5

A.—3

under the Nelson Waste Lands Act of 1858, set apart the premises mentioned as a reserve; and it is equally certain that, during Mr. Richmond's term of office, the Waste Lands Board did not, under the Act of 1863, "by resolution published in the Gazette, reserve the said land" for any purpose whatsoever. Under such circumstances, we venture to declare Mr. Richmond's act to have been ultra vires. It is difficult to believe that the provincial authorities of Nelson could have relied upon the action taken by Mr. Richmond; inasmuch as on the 3rd September, 1866, His Honor the Superintendent, acting as the delegate of His Excellency the Governor, by Proclamation included the so-called reserve in the Nelson South-West Gold Eields. Again, the same officer, by another Proclamation of the Bth June, 186S, whilst revoking that lastly mentioned, embraced within the new limits of the gold field inter alia the unsurveyed portion of the reserve tinted pink on the map annexed, together with that tinted green, then subdivided into town sections, and held by business licensees under the Gold Eields Act. However, on the Bth Eebruary, 1872, the Nelson Waste Lands Board proclaimed the whole of the "so-called Colliery Reserve" a reserve for "public utility;" and the question then arises whether, assuming that the land had not been already dedicated by Mr. Richmond, and under the circumstances already detailed, the Board was capable of dealing with it. The Gold Eields Acts of this colony are numerous; many of their provisions are incongruous and frequently incomprehensible; but, notwithstanding the ambiguity with which section 48 of the Act of 1866 is clothed, we are of opinion that at the period mentioned it was necessary to withdraw from a gold field land included therein before it could be " dealt with, sold, occupied, and disposed of," and that the Waste Lands Board had no power to reserve, but could simply enjoy, after reservations made, such rights in respect of the land so appropriated as their Lands Act might confer upon them. Upon that construction of the section referred to, we have no alternative but to pronounce the dedication of 1872 invalid. Taking the invalidity of the acts of Mr. Richmond and the Nelson Waste Lands Board as our hypotheses, we are constrained to treat as irregular the Proclamation of His Excellency the Governor, dated the 26th December, 1872, which declared that the " Reserve" should cease to form part of the " Crown lands," and therefore be no longer available for occupation as a gold field. That Proclamation professes to be made under the sth section of the Gold Eields Act of 1868, and was passed upon the sole, and, as we contend, incorrect, assumption that Mr. Richmond's act was legal: it must be restricted to that, even if the validity of the proceedings of the Nelson Waste Lands Board in 1872 could be conceded, inasmuch as the section under notice can, in our opinion, operate only against land " declared set apart or applied " prior to the passing of that Act. Whether action taken by the Governor in Council under section 10 of the Act of 1866 would be tantamount to a withdrawal of land from a gold field, it is unnecessary to advise : suffice it for us to express the opinion that the Proclamation of December, 1872, was not made under, neither can it be read with, the section mentioned. If the argument just advanced is sound, it must follow, we apprehend, that at the passing of " The Railways Act, 1874," the land coloured pink and green was, to all intents, a portion of the Nelson South-West Gold Eields. Whether "The Railways Act, 1874," and your Excellency's Proclamation of the 19th April, 1875, read therewith, or " The Immigration and Public Works Act, 1875," have or has removed the whole of the Reserve from the operation of the Gold Eields Act, and has enabled the colony to deal with both parcels of land for the purposes mentioned therein respectively, it is, we deferentially suggest, the province of the Law Officers of the Crown to advise your Excellency. It is, we conceive, enough for us, upon the facts elicited during the progress of this inquiry, to inform your Excellency that the notation by the Hon. Mr. Richmond and the acts of the Nelson Waste Lands Board in 1872 (although irregular), the declarations and conduct of the Provincial Government and their officers, together