GRAVEL IN RIVER BEDS.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Issue 3941, 8 July 1918, Page 2

GRAVEL IN RIVER BEDS.

LEGAL OPINION.

COUNCILLORS' IDEAS UPSET.

At the 'May meeting of the Ohinemuri County Council Cr. McGuire brought up the matter of people taking gravel from the bed of the Ohinemuri River, near Kararigahake in PF^i,. ticular, and viewed his opinion t)m(t if. the council had any right to the gravel it should be known. The chairman thought that.the Council had some control over it, but promised to have the matter looked into. At Thursday's meeting the legal position was read to the Council from a written opinion of the County solicitor, Mr T. A. Moresby, as follows :— (a) With regard to rivers or streams which are either tidal or navigable or both they are public highways and as such vest in the Crown, or such river board or har- - bour board as may be gazetted by the Crown. At the present time, as you are aware, the, Waihou and Ohinemuri are vested in the Public Works ™ Department. . * (b) As to streams which are neither tidal nor navigable the presumption of the Common Law is "that a grant of land bounded by a highway or river carries with it the fee on the highway or river to the centre of it — provided that the grantor at the time owned to the centre—and there be no words or specific description to show a contrary intent —and this rule extends to grants from the Crown as well as grants from subject to subject. It is always a question of intention to.be collected from the language used with reference to the surrounding circumstances." This is the judgment of the Privy Council in Lord v. the Commissioner of Sydney. \ J With regard to the position at Mac- r^ kaytown two previous wardens, Messrs Eyre Kenny and Burgess, have held that the adjoining freeholder was entitled to the bed to the centre of the river. There are mining rights—being river claims —granted up to about the Mackaytown railway *f station by the warden, and the holders of those rights would of course. have the right to work the bed for gold, but no right to remove shingle . or metal for the purpose of sale. At Karangahake and, as far along as the road bounds on the river, the bed of the same would vest in the Crown and be under the jurisdiction of the warde.n. Nobody would have any right to remove anything out of .the iver without his consent, or unless they obtained a license from him. The Ohinemuri River and all' its tributaries are public sludge channels' except the Tarariki Creek; the same also applies to the Waihou River and its tributaries. * , I do not think the County ■Council has any absolute right to the bed of any non-navigable or non-tidal stream, except in so far as it may be neces- ' sary to provide fords, for joining. TUtT^H roads or other means of access, and that therefore the bed of these creeks is' not the property of the Council or have the public any right .* to remove stones or shingle therefrom. .. The only right the Council has to take stone or gravel, frcm any stream ■is-that conferred by Section 177 of The Public Works Act, 1908, but the right conferred by this section is not an exclusive right, -or does it vest the bed of the stream in the council, or could the council take any action against any person who did remove .gravel, except through either the Warden or. the Commissioner of Crown Lands." Cr. Johnson: That's clear enough! Cr. McGuir© suggested that the gravel in the river bed near Karangahake bowling greens was the property of the Council. Cr. Strange : No, we must apply to the Warden. That gravel is vested in the Ci'own. It was decided to apply to i"." |^m Warden for permission to take. tht^PP gravel from the-river beds.