ground for miles around. This has already happened and the board seems to be legally helpless to protect its men. Obviously no obstacle should ba placed in the way of genuine private enterprise which might develop mining propositions and create employment. The objectionable form of enterprise is the taking up of areas in advance of schemes initiated by the board and the holding of them for long periods without any effort at development. This has been done in the North Island and in the West Coast districts of the South Island. It is permitted by the present mining law, but it endangers the whole scheme of the Unemployment Board and involves grave injustice to unemployed men engaged under it. These men are undertaking the making of tracks on the understanding that they will be able to prospect the ground thus made accessible. Similar difficulties do not arise in Otago. Tht> - e the final decision upon applications for a licence or protection lies with the Minister of Mines. Elsewhere the speculator and the flotation specialist has a clear field. It is conceivable that unless this element is restrained, it will secure an unfair advantage from the work performed by the board and may seriously check further development. "As soon as it has become known that the board has sent a mining engineer or a surveyor into a district," said the Auckland authority, " the hand of the speculator has appeared in the taking up of areas in advance of their work. It is essential, therefore, that, in line with other emergency powers that have been found necessary, definite authority should be given to the board by immediate legislation enabling it to prevent speculation. It would possibly be sufficient to provide that upon objection being made by the board in the Warden's Court to any application for protection, the application should be referred to the Minister of Mines for decision."