MENING APPEAL UPHELD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22198, 27 August 1935, Page 14

MENING APPEAL UPHELD

; MAHAKIPAWA PROPERTY f APPLICATION FOR LICENCE r. ' / SOLICITOR'S CASE SUCCEEDS [by TELEGRAPH —PRESS association] BLENHEIM, Monday « A derision in favour of the nppellent is contained in the reserved judgment of Mr. Justice Heed in the mining appeal "cnsf> which ivns heard last month in ■which Krnest Herbert Brooker, of Wellington, solicitor, sought to have tho tnh crso decision of the warden, Mr. T. I'.. Maunxcll, S.M., reversed in respect ot his application for a prospecting licence over '99 acres of land owned by one I'.isk at Mahakipawa, Marlborough In the Warden's Court the granting of a licence was objected to by Mahakipawa Goldfields, Limited, and the warden, ftltcr a protracted hearing, refused tho application. Brooker appealed successfully against tho decision. His Honor summarises tho reasons given by tho warden for refusing the licence as follows:—(1) The applicant Las no practical experience of mining nor technical knowledge; (2) his idea of mining tho land by tho process of dredging is impracticable; (3) the applicant has not the necessary capital to mine the land; (4) prospecting by boring is (a) useless and (b) potentially harmful to the workings of the objector company, , "The first three reasons are, in my opinion, irrelevant to the consideration of the .applicant for a prospecting licence," His Honor proceeds. "They are based on the assumption that the applicant will necessarily take up tho mining claim, but it does not follow that such will bo the case. The area in question is virgin country and until it is prospected and its gold-bearing capabilities ascertained it cannot be presaged that it will be mined. A prospecting licence does not tie up the land. It is for one year only, and prospecting operations must be vigorously and continuously prosecuted to tho satisfaction of the warden. "The scheme of the Mining Act is to encourage mining and that cannot be done without encouraging prospecting. Even if the applicant is purely a specula cor that is noc a ground, providing lie fulfils the conditions, why a licence should he refused. All mining for gold is speculative and the intention of. the Legislature may be said to be to encourcgo such enterprise and speculation. "As to tho fourth reason, if boring is n' useless method of prospecting the area, the applicant is not confined to adopting that method and it is certainly no reason for refusing the application to be allowed to prospect in such manner us applicant may consider fit." ' His Honor also found that the application did not interfere with any existing rights of Mahakipawa Goldfields.