In Papua

Mining Concessions

From Our Own Correspondent.

Pt. Moresby, June 14.

THE Government of Papua proposes to introduce into the Legislative Council at its next session in July a bill to amend the mining law, providing for the granting of prospecting concessions over large areas subject to such terms and conditions as the Lieut.-Governor may deem fit. It has been reported that already a large British con cern is anxious to prospect an extended area in Papua, but first requires certain concessions which, it is presumed, will be covered by the provisions of the bill under discussion.

The following are the provisions of the bill: The Lieut.-Governor may by Proclama tion reserve any Crown or native land from occupation under the Ordinances re lating to mining, and may authorise any person to occupy temporarily the whole or any part of such reserve on such terms and conditions as he may think fit.

Such conditions may include the expen diture of a certain sum of money yearly in the prospecting or development by mining of the land so occupied and the deposit with the Government of a sum of money to be held as security for the due perform ance of such terms and conditions.

Neither the reservation nor the tempor ary occupation shall affect mining rights or tenements already existing.

The Proclamation of a reserve shall not affect the right of any person to enter the reserve for the purpose of prospecting or mining within the reserve, but no lease or other mining tenement shall be granted to any person after the Proclamation of the reserve except upon condition that the applicant shall allow the temporary occu pant of the reserve the priority of acquir ing the same on terms not more onerous than that upon which he would be pre pared to offer it to others. Breach of this condition shall render the lease or other tenement liable to forfeiture.

The epoch-marking character of the New Guinea goldfields aerial transport service is shown by this photograph. It was decided to hold a race-meeting at Wau (the goldfields centre), and all the competitors and visitors travelled in by areoplane—as a matter of course, for there are no roads or railways in this country. In this picture, an Australian racehorse has just been taken out of a Guinea Airways ’plane.