MINING REGULATIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2369, 27 July 1899, Page 22

MINING REGULATIONS.

The following letters appear in the Daily Times of the 20th inst: —

Sib, — I think the thanks of the mining community aro due to you for your leader this morning, and I hope that a meeting will at once be called to consider what is best to be done, and to ensure proper representations being made to the G-oyernment as 'to what is nec-essiry to- give such an important industry a legal status.- There- is . not the least doubt that money would not be forthcoming to capitalise mining ventures if tho general public understood that obligations are imposed upon owners which it is quite impossible to comply with. To the credit of the department be it said tii at they have not taken any step to enforce these regulations, but tho advent of the "jumper" has had much the same effect, and properties upon which much time and money has been expended are now attacked, and require to defend themselves from forfeiture 1 . Your leader was scarcely correct in its reference to <be provisions of the Act of 1891, obliging forfeitaro upon a second offence, as thero is a subsequent clause (143) which permits tho warden to continue the substitution of a fine upon sufficient cause, etc. Still thero was the liability, and it still exists, that a claim adequately equipped with machinery, and working 24 hours a day could be attacked by anyone, and this, too, with tho strong probability that if he attacked it olt^n enough he would in the end get it. It is nothing that every unit of power is employed, and that operations go on unceasingly ; the regulations say so many hands shall be employed whether they are needed or not, and that if applicants take up properties under these conditions they do bo witb tbnir eyes open, and assume tho risk accordingly. Tho fact that these regulations^have not been' enforced in the case of alluvial mining warrants the pres.imption that the department and its- administrators know that they cannot be. complied with, and until the " jumper " came along, investors were quite content to capitalise and take this risk, to the very material benefit of Otugo und all its industries. Every person in the community is interested in the maintenance of dredging and sjuicing, and therefore there should be an united appeal to the Minister to gazette regulations which can be reasonably antl bona fide observed. I notice that the committee of the Chamber of Commerce have recommended tho Government to consider this matter, and it would be a well approved action if his Worship convened a public meeting in the Town Hall to consider and pass a series of resolutions upon this subject.

I am not a lawyer, but I am given to understand that none of the dredging claims at present at work, or about to work, are protected by the employment of seven men upon one dredge. As special claims, owners require to employ the number of men prescribed, and if they cannot place them upon one dredge they must build enough dredges to employ them. This is possibly an oversight in the drafting of the act, but there it is, and tho most valuable of the dredging properties may be attacked at any moment, to the demoralisation of the whole industry. This not only affects miners, engineers, and investors, but tho whole allied trades which profit by the building and equipping of dredges or sluicing claims, as well as indirectly, every trader or assistant who benefits by catering for the artisan, the miner, and the investor. I hope, Sir, your suggestion will be heartily given effect to, and that the Governiment will grant the relief the industry is entitled to. — I am, etc., Miner's Right. Sib, — The thanks of all interested in mining and dredging are duo to you for your leader this morning calling attention to alterations required in the Mining Act regarding labour conditions, and urging the owners of dredging

claims to get up a petition to the House, and join forces with sluicing claim owners, whose petition lias been sent up. This is very opportune just now, when the enterprising •"jumper" is so busily "jumping." There is also another point which requires immediate attention- at the hands of mining and dredging directors. Some months ago por■tion of a dredging claim in Dtago was jumped . because in some way the definition of .the claim did not agree with the pegs — the pegs were .there, and the company imagined the ground • was -theirs. But a knowing " jumper " spotted >the discrepancy, and secured this part of the -claim. On the principle of locking the stable --door after the loss of the horse, it might be 1 imagined, that this company would then have secured the remainder by all sorts of legal locks • and keys. But again history repeats itself, ' and still another portion- of this same company's •claim has become the prize of another • "jumper,"' who, in knowledge of the Mining ■Act, is points ahead of the directors. . It is to be hoped, for the sake of the sharei holders, that the directors will at once submit 'the title of the claim to a competent and experienced solicitor, or this sort of thing may go on till no claim is left. And all directors, 'in view of their responsibilities to their respective companies, should at once have claim • titles thoroughly examined by solicitors experienced in mixing law, ami ensure that the .title really does cover the claim. — I npi, etc., ' Dunedin, July 19. Shaeeholdee.