WARDEN'S COURT SOILING RIVER.

Colonist, Volume XIII, Issue 1300, 11 March 1870, Page 3

WARDEN'S COURT SOILING RIVER.

MONDAY, February 28.

[SPECIALLY SEPOSTED.J

We give below a full report of the evidence in the case of Culliford and party's application for a prospecting claim at Wangapeka, heard before T. A. S. Kynnersley, Esq., Warden, as we believe that recent events in connection with it, and the local interest it has created, will cause a detailed account of the evidence to prove acceptable to the public of Nelson, in a case which Mr. Kynnersley truly described as the most important ever tried in the mining annals of the Colony :— The Warden said: Alfred Culliford appears before me and makes application for a prospector's claim for the discovery of an auriferous quartz reef situated on a spur between Blue Creek and Nuggetty Creek, by himself, John Baillie, and Isaac Gill, and states upon his oath as follows: — Previous to last October, I was prospecting this locality for about four months, and I discovered an auriferous reef. I went to Nelßon to get protection for a prospecting claim, or for a lease. I went to the Provincial Secretary ; I was told he was acting as Warden; he told me he was not. I went to him because I heard he was a Warden, and there was no | Warden nearer than the Coast. He told me that I I could get no protection for either the claim or lease, as the ground was not within the Goldfields. He told me to call again, and I called upon him the following day. The Provincial Secretary and the Commissioner of Crown Lands advised me to purchase sixteen acres. I paid £32 on October 13th, and got a receipt for it. Before going down to apply for the ground, I believe that my mates put pegs in the ground, but I did not see them myself before I returned about a week afterwards. When I returned I asked Gill where the pegs were, and he showed me two pegs along the line of reef, containing between them about 700 feet of the reef. I did not hear of the ground being disputed until I returned. The same night I returned I told the diggers what had taken place in Nelson, and took them upon the ground. The diggers advised me to put pegs in. I refused to do so, because I thought I did not require pegs for purchased land, and because I did not know how much of the reef might be com- | prised in the sixteen acres. I have never put four pegs in the ground according to the regulations, and j I cannot say of ray own knowledge whether my mates have ever done so. Every one at that time I believe was only using two pegs. Since that time, the ground being in dispute, no work has been done. I have not received a Crown grant, or any other document oxcept the receipt for the purchase money. Some three or four weeks after my application for the ground Mr. Broad was here. I believe that he is a Warden ; I asked him in Nelson, before he came up, whether he was taking applications. He said he was uot. I did not apply to him for a prospecting claim, because I relied upon my purchase. I have been quartz mining at different times for the last ten years, and I am convinced that this is a payable reef. There are two reefs running parallel to each other, about thirty or forty yards apart. Tbe lower one is about six or seven feet thick, and the upper one about two feet six inches. The only pieces of the reef that has been tested was a piece about a half pound in weight, of j which the assay returns was one hundred and twenty- ! five ounces to the ton, and another piece of about ! three or four ounces, which returned at the rate of three hundred and twenty-five ounces to the ton. These were picked specimens, but I believe that taking the stone right through, that either of the reefs would be payable. Isaac Gill, BWorn.stateß: lam a mate of Culliford's, and was with him when he was prospecting here. On I Saturday, the 7th of October, before Culliford went to Nelson I pegged off 360 feet along the line of reef; I put in two pegs ; and I also put in two other peg 700 feet apart, along the line of reef, extending in both directions beyond the other pegs. Those are j the only pegs I ever put in. I maintained the pegs | until Culliford returned from Nelson. When I heard j that he had purchased the land, we thought that j there was no necessity for putting iv corner pegs. When the miners came on the ground they asked for our pegs, and we said that we did not require them for purchased land. I know the places where the 360 feet pegs were, and could put them in again within a short distance. The southern peg was situate about i ten feet north of a small creek, and the other was situate 360 feet in a N.N.E. direction. I measured it with a twelve-foot staff. It was about seven feet from a large birch tree. The upper reef crops out about forty feet from the southern peg. The northern peg is on the supposed line of reef. John Baillie, sworn, states: I was a mate of Culliford when he was prospecting, and was up here with him. I have heard the evidence of my two mates, and believe it to be correct. The above depositions were taken before me, this 28th day of February, 1870, and the Court adjourned until March 2nd. T. Sneyd Kynnebsley, Warden.