I inclose herewith, for your information and guidance, a copy of the
answer of the Secretary of the Interior and of the inclosures to his
letter.
[Subinclosure.]
Department of the Interior, General Land
Office,
Washington, D.
C., March 29,
1906.
Secretary of the
Interior.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge, by
your reference, the receipt of a communication from the Secretary of
State, dated March 10, 1906, inclosing a copy of recent
correspondence between the Department of State and the United States
minister to China.
You request this office to submit such suggestions as may be deemed
pertinent and advisable.
The correspondence referred to relates to securing such amendments to
the Chinese regulations as will bring them more into harmony with
our treaty with China and render them more practicable for
industrial and commercial purposes.
The revised mining regulations adopted by edict of the Emperor of
China March 17, 1904, were referred by the department to this office
for its consideration and report thereupon, and all of them were
carefully considered in my report dated August 25, 1904,a a copy of which is
herewith inclosed.
I have carefully reviewed the suggestions and recommendations
contained in that report, and, after having given further
consideration to this important subject, I adhere to them as the
expression of the views entertained by this office at this time upon
this subject, and therefore have nothing further to suggest in the
premises.
[Page 269]
It occurs to me, however, that a reference may properly be made to
Lindley on Mines, paragraph 12, first edition, commenting upon the
mining laws of France, as follows:
“From the earliest times the French law placed all mines, whether in
public or in private lands, at the disposition of the nation, and
made the working of them subject to its consent and to the
surveillance of the Government.
“The French law divided the subject of mining into three
classes—mines, minieres, and carrieres.
“Mines, properly speaking, were those wherein the substances were
obtained from underground workings, the extraction of which required
extensive development and elaborate machinery. In the language of De
Fooz—
“Mines of this kind constitute a part of the domain of the state;
they are to be ranked as the property of society, and should be
confined to the sovereign authority; and this authority should have
a general control over their extraction. In this consists the system
of the regalian right of mines.’”
Taking the act of April 21, 1810, as the basis of the French law, as
it existed during the period presently under consideration, we give
the following outline of its general features:
“Mines.—Those were considered as mines which
were known to contain, in veins, beds, or strata, gold, silver,
platinum, quicksilver, lead, iron (in veins or beds), copper, tin,
zinc, bismuth, arsenic, manganese, antimony, molybdenite, plumbago,
or other metallic substances; sulphur, coal, fossilized wood,
bituminous substances, alum, or sulphates. To this category, by law
of June 17, 1840, salt springs and salt mines were added.
“Mines could only be worked in virtue of an act of concession, which
vested the property in the concessionaire, with power to dispose of
and transmit the same like other property, except that they could
not be sold in lots or divided without the consent of the
Government, given in the same form as the concession. Royalties were
payable to the owners of the surface and to the Government. No one
could make searches for the discovery of mines in land which did not
belong to him, unless with the consent of the proprietor of the
surface, or with the authorization of the Government, subject to a
previous indemnity to the proprietor and after he shall have been
heard. The proprietor might make searches without previous
formality, but he was required to obtain a concessions before he
would establish a mine working. From the moment a mine was conceded,
even to the proprietor of the surface, this property was
distinguished from that of the surface, and was thereafter
considered as a new property. Concessions were obtained by petition,
addressed to the prefect, who registered it, and posted notice
thereof for a period of four months. Proclamations were required to
be made at certain places and times at least once a month during the
continuation of the postings. Investigations were required to be
made by the prefect of the department on the opinion of the engineer
of mines, the results being transmitted to the minister of the
interior. In the absence of opposition concessions were granted by
an imperial decree, deliberated upon in council of state. The act of
concession determined the extent, which was to be bounded by fixed
points taken on the surface of the soil, and by passing vertical
planes from the surface into the interior of the earth to an
indefinite depth. The engineers of mines exercised, under the orders
of the interior and the prefects, a surveillance of police for the
preservation of edifices and the security of the soil. Royalties
were payable to the Government proportional to the yield in addition
to a fixed tax called “ground tax.” Forfeiture of the privilege
granted by the concession resulted from a failure to comply with its
terms, or from suspension of the works, if by such suspension the
wants of consumers were affected, or if the suspension had not been
authorized by the mining authorities.”
All of the papers received are herewith returned as you directed.
Very respectfully,
W. A. Richards, Commissioner.