Nature of new order rights to minerals : a rubikian exercise since passing the mayday rubicon with a cubic zirconium?

The Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 has created new categories of rights to "minerals" that may be granted to applicants by the Minister of Minerals and Energy. In this article the nature of these rights will be examined. The legislature has labelled prospecting rights and mining rights to minerals as limited real rights in the MPRD Act. The remaining rights to minerals are not labelled. Provision is made for registration or recording rights in the revived Mining Titles Registration Act 16 of 1967 (as amended). Registered rights are claimed to constitute a limited real right binding against third parties. Discrepancies and contradictions regarding the nature of rights to minerals are created by the two statutes. It is concluded that only upon clarification of the provisions of the two sister statutes, would the nature of rights to minerals be more evident. The proposed amendment of section 5(1) of the MPRD Act would be in line with property doctrine based upon the common law and is to be welcomed.

150 years of democracy? The case of New South Wales

New South Wales has a rich history of parliamentary democracy. As the oldest of the Australian States, it has provided a microcosm of the evolution of modern British-style democracy from the ‘hustings’ of the early colonial to the harbour views of the contemporary politicians’ offices. New South Wales’ political history is also rich with experimentation. The early introduction of the secret ballot, payment for members, the abolition of plural voting, and adult suffrage are well known. Although it needs to be recognized that it followed slightly behind that ‘ Paradise of Dissent’ South Australia on all those features.

Equally fascinating is the role of the Labour Party, whose campaigning on behalf of adult suffrage and payment for Members is fairly well known. Less known, but of great interest, were its activities on behalf of electoral reform, political accountability and easier enrolment and voting, particularly for ‘ itinerants’ at a time when its political base was in the rural workforce. New South Wales Labour was significant for its decision to stand alone, in contrast with its Victorian and New Zealand counterparts, which threw in their lot with the Progressives.

History of contact and change in the Goroka Valley, Central Highlands of New Guinea, 1934-1949

The thesis traces the interaction of the Goroka Valley people with European and coastal New Guinean intruders during the pacification stage of contact and change. In this 15 year period the people moved from a traditional subsistence culture to the threshold of a modern, European-influenced technological society. The contact experiences of the inhabitants of the Valley and the outsiders who influenced them are examined, using both oral and documentary sources. A central theme of this study is the attempts by Europeans and their coastal New Guinean collaborators to achieve the pacification of a people for whom warfare has been described as 'the dominant orientation'. The newcomers saw pacification as being inextricably linked with social, economic and religious transformation, and consequently it was pursued by patrol officers, missionaries and soldiers alike. Following an introductory chapter outlining the pre-contact and early-contact history of the Goroka Valley people, there is a discussion of the causes of tribal fighting in Highlands communities and two case studies of violent events which, although occurring beyond the Goroka Valley, had important consequences for those who lived within its bounds. The focus then shifts to the first permanent settlement of the agents of change -initially these were coastal New Guinean evangelists and policemen - and their impact on the local people. A period of consolidation is then described, as both government and missions established a permanent 'European presence in the Valley'. This period was characterised by vigorous pacification coupled with the introduction of innovations in health and education, agriculture, technology, law and religion. The gradual transformation of Goroka Valley society as a result of the people's interaction with the newcomers was abruptly accelerated in 1943, when many hundreds of Allied soldiers occupied the Valley in anticipation of a threatened Japanese invasion. Village life was disrupted as men were conscripted as carriers and labourers and whole communities were obliged to grow food to assist the Allied war effort. Those living close to military airfields-and camps were subject to Japanese aerial attacks and the entire population was exposed to an epidemic of bacillary dysentery introduced by the combatants. However the War also brought some positive effects, including paradoxically, the almost total cessation of tribal fighting, the construction of an ail-weather airstrip at Goroka which ensured its future as a town and administrative and commercial centre, and the compulsory growing of vegetables, coffee, etc, which laid the foundations for a cash economy and material prosperity. The final chapter examines the aftermath of military occupation, the return of civil administration and the implementation of social and economic policies which brought the Goroka Valley people into the rapid-development phase of contact. By 1949 Gorokans were ready to channel their aggressive energies into commercial competitiveness and adopt a cash-crop economy, to accept the European rule of law, to take advantage of Western innovations in medicine, education, transport and communications, to seek employment opportunities at home and in other parts of the country and to modify their primal world view with European religious and secular values. A Stone Age people was in process of being transformed into a modern society.

The corrosion inhibition mechanism of new rare earth cinnamate compounds — electrochemical studies

A combination of linear polarisation resistance (LPR) and cyclic potentiodynamic polarisation (CPP) measurements demonstrated that the lanthanum-4 hydroxy cinnamate compound could inhibit both the cathodic and anodic corrosion reactions on mild steel surfaces exposed to 0.01 M NaCl solutions. However, the dominating response was shown to vary with inhibitor concentration. At the concentrations for which the highest level of protection was achieved, both REM-4 hydroxy cinnamate (REM being lanthanum and mischmetal) displayed a strong anodic behaviour for mild steel and their inhibition performance, including their resistance against localised attack, improved with time.

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements and modelling were carried out so as to propose a simple electrical model and correlate the extracted parameters to the inhibition mechanism put forward for REM-cinnamate based compounds. The results supported the high corrosion inhibition performance of the compounds as well as the build-up of a protective film with time. Based on a two-layer model the results suggested that the upper layer of the inhibitor film seemed to offer less resistance to the diffusion of electrochemically active species than the highly resistive inner layer at the film/metal interface.

Origins of agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the highlands of New Guinea

Multidisciplinary investigations at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea show that agriculture arose independently in New Guinea by at least 6950 to 6440 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.). Plant exploitation and some cultivation occurred on the wetland margin at 10,220 to 9910 cal yr B.P. (phase 1), mounding cultivation began by 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P. (phase 2), and ditched cultivation began by 4350 to 3980 cal yr B.P. (phase 3). Clearance of lower montane rainforests began in the early Holocene, with modification to grassland at 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P. Taro (Colocasia esculenta) was utilized in the early Holocene, and bananas (Musa spp.) were intensively cultivated by at least 6950 to 6440 cal yr B.P.

Practice teaching in the Republic of the Maldives : issues and challenges

Practicum is an important but challenging part of primary teacher education especially in developing countries like the Republic of the Maldives where the effectiveness of practicum can be impeded by geographical distance, isolation, levels of teacher expertise, and by a highly structured system of primary schooling and teacher education. The current paper reports on a study of beginning teachers in their first year of full-time teaching practice and their perceptions of the effectiveness of their practicum experiences during their teacher training both generally and in terms of developing desirable teaching competencies. Teachers reported that their relationship with school and academic staff was one of the most effective and positive features of practice teaching but reported less positively on the processes used to assess and evaluate students during their teaching practice.