THE MINING CONFERENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 852, 28 March 1868, Page 15

THE MINING CONFERENCE.

On Wednesday, the Mining Conference considered the reportis of Committees— a report updo, the system of "sleeping shareholders, "'ana arreport on the "frontage system," in regard to river claims.

The following is the first report, as it was amended, and finally adopted by the Conference :: l —

Your Committee, after giving the subject submitted to them, all due consideration, beg leave to report as follows —

1. Tn case any person shall desire to take up a claim requiring the assistance of capital to develope the same, he shall, on behalf of any person willing to advance the required capital, upon entering into an agreement in writing, stating the circumstances, and registering the same with the Warden, be entitled to occupy and hold for a terra, to be specified as hereinafter stated, an ordinary area, provided that in such case it shall be necessary to give notice to the Warden, specifying the time for which he shall require to hold such area ; and a copy of such notice shall be posted on the ground some days prior to the granting of the same ; and the Warden shall hear and deal' with any objections to the granting of such area, and extra area, if granted, shall be held on be half of the person advancing such capital.

2. Thai subject to the provisions of Clause 1, whilst engaged in opening up a claim in preliminary operations in connection therewith, it shall not be compulsory to place more than one half the full number of men on the claim.

3. That upon the expiration of the time specified for holding any claim under the foregoing clause, the full number of men required by the regulation shall be put on to work in such claim ; but the Warden may, upon application to him, made in the same way as the original application, and upon sufficient cause shown, extend the term originally granted. 4. Provided always, that an agreement be first drawn up and signed by each shareholder, 1 specifying the share aiid interest of «ach individual of such party, and the original of such agreement shall be registered in fhe office of the Warden of the district, for the information of "the public.

The report of the Committee on the ■frontage system, which was also adopted, mas as follows : —

Yonr Committee having duly considered the subject referred to them, beg to report that they have agreed unanimously to the following resolution :: — te That any person •taking up a claim on a river-bank, or a lake-bank, or terrace, bhonld be entitled (subject to the registration of such claim with the Warden) to take up a claim in the manner hereinafter specificd — that is to say, every such person should be entitled to lUOft frontage along such river-bank, or lake-bank, •or terrace, by a depth not .exceeding 1000 yards, until such time as he shall reach workable gold deposits ; and thereafter shall be resticted to an area within the same parallels not exceeding the area of that class of claims to which the same shall be adjudged to belong." Your Committee have no information before them to enable them to make any further recommendation.

On the same day, and yesterday, the Conference proceeded with the consideration of the Goldfields Regulations, beginning with Regulation 6. It was resolved to recommend the alteration of the title of that Regulation fsrom " Creek Claims" to "Diversion of Streams," and to expunge section , and to amend section 1 to read ar. follows :—: —

1. Notice of Diversion to be given. — Any person desirous of diverting the course ■of a permanent stream for the purpose of working the bed thereof, shall first give ■notice of his intention to the Warden, and i o all parbies working in, or occupying claimr adjoining the proposed line of diversion. Such notices shall be in the form hereinafter prescribed, aad copies thereof shall be posted and maintained, tor a period of seven clear days, at the points proposed for the commencement and termination of such diversion, as aforesaid, and if no valid objection be entered thereagainst within the aforesaid period, the Warden shall issue a certificate of registration to the applicant.

All the sections in Regulation 7 were adopted as they stand. In Regulation 8, sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 were altered to the following effect :—

1. Protection. — The Warden may, without prior notice, grant protection to any claim for a period not exceeding 14 days, provided sufficient cause be shown ; and such protection shall be given in writing, in the form provided, and a copy thereof "shall be posted on the claim. *

Inßegulation 8, relating to Registration, sections 1 and 2 were adopted as they stand ; 5 was expunged, and 3 and 4 were altered to this effect ; —

3—lnformation3 — Information to holdeus op Miners' Rights. — When any claim is under protection for a longer period than fourteen days, the occupier thereof shall post on some conspicuous part of the said claim, a board not less than nine inches square, with the word " Protected" and the number of his Ceroifieate painted legibly thereon. 4. — Limitation of Protection. — Protection for a longer period than fourteen days shall not be granted to any claim which has not been fairly wrought for at least one month, except in regard of sluicing claims, Where, if it be showo. to the satisfac-

tion of the' Warden' that the ground cannot be wrought to T the ' aatiat action^ by ieasou of other claims intervening, the) Warden shall have power to grant protection, although the claim may not (have been previously wrought. The most period for which .protection, may be granted at anyone time shall be 90 days; and [such protection shall not, be renewed unless it',is ( proved, to the Warden that the claim . is unworkable. That when any person requires protection for a longer period than 14 days, he shall make a statutory declaration. Betting forth the reasons for which he requires such pro-, tection. • In Regulation 9, sections 1 and 2 were adopted, 5 expunged, and 3 and ' 4 amended, as folldws :—: —

3. Registration Fees. — The fee payable in respect of the several Registrations mentioned in those Regulations, shall be 2s 6d, : Buch fee shall include payment of copies of notices, but not for survey. 4. Information to the Public. — Any person requiring any information from the Transaction Book of the Mining Registrar, may obtain the same ; and it shall be the dirty of the Mining Registrar to furnish the same.

In Regulation 10, the following were amended ; the others expunged :—: —

L— Business Licenses.-- All holders of business licenses 1 (L 5) shall be entitled to occupy an area of two chains, having a frontage of 66ft and a depth of 132 ft. 5. — Sttes to be Marked by Pegs — Occupants of sites for business purposes shall place and maintain at each frontage corner of such site a peg not less than two inches diameter, and standing at least one foot above the surface.

7. — Registration ov Sites. — Business sites may be registered with the Warden for ten days, whilst the holder is engaged in preparing for the occupancy thereof ; such registration may be renewed by the Warden for an additional period of 10 days, and such renewal shall be endorsed on the certificate, and recorded in the Registration Book. 8. — Occupancy of Sites. — Business -sites can only be held or occupied by holders of business licenses, and no site can be held unoccupied for more Bhan 48 hours, unless the same shall be registered as pro Tided in section -3.

10. Roadway between" Business Sites. — In all cases where practicable, business sites shall be so taken up as to leave a double row of sites with a street or roadway between such s ites of C6it , and no person shall, on any pretence whatever, encroach upon such street or roadway.

In Regulation 11, Sections 5 and 6 were adopted, 7 and 8 expunged, and the rest amended thus :—: —

1. — Area which may be Occupied for. Residence. — Subject to the conditions hereinafter set forth, the holder of a miner's right shall be entitled to occupy for residence an area of Crown lands not exceeding an acre, or 4540 square yards. 2. — Residence Areas to be Registered. — Any person desirous of occupying land under the preceding regulation, shall mark the corners of the area which he proposes to occup with "1 trenches, or bubstantial posts standing at least three feet above the surface, and shall give notice in writing, m the form hereunto appended, to the Warden of the district, and a copy of such notice shall he posted and maintained in some conspicuous part of such area for the space ot seven clear days ; at the expiration whereof, if no valid objection has been entered thereagainst, the Warden shall grant a Residence Certificate to the applicant.

3.— Disco very of Auriferous Deposits. — If any auriferous deposits shall be traced to the boundaries of any land occupied lor residence, the Warden may, upon satisfactory proof thereof, authorise the applicant or other person, by writing under his hind, to enter.thereupon, and at such times, and in such manner as he may appoint, to search the land so occupied for a continuation of the said auriferous deposit.

4. — Auriferous A revs may be Worked. — If any residence area shall be proved to be auriferous, the Warden shall, upon application, order the whole or sucu part thereof as shall be proved to be auriferous, to be given up for mining purposes to such as shall have applied for the said ground.

y. — Tent -Ground.— Subject to the conditions set forth m Sections 3, 4, and 5, the holder of a Miner's Right shall be entitled to occupy for residence an area of 24 x -iSft. without registration ; provided that such area shall not be taken up on known auriferous ground, nor in the hne of any workings, nor on land set apart for business purposes. Only slight alterations were made in the other Regulations considered.

At the Mining Conference, on Friday, the following regulatious were recommended by the Committee appointed to consider the question of Drainage, and were adopted : —

Ist. When any person shall drain any ground, by any means whatever, such person shall be entitled to receive compensation from the holders of ,ali claims benefited by such drainage. 2nd, If any person shall apply for compen. sation under the preceding clause, the matter shall be dealt with by the Warden, who shall fix the amount of compensation to be paid by the person so benefited, and may order such compensation to be paid by instalments, weekly or otherwise, by way of rental during such time as the benefit lasts, and the said amount may in like manner be

readjusted from, tune is time, as the Warden may deem , accessary., -Should, . however, either party demand to have the .case tried by arbitration, it shall be determined in that manner.' •'"",,,.' 1 • 3rd. If the owner of any c T aim shall neglect or refuse to bate his fair proportion of waW during the day or night, if necessary, Buch {claim shall be liable to forfeiture.

4th. Claim holders within three claims of any, claim in which water has been struck, neglecting, or refusing, when requested by the holders of adjoining claims, to bate their fair proportion of water, shall be liable for any injury done ' thereby, to' adjoining claimholders.

__ sth. The ewners of. any tunnel, drive, or ditch, for drainage purposes, shall be entitled to take up a prospecting claim, subject; to the Rules and Regulations affecting the same, on any auriferous lead or discovery made during the prosecution of any such works. Your Committee further recommend that the owners of water races, using; such races solely for the purpose of driving .machinery for drainage, should be exempt from paying license fees as regards the water so used.

The Committee appointed to consider the subject of Dredging claims submitted the two following regulations, which were also adopted :—: —

Rule Ist. In dredging claims, each holder of a Miner's Right shall be entitled to an area of 100 ft. along the course of the river or stream ; hut in no case shall an area exceeding 600 ft. in length along the course of the stream be held by any one Company. - 2nd. No dredge shall be allowed tc work within 15ft. of the boundary of any claim on the beach of a river in occupation or registered, without first obtaining the consent of the owner of such claim.

The following was adopted as section 5 of Regulation 7 :—: —

Mining ok Streets and Roads.— If any holder of a Miner's Right or of a gold-mining lease shall be desirous of mining upon or under any street, road, or highway, he shall make application, in writing, to the Warden for permission to do so ; and the Warden shall thereupon forward such application, together with a report thereon, to the General Road Board, if such Board shall have the care and management thereof ; or to such other body as shall have such care and management ; and such Board or other body shall thereupon decide whether the same can be effected without injury to adjoining property, or injury or obstruction to such public road, street, or highway, as the case may be; and thereupon the said Board or body shall issue its order permitting, on such conditions and terms, and subject to such restrictions as it shall think fit, or forbidding Buch mining, as the case may require.

The following was proposed to he added to the General Regulations, and was approved of :—: —

In all cases where arbitration is per mitted by these regulations, an arbiter shall be appointed by either parfey in writing before they shall enter upon the reference, and if any arbiter or umpire that may be appointed should die, refuse, or neglect to ace, another pers m shall forthwith be appointed to supply the place of the person so dying, refusing or neglecting to act, in the same manner as such last-mentioned person was appointed, and the record of such arbiter or arbiters and umpire shall be enforced in the same manner as a judgment of the Warden's Court.

In Regulation 15, instead of section 11, the following was substituted :—: —

Declaration to be Made. — That in all cases where the regulations require notice to be given or posted, it shall be necessary for every applicant, before his certificate shall be granted, to make a declaration of the truth of the particulars contained in such notice, and that he has served or posted such notices, and marked his application as required by the Regulations.

Amendments were made upon sections 13, 14, and IG, of the General Regulations, to read as follows :—: —

13. Neglect of Warden's Ordees. — Any person who shall, neglect or refuse to comply with any written notice or order of the Warden, duly served, and in conformity with these Regulations, shall be deemed to be guilty of a breach thereof, and liable to the penalties imposed by the 151 st section of the "Gold fields Act, I860."

14. fcTTRVEY IST ABSENCE OF MINING SURveyor. — Wherever it is required by these Regulations that a survey should be made, if there be no Mining Siuveyor within the district, the Warden may authorise and appoint any capable person to make the necessary survey; and such survey shall, for all the purposes of these Regulations, he taken and accepted as sufficient.

IG. Suspension of Regulations. — If any portion of the Rules and Regulations of the Otago Goldfields shall be deemed to be inapplicable to the requirements of any district, the Superintendent may, if he shall think fit, upon the receipt of a memorial to that effect, feigned by not less than fifty holders of Miners' Fights and Business Licenses residing in such district, suspend the operation of any Regulation orsection of Regulation, so far as such district is concerned, and may again annul such suspension, and renew the operation of such Regulation or section, or may substitute others in lieu thereof.

A Committee was appointed to consider the subject of danger signals in connection with blasting operations; and that Committee, as well as a Committee to consider the matter of extended claims, met during the day. >

At the -sitting of the Conference, on Saturday, the Committee appointed to consider the ' Subject of Extended Claims, brought up the following report : — '

■Your Committee having considered the subject referred to them,' have the honor to reDort as follows •- — • '

They recommend that— (lst.) Upon receiving sufficient proof that any portion of a district has been fairly tested, and either wholly or in the greatest part of an. inferior character as regards the value of its gold deposits, the "Warden shall thereupon give public notification that it may be occupied by holders of Miner's Rights in claims of the-, undermentioned size, namely— . One area for each holder of a Miner**. Eight, provided that no single claim shall comprise more than eight acres altogether. That (2nd.) Notice should be given to the Warden in the following form, namely — To the Warden at (District and date).— I hereby give notice that I have this day marked out (here -state No. of claim and exact locality) under Reg. XIII*. Sec. 1. of the Goldfields Rules and JRegulations. Any person desiring to object to the, same must, within seven clear days from the date hereof, lodge his objection in the Warden's office at

>f Miner's Ri;

arue. _ _ B°-" Date of Eight. Residence. Your Committee recommend that Section6 should be amended, by substituting the word "shall" for "may," in the first line, by adding the word lt and" after the word " granted," in the third line, and by leaving;out all the words after " same" in the fourth, line, and so amended should be adopted. That Section. 7 should be adopted with the substitution of the reference to the 115 Section of the GoldSelds Act, ]866, instead of the present reference, and that so amended it should be adopted. With reference to the remaining Sections of the Begulations, your Committee are unanimously of opinion that they are no longer necessary, and recommend the substitution of the following with reference to survey. Should the applicant for an extended claim desire the same to be surveyed, upon such applicant making a deposit of £— , the Warden may order such survey to be made by any competent person j and should any person other than the applicant desire a survey to be made, on the grounds that the ap. plicant has an excess of area, such person shall make the necessary deposit, and the Warden shall order such survey to be made at the cost of such person, provided that should the applicant be found to have taken possession of greater area than he is entitled to under this regulation, the Warden may order the applicant to repay to such person the cost of such survey or such part thereof as may seem just. They further recommend that all extended claims should be registered with the Warden.

Your Committee think it advisable to dispense with official survey for extended areas,, as they do not regard such areas as of greater value than ordinary claims ; and they see no reason why the one cannot be carried out ■without the services of a surveyor as well as the other. The delays incidental to the survey system have had the effect of giving an indefinite term of protection for the occupancy of, and consequently resulted in locking up sometimes for a lengthened period, a* large area of ground.

The Committee appointed to consider the desirability of providing regulations for Blasting operations, recommended the adoption of the following as a regulation :—: —

1. Blasting. — Any person shall, before firing a blast, post a notice signifying the time and place of firing such blast, on the ground where such blast is to be fired ; and also notify all persons within danger-distance ©f such blast, the day and hour ot firing the same ; and shall, one hour before the time so notified, hoist a red flag as a danger signal 'on some very conspicuous place on or near the scene of operation. Provided that this Regulation shall not apply to the case of blasts where only drill bores are used. 2. Your Committee further recommend that the Government should give the fullest publicity to the above Regulation, by advertising the tame in the local newspapers and the Gazette, notifying the time from whichthe same shall be in force.

Nevada. — The Virginia Trespass, of' December 16th, records the three shooting and cutting scrajjes below, which do not speak very well for the orderly character of that city. Sunday morning, officer John Brinton was attacked by some person whom he was endeavoring 1 to qxiiet from making a disturbance in a house of ill fame on South C street. The officer was knocked down, the blow heing given from behind, first with a club and afterwards with a six-shooter, which the assailant took from Brinton, who vainly struggled to shoot his assailant. Brinton. is considerably injured. Last night, about 12 o'clock, some person discharged a pistol at L. F. Blackburn, directly in front cf the Black Crook Melodeon. Blackburn retaliated with a stick of wood > which was thrown so correctly, that it did the shooter more damage than the pistol ball did Blackburn. The ' shootist' ran away, and was not molested. About 11 to-day, a grand shooting and cutting riot occurred in Chinatown. One Chinaman was shot and another was cut. Both were arrested. — Panama Star. .