MINING LEGISLATION AND THOSE WHO RENDER IT IMPERATIVE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2375, 7 September 1899, Page 23

MINING LEGISLATION AND THOSE WHO RENDER IT IMPERATIVE.

TO THE EDITOE. Sib, — In the letter that appears in your issue of last week, Mr W. T. Scrimgeour amply proves my case for the amendment of subsection 5, section 99, oi " The Mining Act, 1898 '" — though such was fai from his intention. What I asserted was : That as the law stands no water race can be taken through private lands, unless the person taking it is prepared to give the owner of such lands whatever he likes to ask, and that this is due to laulty drafting, and not to any intention on the part of those who framed the act. This is obvious from the context: Section 98 gives the procedure when an application for a license to construct a water race relates to private land ; section 99 lays down special provisions to apply to such cases ; (1) as to objections ; (2) as to report on application from a surveyor, or other competent person, appointed by the warden ; (3) as to cost of report ; (4) as to full compensation being paid to owner or occupier before the licensee can exercise the rights conferred on him by his license. Then ccmes subsection 5, which states: — '■ Such compensation shall be payable by the licensee before he proceeds to act in any way. under Jus license, and the -amount thereof shall in each ease be determined in such manner as is agreed on between the licensee and the claimant. Provided that if such amount is not determined as aforesaid within one month after the issue of the license, the warden, at the request of any of the parties concerned, may, with two assessors, one to be appointed by each of the parties; proceed to determine the same in such manner as they deem fit, and such determination shall be final and conclusive." Who could suppose that an Arbitration Board — for that is virtually what is created— so constituted must be unanimous for itß finding to be enforcible. It is monstrous to think-it must be so! The parties to the dispute to be settled are not on an equal footing — not equally anxious for a One wants a privilege that in the public interest should be accorded on equitable terms; the other may want to slop him altogether, unless it is made very much to his (the other's) advantage to consent, and measures his demand not by his own loss, but by what he thinks the applicant may pay, rather than have his enterprise baulked — say, 20' times' 100 times, what the landowner's loss is likely to be — and, if his assessor only " sits tight," he is certain, if the board must t>e unanimous^ to succeed. In all other cases where, by act of Parliament, Arbitration or Compensation Courts are Eet up, it is made clear that a majority iray decide (for instance, ,Eec section 65 of "The Public Works Act,' 189* "), and the •failure to make -it so in this case was clearly a slip of the draftsman. Only one versed in the innermost mysteries of the law could have discovered that, in all probability, the Supreme Court would, if the- matter were brought before it, rule that through the omisEibn of a provision that the majority of th 6 Compensation Court may, in the absence of unanimity, decide the amount to be paid, Ih6 finding mu?t be unanimous. It is not absolutely cortain that the Supreme Court^ would »o rule, but, in the face of a good legal opinion that it probably would, I did not

caro to proceed under the award, being informed that Mr Serimgcoiir was prepared to ftghc lac matter out. and that if I" oilerpd the amount awarded it" would- -be refused; also, that, if on such- refusal I attempted to proceed with the troftstruction of, Iho race, Iho Supremo Court would foe invoked to stop me. Mr Serhngcour says the warden was " quite aware that' the 'decision of the court must bo unanimous "—which is not true. At Iho sitting of the Compensation Court", before the matter had been gone into, the warden was asked by Mr Serimgeour's solicitor to rule whether, under the provisions of subsection 5, the court could find by a majority, or whether it would not have to be unanimous. The warden refused to rule, and went on with the proceedings. Mr Scrimgeour put in a claim for £1700 as compensation, but refused to give evidence in support, contending that no provision existed for taking evidence, and that the matter should be left to the judgment of the court and the personal knowledge of its members, who had gene over the ground to be traversed by the water race. The court, concurring in this view, I was prevented from adducing evidence in support of my estimate of compensation — the amount I had offered, £40,— though I had the best expert evidence procurable in attendance (Mr Macgeorge, Vincent County engineer, and Mr J. W. Christie, chief race caretaker to the Blue Spur Consolidated Gold Mining Company). The court finally found by a majority, Mr Scrimegour's- assessor having been selected chiefly for an ability to "sit tight;" for which he is deservedly famous in his own locality. He is said never to have been known to give in, "even though vanquished he pan argue still." Mr Scrimgeour says he anticipates a loss of £100 yearly in sheep drowned. Mr Christie, had he been allowed, would have given evidence that in the 160 miles of water races owned by the Blue Spur Company, not a dozen sheep have been drowned during the past 12 years, and that his -races are much more dangerous to sheep than mine will be. It is the experience of all who have had opportunities of observing that large races are less dangerous than small. Sheep attempt to jump tho latter and fall in, but would no more try to leap over one the size of that I propose to construct than over the Molyneux River. Mr Scrimgeour tells of a former application — made by me three years ago — for a water race through his freehold, and asks why L did not go on with it. Perhaps one of the reasons j was that he frightened me by his claim for compensation. The following is a copy, and shows better than anything I could say the man I have to deal with : — Teviot Station,. January 14, 1897. Mr John Ewing, St. Bathans. I hereby make the following claim upon you as compensation for damages to be caused to the Teviot estate by the construction of your projected water race through the property. . W. T. Scrimgeour. To area occupied by race, outcast material, and destroyed .for the purposes of the estate, 1 chain by 509 chains, equal to 50.9 acres, at 40s r £ 101 16 0 To compensation for -damage sustained by an area of 2169 acres, injuriously affected by severance t>f 331 acres -of lambing I 'Country, aird depreciated value of whole property through construction bi race and pipeline '. .' 1500 0 0 To compensation • for continuous loss of stock in race for term of lease and renewals „...* 1500 0 0 To estimated. loss by disturbance .of stock during construction of race (two years) , 250 0 0 To approximate estimate of damage to the property by 50 heads of . water being diverted from the race through bywashes into gullies on estate, and consequent injury to gullies by scouring} length of gullies, 109 chains 500 0 0 £3851 36 0 Even by taking one chain wide as being required for race and outcast material — and half that would be ample, seeing the race is only 10ft wide on ■ top, — notwithstanding that he reckons the land at £2 per acre, when it originally cost less than £i,.and was bought by him a few years ago at much less than that, Mr Scrimgeour can only make up his claim for land taken to £101 16s; all the rest of the £3551 is made-up by preposterous estimates of incidental damages, that can never exist. No loss of severance could ensue, as nine sheep bridges were, as a condition of the license, to be erected to connect the 331 acres. This race traversed poor, dry, rocky country — not 20 chains of entire length would have been free from rock. Any competent, impartial authority would decide that the country would be greatly improved by the construction of such a" race — that the percolation from it would greatly improve the pasture, — aud that in an equitable adjustment of loss and gain Mr Serimgeour would have to pay me ; not I him. No run in Central Otago rents for less through water races being out through it, and any runholder who knows his business welcomes their construction. It should not be different with freehold. Mr Scrimgeour's attack on the warden and the finding of the Compensation Court, and his innuendoes regarding myself, are beneath notice. His contentment with the law as it exists is amusing. It appears the warden acted with what Mr Scrimgeour calls " curious disregard of ' my ' interests " ; also that because the warden once practised as a solicitor in this district, and was sometimes employed by me, " he should have been especially careful " (I quote Mr S.) " to extend the fullest consideration 'to me ' " — that is, the warden should have been seen to clearly favour Mr Scrimgeour, that he might escape any suspicion (by Mr Scrimgeour) that he was favouring me! I stated in the early part of this letter that Mr Scrimgeour's assertion that the warden knew that the decision of the court must be unanimous was not true. To this Mr Scrimgeour will probably rejoin, " He did, because I told him," which is a somewhat different thing. Air Scrimgeour's solicitor may have had an idea that a superior court might so hold, but his contention came as a surprise on all engaged in the case, and he could never have expected any warden to agree with him until forced by the ruling of a higher court. I was not aware that the Mining Act of 1898 was, as Mr Scrimgeour states, "in the main drafted by Mr M'Carthy." Copies of the proposed bill was sent to all the leading mining men and suggestions invited ; a conference of wardens had previously sat in Wellington to consider its provisions; it ran the gauntlet of the Goldfields Committee of the House of Representatives ; and was finally licked into shape by the parliamentary draftsman. Mr M'Carthy had no more hand in framing it thau any of the others. Wha f Mr M'Cartby was specially consulted about— and this must be running in the mind of the writer of Mr Scrimgeour's letter — was the regulations, which have nothing to do with the matter at issue between us. The present case illuetrttes the wisdom of

tho Legislature in thinking to havo, «uch claims settled in tlio Warden's Court. Thoe« who desire to carry water races through i.-c«. hold are uob always prepured to face mc c:ost of a decision by tho touprwrie Court upon tho question of compensation; so thai when a rapacious lanJowuei iias it 'in his power, by simply making his claim over £250, to take thorn there — even when the damage does uot amount to that number of sliillings, — and when thej-sknow that the delay, as well as the coit that will be entailed, they have been accustomed to submit to extortionate demands, or abandon their projected enterprises, sooner than take advantage of thei; legal remedy. The idea that there is something sacred /* the private ownership of land, that it shou. not be lightly interfered with, that when i is interfered with ten times "its value shoi.f bo paid, is fast being dispelled. No matte; what body decides, an owner -nearly always gets more than value. I do not know of an exception. In cases of compensation undei the Mining A>jt, the warden is the best umpire. He has a trained mind; .he, can visil the ground and form his own judgment, il need be : he knows the people and the circumstances ; each of the parties has an assessor to press hiß_views; each should be able to bring as much evidenoe as he pleases; and after giving all full consideration, he (the warden) is in a position no judge of the Supreme Court could be in to come to a correct conclusion. - The proceedings are inexpensive compared with the Supreme Court, there is less delay, and substantial justice ii done.- All fair-minded landowners will uphold the change: only the greedy and extprtioriate, who, in imagination, see possiblr victims escaping will object. ' My present application is for a totally dif ferent line of rate to the first, at a level 150 ft vertical lower ; it only traverses half the freehold that the other did— the other, half beinjj through a small grazing run now held by Mrs Scrimgeour, for going through whioh no compensation is payable." If -it were, Mr Scrimgeour would ask twice its freehold value for the privilege. Mr Scrimgeour appeals to every freeholder in the colony for help ! He may meet with, response from a few men of his own stamp, but the general body are fair and reasonable enough to be under no apprehension. Anything I have given in the way of suggestion for the amendment of the various Mining Acts has been in the light of day, and anyone could know what I was doinjr. I am not ignorant of the fact that Air Scrimgeour has 'written to members of the Legislative Council with a view of blocking any amendment of the Mining Act in the direction I have petitioned for, pointing out that the law as it stands is perfectly right and as it should be ! — (for him). But Ido not think he will be successful — I am, etc., ' John Ewing. St. Balhans, August 26. DRY LAND v. RIVER- DREDGING. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — I want to bring before the notice of your readers the fact that land dredging offers a more favourable field for the dredge than th« uncertain scratching, of the rivers. If we take the working power of the dredge — that is, the lifting power, with 4J and 5 cubic feet buckets — wo must ask ourselves are they doing the work they are built to do? If so, they are lifting from 16,000 yds to 18,000 yds of dredging matter per week. If they, are riot doing this, they are not working up to their register. We are told they are not lifting this required amount of material, owing to the . strong current of the river scouring the stuff from the buckets, so that they more often than, not come up only partially filled. This being so, .the river dredges then are exhausting their energies by lifting water, and the only fair estimate to take is -what would their work be worth if they were lifting full loads of goldbearing gravel? These big dredges, powerful enough to lift 16,000 yards in 134 hours, if working wash worth lgr to the yard would win 33£oz of gold per week ; 3gr, lOOoz a week ; and " 24gr, SOOoz a week. If they fail to do this, the causa can be narrowed down to one of two reasons — either the dredge fails to lift tha amount of stuff, or it is not worth the estimated value. Now, as a comparison, we have the Hartley and Riley dredge producing nearly 800oz for a weelr, or on wash equal to ldwt to the yard. Looking down the list of returns -for tht week of the many dredges working the river, one is forced to the conclusion that their efforts would be better spent on dry-land dredging, for it is poor stuff that will not give over lgr to the yard. The best result of the effort of river dredging was that,- through force of . circumstances, the dredges had to try tho banks to get a living, and by doing this demonstrated the fact of their being able to cut their way into the dry land, and to at once solve the difficulty of how to treat the auriferous fiats. I would ask the practical miner are there not plenty of valleys, fiats, and low-lying terraces in Otago and the West Coast thkt, when, worked with" the dredge, will offer infinitely better inducements than the majority of claims now being worked on the rivers? At tho present time the alluvial miner does not look upon 3gr wash as payable, but If with the dredge 3gr dirt means lOOoz a week it alters ths whole aspect of alluvial mining. If river dTedging is paying on the present lines of uncertainty, what will be the future of the dryland dredging, where the value of the land can. be thoroughly ascertained beforehand, the quantity of the material the- dredge can move practically determined, with also the further advantage of uninterrupted work the whole year through. The Lyttelton Harbour Board dredge, which. 13 now on its way to the colony, is capable of dredging 700 yds of material .an hour. What hinders the same class of powerful dredge being used for gold mining? It only means an extra spread of tables, and these can be arranged automatically, and should offer no difficulty to our engineers. Now, what I wish particularly to point out is the element of uncertainty about the river dredge — exciting, no doubt, but more after the nature- of a Tattersall's sweep. There are greater prizes to be won on the alluvial flats of New Zealand without fear of risk, which will make mining a sound investment instead of a speculation. — I am, etc., Dividend. "* WARDEN'S COURT. Friday, September 1. ' (Before Mr E. H. Carew, Warden). Frederick Harrison applied for a prospecting license on the Taieri River, the area comprising about 70 acres, and commencing about 300ydn above the influx of Mullocky Gully. — An objection had been lodged by George Webb, but was subsequently withdrawn. — The application was then granted. The Deep Stream Amalgamated Hydraulic and Sluicing Company applied for a certificate of reduction for six months in respect of a licensed holding at. Lee Stream and at Sutton, and a special claim at Lee Stream and Sutton ; also for a certificate of reduction for five years in respect of a licensed holding at Lee Stream and at Sutton, and special claims at Lee Streamand Sutton. — Mr Chapman appeared to make the application, which was eventually adjourned, till January 6. The application of the Deep Stream Company,

|or a surrender absolute in respect of two special claims at Lee Stream, a licensed holding at Nenthorn, and a machine site at Nenthorn -was adjourned till October 6. James Hewitt (for whom Mr Mouat appeared) applied for a special dredging claim of 72 acres, more or less, over part sections 3 and 6, block X, Sutton, and section 10, block VII, Lee Stream. — To be granted on Minister consenting, work to commence within six months. REPORTS FROM WORKING DREDGES. . Mr Laurence Ryan, Alexandra, reports that tne Molyneux Hydraulic Company's dredge obItained 38oz last week, and the Nil Desperandum ! Company's dredge 340z. Mr J. D. Buchanan, secretary of the Unity Dredging Company, reports a return of 150oz for the past week. Mr Jabez Burton reports that the Ettrick dredge washed up lOoz gold last week. Mr James J." Gibson, secretary of the Success Dredging Company, Waipori, repoiis' a leturn of 19oz odwt for 136 hours. The Golden Point dredge obtained 420z for the week. The Secretary of the Chatto Creek Company reports a return of 40oz for about 120 hours' dredging. A, sharp rise in the river interfered with steady work, and prevented bottom being got at one end of the cut. The dredgemaster thinks he is on a rich lead. A private wire received in town from Croni•■well states -that the dredge Maori at Bowman jFlat obtained 530z for 3 days 4 hours. The Waimumu Gold " Dredging Company objtained 17oz gold for 190 hours' dredging -last 'jweek. , The Clyde Company's dredge Moa washed up Bsoz last week. The river is 20in above the normal mark. ' The Matau Dredging Company obtained a Return" of 'lOloz" for last week. \ The Dredgemaster of the Golden Gate dredge /wires that the return -was 250z 2dwt for six Jdays. TEe river is keeping, low. 1 The Secretary of the Golden Beach Hydraulic Elevating and Dredging Company (Limited) reports a return of *230z 18dwt 6gr for 155 hours' predging. The Secretary of the Vincent Dredging Comtoany reports a return of 560z for 126 hours' Jwoik. 1 The Magnetic Company's dredge obtained 560z gold for 5J days' work last week. C The Secretary of the Inch Valley Dredging Company reports a return of 21oz for last /week. The Enterprise dredge obtained 270z 16dwt for 98 hours' dredging. ' -The return from the Sunlight dredge for last (week was 20oz lOdwt. The Tuapeka dredge washed up on Friday night for lEdz of gold, the result of 130 hours' actual dredging done. She is still working in trery deep clay. The Stock Exchange report the following returns for last week: — Golden Treasure Com'jpanyj 31oz; Otago Dredging Company, 14oz. The Dunedin Gold Dredging Company got Boz '4dwt for four days' dredging last week. The Secretary of the Manorbum Gold Dredging Company (Limited) reports a return of 23Joz tfor the week. The Secretary of the Ophir Gold' Dredging Company (Limited) reports that owing to a flight breakdown to the pump and to the fact 'ithat the newly-appointed dredgemaster (Mr 'lA. Johnstone) has been engaged in opening out end extending the face from 180 ft to 300 ft, only ybout three days' dredging has been put in "jSuring last week. Solid wash 'was struck on iWednesdayi and on that day the accident unIdrtunafely occurred' to the pump. The following' wire was received on Saturday from Mr James M'George, who has been supervising the alterations and starting of .the dredge: "Pump ■broke. Put some dirt through, and got 7Joz. iWill most likely go lOoz for three days' dredging. Will have a fair go next week." The 'breaking of the pump evidently interfered -with, the pitting of the whole of the dirt through. The Hartley and Riley Beach Dredging Company (Limited) washed up on Friday for a return, of 5450z sdwt of gold for a week's dredging, making a total of 25640z for August. The dividend declared on Monday, 28th, is payable on the sth inst. The secretary of the Golden Terrace Dredging Company reports a return for the week ending 81st ult. of 250z 6dwt. The Alpine dredge, Riley's Beach, obtained 84oz for five days last week. This bringß the total for the week for 24 dredges to 13160z 13dwt Bgr. The Maori dredge, working near Lowburn, obtained 420z gold last week. The Matau dredge obtained 330z gold for three days' work. The Golden Run pipes washed up 290z gold for the week ending Saturday. The Mount Benger Mail believes that the return from the Jubilee dredge was about 420z. The Jutland Flat (Waipori) Gold Mining Company (Limited) obtained last week 19oz 18dwt of gold for three days' dredging. The flredge stopped work on Wednesday for general overhaul. The Empire Gold Dredging Company (Limited) obtained 260z 19dwt 6gr of gold from No. 1 dredge last week. It is anticipated that the alterations to No. 2 dredge will be completed by the early part of next week, when dredging- operations will be resumed. The secretary of the Mount Ida Gold Dredging Company reports a return of. 13oz for five days. - •: --&•* „ The secretary of "the Evaii3 Flafc>Dredging 'Company reports that the return ifor l»st week ■was 16oz sdwt. " Our Cromwell correspondent telegraphs: — " The Alpine was not dredging last week. The buckets are being re-lipped." It is reported that 140oz of gold was taken by the Electric No. 2 Company, about four weeks ago, 100 yards from the lower boundary 'of the Cromwell Company, which augurs well for the future prosperity of the company when once get fairly started.