PEEPS INTO THE PAST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14132, 6 August 1909, Page 6

PEEPS INTO THE PAST.

SEVENTY YEARS AGO.

THE WEBSTER LAND DEALS;

SOME OLD GAZETTE NOTICES.

A peep into the pages of a file of the earliest issues of the New Zealand Government Gazette discloses several interesting notifications regarding land claims lodged by various persons in the infant days of the colony. Some of them rofer to the claims to the possession of various areas of land made by Mr. William Webster, whose descendants are now— a lapse of nearly 70 years—stated to be prosecuting a big claim of about half a million sterling in regard to the reputed land purchases of their ancestor.

In the Gazette of May 25, 1842, published at Auckland, a notification is made by Messrs. Edward Leo Godfrey and Matthew Richmond, the Commissioners appointed "to examine and report upon claims to grants of land in New Zealand," and Juno 13 following was appointed as the date for the hearing of the claims. A schedule the claims, as appended, includes two by. William Webster, of Coromandel Harbour. In the first case, he claimed 3000 acres, more or lees, on the.island of Waihake (Waiheke), "bounded on the south by a creek called Nikiaranga, on the west by the sea, on the north by the north point, and on the east by the sea." This land was alleged to have been purchased from Ruinga and other native chiefs on May 8, 1838. The second claim refers to 2000 acres, more or less, on the 60uth-cast eide of the same island, " commencing at a point called Opatia, running north along the shore to a point called Tanihwanui, and from each of these points north-west by west to the north-west eide of the island." This land is alleged to have been purchased by the claimant from Ngakete and other native chiefs, on the same date as that of the first-mentioned purchase. A notification in the Gazette of Jnly 5, 1843, stated that the Commissioners had recommended a grant of 811 acres to Mr. Webster in regard to the claim of 3000 acres.

Several notifications in regard to, the land dealings of Webster appear in the Ga- ! zette of April 5. 1843. In this issue Mr. Richmond announces that on June 8 following he would proceed to investigate a number of claims at " Hauraki, River Thames." Amongst the claims near the top of the list are two by Charles, Robert, and William Abercrombie, cf Sydney. The land jointly claimed by these three claimants consisted of part of a block of 80,000 acres, in the Piako and Waikato districts, which was alleged to have been purchased on December 31, 1839, from several native chiefs by William Webster, in consideration of several articles of merchandise, the value of winch is not stated. Mr. Webster is stated to have sold a moiety of the land to Mr. Peter Abercrombie, who gold ft tenth of his interest to each of the three claimants named. Similar claims in regard to the said block were made by W. Drake, Arthur Devlin, and R. J. Dunlop, all of Sydney. Five claims were preferred at the same time by Peter Abercrombie, in regard to areas at Coromandel and Thames, which lie alleged he had purchased from Webster, after the latter had acquired them from the natives. Henry Downing, of Coromandel, at the same time claimed 1280 acres, alleged to have been bought from Webster, on the bank of the Piako River, whilst Felton Mathew and Geopge Cooper, of Auckland, claimed 10,000 acres, and John Johnson, of , Auckland, 5000 acres, on the same river, such lands having been also purchased from Webster, who acquired it from " certain native chiefs not mentioned." Other people who claimed land in the Piako and Thames districts, as having, been acquired from Webster, were John Wren, Vincent Wanoetrocht, and John W. Fenn (all of Liverpool), Jeremiah Nagle, of the Great Barrier. : , V

The same schedule, which covers 12 pages of the Gazette, contains no fewer than 11 claims by Webster himself in regard to the numerous blocks of land that he asserted he had acquired from the natives. The largest area is the 80,000 acres in the Piako and Waikato districts, already mentioned, which he states he purchased from the natives for " cash and merchandise to the value of £1195.", Values have appreciated somewhat since those days'. Another of Mr. Webitcrs claims referred to the Great Barrier Island, which he states he had purchased in 1839 from " three hundred of the principal chiefs of the Thames" for cash and goods to the value of £1200. The necessity of obtaining the signatures of natives, which is now such an important undertaking, was no doubt dispensed with 71 years ago. Other of the Webster claims were in regard to the Inland of Motutaupere, near the entrance to Coromandel Harbour, and Big Mercury Island, stated to have been purchased for £80 and £944 respectively. The wheels of native land administration apparently moved rather less slowly in the early forties than in the present generation, for the reader finds in the Gazette of May 3, 18440n1y one year —that deeds of grants for several of the areas claimed or part thereof were notified as being available to the grantees on application. Six of these Crown grants were in favour of Webster in regard to portions of half a dozen of his numerous claims. Several of the other claimants above-named were equally fortunate. Some further grants were gazetted on July 23 of the same year. The file from which these extracts have been taken ends with the year 1844, and for the history of the subsequent fortunes of the claimants the student of early New Zealand must search elsewhere.