13

H.—2l

Boatman' Cbeek The claims for compensation in respect of this Creek have hern settled with the exception of one, by Mr. John Coghlan, whose claim was for £200. In the valley, immediately below the township of Capleston, he holds about 5 acres, which a few years ago consisted of good grass land, but which is now almost totally destroyed. A good cottage, of four rooms, on the piece of land claimed for is in danger of being washed away, and has been rendered quite uninhabitable. Your Commissioners recommend that Mr. Coghlan receive the sum of £50 as compensation. Walkee's Ceeek. This creek, a tributary of the Inangahua Eiver, is wholly bounded by Crown lands, and consequently no claims for compensation could be made. Your Commissioners recommend that this creek be included in the general proclamation of the Inangahua Eiver and its tributaries. Waimangaeoa Eivee. The Waimangaroa Eiver takes its rise in the Mount William Eange, and flows through a succession of gorges until it reaches the Waimangaroa Township, when it debouches into a lowlying level plain, and after traversing it for about three miles discharges itself into the sea about ten miles from Westport. Gold-mining has been carried on in the bed and on the banks of this river for several years. The men so employed have obtained fairly good results, and at the present time claims are being worked in the gorges by individual miners. Three dredging claims have been applied for by one company, who h,ave purchased some freehold land near the Waimangaroa Township for dredging purposes, and their representative informed your Commissioners that they intend putting on dredges to work the bed in the event of the river being proclaimed. Your Commissioners have examined the different freehold properties along this river, and estimate that the sum of £511 would be fair compensation for such prospective damage as the properties would be likely to sustain. Your Commissioners recommend that the Waimangaroa Eiver, with its tributaries, be proclaimed watercourses into which tailings and waste water produced by or resulting from mining operations may be discharged. BULLEE EIVEB. The Buller Eiver takes its rise in Lake Eotoiti, in the St. Arnaud Eange, and from its junction with the Hope Eiver flows through rugged mountainous country until it reaches within nine miles of the sea. It then traverses a low-lying plain, and eventually discharges itself into the ocean at the Town of Westport. In the Buller Valley itself, below the Hope Junction, there are comparatively small areas of low-lying land, those of any extent being : one between the confluence of the Mangles and the lower end of Fern Mat, the other being from Inangahua Junction to the place known as the " Old Diggings." Seeing that a large expenditure has been made in connection with the Westport Harbour works, and in constructing a stop-bank at the overflow-channel from the river, your Commissioners are of opinion that mining operations in the Buller Eiver, and on its banks, should be limited to the length from its source to its confluence with the Ohika Eiver, which is about twelve miles from the mouth. Your Commissioners are of opinion that no properties between the Ohika Eiver and the ocean would sustain any damage from mining operations along the length referred to, and that there is no freehold land above the confluence with the Mangles that would be injuriously affected by the proclamation of the river. Your Commissioners estimate that 1,173 acres would be the fullest extent that would be affected by the proclamation of the above length of the river. Of this area there are 491 acres held by seven persons who have either sold land for dredging or are shareholders in mining ventures along the river. As these parties would thus be contributing to any damage sustained by properties alongside the river, your Commissioners do not consider they would be entitled to any compensation. There are at present five dredges working on the river and a number of others in course of construction ; but, so far as your Commissioners can ascertain, only two of these dredges are working at a profit. In view of the fact that the Buller Eiver has for the past thirty years been used as an outlet channel for tailings without damaging freehold land to any extent, and that most of the land alongside the river belongs to the Crown, your Commissioners do not think it expedient to proclaim the Buller Eiver a watercourse into which tailings and waste water produced by or resulting from mining operations may be discharged. Your Commissioners have examined the freehold land on the banks of the river, and have assessed the probable amount of compensation at £2,272. Spbing Ceeek. This is a small tributary of the Buller Eiver two miles and a half above the Inangahua Junction, and runs through freehold land held by Mr. M. D. V , who has recently made arrangements to dispose of it to the Jubilee Dredging Company. Adjoining this freehold land a sluicing claim was taken up by the Dee Creek Hydraulic Sluicing Company, which proposed discharging the tailings into this stream instead of the Dee Creek, but the company has suspended operations for the last two years. The freehold above referred to being under offer to a dredging company, the owner of it is not, in the opinion of your Commissioners, entitled to any compensation. With regard to the other claim made by Mr. S. D. P , in respect of the proclamation of this creek, as his land is not affected in any way his claim cannot be admitted.

3—H. 21.