THE OTAGO NATIVE LAND CLAIMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2006, 4 August 1892, Page 20

THE OTAGO NATIVE LAND CLAIMS.

SOME INTERESTING FACTS. (Special to Otago Daily Times.)

Wellington, July 28. The Otakau (Otago) Native laud claims, arising out of the original Deed of Cession of the Otago Block made in the year 1844, are once more occupying the attention of the Native department. The tribe agitating in the matter is the Ngatimamoe, amalgamated with the Ngaitahu. There is now some likelihood of this long-pending question being brought to & final issue. A complete narrative of the case from the earliest period of European settlement down to the present date has beeu compiled on behalf of the claimant tribes, aud has been submitted for the consideration of the Government. It is a voluminous document, and deals with the subject, or rather subjects, exhaustively, and embodies the original agreement or instructions issued by the Imperial Government to the New Zealand Land Company. A copy of this document has also been submitted to his Excellency the Governor, who has replied admitting that the claim is one involving a certain amount of responsibility on the part of the Imperial authorities. The Governor has likewise been in communication with the Native department with reference to tho subject, and it is understood that a strong effort will be made to bring the matter to a conclusion. The Hon. the Native Minister will visit Otago at the close of the session for the purpose of investigating the claims. The Otakau Native Reserve claims have two distinct references. They refer (1) to the appropriation for Native purposes of a tenth of the land sold to the company as provided for by clause 5 of a proclamation issued by Governor Fitzroy, of date 24th March 1844 ; and (2) to a certain boat reserve situate at the head of Otago Harbour, in use by the Natives at the date of the sale of the block, and claimed by them in virtue of clause 3 of the said proclamation, and which was subsequently, with the approval of Governor Grey, set apart for their exclusive benefit.

With regard to the tenth, the exact nature of the engagement is set forth in the company's instructions to Colonel Wakefield (its principal agent in New Zealand), and is as follows :

You will take care to mention in every contract for land that a portion of the territory ceded equal to one-tenth of the whole will be reserved by the company and held in trust by them for the future benefit of the chief families of the tribe. With the assistance of such of the more intelligent Natives who have visited the neighbouring colonies, you will readily explain that after English immigration and settlement, a tenth of the land will be of far more value than the whole as before, and you must endeavour to point out, as is the fact, that the intention of the company is not to make reserves for the Native owners in large blocks, as was the common practice as to Indian reserves in North America, whereby settlement was impeded, and the sayasescnconraged to continue in a savage state, living apart from the civilised community, but in the same way and in the same allotments, and to tho same effect as if the reserved lands had been purchased from the company on behalf of the Natives. The company intend to sell in England to persons intending to settle in New Zealand, and others, a certain number of orders of equal quantities of land— say 100 acres each — which orders will entitle each holder to select, according to priority of choice, to be determined by lot, from the whole territory— lands open for settlement— the quantity of land named in the order, including a certain portion of the site of the first town ; and one-tenth of these land orders will be reserved for the chief families of the tribes by whom the land was originally sold — in the same way precisely as if the lot had been purchased on behalf of the Natives. The priority of choice for the Native allotments being determined by lot, as in the case of the Uctual purchasers, the selection will be made by an officer of the company expressly charged with that duty, and made publicly responsible for its performance. These intended reserves of laud are regarded as far more important to the Natives than anything which they will have to receive in the shape of purchase money. At the same time, we are desirous that the purchase money should not be less adequate according to the English notion of the value of land, than has been generally the case in the purchase of territory from the New Zealander.

Then, again, the chairman of the company, writing Lord Stanley under date January 25, 1843, assures the Government these reserves •were made. He says : — Although tho company, by way of recompense for the moment and to comply with the exigencies of opinion, has paid down what, according to received notions, is a sufficient price, the real worth of the land they thought they gave only when they reserved as a perpetual possession for the Natives a portion equal to one - tenth of the land which they had purchased from him. This was a price which he could not squander away at the momeut, but which, as time passed on, the unalienable value must continually and immensely increase for his benefit and that of his children. Heir of a patrimony 39 large, the Native chief, instead of contemplating European neighbours with jealous apprehension as a race destined to degrade and ousi him, would learn to view with delight the presence, the industry, and prosperity of those who, in labouring for themselves, could not but create an estate to be enjoyed by him without toil and risk. In every settlement which we have formed a portion equal to one-tenth of town as well as rural allotments has always been reserved for the Natives.

Some years later, and long after the Otago Block- was settled, Mr Wakefield gave evidence before a select commit'ee of the House of Commons. He said : " The company paid the Natives for their lands a much higher price than had commonly been paid by other purchasers ; but the consideration they offered to the Natives, and which they regarded as the true purchase money, was the reserved •eleventh,' which eleventh, by means of the expenditure of the company, would acquire in a short time a higher value than all the land possessed before. As, for example, the company purchased lands* in New Zealand for, let me say, LIO,OOO, the price of goods paid to the Natives in the first instance, but the land reserved for the Natives, by means of an expenditure in sending out a colony has become so v&luablo that we could sell that reserve here in London, if it were desirable, for the good of the Natives, for L 30,000 now ; and if the colony goes on as it is going, it is clear that within a few years from this the land may be worth LIOO,OOO. Suppose the whole of the company's territory to be 20,000,000 acres, the quantity reserved for the Natives will be nearly 2,000,000 acres. I feel myself quite satisfied that if the measure were to proceed in the best way, every acre of land so reserved would be worth at least 30s, so that there would be an endowment of L 3,000,000 sterling in the course of time as a Native provision."

Governor Fitzroy's proclamation of 24th March 18*4, issued in anticipation of the sale by the Otakau Natives, provides, inter alia, " In all lands purchased from the aborigines, in consequence of the Crown's right of preemption being waived, one -tenth part of fair average value as to position and quality is to be conveyed by the purchaser to her Majesty, her heirs, and successors for public purposes, especially the future benefit of the aborigines." And with regard to the Dunedin boat reserve, the land claimed on is well known as Princes street South. This land, as stated above, was formally set apart by Governor Grey in 1852. Subsequently a. Crown grant thereto was, it is. alleged, sur<

reptitiously oblaiued by tho provincial authorities. In support of that allegation, the statement of claim notes a memorandum by the Hon. J. C. Richmond, Native Minister, dated sth October 1867, and is to the following effect : —

In lSsf> the question of this reserve was pressed to an issue in the Legislature, and a resolution of the House of Representatives, founded upon the report of a select committee, was passed declaring that a grant to the Superintendent ought to be issued under the Public Reserves Act. The Governor of the day proposed that an amicable suit should be instituted to try the question of authority on one side or the other ; but in the meantime, inadvertently as regards his Excellency and thfl Colonial Secretary, a grant which had been prepared on the authority of the resolution of the House of Representatives, was presented for signature and issued. Sir George Grey, the Governor referred to, gave evidence on the subject before a select committee of date November 1, 1877. The statement he makes about the transaction is as follows :—: — I had resolved I ought not to sign the grant until the matter had been further discussed. A number of grants were formally presented to me in Executive Council for my signature, and I signed them. I believe that one of the grants presented to me for signature was the grant for this land, but I could not positively identify it ; and as the Colonial Secretary, who presented the grants to me, was perfectly satisfied that it was not the grant for this reserve, I signed it. Subsequently it turned out that the grant had been signed. It was done under mistake : as Sir Richmond put it, inadvertently as regards his Excellency and the Colonial Secretary. It was discovered the same day that the grant had been signed improperly, and the Government tried to regain possession of it, but it was found the grant had been sent off that day in a vessel to Otago; and in that way the land passed into the possession of the municipality of the Provincial Council of Otago.

Evidence given by Mr John Jones is also quoted in support of the claim, as follows :—: —

We proceeded to where Dunedin now stands, and selected the spots mentioned as reserves for boat harbours. The Natives drew a plan, including the spots, and an altercation took place between Mr Wakefield and the Natives. Mr Wakefield insisted upon retaining them, and would not give in to the Natives, and the negotiation came to an end. The whole of the Natives, including Tuhawaiki, went back in my vessel to Waikouaiti. Ten days elapsed and a special messenger from Mr Wakefield arrived at Waikouaiti, and I think he brought me a note requesting me to use my influence with the Natives to return to Port Chalmers — my object at the time being to forward the views of the New Zealand Company and to benefit the Natives. In fact I remonstrated with Mr Wakefield ; he objected to give up the reserves in Dunudin. iilleginff|jthat they were very paltry, and that they wereTabsolutely necessary for the use of the Natives. 'When negotiations recommenced at Port Chalmers Mr David Wakefield gave in, and, as I was acting for the Natives, I distinctly fatate that these reserves were exempted from the sale of the block subsequently known as tho Otago Block. I cannot account for the non-mention of these reserves in the deed of sale ; but Captain Cargill, agent of the New Zealand Company, some 15 years ago built a stone house for the Natives on one of tlie.se reserves, ami, in fact, always acknowledged their right to that reserve which is known as the Ocean Beach.

That the provincial authorities did acknowledge the Native right to these lands is apparent from the following, also quoted from evidence given by Mr J. Jones on the point. He says :—": — " I have spoken to Mr Macaudrew, the present Superintendent of Otago, and he informed me that he was prepared either to give the Natives a site on the reclaimed land, or, if they preferred it, he would purchase for thorn a site in Pelichet Bay close to the water's edge, and erect a brick house of the value of LSOO for their use."

These are the material allegations set forth in the statement, which is, as I have already said, an elaborate one, and is admitted by those who are competent to judge to be a strong case on behalf of the Natives.