[OFFICIAL.]

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, 10 December 1840, Page 1

[OFFICIAL.]

PAPER DELIVERED TO SIR GEORGE GIPPS, BY THE DEPUTIES FROM PORT NICHOLSON, SEPTEMBER 24, 1840.

Dr. Evans, Mr. Hanson, and Mr. Moreing having been appointed by the Settlers at Port Nicholson a Deputation to wait upon His Excellency Sir vjeorge Gipps, Governor of the Territory of New South Wales and its Dependencies, &c. &c. &c, beg leave to lay before His Excellency the following brief statement. In the year 1839, a Company was formed in England under the title of the New Zealand Land Company, for the acquisition of land in New Zealand by purchase from the natives, with a view to establish settlements upon the lands so purchased, by means of the price to be derived from the re- sale of the lands so purchased. In June, 1839, the New Zealand Land Company issued proposals for the sale of nine-tenths of a township of 110,000 acres, in lots of 101 acres, each lot comprising 100 acres of country land and one town section, undertaking to expend in emigration 75 per cent, of the purchase money, and reserving 25 per cent, to defray the expenses of the survey and management of the land, and for the profit upon the capital inyested; the remaining one-tenth of such township being appropriated, for the.benefit of the natives. By these proposals the priority of choice for the sections purchased, as well as for those appropriated for the natives, was to be decided by lot. The New Zealand Land Company was formed npon the basis of the New Zealand Company which was set on foot in 1825, under the sanction of His Majesty's Government, for the purchase or territory in New Zealand, with a view to Colonization, and the Directors of which expended £20,000 in fitting out an expedition for the purchase of land, with the knowledge of His Majesty's Government, and under the authority of a letter from Mr. Huskisson, promising a charter of incorporation as soon as they had acquired a territory of sufficient extent for their contemplated operations. This Company acquired extensive territories in New Zealand, but the panic of 1 826 prevented the Directors from carrying out their operations so as to claim a Charter of Incorporation, and it remained in abeyance from that period. The township offered for sale by the New Zealand Land Company was purchased in a few weeks ; mainly m consequence of the direct sanction which had thus been afforded by the Government of Great Britain to the purchase of land from the Natives of New Zealand, and of the implied recognition of the right of the Natives of New Zealand to dispose of their land, contained in all the communications of Her Majesty's Government, whether public or private. By this purchase £75,00Q was placed in the hands of the New Zealand Land Company, to be employed in promoting emigration. Under the arrangements of the New Zealand Land Company a large body of capitalists and labourers, amounting to 1,500 persons, have emigrated to New Zealand, and are now settled upon land purchased by the Company from the Natives of Port Nicholson.

MINUTE OF PROPOSITIONS SUGGESTED BY HIS EXCELLENCY SIR GEORGE GIPPS, IN REPLY TO THE REPRESENTATIONS OF THE DEPUTIES AT THEIR VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH HIM.

1. — The Deputies from Port Nicholson are understood to appear on behalf of the individuals who have settled there, and not on the part of the Company : they seek to have their case liberally considered by the Government, to which they make entire submission ; and they acknowledge they can hold land -in New Zealand only from the Crown. 2. — The Government in entering into com-

munication' with the Deputies, does notre'cog- ' nise as valid any act of the jUompany from which they derive their claims. I 3. — It is understood that the settlers have I been led to expect lands at' Port Nicholson at the uniform price of £ 1 per acre : the lands I to be selected out of a township of 110,000 acres, and the priority of choice to depend upon an arrangement which was made in Eugland on the principle of a lottery or raffle. It is understood also that the settlers paid for lands before they left England, and for the most part* received free passages to New Zealand. 4.— The utmost that the settlers can reasonably ask of the Government is, that the advantages shall be secured to them which they were led to expect when they left Eugland ; that is to say, that they shall be allowed to take 110,000 acres continuously round Port Nicholson, and to form their own community, with no greater interference on the part of the Government than may be necessary for the due administration of justice in the Queen's name, and for the collection of the public revenue. 5. — The .disadvantage to the Government of such a proceeding would be that it would lose the large sum of money which in the ordinary course of settlement might be derived from the sale of land whereon the town is to be built, and which cannot be estimated at less than £50,000. But, as the Government would get no money from the sale of the land, it could not be expected to lay out any in the improvement of it : the settlers would consequently from the commencement be charged with all the expense of surveying ami laying out their lands, and with the erection of all public buildings, except such as may be necessary for the collection of Her Majesty's revenue, the administration of justice, and the defence of the settlement either against an external or an internal enemy. For these latter purposes it would of course be necessary that the requisite quancities of land should be reserved. 6. — The inconvenience to the setters of such an arrangement would probably be that within their township of 1 1 0,000 acres they might find only a small portion of land fit for tillage : but this is an inconvenience which they must have been prepared to meet, and to get bad land instead of good is the risk which every person runs who buys land without seeing it. The principle also of a lottery, or of a raffle, seems to point out that some persons were to draw prizes and others blanks ; but in point of fact, there would be hardly any blanks at all, as the town allotments alone would be worth as much, or nearly as much as was paid by any individual both for his town and his country land; and the whole township or district, including as it does one of the best sites for a sea-port town in New Zealand, must be considered worth far more than £110,000. 7. — The only other principle upon which an equitable adjustment may be made, appears to me to be that of the Act which has been passed for the settlement of claims to land in New Zealand, under which the whole township of Britannia might be resumed, or reserved by the Government, giving to the claimants compensation according to the terms of the Act, varying from 5 to 30 times the amount in acres of the laud reserved. 8. — In order to carry such an arrangement into effect, the claimants mignt be divided, according to their priority of choice, into nine classes, and the persons in each class might receive for each acre of land that they would have been entitled to in the town the following number in the country :—: — Ist class ... .30 acres. 2nd do 27 do. 3rd do 24 do. 4th, do 21 do. sth do 18 do. 6th do 15 do. 7th do 12 do. Bth do 9 do. oth do 6 do. Or the persons might at their option have a remission of the same number of pounds | sterling in the purchase of town allotments ' from the Government : the Government would in that case sell allotments in the town by auction, on the same principle, and as nearly | as possible at the same upset price, as allotments are to be sold in the towns of Russell and Auckland, at the Bay of Islands and in the river Thames. The quantity of land thus to be reserved by the Government would be one-tenth of the whole township, or 1,100 '

lacres ; the remainder of the township would (satisfy the country allotments of the settlers, land the compensation for the town allotments [would be given in other land of fair average quality as near to the township as convenient. , 9. — In any case, however, the following ■principles must be considered as fixed: — f 10. — The Government will not admit £l per acre to be a sufficient price for any land, mnjess it be taken in the block, good and bad itogether. ) 1 1 . — The Government will in no case admit <£l per acre, nor even £100 per acre, to be a sufficient price for land in a town, aud especially in a sea-port town commanding one of the best harbours in New Zealand. 12. — The Government will in no case admit the principle of special surveys, such as have been adopted in South Australia, nor will the Government allow of any system 'under which all the good land in an extensive "district can be picked out by the first comers. • The principle on which the Government proposes to conduct the survey and sale #of land in New Zealand is the same that has been followed at Port Phillip, where the lands have been sold continuously at the discretion of Government by auction, and have realised the following prices : — ■ f Country land, per acre ..£ 1 7 G ; Town do 317 9 0 £ QUANTITY SOLD. ? 159,200 acres Country Land £219,382 1 3 294 acres Town Land . 93,318 9 4 £312,700 10 7 Average of the whole, £1 19s. 2d. per acre. Ist October, 1840.