An Act respecting Rights-of-way to Mining Properties. [Assented to 19th December, 1925.]

H

IS MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as the "Mineral Right-of-way Act."
2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:-
"Mining property" means any land in which any vein or lode,
or rock in place, or any natural stratum or bed of earth,
gravel, or cement is mined for gold or other precious
minerals or stones, or for any base mineral or mineral-
bearing substance, including coal, petroleum, and natural
gas:

66

66

Occupier" in respect of Crown land includes any lessee, pre-
emptor, or purchaser thereof, and the lessee, licensee, or
holder of any mineral claim, placer claim, coal area, or
timber limit therein or thereon:

Registered owner" in respect of land means every person regis-
tered in the books of any Land Registry Office as owner of
the land or of any charge on the land:

"Right-of-way" includes land or any interest in land required
for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, or operating
any road, railway, aerial, electric, or other tramway,
surface or elevated cable, electric or telephone pole-line,
chute, flume, pipe-line, drain, or any easement of a like
nature.

Short title.

Interpretation.

use necessary

3. Notwithstanding anything in any Act contained, and in addi- Power to take and tion to all existing powers, any owner or holder of a mining property rights-of-way. who desires to secure a right-of-way across, over, under, or through

Approval of
Minister of
Railways.

Notice to owner of land to be taken.

Application of ss. 42 "Railway Act."

any land necessary for the development and working of his mining property, or for the loading, carriage, transportation, or shipment of ores, minerals, or mineral-bearing substances from his mining property, or for getting in machinery or supplies may take and use land for such right-of-way without the consent of the owner of the land or of any person having or claiming any estate, right, title, or interest in, to, or out of the land, subject always to the provisions of this Act. With the consent of the Minister of Lands, Crown lands may be taken and used under this Part.

4. The right of taking or using land for a right-of-way under this Act shall not be exercised unless the owner or holder of the mining property first files with the Minister of Railways a plan showing the land proposed to be taken or used, with such particulars and information as the said Minister may require, and obtains the approval of the plan by the said Minister in writing.

5. Before entering upon any land under this Act, the owner or holder of the mining property shall serve upon the registered owner of the land, or, in the case of Crown land, upon the occupier thereof, a notice which shall contain:

(a.) A description of the land to be taken in fee-simple, or of the powers intended to be exercised with regard to any land therein described; and

(b.) A declaration of readiness to pay a certain sum or rent, as the case may be, as compensation therefor.

6. Upon obtaining the approval of the Minister of Railways under to 46 and 33 to, 73 of section 4, and, in the case of Crown land, upon obtaining the consent of the Minister of Lands under section 3, and upon serving the notice required by section 5, sections 42 to 46 and 53 to 73 of the "Railway Act" shall, mutatis mutandis, apply in respect of the taking of the land described in the notice.

Limit as to land taken.

Rights under easement.

7. The land which may be taken under this Act without the consent of the owner or occupier for a right-of-way shall not exceed forty feet in breadth, except in places where the grade-level of the right-of-way is proposed to be more than five feet above or below the surface of the adjacent land, when such additional width may be taken as will suffice to accommodate the slope and side-ditches, and except that additional width may be taken in places where additional land is necessary for the purpose of sidings, bunkers, and other structures incidental to the loading, carriage, transportation, and shipment of the product of the mining property.

8. Unless the notice served under section 5 states that the land is to be taken in fee-simple, the right-of-way acquired under this Act

shall be an easement only, and the owner of the mining property for which it is acquired shall be entitled, at any time during the continuance of the easement or at its termination, to remove any fixtures brought upon the land by him.

9. The "Mineral Right-of-way Act," being chapter 170 of the Repeal. "Revised Statutes of British Columbia, 1924," is repealed.

VICTORIA, B.C.:

Printed by CHARLES F. BANFIELD, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty.
1925.

13

An Act to amend the "Coal-mines Regulation Act."

[Assented to 19th December, 1925.]

IS MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the
Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia,

enacts as follows:

R.S.B.C. 1924, c. 171.

1. This Act may be cited as the "Coal-mines Regulation Act Short title. Amendment Act, 1925."

2. Section 13 of the "Coal-mines Regulation Act," being chapter Amends s. 13. 171 of the "Revised Statutes of British Columbia, 1924," is amended by adding at the end of subsection (1): "Where the persons aforesaid determine to appoint a checkweigher the following procedure shall be adopted for the nomination of candidates and election of checkweigher:

"(a.) Any person employed in the mine and paid according to the weight of coal gotten shall have the privilege of nominating a candidate, and all names of candidates so nominated shall be placed on the ballot-paper:

"(b.) Election shall be by secret ballot at the pit-head or place to be agreed upon by the majority of the persons employed in the mine who are paid by the weight of coal gotten by them:

"(c.) In the election, where one checkweigher is required the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected, and where two checkweighers are required the two receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected. In the event of a substitute being required by absence of the checkweigher through sickness or any cause, the defeated candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall automatically become acting-checkweigher. In the event of the defeated candidate receiving the highest num