OHINEMURI MINERS' RIGHTS FRAUD ENQUIRY.

Thames Advertiser, Volume VIII, Issue 2180, 23 October 1875, Page 3

OHINEMURI MINERS' RIGHTS FRAUD ENQUIRY.

i CAPTAIN. ERASER'S EVIDENCE.

The.Chairman : This is a Commitfee'of the; House of Representative's appointed to make inquiry into the alleged illegal issue of miners' rights at Ohinemuri. What.iß your name? William Eraser.— What- are you P jßesident Magistrate of the' district of Hauraki, Warden of the district of Hauraki, and also Warden of the Ohinemuri Goldfield. i -Do you remember the opening of Ohinemuri ? Yes. -What was the date? 3rd March.Can you describe to the Committee the' general arrangements that were made for opening the goldfield ? Some time previous to the opening of the field, the late Superintendent, Mr Williamson, the Hon. Sir. Donald McLean, and the Hon. Dr Pollen intimated to mo that the goldlield would shortly be opened, and that they intended to appoint mo Warden. They requested me to make the nece'ssary arrangements with regard to drawing up regulations under the Act of 1866, and this was done. In the meantime the late Superintendent, Mr Williamson, died, and the delegated powers were transferred to tho Hon. Dr Pollen, who was then Colonial Secretary. "Tho same arrangements were continued as had been previously intended under Mr Williamson, and the regulations were drawn up. The proofs of these were printed at the Thames Advebtise'b. Office. In the meantime these regulations were taken in hand by the Hon.Dr Pollen and Mr Mackay in Auckland. I think- it was about Saturday, the 27th February, that the proofs of the regulations which had boon printed at the Thames .were all complete. The goldfield was then intended .to be opened-the day, however, had not been fixed—some day during the following ;weck,.on the 6th, 7th, or Bth of March; and, in the meantime, to prevent confusion at the issue of miners' rights, I had arranged a system by which confusion should bo avoided- as much as possible on the day of opening. This was, that each party or each person who applied for a miners' right was to receive a ticket corresponding to the right or the number of miners' rights these persons, were to receive, and that immediately on the opening of the field the rights were to be ready and issued to some officer in trust for those persons, and that they were to act as if they had personal possession of tho right; and that after they bad done pegging out they could quietly, at their convenience, within ten days before the time of registration, get the rights reprosented'by the tickets that were issued to them. ""I put an advertisement to that effect into the Evening Star at the Thames, on the 27th February. I got the' proofs of the regulations and Schedules and took them to Auckland, and iu the meantime I received a telegram from Mr Mackay, as Agent for the General Government, saying that the regulations were to be "printed at the General Government Printing Office in Auckland (the Evening Star Office, I think), and that tho goldfield was to be opened on the 3rd March. .This telegram I produced to Major Keddell at the inquiry. " The telegram also stated that I had made some arrangements about the matter which must be counter- | manded, That nrght I proceeded to Auckland by the night boat, and got there about midnight. I saw Mr Mackay and Mr Allom, who was Mining Begistrar of the Hauraki District. Mr Allom had been in town assisting Mr Mackay to get the Proclamations and Schedules drawn up, and they told me what arrangements had been made-that my arrangements had been altered, and that the goldfield ,was to be opened on the 3rd March, which was a Wednesday. I then told Mr Mackay the first thing next morning I should go and see Dr Pollen, because I did not think that the arrangement he proposed would succeed; that it would be very apt to create confusion, and that I thought he had better allow my arrangements to be carried out.' I went to Dr Pollen's house, at the Whau, about six miles from Auckland, where I saw him on Sunday, and we arranged everything that was to be done.. All the arrangements that were made by Dr Pollen and Mr Mackay were to be carried out, with the exception of the arrangement for the issue of the miners' rights, which was to be carried out on the system that I had advertised. Dr Pollen wrote a telegram in his own house to this effeot, to be sent to Mr Mackay if he had left Auckland. I took that telegram to town myself, and, as Mr-Mackay had left Auckland in the steamer..'Effort,' I forwarded it to him. I also sent telegrams to the proprietors of the Thames Advebtiseb and the Evening Star, telling them that my-advertise-ment should be continued as it was, merely altering the date, when we first supposed the field would be opened, to tho 3rd March, and making the days of tho attendance of Mr Mackenzie) who was olerk in my office) at Ohinemuri on Monday and Tuesday, instead of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday,-as had been previously arranged. I remained in town on the Sunday night, and on Monday forenoon I got the Proclamations and everything completed with Dr..Pollen, and the regulations ready to take down with the Gazette containing the Proclamations. I left town by the night steamer at 5 o'clock that evening. Mr Allom, who was superintending the printing and other things, missed his passage; but tho Government forwarded him by the 'Luna' that night, and he arrived at the Thames early next morning with all the documents. When I arrived on tho Tuesday morning at the Thames, I found that my advertisement had been taken out of the Thames Advebtiseb. with regard to the issue of miners' rights, and that one of Mr Mackay's, as Government Agent, had been substituted. Immediately I discovered this, I told the proprietors of the paper that-they had no business to alter my advertisement at all, and they said that Mr Mackay had been there and said .that all the arrangements had been altered, and that I had no business to.put the advertisement in.. Consequently they toot my advertisement out and substituted his. I telegraphed the circumstance to the Hon. Dr. Pollen, and I presume he put himself into communication with Mr Mackay on the subject,' because Dr Pollen telegraphed to me informing me that Mr Mackay, stated he had not received the Hon. Dr Pollen's telegram; but that the best must bo made of things now, and he would take care that every■thing would go on smoothly, or something to that effect. I produced that telegram at the inquiry. On that day Mr Allom and myself went to Ohinemuri, .where we arrived between 1 and 2 o'clock. Mr Mackenzie, a clerk whom I had forwarded to carry on the arrangements with Mr Mackay, was also at Ohinemuri. Mr Mackay had so"far modified his arrange-, menls that he introduced the ticket system as I proposed to do, with the difference that miners were to come in the morning immediately after the Proclamation and get'the miners' rights exchanged'for their tickets before they

went: to peg out. When T got. there, monoy had been received and .tiokets'were being issued for applications. I r got Bomo coloured tickets that might easily be identified as coming from the office, and they were numbered, and as eaoh man or party of mon came for ■• their right, or bundled rights, they got the right or rights, which corresponded' with their tickets in number. When these rights were made out, a, ticket corresponding with the one that was given to the party was doubled over them, and they were all pinned together. When a man produced a ticket, tho bundle of miners' rights with the corresponding number was handed to him in exchange. This arrangement'con-, trailed, and Mr Mackenzie continued issuing tickets till 5 o'clock that evening; and at 5 o'clock, as a great many people' continued coming to the .goldfield, I ar-. ranged to continue issuing tickets up ;to 10 o'clook that night, so as not to incon-. venience them, f deoided that anybody who had not got a ticket at 10 o'clock, would require to come aftor the Proclamation, and immediately the whole of tho people who had applied and had paid mouey had theirs issued to them, tho others would get their rights.: Then these rights had to be made out and arranged. In the meantime Mr Mackay had got tho use of a very large tent, in which it was intended to issue the minors' rights. To prevent the crowd knocking down this tent it was left open at one side, along which a'barricade of post and rails was put up to prevent the miners forcing into the place. That night we also had so:no clerks employed, consisting of a .detachment of the Armed Constabulary that was' stationed there, Mr Dunnett, .Vlr Crippfn, and some other persons who wero in Mr Mackay's employ, to help to make out the miners' rights after 10 o'clock that night. , 'J'hey woremaking out the miners' rightß in the daytime after the peo'plohad madothoir applications. None of them wero signed till I arrived. When I arrivod I commenced signing them, and signed 900 of them, in. books containing 100 each, and gave them to Mr Allom, who was appointed Receiver of Revenue for tho district. Botween 1 and 2 o'clock that night tho whole of the rights were ready. They were compared with the pieces of paper that the people gave. Whenever anybody came to apply for miners' rights who did not bring a list of the names of the persons for whom he wanted the miners' rights, the clerk wrote the names on a slip of paper, which was numbered with the number of the ticket given to the: applicant. There were 247 tickets issued. Previous to this, at Ohinemuri, it had been arrrariged by the Hon Dr Pollen and Mr Mackay how the applications for these miners' rights wero to be received from Natives and other people, and Mr Mackay had arranged with theso people that if he got their names and the money, the miners' rights would*be issued to them on the morning of the Proclamation. A good many people had applied to Mr Mackay before the ticket arrangement had come into operation, and after all my miners' rights had been made out, Mr Mackay's had to be made out; and it was arranged that the applications that were made to Mr Mackay should bo dealt with, and the rights issued for them at another compartment, simultaneously with the issue of the ones for which tickets had been given at 10 o'clook, immediately after the reading of tho Pro* clamation. The front of' the teut was divided into ten compartments, whioh were placarded ou the outside. Mr Mackay's was " for applications received by. Mr Mackay." Mine were distributed from 1 to 35, from 35 to 70, and so on up to 247, so that the public would immediately know from their tickets where to come to receive their miners' rights. Mr.Mackay got his"rights late that night. After 10 o clock Mr Brissenden came to qet some miners' rights issued to him, but I told him I could not issue them to him because it would. be unfair, as we had refused other people, and ho said he had applied to Mr Mackay for them long before, and I said, " If you have applied to : Mr Mackay long before, he can get the rights and issue them to you in the same way that he does to the other people who made previous application to him." All the tickets were compared, and all Mr Mackay's rights were ready by 2 o'clock in the morning. The rights represented by the 247 tickets issued by Mr Mackenzie, and which I was to superintend the distribution of, were taken possession of by me. The other rights for the applications received by Mr Mackay, and which Mr Mackay accounted to Mr Allom for, were taken, possession of by him. Mr Mackay was to issue tho latter at the compartment set apart for him simultaneously with.the issue of those represented by the tickets immediately after tli6 reading of the Proclamation, at 10 o'clock exactly next morning. For some considerable time previous to that hour there was a crowd of people in front of the tent securing positions, which would enable them to get their miners' rights first, Thoy had been there from half-past 8 or 9 o'clock, waiting for 10 o'clock. When that hour arrived Mr Mackay addressed tho diggers, and handed me the Proclamation, which I read. There were several Proclamations, one opening tho'goldfield, another about the reserve for the township, and another with reference to the Prospectors' Claim at Karangahake. I addressed a few words to the people upon matters connected with the. field, and all this occupied, I suppose, about 9 minutes altogethorfrom 10 o'clock. Therewasacounter running alongsido tho barricade, and tho. people were outside it, on the othor sidd of tho post-and-rail fence. Before this, about half-past nine o.clock, wo went and cleared everybody out of'the tent, except Mr Mackay, Mr Bullen, Inspector of the Armed Constabulary, and Mr No well, of the Armed Constabulary. Policemen of the Armed Constabulary were stationed at the back door, because it was said that there would be attempt to give some people the preference by giving them their rights out of the back door, but there was very little in that, statement. There were seven of the smartest people I could find (including the men who wore to be officers of the goldfield, Mr Mackenzie, Mr Mackay's clerks, Mr Crippen, [and Mr Andrews) selected to issue the rights for me. They wero stationed at the different compartments, and there was a blank space in the centre, from which I addressed the people and read the Proclamations, and I could see all that was going on. The rights represented by the 247 tickets were divided amongst these seven persons consecutively, and counted to ascertain whether they were all right. Nobody else was admitted to the tent. Immediately after the Proclamation was read, I ordered that the rights.should.be issued, and they were all gone in less than seven minutes. Everything passed off very quietly, and there was a rush to peg. out. 'the ifarangahake Spur was the great scene of attraction, where the Prospectors' Claim was marked out, and.the-: aim of everybody at that time was to get there as quickly as possible. Between 11 and 12 o'clock a gentleman belonging

r S-f ; aricl |epter;fbrj'tlio:.;Barae; -v if 'been ii{oo r|;;righ& ! wM^ ; ' ■ ; - v >'bi»en 10'o!cbckl; • -.vl/did 'not : - 2 -pay arid'tliey.said '■" -- ;said:thafj&&elahd;&man named;Hoivard % l>ad.tlibseJ.right3/ ,wli ipli ?y- i s ? e ?• '; ; "■':■ IlhQupfcv;iliej;-'wMoVjfflprely:limitation's; vr L iefi Vl 1 got//or f th e jSii r jibso .'.-.'.; plhpi*,' people^|rorn; pegging V;-. outj bjf.-mak'ipg'-thbm believe;;jheyj;)y.ere --i-genuin^r^^ /"/ evening^ ;Waichecl .for';'iKe'man; Hd.ward.' rcame'across'nim, and asked him whether ■I he had'been;up to'tlie spur injthe'mprri?., !'..■, ing.^ i ■ r him Whether■h£.had a' minott.'right : at v ;the time.4'He'jbenjhowe'd;me Ms right, lithinfe'humbere| 659. ; J;!' "'; saw thatjtho was a, bona [fide one, and rkht^haphe^had[ -shown.',tp V: 'Mesßrsj ~' - Horton',' and'Berry'.,., He said it was., the '". : -■ "'/v.orilyimiher^right'.he^ not do •■..-...• anything in the matter.,,,l simply thought -.'.'/ it very.-qdd,';and thatjvyqulditry and find. .'' '■",' out hoft.he'got it. Then .the idea struck me to 7make:, ; .ij;t ; : the:"applications- : -in a: book--a largo ; wh'i.oh -I. put ■in • evi- ', 'dence at the inquiry.:- After the book was ! ' prepared, I.looked at -.the miners', right, w- and sawijhat ;it <wasvbnevof those that should .have been: issued -by Mr. Mackay. -Nothing.more was done; about toe matter' until a case/ipf disputed,ground arose in . the Warden's which case a DumhepfNatives,who bad toimmstra.. '■''. mental Va<great measure in .getting _the place; opened, brought < an- actio i against . • Blakeind-partyifor encroaching on their, claim.'"This case a question of who had;possession of miners' rghts, and; '/." who. were there with the rights first on the morning; of-the 3rdiMarch.'">T(i was 'ad-mitted-by jßlake and party:'that these Natives ,had;done:everything tlie law requiredvSlake and party only saicj that they had done it before, the were in possession, 'of. the,- rights', befoife them;. ;. Takaroi and.pther natives.had- ; made such . arrangementsfithat: they ,were| on the .' ground;as early as it was possible for any white man Native to be, and {such was proved; tb'he;the case, <. On inquiry it was found; that' Blake ;was in possession of ten miners' rights for his party for spine • considerable period;before.U was possible for . , any .miners' \ rights legitimately issued ,:onithe;. ground. ■■ -The'se'-irights'fl"impounded, and;sent a telegram to tho; Hon Dr,Pollen stating, that isrich'.was the fcase j'.- and: that as ;. • therei.was something-;wrong : about the business; it .would be better to;: have an inquiry; it could 'not •■•' then,- sol sent the -telegram to Grahams- '-. town,;' and forbear* of any mistake I took ahorse that afternoon and rode;to Kati-. kati, and' got:there before the office was closed/.and from .'there I sent a duplicate. 'Snowing; that- the,- Native .Minister was at Maketii with the Arawas,;l|;went : onto sco him;,-'•• I thoughtthat it v/ould n'6fc be -right: that: these .Natives, ]who -had -; done everything;that';the;laiv, jrequired, andhad'idoneeverything:;in aljjgitimate and proper! manner, should be ousted • from v. the..', gro'und.v-. When I' got to MaketuV'l saw he agreed .with mo'that thero should: ho an inquiry; 1 i oD.aringiiithei limo,l was at MaketUj I received a telegram iJr Pollen, ■ sayingthat aninquiry would bej lstituted into'the. proceedings..-. When I returned, ■'■' this large book. was; prepared, aid a list .of the;rights represented by.tbi number of tickets../., I; made .every exnrtion to trace .where all the rights, came/rom.- ;I : foundvthat the rights .which.had. got out before the; preper lime had come from the lot -which!jihad,.; been-yapple'drfor through;-Mr:Mackay,by Mr-.Bri|!3enden; and Ullyithe;. rights;- that-hijd . been got to the ground,-and.rfpund-they had .been •used-.in}, surrounding. ..the.., JPrdspectors' • - Claim^which/was at that ; time thought veryyaluable. l ;■•--•, , ;•,-•..; 1 - -.; r?.' rt-n T>«-» n . ' 1 11. .' I.' I.' _fl

Sir-GvGrey,:.. Did, they get the whole of Jie ground round it? Yes, all round it. Iputinayplaashowing theclaims which Ladbeentakenjup'bythesQ ; righlß.: ..-■■'