✨ Correspondence on Gold Fields
368
Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Auckland, 7th December, 1861.
SIR,—With reference to your Honor’s letter, dated the 3rd October last, relative to the interests of the license-holders in the Province of Otago, as affected by the recent gold discoveries, I have to express my hope that, as the inconvenience to which you refer is somewhat remote, and as the extent of the Otago runs is in some instances very great, and in all considerable, your Honor will, by the precaution which you suggest of limiting the size of the gold fields proclaimed, be enabled to obviate any serious injury to the runholders in the Province.
It must also be borne in mind, with further reference to your Honor’s remarks, that a license is not annulled, nor compensation recoverable, under section 10 of the "Gold Fields Act, 1858," unless the Governor (or the Superintendent as his deputy) has suspended the license. This suspension may be made "so far only as is necessary for the accommodation of the horses and cattle required for the subsistence of diggers, &c." If the power of suspending the license, over any land so required, be exercised, the demand for compensation may be made as a right; but, if the Superintendent does not think proper to suspend the license, the mere proclamation of a gold field does not involve the loss to which your Honor alludes.
The question whether the powers granted under the 10th section of the "Gold Fields Act," should be exercised or not, is one for the consideration and decision of your Honor, and one on which the General Government, at this distance, is unable to make any suggestion.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) J. RICHARDSON,
Superintendent.
To the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.
[The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, to his Honor the Superintendent.]
Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Auckland, 5th November, 1861.
SIR,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor’s letter dated the 3rd ult., on the subject of the exercise of the powers delegated to you under the Gold Fields Act, 1858, and to inform you that the question involves many important considerations, which, immediately on Mr. Fox’s return from the North, shall receive the attention of the Government.
I have, &c.,
(Signed) HENRY SEWELL,
(For the Colonial Secretary.)
To his Honor the Superintendent, Otago.
[His Honor the Superintendent to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.]
Superintendent’s Office,
Dunedin, 20th Feb., 1862.
SIR,—Doubts having arisen whether the powers delegated to me under the "Gold Fields Act, 1858," are intended to cover the question of agricultural leases, treated of in the Act, 1860, which two Acts under certain conditions are regarded as one Act, I have the honor to solicit the opinion of the Attorney-General on the subject. Should it appear that the power is not or cannot be delegated, or that it is undesirable that it should be delegated, I have the honor to urge upon the earnest attention of His Excellency’s Government the expediency of making such arrangements
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Otago Provincial Gazette 1862, No 176
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
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Correspondence regarding Otago Gold Fields
(continued from previous page)
🗺️ Lands, Settlement & Survey7 December 1861
Gold Fields, Mining, Land Rights, Depasturing Licenses
- J. Richardson, Superintendent
🗺️ Acknowledgment of Gold Fields Powers Delegation
🗺️ Lands, Settlement & Survey5 November 1861
Gold Fields Act, Powers Delegation, Government Attention
- Henry Sewell, For the Colonial Secretary
🗺️ Request for Attorney-General's Opinion on Gold Fields Powers
🗺️ Lands, Settlement & Survey20 February 1862
Gold Fields Act, Powers Delegation, Attorney-General Opinion
- Superintendent, Dunedin