LAND PURUHASES.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume I, Issue 5, 24 October 1857, Page 6

LAND PURUHASES.

I Thk fallowing extract iVom a lette* reeeiv d ir 111 AVclliiigio:; h;is b en handed us. y.i;h a reque t that i. should ap; car in our columns. We h:.ve no ri^i.i — jven had v.c the -nisi. — o sup ress tiny i-civiia nica::on bearing on a matter of pi.blicii- p rtam' — mr-rt' espe i ily upo.. o c in v hiL-;. t; c Alit.riri se Uers ac so d-. 1 ply intircstid j:s ihat •f 1 ; nd purchases ; but we thii.k it rklit io express our own opii.ion tl at. ::lilioui>h ihe letter in question em: na c ; from a hijj.lv respect able source, yet, as an fa- j-t.it: account of ra her a d ik-aie i cyo iati; n, its contents shoal 1 n>t be received \ i.l.out ■onie degree of camion.

"The (Jev.eral Oo\ernniei t tl.roi gli Ri hI mond ihe C -loi.ial Treasurer, a kcd the Si!j>'-:isitor.dent to fh'd tie mom y for t] c I md purchases. He asked first f< r £20,000. His H <i or i ffered to udvan'ce inn any amount he rt quired. Tl.e Colonial Trc.;u.er objected to taltin : it as an odvatice. Hi Hoik r then <h" red to find li r m £!5.(;<;0 n: 50.000 any d;iy lie mi rht require \\.for. t purchases agreed upon le'ireen il e Ca.eieland Prortiicii I (ii.veivmeuH. vi.lout saying one word as to whether it was a fite i^iil or an advance: but the T ea urer then insi ted uj.oii His Honor aivii g. on behalf of the Province a '. mrair.ee- t. j-t ui.der ro ci cuinstanees wo 1 Id -he Provii-r c insist v - on t-.e clam it i os es. Ed, unccr ilef'ti d Clan c of the Co'istiiution Act. to rc^ aynient of any funds expended : n rxtinguisl.ng tl c Nativo ii le, ovi of the. J.cr.d Revem* of the who- e Colony. Of cow? c His Hrnor's guanmtte va; under mi y ei;ci;nisiance-: vortliles« ; lie had no j.-over to bind tie Province to such an ar; an^ement ; he had no power to .«et a ide one of the most important provi ions of .l.c Constitui 'ion Act. Had he attcir.p' dto do so, under the s^ppos} jon that the Province would have FcfrinVecl lt'rs gnUrantr^as, ,a debt i-f honor* the Province mtmr havenerreteficed him as a tri <r. H's H< lor o^red simply to s^ive the General Goveri^ient the. €50.000 for tie purchae of Native Lands,, without any other s'i)uila;i n than that the Provincial Government should have a voice in direeiinsr the districts to he pur-hased, or rather in in is; ing np'>n c-frtain districtß b in» purchas d. The General Government refused, after a- king His Honor to provide f'lnd^ = — ..ltho' d- eh. ring "that -tht-v cannot themselves pro vide th n. — to accept the Superintendent's offer. The irte! tion was clearly, in the eve,nt -of their f.nni cial -chome f :iling. that this" sh< «I>l. -first bf*ar the whole cost of "extingl'ishing the Native ijile, and should imairoi ion be called upon to b'<ar its shnra^in- paying., rff tho Company's debt. v The ~su ertntende*t., offered} 'funds to purchase* the ichole .Prtvince. without, any condition whatever ' ;~4leGeneral CiiHHtrnnient refinid to accept- tie offer, and threatened to defer further purchases, because His.Hcnor declined to Co an.-^bsur Htv — o i*rnore on behalf of lie Province the 4j2nd Clause of the Constia - tion A^';"