Sawmill Areas

Southland Times, Issue 12124, 2 May 1908, Page 4

Sawmill Areas

MR MASSEY’S HOLDINGS. A QUESTION OT TITLE. An application was before tlie Lane. Board yesterday from Mr A. I- UallP: for two sawmill areas I» .'a and * * * c situated at Grove Basil. Tln'sc areas are held at present by Mr it. A. Masses- and the question involved uliiti till. Board has to consider in giving a reply to the application, is a very tutporlant one. , . Mr W. Macalister. who appealed m supnort of the two applications, addressed' the Boat'd at some length on the matter. He laid noticed on the paper, he said, that the applications were described as relating to certain sawmill areas held by .Mr Masse>. bt-l. the verv basis of his clients application was Hutt these areas were not held >) Mr Maysey at all. Mr Mas»e> miyh. have had an interest in these areas al some time, but lie had no intei est non .Mr Massey’s title, if lie .ever hail one, had lapsed owing to liis failure to.comi,lv W ith the conditions under winch n. was granted to him. There were two applications before the Board, each tor •J0(1 acres. with reserve areas ot gun acres, making a total for .each are; of' 800 acres. Mr Wallis might hay left the mailer there. He had complice, with all Hie regulations in making ins applications and he might have chosen to throw 1 1 io onus on the I.oaul. tnc Hoard might grant me applications, but if on the Ollier hand the Board re-msec! them, they must hear the mins ot .say-■ lug whv they have vet used tin m However,'lie (Mr Maealistef) proposed to assist the Board by showing that Mr M.issev had no title whatsoever to these lands. These areas for which Mr Wallis applietl had been granted m the first instance in ISS» under (lie regulations of ISSti,—the regulations inttue tin,|,.r Lie- N.Z. Stale Forests Act. IMS.. These regulations were not so specific as those under which these ureas wen l -rioted at present, hut the Land Board ■would at least assume that Huy were "rutiled for the purpose ot being unified The Board would not listen to any contention which went so far as to say that the mere granting of these licenses ...,ve tin grantee a right to the areas Tu perpetuity. if that attitude were taken up the plain duty ot the Boaul was to grant Mr Wallis's application, ami leave Mr Massey to substantiate his position in a. Court of lai\ ■ It uould be monstrous if the country s torests wore to be locked up in this way. the original grant was made in IMS!). nearly •*0 vears a:<o. Surveys wen-.* made later, ami license* -.vciv issued, and valuation was naid on the whole areas. Xovv i. seemed that Mr Massey took up the position that he was entitled to hold them as long as he iiKed. but lu 1 Ml Maealister) would submit that that was never the intention of the Legislature. The regulations provided that a sawmill license should not exceed 200 acr.cs.hu. the holder of a license might claim to have throe additional areas, adjoining the first, set aside for him. the tune allowed in which to cut being two years for each 10U acres from the dale ot appropriation. He thought the Land Board would take a practical view ot the re - •-illation. He did not propose to ask the Board to decide any nice question ol law or to solve any difficult legal problem but Hie members ought to .not. ... the regulations in a comniouscnse wav and give effect to lilt- spirit of the Vet If Mr Massey relied on a technicality he* ought to be put in Hie position'of having to substantiate bis right in a Gourt of law. This was the view Hie Board should take ot the matter and if the Board took that view the) would grant Mr Wallis's applications. Mr Massev's right mast depend upon the ‘■■u't tint Uu* ivuulations contained n« ■ stipulation as to'how long Ho- original n-ea was to !»■ held, while they limiter Vhe' tine' allowed in which to cut out 11,0 reserves. Reckoning Hie original area on the sain.- basis, lie would lie allowed 10 years from Hie date ol appiopriation in which H> work out these areas. These privileges which he claimed to hold w-re granted to him by the Crown on condition dial lie complied with certain coiaJH ions, and worked out 110-sc areas on*' atu-r Hie other in accordance with the spirit of Hie Act and the, regulations, and it he ahowed the prescribed time to expire beton. taking advantage of Hie privileges, then the privileges must lapse. Mr Macali.-tei went on to draw an analogy between the privileges held by Mr Massey and those which'might be held over an area to which gold uas believed to exist. the old was mu the property of the grantee until lie had tu! unity extracted it, aad if lie failed to do .hjs within a certain lime his rights were forfeited. In the same way Mr Massey did not own the land or the timber on it, but lie had the right, if he complied wiili the Act ami the regulations to remove that bus.i and make it his own. But lus area was granted twenty years and whatever had been done f" it. h fl plain meaning of the Act was 111.it these areas reserved for the exclusive use in Hu- grantee must be worked by him. but Hr Massey bad not had the areas surveved until 12 years later, in BUI I. U cmild not be contended that it was ever ilic intention of the legislature to give \ir Massey twelve years to say whether he would use them or not. It would difficult to convince a practical man (hat tills was the view that should betaken in construing the regulations. He submitted that the date of appropriation M is the date when Hie original grant was made, and that Mr Massey had no ri-lit to .-ay after 12 years whetner he would take the areas. if the Board were going to administer the regulat b.us aeoerding to their spirit lie thought Ibey would say that the time within which lie .might do so had already lupsed. The mere fact that Mr. Massey h:ul paid rovaliy should not alfecl tho wise; royalty was nor Hie price of the timber, but merely the price of the privilege to remove it. So the ipefe payment of royalty did not make the timber the property of Hie person who paid, and did not strengthen Mr Massev's position hi the least degree. The i. v.ay in which the matter could be decided properly was by granting Mr Wallis's application. Otherwise where was it going to end? Next year lie would be in no better position, and tw i’iiiy vt’fii's or forty ycais mimit > elapse aiaJ still no one would be able to 'apple for cbis limber. Hie plain duty of the Board in the matter was simply' to decide it in this way, and it Mr Massey thought lie bad a. good title to these areas, it was for linn to substantiate that title. Mr Massey’s title was bad on other grounds also. These, areas were granted originally by the Commissioner of State Forests under regulations based upon Uie New Zealand .Stale Forests Act of ISS3, but unfortunately for Mr Massey these areas were not State forest, but were under the Land Act, anti as sueh were, at the time the '-rant was made, under the jurisdiction of the Land Board, who were therefore the onlv persons who could concede any rights in respect of them. Any license granted by any other person in authority who was at. the time acting outside of his proper capacities, must be disregarded by the Board, and iho Board must therefore take up the position that i no license had ever been granted. Even assuming however that these rights were properly granted under tho Act of 188. r >, the evident intention of that Act was that whore a man made an application "’or several areas, lie could be granted a, license over only one. and he could not recti ve a license for a second until lie bad also received a certificate from Hr- proper Crown officer that all the marketable timber in the first was cut out. At Lite time these .areas were applied for in ISSii there were certain, regulations in force [limber regulations r.i- the Southland Land District 1878) under which the lands could have been granted to him by the Land Board, ruder these regulations Mr Massey could have been granted privileges by tho I'.'iLiid. for which lie applied to Uie State Hen-try .Department, The applications wen- therefore wrongly made, and Illegally granted, and any licensq which was' issued was simply void. If there line! been a mistake the Board would ii. been quite right to put things right tor him, but the fact that he had allowed 2H years to elapse before doing cuvljiing alter'd the position. He urged Irion the Board tho importance of the question. He understood there were large areas of timber lands In Southland simlarl v liela, and locked up, and these

would all be affected by the Board’s finding. If the Board held that Mr \\allls’s application could not be granted, it would mean that a gross injustice was being perpetrated, as it was manifestly against public policy ami public interest that "lands should be locked up in that way. If the Hoard decided to grant the applications, Mr Massey had a clear remedy; lie could, take proceedings to prohibit the Hoard from giving a license. There might then bo some questions ot law to be argued, but the Board should not, lie thought, concern themselves with those. Meantime lie asked the members to look at tlity surrounding circumstances, at the Act, and at the regulations, and simply to grant the application.

The Board after hearing Mr Macalister discussed the matter in committee, and subsequently passed a resolution as follows: —"That n special meeting (of Hie Board) be held on the 21st May tor the furtber consideration of the matter, and that Mr Massey be notified accordingly.”