MINING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2220, 17 September 1896, Page 18

MINING.

THE MINING ACT AND NATIVE LAXDS.

The Mining Act Amendment Bill, if passed in its original form, will have the effect of setting at rest the claim of the Natives to the -ownership, which they appear to have conceived they held, of the gold and silver under the surface of their lands. In the r House on Friday evening Mr Hone Hekb ashed the Premier whether the Government claimed to possess the right to the gold and silver or other precious metals (1) in Native lands Papatupu — i.e., lands not clothed with a Crown title, — and (2) in Native lands clothed with a Crown title, and still held fey the Native owners. The Premier replied that there was no doubt that the Royal minerals belonged to the Crown : that had been settled from time immemorial. Our correspondent adds that the subject is attracting considerable attention among the Maoris just now, and that this is the first time, that a definite claim has been made that the Natives have no property in the gold and silver, and he further states that the nature of the cession made by the Maoris is expressly stated in the Treaty of Waitangi. That much-quoted document contains no reference to gold and * silver, which is not remarkable, seeing that their existence in the colony in payable quantities was hardly even suspected at the time. It consists of three articles. The first confirms to the , chiefs all the rights of sovereignty which they possessed, or were supposed to "possess, over their respective territories. The second is as follows :—": — " Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and to the respective families and individuals thereof, the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which they may collectively- or individually poKSess, so long-as -it is their wish and desire to retain the. same in their possession ; but the chiefs of the united tribes and the individual chiefs yield to her Majesty the exclusive right of pre-emption over such* lands as the proprietors thereof may be disposed to alienate, at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective proprietors and persons appointed by . her Majesty to treat with them in that behalf." And the third article graciously accords the Boyal protection to the Native and clothes them with all the rights and privileges of British subjects. Since the discovery of gold in 1852 the Natives have always UDderBtood that the gold was theirs. After King's discovery in the Kapanga stream Lieut.-governor Wynyabd made an agreement with the Natives to permit the search for gold between Cape Colyille and Kauaeranga, The terras were : .Payment for 500 men, £600 ; from 500 to 1000, £900; from 1000 Jo 1500, £1200 ; ? i'rbm 1500 to 2000, £1500. In 1881 the Coromandel goldJields again became the scene of inining operafcions,and on that occasion a Native land league was in full vigour^ but in 1882 permission was given to mine on the Takatea. Block on Consideration of payment of JBSOO per wmuoi^ith a toiler sum. oi £1 fox

every miner above the number of 500. j And in Mr Mackay's report on the ; Thames Goldlields in 1869 there are I numerous copies o£ letters, agreements, j &c which prove that mining on Native lands was subject to the consent of the owners, and the Government paid them for the privilege. Even now the Crown is paying for mining rights ; but, after the Premier's j declaration, evidently these payments ! must cease. It is quite certain that the Maoris have no more right to the | gold than individual Europeans have, but they have been taught to believe that they have a right to it, and to. them it will appear a gross injustice to ; take away that right. Yet the in- j justice they will suffer is not so great as it tippears. . The lands in which the i quartz reefs occur have little or no agricultural value, and if they have any value of any kind the owners will receive it, under whatever new arrangements the Government may make for opening the lands for goldfields purposes. It may be mentioned that the right of- the Crown to "any gold or silver in lands in these colonies for which Crown, grants have been issued was settled by the Privy Council in a Victorian appeal case as early as 1876, although the reservation does not give the Crown the right to enter on the land. As a matter of fact the Crown makes -no actual claim to gold and silver taken from lands held in fee simple, and considers it impolitic to do so. -