27

I.—7a

Yes. There are two— seventy-nine and eighty—in the left-hand corner that have been marked yellow in error. Hon. Mr. Seddon: Blocks seventy-nine and eighty are not reserved. 57. The Chairman.} Mr. Lord, these are the actual reserved areas : first of all, do you say that all or any portion of the land in any of these reserved areas should have been reserved ?— Yes; I think decidedly that about a quarter of them it is absolutely necessary to reserve. 58. You think about a quarter of the whole area?— Yes; that is to say, that they ought to be reserved at some time. You see the contract says that they are to be reserved from time to time. 59. lam going into that presently. Do you base your opinion by the actual knowledge of the existence of gold-mines there at the present time, or from the probability of gold-mines being found there?—l base it upon the probable extension of the gold-mines that actually exist. 60. Do you consider that the reserves for mining should be made in anything like the shape or form that these reserves are made ?—I think not. I merely mention that to make them in that way prohibits settlement, which must afterwards take the place of gold-mining. All we can do is to cut out the ground which we know to be auriferous —that is, the creeks and the terraces; but the old river-bed deep leads, which no one can point out, we should leave time to settle. It will retard settlement for very many years if you take up the land alongside the railway. 61. Mr. J. Mills.] What extent of this land will at some future time be fit for settlement ? I presume it is not alluvial land? —Some of it is, and the remainder is terrace-ground. 62. The rough hill-sides are, I presume, unfit for settlement?— They grow very good grass. 63. Is it entirely a timber country ? What is its present value for timber and. future value for settlement, and is there any extent of it rough rocky country ?—There is a percentage of it unfit for settlement. 64. Is that percentage a half or a quarter? —I should say about a quarter of it is very poor indeed. 65. I understand the bulk of it is of value now for timber; what is the future value for settlement do you think?— All the flat ground adjacent to the river and the slopes of the terraces will be of value for future settlement. 66. You think the bulk of it is land of that character ?—Yes, it takes all the frontages to the railway. 67. We are speaking in a general way—that is to say, the bulk of the land in the back blocks is of no value, having barren rocks within a few inches of the surface ? —I might mention that there are two-thirds of the blocks well down in this corner that might come in for grass. No doubt there are portions of it; I speak generally. 68. Hon. Sir J. Hall.] What amount of land for settlement would there be in the back blocks ? ■ —Very little indeed. The proposed extension of reserved land marked red contains very little land fit for settlement; it is in part barren mountain-top. 69. It follows from that that the reserves already made contain all the land fit for settlement ? —Yes, they do, with the exception of one or two blocks. 70. The only other point: you said that you thought that about a quarter of these reserves or square blocks would probably be required for mining and purposes incidental to mining; but what about water-races? would it not be necessary to make reserves for water-races through other portions of the block ?—My opinion is that narrow strips of land should be reserved for existing races, as has been done for years through alienated ground on the West Coast. 71. How should you tell where to make such reserves? For future water-races, of course, you could not do that at all; you could not even say that races would be wanted in any particular block for certain?—-No, I could not. 72. Dr. Neivman.] In those blocks that have been made is there anything to show that they are not auriferous?—lt would take some time: there are numbers of old shafts all along, and you could get out a bucket of stuff and try it; there is some ground there in which you might not get the colour, but that is rare on the Coast. 73. Have every one of those blocks proposed to be set aside been worked for gold ?—Yes, I believe every one of them. Speaking generally, in nearly every creek there has been goldworkings. 74. Those proposed to be set apart —over what extent of country have those been worked and mined on? —I refer to Blocks 75, 76, and 78? —I do not know. 75. Blocks 64, 61, and 60 : are there no miners up that way now ?—That is very high up on the range. Ido not know. 76. Do you know if any miners have been at work ?—lt is mountain-country, and you cannot get about on it. 77. Is the bulk of it unfit for settlement?—lt is nearly all mountain-top at the north end. 78. Then its selling-value is not very great ? —I should think its selling-value is next to nothing. 79. You say that gold runs through all the creeks. Do I understand that in all these creeks gold can be found? —A great many of them have been worked out. 80. Then, as a matter of fact, gold will be found in all these reserves through which creeks run? —There is probably on each side of these creeks a narrow strip that, with water, would pay. The gold never runs far into the terrace; it just hugs the creeks, and it gradually gets poorer and poorer the farther you go out from the creek. 81. Then, about those old river-beds: are they found in all sorts of places? —A lead has been found up this valley; further south, at Kumara, and down that way, several of these regularly" defined leads are found. 82. Do you remember anything about an old river-bed at Eiverview ?—Yes; there is one there that runs through to Callaghan's. It is a good patch of ground,