A REMARKABLE CLAIM.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIII, Issue 225, 25 October 1887, Page 3

A REMARKABLE CLAIM.

SEVEN Mil LION DOLLARS INDEMNITY DEMANDED FROM THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

Thebe has been laid on the table of the House a leDgtby printed paper relative to the land claims of William Webster, a subject of the United States, againßt the Government of this colony. Voluminous evidence seeme to have been taken by a committee of the United St-tes Senate regarding the case, and in their report they eay Webster's claim is fully established. The report inter alia says "Webster deserved at the hands of Great Britain and all other civilised people better treatment. When he was quite a youDg man he went to New Zealand with a capital of $6,000 invested in goods suited to trade with that people. Be purchased the right to set up a trading stat-on at Coromandel from the native chiefs, flo was the first white man who settled there or on any point nearer that place than Bay of Islands, 150 mileß from Cormoandel. PurEuiog hiß polioy of friendly intercourse with the natives, and learning to speak their language fluently, he soon largely increased hia capital by exchanging work which be bought from the natives, and ship timber and other native productions, for Buch articles aa they needed which ho imported to that country. He bonght a piece of land from the native chiefs on or near the present site of Auckland and built houses and established a trading station thore. He was the first white man who Bettled there or within a great distance of that point. As his business increased he purchased other locations and establibhed other trading stations. He established a Bhip-yard, at which be boilt finall coastiDg vessel, in which he entered the shallow bays along tbe coasts aDd ascended the rivers to open trade with tbe natives. In this way he was largely instrumental in bringing tho natives into friendly relation with each other, and in diverting their attention from savage warfare to peaceful pursuits. He was a real pioneer of civilisation of that section of the country, and waa followed by colonies of English people to whom he had opened the way to the interior of the Islands. At the Great Barrier Island there was then a whaling station much resorted to by fishermen, and Webster sought to convey it to the United States as a valuable acquisition. Hie letter containing this offer is set forth

io appendix No 1. flis lands and other property in New Zealand were worth a sum which he estimates at one million dollars at the date of treaty with Great Britain. When later he had been deprived of his property and returned to the United St&'.ss to asserc his right, he was reduoed to poverty. Jhe land claims made by Webster are as follows ;-220a0re9 in Ooromandel Harbor ; 600 acres being part of tha 'elnnd whioh forms Coromsndel Harbor ; 1500 aores at the head of Coromandel Harbor palled Taupiri ; 1,800 aores at the head of Ooromandel Harbor called Waisu the Island of Great Barrier ; Motntaupiri Island at entrance of Coromandel harbor ; 300 acres on north side of river Waihon ; land at Port Rodney ; 300 acres on river Taurus ; 3,000 aores at Waitaki ; 600 acres at the Bay of Islands ; Big Merenry Inland ; 2 000 acres southeastern side of the Island of Waifciki ; 200 j aoren south-pastern Sail Isl»nd, Waitaki ; 89.000 acres at the mouth of a creek called Oma, left b»nk of the river Piako ; 20,000 acres at the Bay of Islands ; whole of Big Barrier Island. The consideration whioh it is all- ged he paid the na ives for these lands was mon y and merchandise. The Uii-ed States Senate passed the following resolutions in January last :— •• That after due ex»mioat on of the nutters presented in the petition of W illiam Webster and evidence brought to bear in support of his claim for indemnity from the British Government for lands in New Zealand purchased by him in good faith from the native chiefs, and duly conveyed to him before the Government of Great Britain acquired the sovereignty over that country by a treaty made with the said chiefs, the Senate of the United States oopbider that the said claim for indemnity is found -d in ju tioe, and deserves cognisance and the support of ihe Government of the United S'ates; and that the said olsim as a claim for money indemnity was not p eeented by the Uoited States to Great ' Britain prior to September, 1858 That the President be requested to take such measures as in his opinion may be proper to secure to W illiam Webster a just settlement and final adjustment of his claim against Gnat Britain, growing ou of the loss of the lands and other property in New Zealand, of which he had been deprived by the aot o r consent of the British Government, to whi<jh he bad acqu red a title under pnrohases and deeds of conveyanoe from the native chiefs prior to the 6th F^b'uary, 1840, and prior to any right of Great Britain to the said islands Appended is a sohedule of the claim, which is $78,145 for loss and damage to January 1840. for so much paid, laid out, and expended in cash and merchandise between tbe years 1835 and 1 840 in the pmobases of lands and franchises from certain chiefs in New Zealand, and improvement hereof prior to January. 1840, when the sovereigoity < f Great Britain over the islands was declared; r.lso, six millions five hundred and seventy-three thousand dollars for land pu>ohased from ohiefs of New Zealand from 1835 to 1840, and franchises pertaining thereto and improvements alleged to have baen made thrredD, whioh claimant alleges were sequestered and taken from him by tha British authorities after the assertion of the Bovereignity of Great Bri'ain over New Zealand in January, 1840. The claimant maintains that the order of the Metropolitan Government of 1841 aras only partially obeyed by tbe Colonial authority, and that the relief apparently conceded by nnch partial obedience has been made a nullity by the judgment of the colonial court that no order of tbe British Ministry can be of avail to contravene the fundam! ntal law of Great Britain that an alien cannot take in fee and convey real estate in land by title good in law." BIR ROBERT BTOCT'S OMKXON ON THE OLAIM. In his memo appended to the paper. Sir Robert Stout says : " From a perusal of the documents included io this memo* I cannot but feel assured that the U.S. Senate will feel satisfied equally with Lord Carnarvon, that Webster has been treated with very liberal justice, especially eeeirg that awards were made in hia favour or in favour of his acknowledged assigns of every single acre of land whioh the native owners admitted he bad just'v bonght from them. More th n this he could not have received, whether claiming as a British subject or as an American citizen."