A LAND CLAIM.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXI, Issue 299, 22 June 1909, Page 8

A LAND CLAIM.

[PBESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, last night. . In connection with the claim of half .a million made against the New Zealand Government by the American Government on behalf of one <f its citizens, it is believed it concerns largo tracts "of country at Coromandel, Thames and elsewhere in . the Auckland province acquired from the natives for a mere song prior to 1840, by a man named William Webster. , He wa's dispossessed of the greater portion of _ the areas he claimed by the Commission appointed by the Governor (Hobson) in 1841, and, it is said, waived his rights as an American citizen, although this point has never quite been cleared up. , Some years ago Sir Eobert Stout held a commission of inq.niry. but threw out Webster's claim. The Solicitor-General has left for England in connection with this claim.