OHINEMURI MINERS' RIGHTS FRAUD ENQUIRY.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2172, 13 October 1875, Page 3

OHINEMURI MINERS' RIGHTS FRAUD ENQUIRY.

ADAM PORTER'S EVIDENCE. Mr Adam Porter examined on. oath. The Chairman: What is your occupaion? A miner.—Do you remember the ipening of the Ohinemuri Goldfield ? I [o, on the 3rd of March.—You have sent i petition to the House on the matter? fes.-Will you describe the cirumstances if the opening, so far as affected yourself? iVhen the ' Luna,' with Sir Donald \lcLean, Dr. Pollen, and Mr .Mackay, vas at Ohinemuri previous to the opening, ihere was a meeting of miners, and myself ind two others were appointed to wait, ipon Sir Donald McLean, when he had inished negotiating with reference to the jpening, to ask when the country would je proclaimed open. He informed us ihat it would be opened in about ten or fourteen days. That was about fourteen Jays before the opening — about the middle of February. We had a conversation about how the rights were to be. issued, because we thought, if there were two or three thousand applications, some would have a great advantage over others by being able to get them sooner. It was then understood, from a suggestion made, I think, by Captain Faircliild, that the rights would be written out on the night previous to the opening, and that the Armed Constabulary would; be employed to issue those rights. Some short time after this a Proclamation was issued, signed by Mr Mackay, Agent of the General Government, and saying, that the field would be opened on Wednesday, the 3rd of March, and that money for rights would be received on the 2nd March, the day previous. It was understood that the regulations, as published, would be issued at the same time. When on board the steamer, I myself, in conjunction with others, put a question to Sir Donald McLean, if, after paying , the money for our right?, we could go on the ground, peg out, and get our rights afterwards, fcir Donald McLean said that, in his opinion, we could not do. that, as we had no business there until in actual possession of our rights. That was the impression left on the minds of some 150 men, who were on board-the steamer. We went away with that impression, and the quesi tion then was, who could get first on the ' ground. On the evening previous to the

opening, I was the first that ptiid money into the Warden's office for lights. Myself and 0. F. Mitchell went in_ together. I paid for sixteen or eighteen rights, and Mr Mitchell paid for . thirty. We goE tickets representing the money we paid in. On the Wednesday morning, tbo 3rd of March, I got a horse—everybody seemed to be getting, horses. I got a horse belonging to Te Kepa, of the Ngatikoe, which was supposod to be as good as any; When wo got the rights, some ten ~or twelve started at oiice for Karangahake. I managed to get there first, but when I got there the very first words told me were that I was, too late. Some said, "We have had our rights here this hour." The ground, that ! I intended to peg off had been pegged off; T found thero were four other parties who claimed possession. Three of those parties claimed possession by having prior rights on the ground. These, parties afterwards registered one as" The Golden llill." I myself registered as "No. 1 South," Immediately I found that these rights were issued, I went to Auckland to take legal advice, and from what I learned there and elsewhere I believed that theso rights which'had been got before the lime of' issue were of no value whatever. Acting upon the advice I received, I did not commence proceedings, but become defendant in a case, Payne aud party versus Porter and party, that lasted up to the 23rd of April. The Warden's opinion wa3 that he had np jurisdiction to divide tho ground. I myself was agreeable to divide the ground, and take a portion, instead of amalgamating.. The from the Act, had no power to divide, but advised an amalgamation of interests. The amalgamation took place, I think,, on tho 23rd of April, that a company should be formed for the ground claimed by all the parties, tho No. 1 South and the various other names. I was to surrender one-half of-the ground to these other three'parties, each party to pay their own expenses. A Company was then formed of 10,000 shares, called " The Mazeppa Company.' I took 5,000 as representing my party; and the three other parties, known as Payne andparty, Howard and party, and Riordira and party, took the other half ;of the capital of the Company. During the time that the lawsuit was going on, from the 3rd of March to the 23rd of April, we had twenty men on the ground, because if we did not man the ground it could have been jumped within twenty-four hours. The value of the ground up to the present time has never been- ascertained. Immediately after the ground was pegged out, some of the holders sold at from ten pounds to twenty pounds per' quaHer-share. At present we cannot tell exactly the value. When I left they were negotiating to endeavour to get abattery erected for the purpose of testing; fhe ground. I may say that it is my 'own. opinion that if these rights had not been issued we should have "had no lawsuit regarding the grouna, because no one, I think, disputes that I was the first that arrived on the ground. Prom the, place where the rights were issued to the Karangahake Spur is a distance of a mile and a-half or two miles, and on the whole length of the road there were miners, two or three hundred probably,; and I could not be lost sight of until I got to the larangahako Hill, and when I arrived at the foot of - the hill, that I was tho first that had arrived. It was impossible for any person to pass trie, as there was only one road, and that a very narrow • one.—Was, there no sliorfc-cut ? There was no short-cut. • The bnly shortcut was one I made- myself. I h'avo known Ohinemuri for some yeart, and the reason I made such a rush was that Thorpe and party had put in an application for a prospecting claim some years, previous. They told mo where_ the ground was, and I arranged not to interfere with their application for a prospecting claim, but agreed to peg out' alongside; of them. Three days previous I went over the ground with one of the Natives, who showed me where they intended to claim as a prospecting claim. ,1 then took my mates on the ground and showed them where, in my opinion, they ought to peg out. On the Tuesday previous to the opening, a surveyor went up and surveyed what was to be tho Prospectors' Claim, and I believe were stopped by some of the parties claiming the ground. The decision was not then given who was to have, the prospecting olaim. ■ Then the ground became as well known to hundreds as it did to me. The surveyors went up to survey the ground, and Mr Mackay went up himself and pointed out the supposed course of the reef, and where the pegs of the prospecting claim were to be put in. So far as the miners wero led to understand, the men who were there first with' rights were to be. the owners of the ground. .That' was the reason; why the race out took place.—You state that you had reason-to believe you were the first on the ground after the issueof rights from the tent. When you reached the hill, did you: find the ground you had intended to peg out already pegged but P I had agreed with my mates that they were to peg'out as soon as I came to the foot of the hill," where they could tell me from another. A Maori road with .me in case I should break down. They did peg according tomy instructions. When I went on: the ground I. found men ' belonging; to Howard's and Oatran's parties, who told me I might have saved myself the trouble, for that they had had their rights before I left the camp.—What did you do then ? I immediately went round the ground -to see what pegs were in. Our party.had two men at each peg, and as soon as they saw me, as a matter of course they put s the pegs in. There was a difference of opinion as to when the pegging should be done-whether when the rights arrived or immediately when the goldfield was proclaimed, and the,rights issued. Hon. fcir D. McLean: There had been a question as to which was the right time? Yes. We' arranged to peg immediately when I got on the ground, and as soon as I got on the ground I knocked in a peg. The Chairman : But did you find the ground you had intended to peg already pegged by. another parly? I found thirteen pegs in one place and nine at another. Mr T.L. ahephard-: Were your mates on the ground ?. Did they tell you when the'first pegging took place? Was it before 10 o'clock? Everybody had watches, all set by Captain Eraser's time, and some said .the first pegging took place at 10, some at five minutes before 10, and some at 10. . The Chairman: At what time were the pegs driven which anticipated yours ? At 10.—-Did you ascertain that these people had rights before you had the rights which were issued? When the lawsuit took place, they acknowledged in Court that they had the rights.—Their acknowledgement did not prove it. How do you know they had the rights? By persons who .were sitting on the ground; and who took the rights out of the men's hands and read, them.—What were the numbers ? I cannot tell.-You claiir compensation for having been prevented

from taking up this ground,, How niuch do you claim ? I may say that up lo tho present the lawsuit has cost not a shilling under, £150, as wo had to take lawyers and witnesses to Ohinemuri. - Wo believe the ground to be of great value. £6mo parties, eveu when the whole ground was in dispute, sold quarter-shares, or l-80lh ■of .tho whole, at sums varying from £10 or £20.—You must tell us how much compensation you want tho House to give you? Tho claim, at the lowest rate I havo mentioned would be worth £400.— You want the colony to pay £'100 on account of loss of ground, and you want it to pay something on acoount of loss sustained by litigation. . How much is that? Mine is £150 and £400.-J)oes that refer to yourself alone ? It includes tho whole of the names on the .petition. Mr Bradshaw: Is that £400 a fair value for the half of the claim; you said that an 80th part sold for £20 ?■ Some of the men sold quarters, aud they realized different sums, up to £20, and I tbiuk some sold as low as £7.-Do lunderstaud you to claim £400 as tho lowest valuo ? res. Mr O'Neill: Does tho £400 include the £150 of expenses? No, the£lsois the sum actually paid for expenses. The other sum is what could have been obtained for the ground.—How. many men's grojind were in. the claim? Twenty men's ground in the Prospecting Claim, and ours was supposed to be as good as it. £120 was obtained for halfshares. There were fifteen shares in the claim, which was of fifteen men's ground. lion. Sir D. McLean s You are acting in this on behalf of your party.. Yes. Sir George Grey: You call this mine No. 1 South. Had Mr O'Halloran any shares in that ground? Yes; 398 scrip. How many shares does that represent? It would represent two shares so far as ho was concerned. O'Halloran was registered with Howard'and party and Payne and party, and in tho division these parties bad a re-division. In the one, ono full share had 185 scrip, and in the other .208, so that he has 208 and 185.—Was Howard's party one of those that got their rights before the proper time? .Yes; Howard himself was the first who showed aright on the ground.—Did Payne and party come there in the same way ? 1 Yes; one of themselves in the action said that Ue had his right at 8 o'clock in the morning.—Do you know tho mine called the Waitekauri ? There are a number of mines in the Waitekauri., ...Another prospecting claim was applied : for ; there. Hight or ten claiiaa ave tuere at at present. —How jvcro they taken up Pln the samo Ohinemuri.—By rights issued fiefOro the proper time ? The impression is. that one claim was taken up by rights issued in that way.—Has O'Halloran any shares in that? lie is registered for ono at; Waitekauri.—ls there a mine called the Home Kule ? That is peg and peg with, the Mazeppa and tho Prospecting tilaim.—Who took that up ? I think ten men' were in that originally.—Did they get it rights issued before the'time ? It is' supposed to have been, but they have never been disturbed, and no aotual fact has qome :; out, The truth seems to : bo that they, intended to have tho whole hill. I have seen a plan drawn by Captain Fraser, of tho ground covered by the rights supposed to have been issued before the time, and it includes the Home Kule, —Has O'Halloran any share in that? I think he has. The Chairman: What reason havo you for thinking ho has ? I think his name is . oo.thejegister. Mr T. L. Shepherd: Do you know Mr Brissenden ? Yes.-Pid/he own shares in this claim ?'. He lias shares both in the Home liulo and the Mazeppa. He is registered as one of tho original shareholders,—Were those interests obtained in the same-way . as:;O'Halloran's, under the, same rights fancier the same rights, and' -r registered tho same time, both ' in': the ■ -Hom'e- rfiule and tho Mazeppa./ I think-.the. namo in the register has now been'transferred.—Transferred since the lawsuit? Yes.— You stated that there had been a lawsuit. Has the point been decided whether the issue before tho proper time was a legal issue ? There have been two lawsuits, but no judgment has been given on that point! There was one caso of Blake versus the, Paiho Hauraki, where the plaintiffs claim the ground by these rights, no matter how they got them. The.Court has not given judgment upon it—Was it known upon the field that O'Hailoran had been the means of supplying the rights ? Everybody had their own surmise. The impression was that they could come in no other way than through O'Halloran, Mackay, and Brissenden. Tho reason that got wind at first was that it was known which booth the rights came from. One booth had from 1 to 75, and another from 76 to 150, and so on.—lt was believed that those miners' rights which were to have pegged out the whole hill, in the way you havo described, were amongst those whiclfMr. Mackay had in charge ? _ Yes. .; • Sir G. Grey i Has Crippen any shares in.the'Mazeppa?; No',;, none.—OrGuild-. ing ? No, nor Guilding—none in 'their own names, at all events, ■ Mr T. L. Shepherd: You stated' that there were thirteen pegs at-one place and nine at another. .They did-'not. all claim under rights issued prior to the opening ? There were three .'parties .when: the prospecting claim .was .pegged .off. Everybody got as near as possible tout.; All these pegs did not represent'exactly the same ground. There were overlaps and .corners...taken. in..-At -the:: lower -end, there Wf re thirteen pegs, and at the upper nine,. That was in the. clear ground. Down in the bush was a mass of bush.— You pegged out in two ways—at 10, and afterwards when the first rights were on the ground P. Yes,—But others did the' samo thing as you did? Ido not know. All the parties withdrew but.tho three which afterwards amalgamated;..;., : Sir G. Grey: Who." were the three parties ? Payne and party, Howard aud party, and'Riordau and party. - Mr T. L/Shepherd: Did they all; get their rights improperly, as you believe?The Chairman: I think you stated there were twenty of you. I see only twelve names to the petition ? Some of the men, were away when I left, and'l could not get their signatures. • I hold' three interests myself. Some of the men were at Tairua and elsewhere.—Why do you hold the colony responsible for the damage you have sustained? Because I believe tbi3 damage was received at the hands of colonial you explain how ? The goldfield, when ripened, was under the management of the Geueral Government; if it had been under the management of tho Provincial Government I would ' have petitioned the Provincial Council.—Why do you hold any Government responsible? ,I believe every Government is responsible if,-through carelessness or negligence of their servants, loss or damage is sustained by any of the inhabitants.—lf. a servant commits a fraudulent or criminal act, do you think the Government is responsible ? Ido to a certain extent. If it were pro.ved who did this, I would take criminal proceed- / ...

ings against him.—What officer of tho Government did this wrong? I cnnaoO 'say positively, I believe, so far as I bavo beeu able to find put, Messrs Maokay, O'Halloran, and' Brissenden,—Do you . mean to Bay that the wliolo of thoso three did tho wrong or one of thorn P My own improssion is that one could not do it without the others.