MR Spain's Report on the Port Nicholson District.-(Contiuned from last No.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 96, 1 July 1846, Page 4

MR Spain's Report on the Port Nicholson District.- (Contiune d fro m las t No.)

It now becomes necessary to take up my report from the period of the conference between your Excellency and Colonel Wakefield at Fort Nicholson on the 29th January, 1844, before referred to, when the negotiation for compensating the natives which had been interrupted for a time was again resumed. -The accompanying letter* from Mr. G. Clarke, Jun., Protector of Aborigines enclosing a copy of the correspondence between him and Colonel Wakefield, apprised me that they had mutually agreed upon the sum of one thousand five hundred pounds (£1,500) as necessary to compensate the native claims in the Wellington district, without the necessity of appealing to me as umpire. In speaking of the sub-division of the £1,500 amongst the several pas and families in the Port Nicholson district, it is necessary that I should set out by stating that the allotment of the various amounts was confided by your Excellency to the discretion of Mr. Clarke. There was much in the detail of that settlement which I felt^ bound to oppose, and which I can never support with my concurrence or approval. The original plan of the scheme for compensating the Port Nicholson natives, was, that I should notify, to the Company's agent as occasion required in the course of the investigation, what particular natives I considered entitled to participate in the proposed remuneration and for what portion of land I recognised their claim. At this point Mr. Claike and Colonel Wakefield were to enter, into a negociation as to the amount, and in the event .of any difference between them, might appeal to me as umpire for a final decision. This course I, had adopted in the cases of T,e (t Aro, Kumutoto, and PipiteaPa, the, occasion when .the plan was adopted for the first time. Circumstances which have, been alrea-

* No. 3i- Mr. Clarke inclosing, Ccrrespodence with Col. Wakefield and ScKedule of Lands; 21it Feb. 18^4. ' ' • ■

dy detailed in other papers on this case then prevented the negotiation that ensued from terminating in any actual payment to the natives of those places. Burwhen in the commencement of 1844, the arrangements were renewed for this object, I had the honor to call your Excellency's attention to the proposed division by Mr. Clarke of the £1,500, and amongst other objections most pointedly urged by me, was -a proposed payment of £200 to Tako, for himself and his people at Kumutoto ; to which I intimated my opinion that he was not entitled, as he was a man of no particular standing or rank amongst his countrymen, and had affixed his name to the Company's deed, and received for his people at Kumutoto (very few in number) one-sixth portion of the payment: and I ventured to suggest that such an intention if persevered m would probably have the effect of creating jealousy amongst the other tribes and families : upon that occasion your Excellency was pleased to state the relative position of Mr. Clarke and myself with reipectto the division of the £1,500, to be as follows, viz., that Mr. Clarke having agreed with the agent of the New Zealand Company to satisfy all the claims of the natives within the district agreed upon for the sura of £1,500, your Excellency had (and justly so) a right to assume that Mr. Clarke had made the necessary arrangements with all the parties to receive the respective amounts as decided on by him, that therefore any interference v/ith his arrangement in the mode and amount of payment would be depriving him of the power and relieving him from the responsibility of performing his agreement with Col. Wakefield; and consequently, that the responsibility of the division of the payment' rested with Mr. Clarke, and that it was my duty alone to witness the .payment: I also most strongly objected to the large amount proposed to be paid by Mr. Clarke to Rangihaeata and Rauparaha for their alleged claim on the Hutt, and ior the following reason : — During the whole of my protracted sittings in investigating this case no claim was ever advanced, by Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, or any of their followers, or by Mr. Clarke on their behalf to this portion of the Hutt. Subsequently when I examined these men at Forirua upon the claim to that place they never mentioned any claim to the Hutt, and in fact the only judicial notice I ever had of their claim was Mr. Clarke's reservation of a portion of the £1,500 for them. It was necessary for me to remind your Excellency of this, because the arrangement by which Mr. Clarke undertook to bring the affair to a final adjustment has not been productive of so successful a result as might have been anticipated fiom the confident tone in which that gentleman predicted to your Excellency and myself the issue of his negociations, and because I was unable in more than one instance to yield my approval of the amount allotted to a particular pa or settlement. I have taken every means in my power to ascertain the grounds of the claim of Rauparaha and Rangihaeata to the Hutt, which I cau only trace to the following circumstances : — Many years ago (I believe I may say from fifteen to twenty) Rauparaha and Rangihaeata fought their way from Taranaki to Port Nicholson, conquering as they came along ; but without sufficient force to keep possession of the lands they had taken, which were shortly afterwards re-occupied by their original proprietors who have kept possession ever since. Now according to my opinion of Maori customs with regard to title to land, this would not have given these men a title to the Hutt, and in my judicial capacity in the exercise of my best judgment, I should have decided against it if it had been brought before me. Another strong ground against their claim is, that on the arrival of the Tory Colonel Wakefield found the Ngatiawa tribe, of whom he professed to have purchased, in possession of Port Nicholson and the Hutt, (and which they had held for nine or ten years), and if Rauparaha at that time had attempted to take possession of the Hutt, he would immediately have been driven away by Warepori, Puni, and their party. I gather this opinion from the best information that I have been able to obtain on the spot, from disinterested persons well acquainted 1 with these circumstances. Your Excellency having appointed Mr. Thomas Fitzgerald as tha Surveyor attached to my commission, I instructed him to inclose all the lands claimed by the New, Zealand Company in that district by an external boundary line in the easiest manner, ami in the shortest possible time, and to take advantage in doing so of all natural boundaries as far as possible. Within these boundaries were to be included all ths sections specified in the schedule agreed' upon by Mr. Clarke and Colonel Wakefield^ and Ii propose to award the Qompanya Crown Grant of all such, sections within such boundaries excepting the reserves, pas, cultivations, and burying

grounds, belonging to the natives, and any lands awarded by me to private claimants. By the accompanying schedule* your Excellency will perceive the name of each division of the natives, the supposed number of men, and the sum allotted to each settlement. By this it will be seen that out of fifteen tribes or families eleven have received the compensation, and executed the necessary release of all their claims. As a matter of reference I enclose a copy of the form of release adopted in each case, the originals will accompany this report. After your Excellency's decision upon the particular duty I had to perform in the actual division of the £1,500 between the several claimants, I of course ceased to press my object'ons, and being convinced that in order to carry out with success the healing and equitable measure we had commenced for the adjustment of the hud question in the Company's settlements, it was absolutely necessary that the most cordial unanimity and co-op-peration should subsist between all the officers of the Government engaged in it : 1 have most scrupulously in every interview with the natives since entering upon the matter, not only assisted Mr. Clarke in-persuadiug them to accept the suras he has offered, but in order to carry out the object as before stated, I have virtually adopted his separation or division of the money as my own, and thus given him the benefit of any weigh t that the aborigines may have attached to the justice and impartiality of my awards. I was certainly very much surprised that with hardly an exception, at every meeting with the natives which I have attended on the appointment of the Protector, instead of finding the parties agreed to accept the sums offered, and that it was only necessary for me to witness the payment, 1 bad to talk over the subject with them precisely the same as if it had been the commencement of a negociation, instead of the conclusion of an agreement previously arranged, settled, and understood by all the parties concerned. At the same time I am quite aware of the great, difficulties Mr. Clarke had to contend with in the fickleness of the native character, and the extravagant demands they invariably advance at first ; but I cannot disguise the fact that Mr. Clarke in his various communications with me acting as the advocate and arbitrator on the part of the natives, was in the habit of making very extensive assurances as to his success with the natives, which I scarcely ever found realized when I afterwards met them. This caused me scarcely any sur-. prise from having observed the very little intercourse he held with the natives, and the very great difficulty I experienced in getting him to use the slightest personal exertion to endeavour to carry our object into effect. Instead of his going forward to smooth the way for me, I found it difficult to get him to attend to my appointments with the natives, and then I was obliged to wait his own time, such was the tedious way in which he conducted the negociation. f Another difficulty I had to contend with arose from the little confidence the elder natives placed In Mr. Clarke, whom they used frequently to describe as a mere child, who was incapable of teaching them or affording them advice. A, Protector entrusted with this duty had' it in his power from the facility of intercourse with the natives, and capability of conversing with them in their own language, materially to assist, an officer in my situation. But Mr. Clarke seemed to consider this- no part of his duty, and often retarded my operations ta an extent that caused me much embarrassment and annoyance. Although it would have afforded me very great pleasure could I have- reported that the other four pas or families' had been settled with, yet. I must, confess that a careful review of all the circumstances' and' the many; difficulties and' obstructions' that hare arisen* hat induced, me to consider that' we have been ex* ceedingly. fortunate in- succeeding thus fir.The t whole) site, of' the town of- Wellington? upon, which thousands of pounds have-been-expended by the settlers, and to which- the Company^ title was 1 most defective, has beer* secured'to the Europeans-, together- with- s considerable-country -district; the- only • part of the- "land contained 1 in the aforementioned schedule now-disputed (and' which I have endeavoured" before to sltew,- without -ground) being the- upper -part of 1 the Hutt. It would not only be unnecessary but tedious were I to go- into a description of" the various meetings which- terminated successfully, 1 and therefore T shall* only enclose, the particulars of those- which ended' without, the accomplishment of my object; and.' proceed 1 to comment upon these only. " , The first- two places that appear upon the schedule as being unpaid, are. Ngaurangaand Petoni, and I herewith, enclose copies ■of the

f No. 4a. Copy* Cdwespondenc<t^iritX.Mc Clarke. •

minutes of the proceedings of the meetings that I held at those two places, and would observe that the consent of these two families is wholly unnecessary to the carrying out the present arrangement. Warepori, the late chief of the first place, (who died about two years and a half ago,) and Puni, the chief of the second place were, as I have already sttted, two of the roost influential chiefs on the Petoni side of Port Nicholson at the time of the arrival of Colonel Wakefield in the Tory, and they both took a very active part in the sale to him of that district. When I commenced my enquiry into this purchase, Puni was called by Colonel Wakefield as a witness to prove the validity of the purchase, when he fully admitted that he bad sold the land to Colonel Wakefield, and that he was satisfied with the payment. Warepori, who was then alive, several times attended the Court to hear what was going -on, and never attempted to deny the sale, -in fact during the v.hole of my investigation the consent of the natives of Ngauranga and Petoni to the sale to the "Company has never been disputed, while the iiatives on the Wellington side always contended that the former had included in <that sale land which did not belong to them. .Since the death «f Warepori the Ngauranga natives look up to Puni as their superior, and they appear to follow his advice. If I had been called upon to adjudicate upon the sale of this district by the natives of Ngauranga and Petoni alone, I should unhesitatingly have decided in favor of the Company's .purchase, and the question of any further payment to them been submitted to me as the umpire between the Protector and Colonel Wakefield, I should have decided against their being entitled to receive any portiou of the £1,500. This, however, has not been the case ; and Mr. Clarke it appears from motives of policy offered each pa £30. The refusal, therefore, of these two pas to receive the offered payment opposes no obstacle in the way, and it only remains for your Excellency to determine how the £60 may be laid out for their benefit. I believe Mr. Clarke merely intended the sums which he offered the people of these* two places as a gratuity or complimentary present, that they certainly, the eldei portions of the tribe, should not be altogether omitted or passed over in a payment to the natives of j the district generally. They refused it, however, though proffered in this way, and while such conduct on their part is at once evidence in favor of the validity of their bargain, and of the sufficiency in their case of the original consideration, it is a proof of faithful and rigid adherence, after the lapse of years and under circumstances of strong and peculiar temptation, by Puni and his followers to the original sale to the Company. The third place on the schedule unpaid is Ohariu, the natives of which pa Mr. Clarke represented to me were absent at Rangitikei ! — Kaeaea, otherwise called Taringa Kuri, (Dog's Ear) their principal man, that crafty • and troublesome native who is now and has been for a long time acting as Rauparaha's ! first Lieutenant upon the Hutt, several times -assured Mr, Clarke that he would send for them to return. But they never did so during the time I remained at Wellington. They are a part of, and connected with, the Kaiwara-wara natives, of whom Taringa Kuri is the principal man. This party received a sixth part of the' goods first given in payment by Colonel Wakefield, and Taringa Kuri was also one of the parties executing the conveyance to the Company ; and he and the resident natives at Kaiwara-wara received a part of the compensation as will be seen by a reference to the schedule and the original release which they have signed, which accompany this report. 1 believe that Taringa Kuri has purposely kept them back in order on some future occasion to play precisely the same false game that he is now doing on the riutt. I have myself seen Taringa Kuri on this subject several times, when he always positively assured me that he would send for these people immediately, but they never made their appearance. I could obtain no certain information as to their numbers, and it appeari to me exceedingly doubtful whether there are many of them actual residents at Qhariu. This will be another case for your Excellency's decision how the sum appropriated by Mr. Clarke for this people shall be disposed of for their benefit. I now come to Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, Taringa Kuri, and their party upon the Hutt, and I beg to call your Excellency's particular attention to Rauparaha's letter* to me, my reply, and the minutes of my proceedings at Porirua on the Bth and 9th March, 1844» copies of which are herewith enclosed. Mr. Clarke reported to me that he had fully arranged the matter with Rauparaha and Rangihaeata at Waikanae when your Excellency visited that place, and after this I certainly

• No. 6. Copy Raup^raha's Letter to Mr. Spain. Spain's Reply, and Minutes of Procee_ OiDg i at Porirua.

' was not prepared for the opposition I experienced from these chiefs. After having exercised the utmost patience while I thought patience requisite or useful, I deemed it right to shew some firmness in leaving them at the end 'of the interview on the second day, being convinced that my remaining with them any longer could not have led to any beneficial result. I have the honor to call your Excellency's attention to the enclosed narrative* of my i journey up the Hutt, where I went in consej quence of Taringa Kuri and his people having commenced cutting a line dividing the i Upper from the Lower Hutt, and claiming I the upper part, although it was included in the schedule of land adopted by Messrs. ■ Wakefield and Clarke. I was very much struck with the tone and manner of Taringa Kuri and his party on this occasion, and it was evident to me that he was acting under the direct orders of Rauparaha and Rangihaeata. It was the first time in my communications with the Aborigines (which have been very numerous since 1 commenced my duties as Commissioner) that I have observed a man of such inferiority in rank, and of such little consequence amongst his countrymen as Taringa Kuri, dare to assume the tone he did in almost setting the constituted authorities at defiance : so totally different from hit conduct on former occasions when I interfered and endeavoured to make htm desist from continuing to clear land on Mr. Swainson's section on the Hutt. He was then quiet — .listened respectfully to what I had to say, and once promised in the presence of Messrs. Clarke and Halswell that he and his people would immediately quit the land ; Mr. Swainson then interfered and said that if Taringa Kuri would promise to quit after he had one crop, his continuing to clear land for that purpose would be an advantage to him. 1 did all I could to dissuade Mr. Swainson from pursuing such an unwise course, and advised that as Taringa Kuri had promised to quit at once he should be taken at his word and allowed to do so. Mr. Swainson, however, persisted, and the matter was thus arranged according to his own suggestion. Very- few weeks elapsed before Taringa Kuri commenced felling timber which Mr. Swainson wished to preserve. Mr. Swainson made various applications to Mr. Murphy the then Police Magistrate at Wellington on the subject, but Kuri had doggedly remained there up to the tijie of my quitting Wellington, in October last, continuing to clear more land and gradually increasing the number of his people. I had a striking proof of the low estimation in which Kuri is held when in the presence of Rauparaha and Rangihaeata upon the occasion of my meeting those two chiefs at Porirua on the Bth and 9th March, 1844. For when I openly accused him of having been the cause of the objection being made to receiving the compensation for the Hutt, and reminded him that he had admitted to me that he had no right there, he hung down hrs head and never answered a word. It certainly appeared to me that Taringa Kuri, acting under the direct orders of Rauparaha and Rangihaeata and backed by a great number of their slaves, (some of whom had been at the Wairau affair, where one said he had had a brother killed,) determined to retain the land on the upper side of the line in their possession by force if necessary in defiance of British law and authority; and I -could not help tracing this determined opposition to one of the effects produced by the lamentable rencounter at the Wairau, where the Aborigines first learned to mistrust our justice and to doubt our bravery. Feeling, therefore, a deep anxiety to remove if possible all cause of quarrel between the two races with respect to the disputed boundary upon the H utt, and which it appeared to me could only be peaceably accomplished by obtaining an order from Rauparaha to Taringa Kuri to withdraw his party- altogether from that place, I wrote the letterf- to Rauparaba of which I enclose a copy, and of his reply thereto. Having written this letter I felt it desirable to obtain the opinion of some disinterested person well acquainted with the- Maori language and character upon two important points, viz., first, whether the line of argument I had adopted was one likely to be understood by Rauparaha, and secondly, whether in the present state of affairs it was calculated to produce a beneficial result ; and the Rev. Octavius Hadfield, of Waikanae, Immediately occurred to me as the gentleman best calculated to give me valuable advice upon this subject. I had also another important object in consulting him from his long residence amongst the natives of Waikanae and Otaki, during which period he has so generously and disinterestedly devoted the whole of his time to their religious instruction, and the general improvement of their condition. Mr. Had-

* No. 7. Narrative of Proceedings up the Hutt. * UV f No. 8. Mr. Spaip'g Letter to Rauparaha, and th» reply of that chief. - .

field has obtained very great influence over them, which has been very much increased by the circumstance of his never having been concerned in the buying or selling of land or any other secular affairs calculated to cause disagreements between the two races. I therefore considered that if I was fortunate enough to obtain Mr. Hadfield's approval of my letter, and could get him to translate it into Maori in his own handwriting, it would be likely to produce considerable effect upon Rauparaha, (who was then living at Otaki and attending Mr. Hadfield's church,) as shewing that Mr. Hadfieid approved of its contents. Under these circumstances I determined to proceed at once to Waikanae and Otaki. I started for these places on the morning of the 21st March, 1844, and reached the former place at 8 o'clock at night, where I fortunately found Mr. Hadfieid at home. Rauparaha was at Otaki. At Porirua Rangihaeata came up to me in his usual excited manner, and stated that some Europeans had told him that we were about to fight with the natives and to take their land away from them, and he wished to know from me whether it was true ? I told him that it was not true, and that he was very foolish for listeuiug to such absurd reports, that these people only gave utterance to them from bad motives and a wish to cause ill feeling between the two races, that he had heard what the Governor had said at Waikanae, which ought to have convinced him that the Europeans had no intention of making war upon the Maories, and that in future when he heard similar foolish reports he had better apply to me or to some other Government officer, who would always tell him the truth. He expressed himself satisfied with the explanation, and admitted that I had always told the truth. I had a very long consultation with Mr. Hadfieid upon the affair, anl he expressed himself as much astonished that the old man had refused to take the money at Porirua, as Rauparaha had told him previously to his J leaving Otaki for Porirua, that he was going down to meet me to take the money and settle the affair, and that he was convinced it was the intention of both Rauparaha and Rangihaeata to do so when they left him, but that they had been subsequently influenced by Taiiuga Kuri and some Europeans at Porirua. Mr. Hadfieid also informed me that these chiefs were very jealous because Mr. Clarke had paid the Port Nicholson natives before them, and expressed great dissatisfaction at the amount, £200, that had been paid to Tako of Kumutoto, and £200 to the pa Pipetea. Mr. Hadfieid, after a careful consideration of my letter not only approved of its contents, but was pleased to say that the line of argument adopted was one likely to be fully understood by Rauparaha and calculated to make an impression upon him, and that he could not suggest any other mode of reasoning more suited to effect my object. He also added that Rauparaha would be quite prepared for the dictum I had laid down respecting the law of nations in treating a country thinly populated like New Zealand, which they may have determined to colonize. I would here observe that as I would not cmi in addressing a New Zealand chief, state or assert any international law or practice not borne out by some good and admitted authority, I think it as well here to quote my authority — Chitty's New Edition of the Law of Nations, from the French ofDu Vattel, published in 1834, p. 100 — " There is anoth.er celebrated question to which the discovery of the New World has principally given rise. It is asked whether a nation may lawfully take possession of some part of a vast country in which there are none but erratic nations, whose scanty population is incapable of occupying the whole ? , We have already observed (s. 81.) in establishing the obligation to cultivate the earth, that these nations cannot exclusively appropriate to themselves more land than they are able to settle and cultivate. Their unsettled habitation in those immense regions cannot be accounted a true and legal possession, and the people of Europe, too closely pent up at home, finding land of which the savages stood in no particular need, and of which they made no actual and constant use, were lawfully entitled to take possession of it and settle it with colonies. The earth as we have already observed, beloigs to mankind in general, and was designed to furnish them with subsistence : if each nation had from the beginning resolved to appropriate to itself a vast country that the people might live only by hunting, fishing, and wild fruits, our globe would not be sufficient to maintain a tenth part of its present inhabitants. We therefore do not deviate from the views of nature in confining the Indians within narrower limits. However, we cannot help praising the moderation of the English Puritans who first settled in New England, who notwithstanding their being furnished with « charter from their Sovereign, purchased of the Indians the land of which they in-

tended to take possession. This laudable exam pie was followed by William Pcnn and the cclony of Quakers that he conducted to Pennsylvania." I thought this text remarkably applicable as a proof that Great Britain had taken a much more generous mode of colonising this country* than in all probability any other European nation would have adopted, and that if all the English now quitted the country, the natives would not find that any other nation which might hereafter determine on colonizing it, would treat them with similar forbearance. I also considered this line of argument calculated to convince the aborigines how liberally the Government had treated them, in the course that had been generally pursued respecting their lands on all occasions, most scrupulously guarding all their rights and interests. It was then arranged that I should accora- ! pany Mr. Hadfield to Otaki on the following morning as his guest; and that if Rauparaha sought an interview with me, Mr. Hadfield would translate my letter to him as an address : but we both agreed that it was not advisable for me to seek the interview, as it would be shewing too much anxiety, and be likely to frustrate my object. We left Waikanae early the next morning, and reached Otaki at 11 o'clock. We found Rauparaha on the bank of the river evidently waiting for us. He nodded and asked Mr. Hadfield when I had arrived, and was told that I had come to Waikanae on the night before. We then walked to Mr Hadfield's house, expecting that Rauparaha would have followed us. Mr Hadfield observed to me that when we arrived Rauparaha's face appeared a little flushed, and from his manner he thought it likely that he anticipated I had come with some hostile or unpleasant message to him, because he had refused to take the money at Porirua. We waited until 6 o'clock P.M., when as he had not made his appearance, and as Mr. Hadfield had then an evening service at the church, where it was possible Rauparaha would attend, I determined to go in order co give him the chance of speaking to me after the service. When we left the church Rauparaha called Mr. Hadfield to him, and after speaking upon indifferent subjects observed, " I told Taringa Kuri to settle all about the land, and to do what you and Mr. Spain decided." He then dropped the subject, and evidently wished, to avoid entering further into it. After a consultation with Mr. Hadfield we decided that my letter should now be translated into Maori and delivered ; this Mr. Hadfield most kindly undertook to do : but the translation from its length occupied considerable time, and was delivered to Rauparaha about half-past 8 the next morning. I waited until one o'clock P.M., when. Rauparaha not having replied to my letter or sought an interview, it was deemed expedient that I should return to Port Nicholsjn,. leaving him to consider the contents of the letter, and to consult as he probably would Rangihaeata and Taringa Kuri. Rauparaha's reply reached me on the 29th of the same month, and therein he appears to disclaim any intention on his part of withholding the land from the Europeans, and endear ours to throw all the blame upon Rangihaeat. He is evidently annoyed at being charged with a breach of faith, and in defending himself therefrom, attacks Mr. Clarke with considerable asperity. My want of success hitherto with Rauparaha and Rangihaeata appears to have arisen from two causes : First, the persuasions used by Taringa Kuri that the upper part of the Hutt should be retained for the use of himself and the party he had congregated there : Many of these people are followers and slaves of Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, and the Hutt would be a convenient place for their location as being within an easy distance of Porirua, and they would be at hand when required to do the bidding of their masters, and this will in some measure account for Taringa Kuri's having any influence upon this particular subject. The Europeans also did considerable mischief. One seems to have told them that £300 was an absurd sum to take : that they could not purchase a decent house for it in Wellington. Again, alluding to a small pieeeof land at Mana, " that a piece like that- was worth a thousand pounds." Another, that the land they owned on the Hutt was worth £100,000. And secondly, the great jealousy felt by these men that the Port Nicholson natives should have been paid first, and that they should have received so large a portion of the payment. They expressed themselves very much disgusted that such a man as Tako of Kumutoto, whom I have already described as being of no rank and with very few followers, should have received £200. They also asserted that Mr. Clarke, when he met them at Waikanae, promised that he would bring the payment to Otaki and give it to them before he paid the Port Nicholson people. I have given at length the reasons why I think the ultimate refusal of Raunarahi or

Rangihaeata, or both of them, should be no bar to the issue to the Company of a Crown Grant for the whole block agreed upon between Col. Wakefield -and Mr. Clarke including tire Upper Hutt, and I cannot for one moment admit that Taringa Kuri or his people has or ever had the shadow of a claim to that particular spot. I will therefore only add, that had their claim been admitted they are equally bound by ray award. They were both through Mr. Clarke not only consenting parties to the arbitration, but they declared over and over again that they would leave the matter to my decision and abide by it. They afterwards told Mr. Clarke at Waikanae, that they were willing to accept the sum that he had decided they should receive, and in my opinion it would be unjust to all parties concerned as well as unwise and impolitic, to allow them now to withdraw from their engagement. The British Government having insisted on and obtained ample justice for the aborigines in this instance, it becomes absolutely necessary in ray opinion that it should now firmly carry out and compel the absolute cession to the Europeans of the lan 1 in this purchase, comprised within the boundaries of my award. In all my interviews with the natives, 1 have always explained to them that all the land described in the before mentioned schedule belonged to the Europeans ; and that no alterations would be permitted by your Excellency. I cannot however conclude my observations on this part of the subject without referring to a proceeding in relation to it, of 'which although I have received no official intimation, it were idle for me to affect ignorance, and which I feel imperatively called upon to notice in this place. I allude to the payment of a sum of money (I believe £400) to Raiiparaha and Rangihaeata, made by Mr. George Clarke junior at the request of your Excellency just after my departure from Wellington, without any communication or reference to myself, and entirely without my sanction or concurrence. This payment was made out of money advanced by the New Zealand Company, and placed in the Union Bank of Australia to abide the award and umpirage of Col. Wakefield, Mr. Clarke, and myself. It is not for me to enquire into, or to predict here what have been or may be" the results of such a measure. I would only remark that the future adherence to, or departure from any engagements relative to the occupation of the Hutt, into which these chiefs may have entered with Mr. Clarke, will have no effect in any way to alter the opinions I have already expressed on this subject, or to induce roe to modify the decision I have pronounced upon their alleged claim to that district, and consequently my award to the New Zealand Company of the land comprised within the limit* of Col. Wakeiield and Mr. Clarke's shedule above referred to, must be considered as made altogether irrespectively of any acceptance of payment or abandonment of their claim, on the part of Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, and as resting solely upon the merits of the case as supported or disproved in evidence before my Court. In addition to the evidence taken Jn this particular case which accompanies this Report, I have also extracted from the evidence* taken in the cases of private claimants* to land within the block claimed by the Company, such parts as relate or bear upon this claim, and which in every way confirm the statements contained in the testimony of the wit-nesses-examined in the Company's case. I feel convinced that the voluminous evidence taken in the Company's case, as well as those portions in the cases of private claimants within the Port Nicholson block just referred to t will abundantly bear out the decision which I have pronounced upon the character and validity of the original purchase, alleged to have been made by the Principal Agent; and I trust to the many, other various documents and correspondence which accompany this and my former, Report to prove th at every effort has been made, no exertion spared to bring about, in the first instance, and finally accomplish and complete an arrangement by which the Company might be enabled to fulfil the engagements made to its purchasers without injustice to the Aboriginal Proprietors, or violating the sanctity < of the promises of protection and even handed justice sp solemnly and repeatedly guaranteed to the latter, by the Treaty of Waitangi, and by the Governors of this colony on behalf of her Majesty the Queen since New Zealand became a British dependency. , lam fully alive to the very, important and arduous character of the duty I have had to perform, to the complexity and variety^ of the questions which have arisen out of its consideration, and the extent and magnitude of the many conflicting interests involved in its decision.

* N0.. 9. Extracts from Evidence- mi cases 229,229 a, and 287: '

Opposed in the very outset of my proceedings by the adverse influence at home, and in the colony of so powerful a body as the NewZealand Company, and having to conduct in the midst of the largest and perhaps most important settlement in these islands, an enquiry affecting the first interests of all and every member of the community (his property in, and title to land), exposed at once lo the distrust of the settlers, and the misconstructio 11 of the natives, while striving to the utmost to procure them justice at any risk short of a departure fiom the principles of rectitude and truth, I may be allowed to say that mine has been a posit'on of no little anxiety — that I have had much to encounter, much to perform. The long and intimate intercourse which I have necessarily maintained with the natives of the southern settlements of this country has afforded me many opportunities of observing the peculiarities of disposition, and given me an insight into the character of these people, and I possesed at one time much influence over thai portion of them amongst whom my duties have principally thrown me ; and whenever opportunities have offered I have always endeavoured to exert such influence to the best of my ability for the benefit of the public service of this colony. I trust that my conduct on various occasions, and the several public documents which record my opinions on many points arising out of the operation of my enquiry, or bearing on the mutual relations of the two races, and the affairs generally of the colony, will make it apparent that I have been actuated throughout my protracted and tedious investigation of the Company's claims entirely and solely by a desire to perform the duties of the -Commission I have the honoi to hold in the spirit in which I consider its execution was entrusted to mo. During- my residence in Cook's Strait I have been more than once called upon to take decided measures in relation to matters not immediately connected with, though perhaps arising out of my Commission, which affected the mutual interests and position of the natives and European residents. It was my painful duty to act as a Magistrate during the proceedings immediately consequent on the melancholy catastrophe at •Wairau, which has done so much towards the estrangement of the two races, and from which may be dated the existence in the native mind of a feeling of jealously and animosity towards the European strangers, but little calculated to strengthen the bonds of friendly intercourse betwixt us, or to promote the advancement of civilization : Of my opinions expressed at the moment on the probable results of that unfortunate occurrence, this Government has long been in possession, as well as my deliberate convictions on the same subject committed to paper some" time subsequently, when the feelings naturally excited by an affair of such a nature maybe supposed to have entirely given place to the calmer judgment of mature reflection. I allude to this on the present occasion, because I am anxious to reiterate my already expressed sentiments on a subject of such importance, and on which, from the circumstances of my position, I consider myself eutitled to pronounce an opinion. If only remains for me to make my final Award, which is as follows : — I, William Spain, her Majesty's Commissioner for investigating and (determining titles and claims to land in New Zealand, do hereby determine and award that the Directors of the New Zealand Company in London and their successors are entitled to a Crown Grant of twenty- one thousand nine hundred acres of land, situate, lying, and being in the district or settlement of Port Nicholson, or Wanganui Atera, in the southern division of New Zealand. The country land, comprising seven hundred and eight sections of one hundred acres each, making together seventy thousand eight hundred acres, and the town land comprising one thousand one hundred acres, which said land and the several districts in which it is situated, are more particularly set forth and described in the schedule contained in enclosure No. 3 of this Report, which said schedule was agreed and determined upon on the Bth. day of February 1844, between Colonel William Wakefield, the Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company,' for and on behalf of that body on the one part, and George Clarke the younger, the Protector of Aborigines, for and on their behalf, on the other part; and are delineated and set forth upon the accompanying plan to this Report annexed, marked enclosure No". 1 2 ; saving and always excepting as follows : *All the pas, burial places, and grdunds actually in cultivation by the natives, situated within any of the said lands hereby awarded to the New Zealand Company as aforesaid ;

* Thisis the exception agreed upon at the conference at- Major Richmond's on Mbn'day, 29t!h. January- 1844, a copy of the Minutes- of s which fpimiiEnblosure No. lof this^Repprti .

the limits of the pas to be the ground fenced in around their native' houses, including the ground in cultivation or occupation around the adjoining houses without the fence; and cultivations, as those tracts of country which are now used by the natives for vegetable productions, or which have been so used by the aboriginal natives of New Zealand since the establishment of the colony ; and also except the thirty-nine native reserves of one hundred acres each, and the one hundred and ten town acres, which said native reserves are also set forth in the said schedule, and delineated upon the said plan (except the two native reserves of one hundred acres each, marked upon the said schedule as native reserves resumed) : And also except the piece or parcel of land, situate atTe Aro, lately granted by his Excellency the Governor to the Wesleyan Mission : And also except so much of that piece of land, containing one acre and a half, more or less, situated in the harbour of Port Nicholson aforesaid, and bounded as follows ; on the east by the harbour, from Kumutoto creek about 400 feet northwards to the next small creek falling into the harbour ; on the north by the said small creek about one hundred feet back from the beach ; on the west from the said small creek along the brow of the hill at the back about 400 feet, to Kumutoto creek at its first turn ; and on the south by the said creek to the harbour about 200 feet, as appears coloured in the plan forming enclosure No. 3 to case 439, David Scott claimant, which said last described piece of land I have awarded to the said claimant : And also except so much of that piece of ground situate upon the beach on the western shore of Port Nicholson, in that part of the town of Wellington now known as Thorndon Quay, extending from a certain tree to which the fence of George Young the claimant was formerly attached about 350 feet in a northerly direction along the beach just above high-water mark, and from the beach to the bank in the rear of the same, as appears coloured red in the plan forming enclosure No. 2 to case 454, George Young claimant, which said last described piece of land I have awarded to the said claimant : And also except all that piece of land adjoining the sea, and situated to the south and by west of the Ngatiawa village, running parallel to the sea, and up the ridge at the back ; bounded to the north and by east at the distance of 51S| feet, from a line drawn from Ngatiawa church to the sea, then measuring from north and by east to south and by west 5 1|- feet, measuring from the sea at high water mark, to beyond the ridge parallel to the sea 232 feet, which said last piece of land is better described by the plan forming enclosure No. 6 to case 229, Robert Tod claimant, which I have awarded to Alexander M 'Donald, the assignee of the said claimant: And also that piece or parcel of land situate on the Flat where lies the Ngatiawa church, from which church it bears by compass, and runs along the ridge to the south-west ■§■ south ; its boundary line runs north-west | noi th, and south-east % south, and is distant from the Ngatiawa church 300 feet south-west and by south. ; - its boundary line on the east south-east is the ridge facing the sea, to which ridge the land runs parallel and extends to the south-west and by south 147f- feet; the boundary line then runs Back from the top of the ridge, to the north-west north 527 feet. It then turns away to the west north-west 18 feet 10 inches ; it then runs to the north northwest 63 feet, then north-east 98 feet, then north 134 feet 8 inches, at which point it touches the stream Wye ; the land has water frontage extending 80 feet from this point, down the stream, to a tree marked R. T., comprehending all the land on the right bank of the said stream Wye between the point and tree aforesaid; the boundary line then runs from • the said tree in the direction of south-east | south, and-to the top of the ridge 585. feet, which i said last mentioned piece of land is better described by the plan forming enclosure • No. 3 to case 229 a, Robert Tod claimant, which I have awarded to Alexander M'Donald, the assignee of the said claimant. I have the honor to remain, Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant, (Signed) Wiliiam. Spain, H. M. Comjnissioner for Investigating and Determining Titles and Claims to Land in New Zealand.