OE AURIEEROUS LAND AT SWITZERS.

7

C—No. 6,

No. 9. Memoeandtjm by Mr. Beadshaw to Seceetaet of Lands and Woeks. The miners resident at Switzers have petitioned the General Government, complaining of the sale of this land and the improvements thereon, and the Government has promised them to inquire into the matter of the sale, and in the meantime to withhold the Crown grant until the inquiry shall have been made. J. B. Beadshaw, 20th December, 1871. Provincial Treasurer.

No. 10. Mr. J. B. Beadshaw to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet, Wellington. Sie, — Dunedin, 28th November, 1871. With reference to my letter of the 18th October last, and yours in reply thereto, dated 26th of the same month, and subsequently to those dates, a petition from the miners at Switzers, which I presented to you two days before prorogation of Parliament, relative to the sale, by the Waste Lands Board of Otago, of fifty acres of auriferous land at Switzers diggings, I have the honor to request that the evidence of Mr. Warden Wood, of Switzers, and that of Mr. John Hughes, a member of the Waste Lands Board of Otago, may be taken, when investigating the circumstances of the said sale of land. Those gentlemen, I have been told, can throw more light on the matter of the sale than any one else. I have, &c, J. B. Beadshaw.

No. 11. Mr. J. W. Wood to the Gold Fields Seceetaet. Sie, —■ Warden's Office, Switzers, Bth December, 1871. I have the honor to inform you, for the information of the Waste Lands Board, that on the sth day of December, 1870, one James Graham obtained a residence area (No. 3,119), under section 2of Eeg. XX., G-.F. Bulcs, 1870. By section 3of the Eeg. XX., " Condition of certificate," you will notice that the holder of a certificate of a residence area " shall erect and at all times maintain a secure and substantial fence around the land held by virtue thereof," &c. The residence area is not inclosed by any fence, or is it in any way improved, except by the erection of a wooden building, in very bad repair, worth about £25 at the outside. The claimant, Mr. Matheson, purchased the building, by auction, on the 15th of September last, for £36, far more than it was worth: he has never done anything with it. The late owner, Mr. Graham, applied for a licence for the house in December last, but it was objected to by the police as not completed. I visited the house yesterday, and it is a shell, with the windows out. Mr. Bastings, who owns the fifty-acre section on which it is, informed me that he did not claim the building, and that Matheson could take it away any time. I would, therefore, suggest that Mr. Matheson be informed that he can move the place, as I do not think he has any equitable claim for compensation. I have, &c, J. W. Wood, The Gold Fields Secretary. Warden.

No. 12. Mr. E. Shaw to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet. Sie, — Switzers, 22nd December, 1871. I am requested by the Committee of the Switzers Miners' Protection Association, to request your attention to the petition of the inhabitants of Switzers, presented to you in October last, relative to the granting of Crown title for fifty acres of auriferous land sold by the Waste Lands Board, Dunedin, to Mr. Allan McDonald, and am further desired to ask you what steps the Government have taken to set aside the sale. I have, &c, E. Shaw, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Secretary, S.M.P.A.

No. 13. Mr. E. Shaw to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaby. Sib,— Switzers, 24th February, 1872. We presented to you, through our Mr. Bradshaw, in October last, a petition, signed by the greater number of the inhabitants here, praying you to set aside a grant by the Waste Lands Board, Dunedin, of fifty acres of auriferous land in the centre of this gold field, to Mr. Allan McDonald. I was afterwards instructed by the Mining Society here to ask for a Commission.of Inquiry into the transactions, with power to call for papers, &c. I also wrote you in December last, asking information as to what steps the Grovernment had taken to set aside the sale. To none of these communications have I received any reply: not even the acknowledgement of the receipt.