A.—No. 17,

12

REPORT BY MR. MACKAY RELATIVE TO

claim holders and their servants. Neither I nor they then contemplated the necessity of having one of these documents for every minute interest held; that was left for others to bring to light in their anxiety to assist some of their friends in finding valid reasons to "jump" claims. By this perhaps the Natives received more than they otherwise would have, still the agreement was—they were to get £1 for every miner's right issued. Probably this extra amount did not more than cover the deficiencies caused by many persons working without miner's rights.) 3. My proposition would have been this : To charge a rental of £1 10s. per annum for every fifty feet by 30b feet, or 15,000 square feet (one man's ground) contained in each leasehold ; in addition to this, every labourer or mechanic employed would have been compelled to be the holder of a miner's right. The'rent might have been apportioned thus: £1 to the Native owner, and 10s. to the Provincial Government to cover the expenses of the management of the field. This would have been better than the miners' rights system, as it would have abolished the taking out one of those documents for every small interest in a claim held by any person, which is at present required by " The G-old Field's Act, 18G6." Another advantage derived would be the facility of apportioning the money among the Native owners, as it would be easy to ascertain the locality of claims, which is now a task of great difficulty. 4. The individual miners may also have just cause of complaint, that land is also locked up and held for long periods unworked, between the application for a lease and the decision thereon, which may act prejudicially to the interests of the ordinary miner, especially in the case of the opening up of new fields. (sth. As long as claims were held under miners' rights, the owners thereof had a direct interest in seeing their servants had miners' rights, or their claims might be "jumped." Under the leasing system there is no danger of this, and the only risk is being fined, which, as the police never inspect miners' rights, there is not the slightest chance of occurring. In this way the rentals payable to the Natives may also be diminished by the leasing arrangements. Another act of injustice which has been inflicted by the Provincial authorities is, the withholding from the Natives the sums paid for timber licenses within the gold field, which are the property of the Native owners. I have represented this in writing, but no answer has as yet been given to that communication, although it was forwarded some months ago. To render the arrangements with the Natives complete, it is also highly necessary that the boundaries of the several blocks should be properly surveyed and defined on the ground, as this would prevent any difficulty in accurately dividing the miners' rights fees among the claimants. This, by the verbal, and in one or two instances written understanding, was to have been done at the cost of the Government; but I hesitated to incur any such expense after His Honor the Superintendent absolutely refused to repay to me a sum of £2G6 which I had advanced to pay Mr. Gwynneth and his labourers for the survey of the Kennedy Bay Block. This was a highly necessary work, as the land was owned by a very troublesome and jealous tribe of Natives. From conversations I have had with the Natives generally, I feel assured that, after the external boundaries of the tribal and intertribal blocks were defined, they would only be too happy to survey "the family holdings" at their own cost, and then apply for their title to be investigated by the Native Lands Court. I am afraid the effect of the proposed "Auckland Gold Fields Proclamations Validation Act, 1869," if passed in its present form, will be to inflict injury on the Native owners of the gold field. First, by making the Mining Lease Regulations valid, contrary to the terms of the agreements ; and, secondly, by placing in the hands of the Government the means of preventing the Natives from selling or disposing of any of their lands included within the boundaries of a proclaimed gold field, unless subject to the right of the Crown to mine under the same, whether such privilege was given by agreement or not. I hope I may again be pardoned for observing that what appeared to be required in the shape of legislation on the subject, was merely to give to the Governor the power, through officers of the Government, to make agreements with the Natives for the cession of lands for gold-mining purposes, to confirm what had already been done in that respect; to make provision for future agreements of like nature; and to remove any doubts as to such proceedings conflicting with the provisions of the Constitution Act, Native Lands Act, and the Native Lands Purchnse Ordinance. The agreements and maps connected with those arrangements could have been produced in the Native Lands Court, and evidence taken as to the position of the land under investigation, and as to whether it was subject or not to any agreement with the Crown. The Judge of the Native Lands Court, having all doubts removed from his mind as to the validity of the agreements with the Crown, would then have been able without any scruple to recommend a restriction as to the reservation of minerals being inserted in the grant, if necessary. If an accurate description was furnished of the lands the subject of agreements and of those not included in such, and this information put in a schedule or schedules to the Act, then there could not be any serious objection to the agreements being interpreted by Act of the Legislature. With reference to the Proclamations made by His Honor the Superintendent and the Hon. Dr. Pollen, when acting as Deputy Superintendent, there is no doubt but it was highly necessary to validate these; but in the Schedules to the Act, as amended by the Legislative Council, there appears to be an important alteration in striking out the proviso about "the townships and reserves for Native cultivation, residence, and burial-grounds being excluded from the lands available for gold mining purposes." The question may be raised hereafter as to whether the effect of the Act is not to declare all the lands as described in the four schedules to be gold fields, and therefore subject to the right to be mined under everywhere within the limits therein described. It may be said that by the provisions of " The Gold Fields Act, 1860," mining cannot be carried on upon land in bona fide occupation as an orchard or garden, &c. ; but still these lands arc subject to " The Gold Fields Act," which the Native reserves are not, although included within the limits of the proclaimed gold fields, because to make these so would be contrary to the agreements entered into with the owners. I make the above remarks with all due submission and respect; they merely occurred to me after looking through the draft of the proposed Act, and my only desire is to prevent any future trouble arising in the matter. In conclusion, I must in justice to myself and in defence against certain uncalled for attacks and