A Governor with a Big Axe!

Fiji Makes Laudable Effort to Discourage Roguery in New Gold Mining Industry

ANEW mining law, to discourage specu lation, has been introduced in Fiji by the Governor.

In his address before the Legislative Council the Governor (Sir Murchison Flet cher) said that the gold in Fiji was the property of the Crown, and the Govern ment would not countenance dealings in that property without its consent.

Some persons, said the Governor, applied for prospecting licences for the sole pur pose of speculation and had no intention of fulfilling conditions. They pegged out land in the closest possible proximity to a gold-bearing area and then gave privately to some financier an option over the licence which they hoped to obtain. They ven tured nothing themselves, even the licence fee being paid by their associates.

The Government would use every means to prevent the placing of this unnecessary burden upon the industry. In some com panies the persons responsible for financial arrangements retained too large a con sideration, while the charges for the flota tion of some companies appeared to be unduly high. It might be in the public interest if more publicity was given to Fiji mining finance.

The Government at present had no con trol over the private prospectus where under shares were placed privately. Cer tain prospectus statements were grossly misleading, and the Government proposed to amend the law to include private prospectuses.

The Government would continue to try to thwart adventurers who for their own ends sought to exploit the credulous public.