THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 1898.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11191, 13 August 1898, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 189 8.

The annual fee for a miner's right will be, as heretofore, 10s, but'2os if it'relates to Native lands ceded to the Crown. Sections 27, 29, 33, 34, 35, and 33' of the-Act of 1891 are. altered as regards consolidated miner's rights. A consolidated miner's right may be issued to any person "as beneficial holder thereof," and. shall confer all privileges of an'ordinary miner's right. A consolidated miner's right may , comprise any number, of-miner's'-rights, ahd the fee payable shall be equal to the fees payable in the aggregate in respect of such miner's rights.' In the case of mining I partnership a,consolidated miner's right ; shall specify the full name of each member of ,the partnership at the. date of issue. As long as it remains in force t..e beneficial' holder shall be deemed jto be the .holder of all the miner's rights j comprised in the document. The provisions for prospecting are amplified in j the Bill, and important alterations are i made, as compared with the provisions I now in force. While the holder of a j miner's right is entitled, in virtue of that document, to prospect on any Crown lands, a prospecting.license must be taken out to obtain the exclusive privilege to prospect for any specified metal or mineral on land within a mining district other than Native lands. An " extended prospecting license" confers the privilego of prospecting pn any land, other than Native land, outside of a mining district, while an "ordinary Native prospecting license" admits of prospecting on Native lands. In the case of prospecting on private lands the owner is insured against damage, a sufficient security being lodged with the warden for the purpose. Compensation for any permanent damage must be paid to the owner of private lands, and the warden is to assess the amount of such compensation. The provisions relating to the taking up of claims are altered in some particulars, but not very materially from the existing provisions. Section 87 of the Act of 1891 relating to mineral licenses is altered and extended, provision being made for issuing licenses authorising the holder thereof to occupy any Crown land within or outside a mining district for the purpose of mining for any mineral or metal other than gold The area of land included in a mineral license is not to exceed ,320 acres, and an annual rental of 2s 6d an acre has to be paid. With regard to the privileges conferred by water licenses, provision is made under certain conditions for entering upon private lands. The provisions for setting apart watercourses for the discharge of tailings are somewhat different from those contained in the Acts now in force. It is proposed to give the Governor-in-Council power to constitute by proclamation any watercourse, whether within a mining distriot or not, a receptacle for the deposit of tailings, etc., but provision is made for safeguarding riparian rights. As regards compensation, the total amount payable shall in no case be more than the improved valuo of tho claimant's estate, according to the valuation made for tho purposes of "The Land and Income Assessment Act, 1891," or " Tho Govornment Valuation of Land Act, 1896." Section 79 of the Act of 1891 referring, to the protection of mining privileges is altered in some particulars. The war- ' den has power to grant protection for j any period less than six months, but if I a longer period is desired the warden has to forward tlie application to the Minister for his consent. Protection shall in no case bo given beyond a period of T2 months. The provisions for forfeiture of mining privileges by decree of tlie Warden's Court are the same as those already in operation, with one or two minor alterations. Sections 51, 52, and 53 of the 1891 Act are altered. Accord- ;

j to section 166 of the Bill, " The Contrac • tors' and Workmen's Lien Act, 1892," an I " The Workmen's Wages Act, 1393," ar 4I to apply to all mining privileges, es cepting thafc all reference in those Act to the magistrate or Magistrate's Cour shall be construed to mean the warde: or Warden's Court. Part V of the Bii defines the provisions for the working regulation, and inspection of mines. Ni less than 41 sections of the Bill are con tamed in this part, a good many alterations >tions and additions to the existing regu lations being made. The clause pro hibiting sharebrokers from acting a managers or secretaries of mining com panics is a very necessary provision, anc one that certainly ought to be retainec ; in spite of the opposition to it in certaii quarters. Part VI deals witb the regu lation of appliances and processes fo: testing ores and metals, the provision: of the Act of 1891 being simply trans ferred without alteration. Part VIT dealing with compensation, contain: nothing that is newi Thero are som< new features in the provisions regulating mining partnerships in Part VII], but uone of very great importance Part IX deals with the administration of justice. The most important alteration in this part of the Bill is that referring to the question of appeals from the decisions of the Warden's Court. Iv the Bill of last session it was proposed -itc carry appeals to the Supreme Court, and in an article commenting upon the Bill in our issue of November 9 '.ast -ye flirected special attention to the improvement that would make in the existing law in the direction of securing uniformity in mining law throughout the colony. We pointed out that different interpretations of the law wore made iv different districts by the District Court, and that this leads to no end of coufu sion and litigation. In the Bill that provision has been altered, aud appeals are to bo made to the District. Court. This we take to be a retrograde procedure, as. appeals to the District Court, nr.iit cause endless delay, ancl the various readings of the mining law in different districts will certainly lead to coe'rusion ; whereas by appealing to the Supreme Court litigants would have the law. uniformly interpreted, until reversed by higher tribunal. Part Xof the Bill conizni.f- t number of miscellaneous pro virions and regulations, all of which are important to the mining industry. The Bill, which has been read a second time and referred to the .Mining Committeo, will no doubt come in for a. good deal cf discussion before it is finally dealt with by Parliament. The export returns for the June quarter show as follow, deducting specie and comparing with the previous year: — June quarter, 1898 .. ....-'., £2,359,467 J una quarter,. U897 2,251)055 Increase £108,412 The difference in the totals as published in the Gazette, which include specie, arises from the fact that while £200,675 was the value of specie exported -in June quarter 1897, the amount for last quarter was only £2105. The nrincipal items of increase' and decrease are as follow: —Gold, increase, *!21,779 (£255,707—£233,928) ; silver, increase, £2677 (£7892—£5215); kauri .gum. a very remarkable increase of £85,858 (£158,792—£72,934), which seems to indicate either a great rise in price or. that shipments had been kept back for some reason ; timber, j a decrease of £4131 (£41,690— £45,821) ; butter,- a/very Considerable decrease of £25,358 (£65,548—£90,906) ; chbese, also a large decrease of £18,309 (£36,184— £54,493), which we find'it difficult to account for; frozen meat, also a large decrease' of £47,388, (£469,935—. £517,323) ; sheepskins, an' increase' of ho less - than £32,568 "' (£83,188—£50,620) ; tallow/an increase of £29,396'(£108,162— £78,766) : wool, a marked increase of £80,547 (£830,937-+£750,390). These last three items were; no' doubt affected by ithe large shipments' of mutton in the previous' quarter, the byproducts of which have come into this quarter. Agricultural products show a decrease of ho less than £79,455 (£102,652—£182,107). The only item under this head of substantial increase is in potatoes, £31,208 (£34,245—£3037), largely accounted for by the high .prices in Australia. Leather shows an increase of JB6-316 '(£29,554—£23,238), and phormium. of £2629 (£8540—£5911), the American occupation of Manila having caused a demand aiid a rise in prices, which will no doubt cause more production next quarter. The four quarters of the two past years now show as follow : — •; , 1897-98. 1896-97. September quarter ~ '..£1,492,585) £1,325,723 December quarter ~ .. 1,876,477 1,760,937 March quarter .. ~ ~ ,4,564,003 4,122,361 June quarter ~ ~ .. 2,359,467 2,251,055 £10,292,536 £9,460,070 And it is satisfactory to note that notwithstanding the extremely heavy shipments of steep and lambs our flocks still keep up to nearly the same level—rather over 19 millions and a-half. The North Island has at length overtaken the South, and slightly topped it in the numbers bf sheep, and to a considerably larger extent in total exports. Wool shows up well for the year, both in weight ancl value: — - • Wool shipped, .1898 149,788,7121b, value £4,732,542 Wool shipped, 1897 ia2,43G,981ib, value £4,357,244 It still remains, after all Our efforts to promote other industries, our great staple export. The imports for the quarter are as follow: — June"quarter, 1898 - .. ~ £1,517,025 June quarter, 1897 .. .; .. .. '.. 1,485,007 Increase . . £32,018 which nearly makes up for the decrease of £36,233 in Inarch quarter. It cannot, however, be said that imports keep pace with the buoyancy of our exports.