The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1922-02-23
MINING ENGINEERS FIND LITTLE
TO COMMEND IN PROPOSED
NEW MINING LAW.
CONTINUED from Page L.

were made: your committee further
feels that it is no l., lection upon the
eminent gentlemen who compiled the
proposed law to say that their point
Of view is radically different from that
which actuated the makers of the law
of 1872, and the trainers of the Min
ers Rules and Regulations upon which
it was built. We are forced to the con-
clusiOn that the present trainers have
most naturally in large measure and
with considerable justification, ignored
the individual locator and prospectOr
and framed a law designed mainly for
acquisition and exploration by organ
izations of considerable capital 1t is
evident of course that much of the
prospecting of the future will be of a
kind beyond the scope of the prospec-
tors of the past; at the same time your
committee does not believe that we
have yet reached 4 place in our devel-
opment where the small man can be
entirely relegated without detriment to
the mining industry"
Oppose Extension of Bureaucracy.
"Concomitantly with this it seems
to us the bill contemplates a further
extension of the regulatory powers OF
the land office and similar organiza-
tions, and to your committee, all of
whom have lived and operated within /
the confines of the national forests /
further extension of the exasperations
and annOyances. opposition and apa-
thy inflicted upon persons engaged in
mining development in these areas APP
pear suicidal
"All of us deplore the decline of
prospecting. To encourage it. requires
helpful stimulation, not further regu-
lation and restriction by unsympathet-
ic and uncomprehending jacks-i in of
flee. The wild free days of the early
west are of course gone forever. but
we need not swing from that extreme
to one of officialdom bristling with
'verbotens" Of one kind and another
Change Court Procedure.
I'm conclusion, it appears to your
committee that one of the greatest diff
ficulties connected with mining liti-
cation is the method of court proceed
ure, and we as a constructive measure
desire to embody as rider to this re-
port the suggestion put forward by the
chairman of the committee with re-
gard to a modification of present pro
cedure, with the earnest recommends 7
ton that serious consideration be Civ t
en- to the best method of putting il a
into practice" {
The Plan Outlined ]
The suggested plan of procedure is c
outlined by Mr.. Thomson as follows: +
1T is evident to all of us. | think.
that the present procedure is an I'M
satisfactory one, in that non expert
Judges are called upon to decide be- l
tween the conflicting testimony of ex-
pert witnesses for each of the opposing
sides. C
'rhe proposal. frequently made. of u
the employment by the court of a com b
mittee of unprecedented experts to act D
as amici curiae is open to the objec- q
tion I believe. as pointed out by Mr. D.
Rush White, that these experts. not f'
being under the pressure and necessity D
Of presenting all of the technical de- nj
-ails of the case, are apt to overlook or M
'ail to bring out apparently insignifi- We
ant technical points which may be OF II
;reat legal significance tn
AS alternative TO this plan,
therefore,, | would like to suggest for y"
consideration plan based upon and ~
modelled after that employed in the
British admiralty courts. in which the I'll
Judge assigned the cases appoints or III
elects two experienced mariners
sually retired sea captains-to sit
Nth him on the bench These men
re called assessors. Such assessors VIC
ave the same privileges which the co
curt has of interrogating witnesses. hl
exhibits. etc. and virtually OF
ecome. for the particular trial a part ma
[ the bench. In such q procedure the me
ldge is manfestly greatly helped by PEI
lie technical knowledge of his two as s'i
stants or assessors. and is saved
ON the obvious embarrassment of
iving to decide between the compli-
ted and often contradictory expert cor
of two equally distinguished ing
illnesses. The assessors do it for him tina
IN mining cases. it seems to me the tor
ocedure should be to provide for the dor
lection by and at the option OF the reg
urt of two men thoroughly versed in
the technical points involved in the will
Sc under trial. to sit with him in the amt
me way that the assessors sit on the
itish admiralty court. The remun-
alton of these assessors would of T
urse be proper charge against the day
SITS of the action, and I am inclined aut
think that by the time such a plan limo
d been in operation for few years sect
ere would be shown marked i'm ests
ovement in the conduct of such Der
SEES. more confidence in the decis- to
Is so rendered. fewer appeals, and men
s time lost in trying the cases"
A. S. & r. WAGES. y,