BANKS PENINSULA

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 150, 25 June 1921, Page 9

BANKS PENINSULA

SKETCH 6F EARLY HISTORY

BUYING THE NATIVE HERITAGE

A FAMOUS LAND DEAL.

The history of the South Island, except in Marlborough, was not marred by such' tragic episodes as arose in the early days in .the North Island; but the settlers sometimes found themselves beset by difficulties such that much tact, caution, and fortitude were necessary to carry them to success. One of these occasions was the theme of.a paper road by Mr. T.''Lindsay Buick, F.R.Hist,S., this week before the historical section of the Wellington Philosophical Society. The subject was a series of important events connected with the settlement of Banks Peninsula. V ' Mr.,Buick prefaced hie account with a fleeting glance at the French attempt to found a colony at Akaroa., which failed because Britain had accepted the sovereignly of the territory before Captam Langlois could complete his negotiations with the Natives for the purchase of portions of the Peninsula. The ■ NantoBordelaise Company. he said, which had taken up Captain Langlois's project, considering the venture promised no profit, in 1849 disposed of such interests as had been secured from the Natives to the New Zealand Company-for £4600. This, however, did not smooth the way completely fox other settlers to acquire land immediately. Lands had been purchased and wanted to the Scottish Association, which founded the.Otago settlement, and for the-Nelson settlement. In the latter caae, however, owing to the New Zealand Company's title to land in the Wairau Valley being declared void, there was not enoTiph space to meet the.needs of all would-be settlers. The Colonial Government therefore had to acquire the Wairau area and coast lands southward to £aiapoi at a cost of £3000. THE ORIGINAL PURCHASES. Between the Wairan area and the Otago settlement was the tract of splendid country, with Banks' Peninsula central on its coastline, untouched by European settlement except the little French band at Akaroa. To this area, in 1847, the eyes of the Church of-England promoters of the Canterbury settlement were directed. Four years earlier the project had been modled, the idea being to- find a home for it in the Nprth Island, but Native troubles had defeated the proposal. Governor Grey visited Akaroa in 1848 in connection with negotiations with the French Company, and observed the-quality of "the country' behind the Peninsular hills. He wasted ntv time, but agreed to buy from the Ngai-Tahu tribe all the airea between tho Nelson and Otago blocks, allowing reservations for the Natives' use. The price was £2000, payable in four years. Mr. H. Tracey Kemp, an officer of the Native Department, was sent from Wellington to complete the purchase, as the Canterbnry Association was pushing on its scheme, and settlers were ready to come out. Its representative, Captain Thomas; had already decided that this area would suit its purpose. Tho purchase ;was completed at Akaroa on 12th June,.lß4B. This was the "NgaiTahu purchase," and the document recording i the transaction, known as •"Kemp's deed," secured* the fertile, lands now called the province of Canterbury. Kemp's manner of conducting the negotiation, however, may be criticised, as he did not follow i instructions closely, and as a result the'reservations left to the' Natives were much smaller than Governor Grey had contemplated. Kemp's policy in this respect -was carried out .fully in' the following year by Mr Walter Mantel), who was sent to complete the demarcation of Native reserves. In these negotiations, however, there was one remarkable oversight. Banks' Peninsula was not included in the Ngai-Tahu purchase, Kemp believing that the Natives had disposed »f that area to the French. SECURING A.HARBOUR. This left the Canterbury settlement without a harbour. Mr. Fox, principal agent for the New Zealand Company, urged the Qovermjr to issue to the company a grant of land, including Ports Cooper and Levy, and, if' necessary, £o compensate the French Company therefor. . Governor Grey promised all possible assistance, and Mr. Mantell again visited the Peninsula as a commissioner charged with the task of adjusting the boundaries of the French settlements, and" of acquiring the balance of the Peninsula from the Natives, as economically as possible. Mr. .Mantell found the Natives keen bargainers, and ■only after, lengthy negotiation dicl he succeed in getting from the Native pro--1 prietors of the Port Cooper district a document ceding the district to the Crown for £200. At Akaroa, however, Mr. Mantell found the Natives absolutely opposed to a sale, and rather tban provoke a conflict, he suspended his negotiations, and' returned to Wellington. He considered all land not sold to the French was included in Kemp's purchase, but. the Natives contested this viow. /An offer of reserves amountingto 1880 acres, and a cash payment of £150 was rejected. The Canterbury Association having '. now an assured harbour at Port Cooper, the Akaroa dispute was left to simmer fir a year. Then, the association having, under the impression that the -whole Peninsula was vested ,in it, sold allotments, the title to which was blocked by Native claims, urged the Government to make a final settlement of the matter. ■ SMOOTHING NATIVE GRIEVANCES. Though the situation was fraught'with much uneasiness among settlers and unrest among Natives, the latter kept . themselves well in hand, and time dragged along, till, in 1856, Governor Gore Browne visited Canterbury and interested himself in the colonists' and Native troubles. As a result, Mr. Donald M'Lean, of the Native Department, sent Mr. J.. Grant Johnson to the Peninsula. This gentleman was experienced in Maori ways, and imbued with a spirit of justice towards their inter-_ ests. He was able to compose some' little differences that had arisen with the Natives at Kaiapoi, and then set himself to the more difficult problem at Akaroa. 'Here he found that his instructions would, if carried out, result in injustice beintr done to the Natives, because Mr. M'Lean's premises werel based on wrong assumptions as to what had been accomplished in the earlier negotiations. Mr. Johnson found that the authorities' belief that the Natives were occupying land already ceded to the Crown was not borne out on investigation. The French Company's claims had never been properly examined. The Natives acknowledged having sold a block on either side of Akaroa Harbour, but the balance was to be loft for the Natives' own use. They now offered to give, up land on the sooth side of the harbour, with the exception of about 400 acres on which t.hny livf.d. SETTLING THE TROUBLE. "What was officially proposed was that two hapus, one on the south mid one on the north, of the harbonr, should

live on a single small reserve at Omuku, on the north side. This was too small for all, and in addition it was contrary to Maori custom for tribes to mix in tho manner suggested. ' Mr., Johnson, therefore, desired authority to lay off reserves of sufficient area on either side of tho harbour, which would exclude any land over which the Crown or the Provincial Government of Canterbury might have rights. He appreciated the Maori sentiment which prompted the desire to retain the lands on which their ancestors had lived from time immemorial, and which held all that was dearest in legend and tradition. Finally, Mr. J. W. Hamilton, who had been private secretary to Governor Fitzroy, and was now Collector of Customs at Port Victoria, as Lyttelton was then called, was entrusted with the task of reaching a final settlement with the Akaroa Natives. With tho.aid of the Rev. Mr. Alfred, Wesleyan missionary in Canterbury, acting as interpreter, Air. Hamilton, on 11th December, 1856, obtained the Natives' surrender to' the Crown of their remaining possessions on Banks Peninsula. The terms of the arrangement .provided for the laying off a reserve of 400 acres at Omuka, on tlie north side of Akaroa harbour, a similar area on the south side, between Tikau Bay and Wainui, and 400 acres at Little River. A sum, of £200 was also paid eventually as compensation' to those Native claimants who did not participate in the first.sale. THE FRENCH ATTITUDEj From the nature of the settlement which consummated the efforts of Mr. Hamilton, there seemed little doubt that the lapse of time and the extinguishment of the French interests at Akaroa had ihad a modifying influence on the NatiVe mind,' for in their discussions with Mr. Hamilton, they do not appear to have- insisted upon the large payment for the area which in Mr. Mantell's day they had claimed as their own, and for which they hoped to be handsomely compensated by the French when M. de Belighey, returned. M. de Beligney never returned, and the French interests were rapidly -becoming a ' vanishing quantity.^ They therefore fell back upon the British, and provided they were able to get their reserves allocated as they wished, they -would appear to have been careless about all else. They neither ; demanded compensation for the premature occupation of their' landa by the European settlers, nor did they, as any European would have done, ask an increased capital price on the baais of that much-debated economic principle—and sheet-anchor of the land speculator—the unearned increment. Fortunately for . the Government, neither Ricardo nor Henry George came within the ken of the Maori, and so, under the arrangement completed by Mr. Hamilton, an area of between 45,000 and 50,000 acres was secured to the Crown at the comparatively small cost of £200 and contingent expenses, amounting in all to £45. Thus closed one of the last of the great land deals in which the Natives of the South Island parted with their, heritage, and the home of their fathers, for a number of unfulfilled promises

and a sum of i 820,939.