MR. T. RUSSELL'S CLAIM TO TE AROHA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5632, 4 December 1879, Page 6

MR. T. RUSSELL'S CLAIM TO TE AROHA.

TO TEE EDITOR. Sir, —On reading your issue of this morning I was somewhat surprised to find that Mr. Thomas Russell is referred to as a new claimant for Te Aroha block, and that members of the Waßte Land* Board think it singular that Mr. Russell's claim should only crop up now. The members may have been surprised, but that is uot Mr. Russell's fault, but the fault of the Government. Mr. Russell's claim is by no means new, aud as I have been anting for him in that matter since 4th May, 1877, X am familiar with the faits ; aud the subject being of considerable importance to the public in this portion of the colony, I ask to be allowed to state the facts upon which Mr. Russell's claim is based, and show that it is not of recent origin. Mr. RusselFs claim originated in 187*2. In that year he employed Messrs. Preece and Graham to negot'ato the purchase of the block (amongst others) kuown aB YVaiharekeke, in the Thames district, on the east and west sides of the Waih< u River. Mr. Thomas Macky was then engaged on behalf of the Government to purchase land in the same district, and he came to an arrange* ment with Mr. Kusaell to confine his purchase to Waiharekeke West, and this action on Mr. Macky's part was Bubseqently approved of by the Govermrent. On the 18th March, JS73, the natives entered into an agreement with Messrs. Preece and Graham, as Mr. Russell'B agents, to sellJWaiharekeke West, a copy of which

waa duly forwarded to the Government by Mr. Mackay. The native title to U'aiharekokc East and WaikareUeko West W. 13 so comp'icated, the one being ao much up with the other, that it waa deemed advisable, in 1874, for Mr. Russell's agents to retire from the negotiations, anil leave the entire mat er in Mr. Mackay'a hands. The Government so informed him, accordingly. The arrangement contained in the following letter was then entered into with Mr. Mackay. "Cambridge, 2nd January. 1574. To Thomas Ruasell, Esq.—Sir,—ln consideration o£ your not opposing the Government in the purchase of Waiharekeke Block, I hereby undertake, on behalf of the Government, that as soon as ths purchase of the Eame shall be complete'!, you shall have a Crown grant for the portion on tlifi west side of the Kiver Waihou, aojoiniuy the Hunpahunga, on repaying to the GoveMuneut the amount of purchase which aball have been paid by them for the same. — Vours obediently, Jaiiks Mackay, Jun., AgentGoneral to Government." Tho late Mr. Preecf, on 14th June, IS7O, when writing to the Government relative to the purchase of Waiharekeke, says as follows:—"The purchase was arranged for in as full aud complete a manner as was possible, prior to tbe obtaining of a valid title during the month of March, 1573, by au agent who had uo connection whatever with the Govi-rnment, and it was not until the month of Octob.r, IS74—a period of IS months subsequently—that there was any proclamation issued to prohibit tho purchase of land in the district." At the time of the purchase by Mr. Russell it was open to any person to buy and compete with the Government, and it was to buy off competition by Mr. Kussell, aud after ho had entered into his agreement of purchase, and paid large sums of money, that the Government arranged with him to withdraw—he to have a portion of the land for what it eo9t the Government. The Hon. C. C. Bowen, in his telegram to the Superintendent of Auckland, and dated Gth May, 1575, says : —"As Mr. Mackay considers it highly desirable that tho Government should have the east side of the river south ot the Aroha block, Mr. Mackay proposed to Mr. Kussell that he should give up the land to the eastward of the river, and retain that on the western bank. The Government afterwards sanctioned this arrangement. Mr. Mackay reports that the greater part of the laud which Mr. Russell is to have is swamp, and unfit for the location of small settlers, as it will require a large expenditure of capital in draining it before it would be fit for occupation." Mr. Kussell now claims to be entitled to—(1) The part of the Aroha block, the northern line to be at right angles to the river, and running back to the southwest corner of Moore's survey, containing about SOOO acres ; and (2) That part of Waikarekeke block, on the west bank of the Waihou, containing about 1457 acres. The Atkinson Government were willing to give Mr. Russell, aud verbally offered bim Waiharakeke East, as well as West, if he would give up his claim to the portion of the Aroha block, aud so enable tho Government to remove the difficulty they were in by reason of having ircluded this portion in their promise to Broomhall. If the Government had not made this agreement with Mr. Russell, the latter would not only have had the land which he now claims—Waiharakeke West and the Aroha land—but much more. There was nothing whatever to prevent this. He was not tied to the price the Government were. To this day this agreement with Mr. Kussell, and the claims he now makes have never been disputed throughout the whole of the correspondence. The right has been acknowledged and various ways have been suggested for settlement. The whole details of the matter, with copies of agreement, &c., and letters from the native agents engaged together with the official correspondence, were laid on the table of the House in 1576, and ordered to be printed (see parliamentary papers,) 1576, c. 3. A. These printed papers remove all possible doubt had any existed. Almost the last thing Mr. Russell did before leaving Auckland was to draw the attention of the Government to the fact that the land was included in the promise to Broomhall. Every endeavour was made by Mr. Kussell to carry out his part of the agreement. He applied for an account of what the laud cost, so that he might know what he had to pay. This account was repeatedly promised in writing, but never rendered. Since Mr. Russell left here, in July, 1877, I have kept the matter constantly before the Government of the day, and, being alive to its great importance, I have alwayß endeavoured to impress this feature upon the Government, and especially so in my letters of January, March, and July, 187 S. In my letter of the 26th March, 1878, I asked that the agreement be carried out ou the following grounds : —(1) That the agreement was made with the (auction of the Government, and its existence has been repeatedly ac knowledged by them ; (2) That the agreement is founded upon considerations prejudicial to Mr. Russell, but of benefit to the Government and the public ; (3) That j for the making of this agreement Mr. Kussell ' gave up the position which he then occupied as a purchaser, aud which position he could legally claim that the Government should recognise; (4) That Mr. Russell ha 3 faithfully adhered to the conditions imposed upon him by the agreement, and is still ready and anxious to do what may be required of him to complete the samfl. To all of my communications I have received little more than a bare acknowledgment. When the present Government entered upon office*, 1 brought it under their notice in full detail. On learning that the Waste Lands Board were surveying the land, I thought it my duty to apprise that body of the claim, and I accordingly forwarded to them a copy of my last letter to the Government, together with a copy of the place, showing the portion of land iu question by lines drawn by Mr. Mackay, and a copy of which he forwarded to the Government at the time. As my client is absent from the colony, and as the matter has been left exclusively in my hands, I feel it to be my duty to apprise the Waste Lands Board at the earliest moment after I became aware they were about to deal with tbe land. From these facts I must leave your readers to judge whether any "new claimant has arisen." How the Government came to hand over the land to the Board I cannot explain. The importance of the subject to Mr. Russell and to the colony must be my apology for this lengthened statement of facts.—l am, 4c , Edwin Hesketii. Epsom, December 3, 1879.