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Wellington Independent, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3866, 25 July 1873, Page 2

The question asked the Government yesterday by Mr Bradshaw, whether there was any intention of bringing forward a measure this session authorising the mining for gold and silver on private property, was by no means an unimportant one. In the Australian colonies the question of mining on private property has occupied the attention of the various legislatures for many years ; and even to the present moment no acceptable measure has been carried. The reply given by the Premier was that the Government did not propose to bring forward a measure during the present session to accomplish the object indicated in the question moved by the hon member ; but he suggested that the provinces might, in their Waste Lands Acts, include a provision for a certain reservation which would allow miners to prospect and mine upon private property upon prescribed conditions which, whilst giving full facilities to the bona fide searching for gold, would also protect the proprietor of the land entered upon. We are rather surprised that the Premier did not refer to the law which already exists on the authority of the Assembly with regard to the sale of waste lands in the county of Westland. The Westland Waste Lands Act contains a proviso that all the lands are sold subject to the right of entry on the part of miners upon ai» private lands in their search for go„J. This condition has not in any way, as far as we are aware, affected the sale of the waste lands of the county. The conditions attached to the right of entry in prospecting or mining thoroughly protect the proprietor against the wanton violation of his proprietary rights ; and he is entitled under that Act to terms oi compensation for temporary or permanent damage. _ Generally speaking, the course pursued in Westland is that, whenever il may be supposed that private lauds are

auriferous, those who desire to prospect or mine upon the lands have, first of all, to make application to the Warden of the district, and have also to lodge a considerable deposit as affirming their bona fides in the matter. The occupier has the right also of objecting. The question is submitted to the judgment of the Warden, and if there is good reason shown that the ground is auriferous, a license is issued authorising the applicants to enter upon and search for gold on the private land, security being given by them that, in the event of gold not being discovered, they shall make good all surface damage, and pay such compensation ' for destruction of cultivations as the Warden may decide. If gold be discovered, and mining take place, provision is made for paying a certain percentage of the yield to the owner. We are inclined to think that if the example set in the Westland Waste Lands Act were followed, there would be very little difficulty in settling what has been a very vexed question. In the year 1870 Parliament appropriated a sum of £300,000 for aiding and constructing works for the supply of water to the Goldfields, and yesterday the extent to which thia vote had been used was shown by a return laid upon the table of the House of Representatives. From it we learn that until 30th June last the Government have determined »n the construction of worka estimated to cost £182,021, and have agreed to subsidise works to the amount of £7479, out of applications received to the extent of £21,463. Of the works undertaken by the Government, we find Auckland has £48,180 for the Thames ; Nelson, £30,466 ; Westland, £61,236 ; and Otago (Mount Ida), £42,139. For subsidies, the following applications have been received and not granted for varioua reasons, mostly arising from non-compliance with the regulations : — Westland — Totara Creek, £3485 ; Caledonian, £1500 ; Otago — Golden Point, £1000 ; Beaumont and Tuapeka, £2000 ; Carrick, £5000 ; Mount Pis'gah, £1000. The subsidies granted are, to Westland as under : — Hohonu, £1533; Hibernian, £2000; New River, £3333 ; and to Otago— the Arrow, £613. Of these subsidies, £5308 have been paid on the certificates of the engineer that work to double the value had been performed, and the companies borrowing are paying interest regularly on their advances at the rate of 7 per cent, on which account £72 has already been paid. The matter may be summed up that the Government have disbursed £10,191 and undertaken a further liability of £179,319, leaving still an available balance of £110,500 out of the original vote, £300,000. The savage tomahawkists of the Press have missed an excellent opportunity of following a chaste example in the shape of kindly wishes. Sometime in 1835, the following choice sentiment appeared in the " Globe," and ran the round of a large section of the British Press :— " Sir Robert Peel will not last long. We shall soon be rid of him. Death will do the business. The fatigues of the session are evidently killing him." -Recalling the joyous terms in which, with considerable iteration, Mr Vogel 's "friends" flew the absurd canard that the doctors had advised him t© withdraw altogether from public life for a couple of years, and the anticipations of " dissolution" of some kind which sundry saddened Oppositionis seemed to cherish as a promise of better days for them ; — it is remarkable that some such "happy thought" did not find its way into the gentle mind of those gentle creatures. However, there is yet time. Let the " nagging"- for - nothing process be carried on with vigour by an vn — or shall we say a dis — organized Opposition, and thus, through work and worry, with small efforts of angry disappointment, let them stay the business of the session, and then, perhaps — as with Sir Robert Peel — death will be disposed to wait, at least, until the great work of the colony is accomplished. From that great statesman the " grim king" kept off his finger till Peel had reformed the fiscal policy of England and destroyed the corn laws. Still the Opposition leaders and leader-writers may try their voices and their hands, and following such an example as that offered by the " Globe," in an angry tune they may evoke for themselves from a discriminating public the application of Thackeray's Christmas wish, " Be peace on earth (or elsewhere) to gentle men."