NATIVE LANDS COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4125, 2 February 1875, Page 3

NATIVE LANDS COURT.

Monday, Fki;i:lai:v 1. [Defore Ilia Honor F. D. Kenton, Cliicf Judge.] An adjourned sitting of this Court was held to-day, lor the purpose of resuming the inquiry into the claim of Keunehui u (Mrs. l'-liz;tbuth Mourant) to a grant of land made to her upon her marriage with the late Mr. Meurant, surveyor ami interpreter. The particular:; of this case have been published in the 11i:i:all> at considerable length. -Mr. Heskoth appeared for the claimant, Mr. .MacC'ormick appeared for the Government. Mr. Meurant died in ISSI, leading a widow (a native woman) and several children. Tn 1544 thirty acres of land had been giveu to Ivennehuru " for ever for herself and children by To Taua (Old Kawau), Te Hiro, his son, and Te Keane. Ostensibly the land was given as a marriage portion. Some exception was afterwards taken to the validity of Te Keane's title, air. Meurant subsequently purchased fourteen acres ofland ou the opposite side of the Tamaki road and applied to Governor Fitzroy for a waiver ot the pre-emptive rights of the Government over both pieces of laud. The Government however said that as the land was a marriage portion, no waiver by the Government waa requisite. Thisstatementappears to have been a mistake, for Sir George Grey subsequently took away 20 acres of the 30 given by the natives to Mrs. Meurant. The 14 acres purchased by Mr. Meurant made the whole quantity of laud 44 acres, and Sir George Grey's Government expressed its willingness to issue Crown grants for the 14 acres purchased and the remaining 10 acres, in all iM acres of laud. Ultimately Sir Georgo Grey's Government offered for sale +hia §Q acres so taken from Mrs. Meurant, notwithstanding a protest lodged against that proceeding. .No bidders competed at the first sale, and the land was again offered for sale, being bought in by the Government of the day. Now, it appears, according to Mr. Carleton, that there was a formal deed of gift from the native chiefs mentioned to Kcnnekuru, and it was alleged this document was lost in the wreck of the White Swan, while on her voyage in ISG2. Commissioner Dillon Bell wasjfavourable to lvennehura's claim. Mr. George Graham was examined yesterday at considerable length. He had purchased a good deal of property in the same neighbourhood. He bore testimony generally to the facts adduced in support of Kennehuru's claim. Mrs. Crippen, daughter of the claimant, was examined and deposed to her mother and herself having hved on the land. Mr. Hesketh, in reply to a question put by the Court, said what was sought Mas that the Government should give to the claimant, who was still living, compensation for the twenty acres of land which had been unjustly taken from her. It was iu the power of the Court to inquire into the facts and report upon them. Mr. MacC'ormick said the matter had come before the Government in many shapes. | The facts had been all inquired into, and j the real question was whether the Government could go beyond whet was already | done. The Chief Judge is likely to take r some time to consider his judgment, so that the result of the inquiry cannot be immediately known. The Court rose at 4 o'clock.