Stewart Island

Southland Times, Issue 22215, 6 January 1934, Page 3

Stewart Island

j . J \ Pages from History \ * I * > — » 4 4 J THE OLD FOVEAUX STRAIT J J LAND CLAIMS. J 4 4 4 4

4 4 / By “The Native.” J

The old land claims occupied a very important part in the early history of the country. South of Nelson no official settlement was planted before the declaration of British sovereignty in 1840. There were, however, many men settled all along the coast. We have seen that in regard to Foveaux Strait. They were in the very earliest days occupied in hunting seals and when these animals gave out they took up what was called shore-whaling. They planted a station on shore, and at certain seasons pursued and killed cow whales that came into the harbour to calve. In addition to that the British, French, German, American and Portuguese whalers who fished off the coast sometimes came into the harbour and traded with the residents. For their own purposes, for a site for their works, for gardens for growing food and to fix the distance of their range along the coast after fish, it was necessary that boundaries should be observed. Tuhawaiki, the native chief at Ruapuke, was no savage, but one of the cleverest chiefs who held sway in New Zealand. Realizing the advantage of having the whalers near him, he readily disposed of land to satisfy their wants, with the result that, when British sovereignty was declared, these men came forward to have their rights recognized by the Crown. There was another class of applicant. Tuhawaiki was a go ahead man, and anxious to push trade in his district and evidence exists that that chief had established a whale fishery at the Bluff, and employed Europeans to head the boats. He also did a little in the way of merchandise. It was principally to obtain money and carry on their business that he sold large areas of waste lands. Mechanics were also pressed to come and settle down within Tuhawaiki’s jurisdiction. The purchasers of these lands were also applicants for Crown titles. The first official statement on the question of settling these claims which I have been able to find is contained in a letter of instructions from the Marquis of Normanby to Captain Hobson, R.N., the .Aewly-appointed Consul for New Zealand, dated August 14, 1839: — “ You will, immediately on your arrival, announce by a proclamation addressed to all the Queen’s subjects in New Zealand, that her Majesty will not acknowledge as valid any title to land which either has. been or shall hereafter be, acquired in that country which is not either derived from or confirmed by a grant to be made in her Majesty’s name and on her behalf. You will, however, at the same time, take care to dispel any apprehensions which may be created in the minds of the settlers that it is intended to dispossess the owners of any property which has been acquired on equitable conditions, and which is not upon a scale which must be prejudical to the latest interests of the community. “Extensive acquisition of such lands have undoubtedly been already obtained and it is probable that before your arrival a great addition will have been made to them. The embarrassments occasioned by such claims will demand your earliest and most careful attention

“The Government of New South Wales will, with the advice of the Legislative Council, be instructed to appoint a Legislative Commission to investigate and ascertain what are the lands in New Zealand held by British subjects under grants from the natives, how far such grants were lawfully acquired and ought to be respected, and what may have been the price or other valuable considerations given for them. The commissioners will make their report to the Governor and it will then be decided by him how far the claimants, or any of them, may be entitled to confirmatory grants from the Crown, and in what conditions such confirmations ought to be made.” It is interesting to notice also in these same instructions the Marquis proposed “rating on unimproved value,” as a solution of the question of holding the large areas claimed in an unimproved state. As the first mention of it in New Zealand history, I give the quotation:—

“The propriety of immediately subjecting to a small annual tax all uncleared lands within the British Settlements in New Zealand will also engage the immediate attention of the Governor and Council of New South Wales. The forfeiture of all lands in respect of which the tax shall remain for a certain period in arrears would probably before long restore to the demesne of the Crown so much of the waste land as may be held unprofitably to themselves and to the public by the actual claimants.”

Acting on the Marquis of Normandy’s instructions, Sir George Gipps, Governor in Chief of New South Wales (which included New Zealand) issued a proclamation in terms of the above instructions, and absolutely prohibited the purchase of any land from chiefs after the 14th of January, 1840, the date of the proclamation. This and a similar proclamation by Captain Hobson (now Lieut.-Govemor) in New Zealand on the 30th of January, 1840, stopped the further disposal of lands by the chiefs.

The New South Wales Government in 1840 passed an act under which Commissioners were appointed to examine claim. In 1841 New Zealand having been separated from New South Wales our own Legislature passed a Land Claims Act. This Act fixed 2560 acres as the maximum to one purchaser. As great numbers of the claims had been paid for in goods of various kinds it laid down a scale of values per acre. This is our nearest approach to Captain Cook values and I reproduce it: —

If the applicant was not resident in New Zealand, and had no resident agent, 50 per cent was added to the figures. Goods were reckoned at three times their Sydney value. A great batch of applications had been sent to Sydney after the official intimation was made and as these were not considerion over they were forwarded to the ed when New Zealand took the questExecutive here.

(To be Continued.)

Period when bought Per acre. Jan. 1850 to Dec. 1824 6d Jan. 1825 to Dec. 1829 6d to 8d Jan. 1830 to Dec. 1834 8d to 1/Jan. 1835 to Dec. 1836 1/- to 2/Jan. 1837 to Dec. 18S8 2/- to 4/Jan. 1839 to Dec. 1839 4/- to 8/-