I.—4a

1896. NEW ZEALAND.

GOLDFIELDS AND MINES COMMITTEE REPORTS OF, ON THE MINING ACT AMENDMENT BILL, AND ON THE PETITION OF FREDERICK MOORE AND OTHERS, TOGETHER WITH COPY OF THE PETITION, DEPARTMENTAL REPORT THEREON, AND EVIDENCE.

Brought up on the 18th and "22nd September in the House of Bepresentatives, and ordered. to be printed.

Ebpoet No. 1. Mining Act Amendment Bill. The Goldfields and Mines Committee, to whom was referred the above-mentioned Bill, have the honour to report that, having duly considered the same, they recommend that the Bill be allowed to proceed, subject to the amendments shown on a copy of the Bill attached hereto. 18th September, 1896. J. McGowan, Chairman. Eepoet No. 2. No. 250. — Petition of Frederick Moore and Others. Petitioners pray for relief so that they may be enabled to enter into arrangements with the owners of lands alienated from the Crown to mine upon and develop the same. The Goldfields and Mines Committee, in view of the fact that the Mining Act Amendment Act, which deals with the question of mining upon private lands, is now under the consideration of your honourable House, have the honour to report upon this petition that they have no recommendation to make. 22nd September, 1896. J. McGowan, Chairman. Petition. To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Eepresentatives of the Colony of New Zealand in Parliament assembled. The petition of the undersigned humbly showeth, — That your petitioners are the holders of mining rights duly issued under " The Mining Act, 1891," and the statutes amending the same. That your petitioners, acting as they believed in the exercise of such rights, selected certain claims on land situated in the Ohinemuri district, in the Provincial District of Auckland, known as the Waihi Blocks Nos. 1, 2, and 5. That your petitioners have expended considerable sums of money in prospecting the said lands and surveying claims, and have duly lodged applications for the same. That your petitioners have ascertained that the said lands, although situated within a mining district, are some of the blocks that were specially exempted, under clause 8 of the agreement entered into by the Natives for the cession of the Ohinemuri Goldfield, from the operation of the Mining Acts. That Crown grants for the said lands were duly issued to the Natives declared by the Native Land Court to be the owners of the same, and were dated on the Ist day of September, 1879. That in the Crown grants a reservation was contained that mining rights for gold or other precious metals could not be alienated to individuals except with the consent of a Judge of the Native Land Court, but there was no restriction preventing the free alienation of the lands. That many years ago the said lands were duly alienated by the Natives to one George Vesey Stewart, who, we understand, subsequently transferred the same, but there was no transfer of the mining rights in manner prescribed by the said grants. That, since the transfer to the said George Vesey Stewart of the said lands, your petitioners have ascertained that the Crown has acquired the mining rights not before transferred by the said Natives. i—l. 4a.