THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1870.

Colonist, Volume XIII, Issue 1287, 25 January 1870, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 1870.

CROSSING THE SCENT

To draw a red herring across the scent is an old expedient to baffle the pursuit of the pack. To be effectual, the operation must be cleverly performed, much less clumsily than the attempt now made to draw the public attention from the real track in the matter of the Wangapeka disputes. Endeavors are being made to place on the shoulders of the General Government the onus of the long delay as to working our new discovered goldfield, pending a settlement of the dispute on the Wangapeka land sales. Writers who evidently know nothing of either the laws affecting real property, or the rights of suitors in a -law court, and, as little of the principles of and practice under the goldfields acts, are now recommending that the General Government should " compel the miners" to have a survey made of the disputed blocks, and then proclaim the whole a goldfield. We are aware it has been the intention of the Provincial Government to extend the present boundaries of. the South-west Goldfields, so as to include the Baton, the lower reaches of the Sherry, and probably the whole of the Wangapeka, to its confluence with the Motueka, at the lower part of Motueka Valley, and to make the Motueka river one of the new boundaries. It is not at present stated on what ground this survey can be a necessary preliminary to the proclamation of the extended boundary, but it is freely talked of out of doors, and has been mentioned in some of the newspapers, that this necessity exists, in order that this particular land should be excepted from the operation ofthe proclamation. In fact, it has been argued either by or on behalf of the Provincial Government, that the survey of this purchased land must precede the proclamation; and it has repeatedly been said that that is the reason why the Superintendent has delayed extending the goldfield. But no such necessity exists. If the purchased land is private property, it is not only specially exempted from the operation ofthe Goldfields Act, but by that act the owners are entitled to recover damages from tresspassers, who, besides being liable to such damages, are also liable to fine and imprisonment for trespass. The third section of the Goldfields Act, 1866, most clearly enacts that: —

" Whenever any district shall have been proclaimed ' a goldfield,' the same shall be subject to the provisions of this act; but private lands shall be exempt from the operation of this act ; except where especial provision to the contrary is made herein ;" (that is to say made in the Goldfields Act, 1866).

On Saturday last we examined the large official maps of the Province, and compared with them the South-west Goldfields proclamation of June 8, 1808. This comparison showed that the exceptions from the operation of the act affect only townships and suburban lands on the I£aramea, Puller, and Grey, with, in addition, the township of Hampden, and Totara Flat, which latter was excepted because it is considered good agricultural land. No reference whatever is made to the lands held as freeholds by private runkoldera within the South-wept Goldfields, and no reference or exception is necejHary^ although thewi are thauaanq's. of

acres of freehold land witnin tbe'goldfields boundary

Why should, the Provincial Government; desire to have this land surveyed ? We can , find no possible reply, except the object is to aid the interests of the purchasers. That, . was whaf created the so-called defiance of the law by the miners when they qppojsed the survey. They were in possession of the disputed land, and it is a new thing' for the police to be called in at the instance of the Superintendent to eject men from .land pf - which they are in possession, when the fapt is that in this question, as the purchasers and the newspapers in their interest,! are 'sufficiently loud in declaring- the real appeal lies to the Supreme Court; < that is if they are fortunate enough to discover their own legal status. It is not the police who decide question s of title; and, if the land in dispute is proved to. be within the goldfield, asi,w;e have no doubt whatever it will be,, then, while the miners were in possession under the Goldfields Act, we should like to know on what principle in law the Superintendent could send surveyors to survey the land on behalf of people who, whatever their assumption, cannot be legal purchasers of land within a goldfield. The Supreme Court, .on application, can order a survey, if the purchasers show sufficient cause ; but no right lies with a Superintendent, in any disputed , boundary or disputed ownership or occupa^ tion, of sending a surveyor, backed by police to make forcible entry on ground, the legal or illegal occupation of which is a matter solely for the decision ofthe Judge ofthe Supreme Court, whose decisions are'first set in motion, not by.the police, but by the civil officer of a civil tribunal. 1 The Provincial Government, in ordering a survey in existing circumstances, was really assuming functions which belonged to the Court, and was taking the side ofthe purchasers, as the Government officials, judging from their evidence, seem all along to have done, let, only last Friday afternoon, it was strongly urged, in manner redolent of official inspiration, that a public petition should be got up to the General Govern- ■ ment, to proceed with the survey of the" purchased land, with a view of proclaiming " the whole district a goldfield, utterly forgetful of the disputed fact, aoon to become a fact indisputable, that the district, as ive have said, is within the goldfield. And it ia artfully alleged that "this waß the intention of the Provincial Government when first the dispute arose; but it was delayed at the request ofthe Colonial Secretary, and tlie consequence is that the miners have been s idle: for the last three months!" ' Yes, thait is a consequence, but it is a consequence of the stubborn persistency in error, whicthaa y marked the conduct of the Provincial : Government ever since the land was errone-^y ously, and—-we speak advisedlyr-iW«yc% sold, as both fact and law will prove. By pressing on the survey, .as, was determined,;.: the! Provincial Government seemed; to: be taking a side in the matter,* instead of standing aloof and allowing the conflicting parties to obtain a settlement of ''.their,, respective claims by law. Hence arose the necessity of the interference ofthe General Government, mo ved by a largely signed; • petition, and the Enquiry which followed. In the result of that enquiry, it cannot be forgotten that while the miners were strongly advised to concur, it was unhesitatingly affirmed that the purchasers would at once accept that result "without demur." But that promised acceptance was before the _ com- , mencement of the Enquiry, and when, within, the circles Bacred to governmental lotuseating, and among the stout phalanx of anxious land purchasers, it was, to use, an expressive phrase of officialdom, thoroughly believed the miners " had not a leg to stand on." Events came thick and fast after that, and j as the Enquiry progressed, it was soon seen, notwithstanding earnest explanations of wondrous maps, that scarcity of legs prevailed on the other, r side, while well developed " understandings". supported the massive collection of. facts-' ■ the miners produced. Then came the u| report of Mr. Domett, and then," with ']' harlequin-like rapidity, people arid papers. turned their backs upon themselves^ and. without one blush denied their- words. -• From that time to this the Provincial Government, by its conduct, has been abetting the purchasers, and aiding1 them in L defending an illegal transaction, by refusing to take that action which the Government should have taken immediately after the Enquiry, and proclaimed an extended boundary. This delay has been only another way of trying to work out the charming threat of "starving the diggers out!" and it will not soon be forgotten. The purchasers and their backers appeal to the law. To the law, then, let them go. But we expect an obedience to the law on the part of the Superintendent, to whom the, Governor has, with a few necessary exceptions, delegated his powers under the Goldfields Acts. . We repeat here, in conclusion, that% there is no just or legal pretext for the delay which has occurred in declaring an extension of the goldfields, and that the pretended necessity of surveying and excepting the purchased land lives only in the brains of those who do not, or will not, understand - the laws they profess to administer. "