369

as may bring into immediate operation a power capable of producing a large amount of good, the effect of which has been enjoyed and appreciated in Victoria, and the withholding of which might justly be regarded as a grievance. As winter approaches the question assumes a form of great importance.

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 March, 1862.

SIR,—In reply to your Honor’s letter of the 20th ult., requesting my opinion whether the power of granting licenses under the Gold Fields Act is, or can be, granted to your Honor, I am of opinion that such power cannot be delegated; but you will perceive by other letters of this date that the Government has done what lies in its power towards forwarding your Honor’s views.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) HENRY SEWELL,
(In the absence of the Colonial Secretary.)
His Honor the Superintendent,
Otago.

[His Honor the Superintendent to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.]

Superintendent’s Office,
Dunedin, 20th Feb., 1862.

SIR,—I have the honour, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, to forward for submission to his Excellency the Governor, a plan, with definition, of a small Hundred, to be called the Waita-huna Hundred,* which is most urgently needed for the settlement of the large population of miners and their families, now engaged in the Gold Districts, and strongly to recommend that the same may be declared.

In accordance with the request contained in your letter of the 7th ultimo, I have made known my intention to the run-holders principally concerned, and have forwarded a map of the land in question to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, with a request that he will acquaint all licensees whose interests are affected by the action of the Government.

In explanation of the step which I have taken, I forward a correspondence with Mr. Richmond, the legal adviser of Mr. John Cargill, the licensee of Run No. 54; and a letter addressed to Mr. Smith, the

• A clerical error; “Gabriel’s Hundred” was intended.

joint licensee with Mr. Martin of Run No. 53; together with the satisfactory reply which I have received from that gentleman.

His Excellency’s Government will observe that I have endeavoured to obviate the necessity of the act imposed on me, by offering, in these special cases, one shilling per acre over the entire run, as compensation for the relinquishment of all right over it, and for all loss sustained. The sum demanded on behalf of Mr. Cargill was 2s. per acre; but as the licensee, during the eight years of his occupancy, has only paid the sum of £185 12s. 10d. to the Government in the shape of assessments and license fees, and as the highest figure at which runs change hands is two shillings, the ordinary being one shilling and sixpence per acre; and as, moreover, this run borders the existing Hundreds, and is likely to be one of the earliest absorbed, I consider that the terms offered by the Government may justly be regarded as liberal, and have indeed been so regarded by Mr. Smith. They embrace the return of all payments made to the Government, and £1800 in addition, while the licensee has enjoyed all the profits for the last eight years. The pre-emptive claim has not been exercised; and there are no erections of any consequence on the ground.

My offer has been declined in Mr. Cargill’s case, and I have now only to ask that the licensee be placed on the same footing, as regards a portion of his run, as those licensees on the banks of the Clutha River were placed when large portions of their runs were declared into Hundreds. In both cases the causes are identical, the land being required for bona fide settlement, from the influx of population and its aggregation in the neighbourhood.

An additional amount of 10,000 acres will be taken as necessary for the accommodation of the horses and cattle required for the subsistence of the diggers; and over these lands it is my intention to suspend the license, and submit the question of compensation to arbitrators, or their umpire, chosen in terms of the Act. The remainder of the run it is my design to leave in the hands of the licensee.

You will perceive from the correspondence that my offer to suspend a portion only of the Run No. 54, has met with disapproval. I was prepared to grant, as a privilege, owing to the specialities of the case, what it was my duty to refuse when urged as a right. An error might establish an extremely injurious precedent, the extent of the influence of which could only be limited by the future extent of the gold fields of the Province. The Government will also perceive that I offered to enter