A REMARKABLE CLAIM.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7998, 17 October 1887, Page 2

A REMARKABLE CLAIM.

AN AMERICAN BUSBY.

A CLAIMANT FOR NEW ZEALAND. Tmritn has been laid on the table of the Houro of Representatives a lenstby piiuted paper relative to the land claims of William Webster, a subject of the Unitt-d States, against the Government o£ New Zoaland. Voluminous evidence seems to have been taken by a committee of the United States Senate regarding the case, and in their report they say Webster's claim i 8 fully established. The repoit inter alia suyß Webster deserved at the hands of Great Britain and all other civilised people better treatment. When he was quite a young man he went to New Zealand with a capital of 6000 dollars (£1200), invested in goods suited to trade with that people. He purchased the right to set up a trading station at Coromandel from the native chiefs. He was the first white man who settled there or any point nearer that place than Bay of Islands, 15C miles from Goromandel. Pursuing his policy of friendly intercourse with the natives, and learning to Bpeak their language fluently, he soon largely increased his capital by exchanging work which he bought from the natives, and ship timber and other native productions, for such articles as they needed which he imported to that country. He bought a piece of land from the native chiefs on or near the present site of Auckland and built houses and established a a trading-station there. He was the first white man who settled there, or within a great distance iroai that point. As his business increased he purchased other locations and established other trading stations. He established a shipyard, at which he built small coasting vessels, in which he entered the shallow bays olong the coasts and ascended rivers to open trade with the natives. In this way he was largely instru mental in bringing the natives into friendly relations with each other, and in diverting their attention from savage warfare to peaceful pursuits. Ho was a real pioneer of civilisation of that section of the country, and was followed by colonies of English people to whom he had opened the way to the interior of the Islands. At the Great Barrier Island thero was then a whaling station much resorted to by fishermen, and Webster sought to convey it to the United States as a valuable acquisition. His letter containing this offer is set forth in Appendix No. 1. llis lands and other property in New Zealand were worth a cum which he estimates at one million dollars at the date of treaty with Great Britain. When later ho bad been deprived of his property and returned to the United States to assert his right, he was reduced to poverty. The land claims made by Webster are as follows :—250: — 250 acres in Ooromandel Harbour ; 600 acres being part of the Island which forms Coromandel Harbour ; 1,500 acres at the head of Coromsndel Harbour called Taupiri ; 1,800 acres at the head of Coromandel Harbour called Waiau ; the Island of Great Barrier; Motutaupiri Island at entrance of Coromandel Harbour ; 300 acres on north side of river Waihou ; land at Port Rodney ; 300 acres on river Taurua ; 3,000 acres at Waitaki ; 600 acres at the Bay of Islands ; Big Mercury Island ; 2,000 acres south-eastern side of the Island of Waitaki ; 200 acres southeastern sail Island, Waitaki ; 80,000 acres at the mouth of a creek called Oma, left bank of the river Piako ; 20,000 acres at the Bay of Islands ; whole of Big Barrier Tsland. The consideration which it is alleged he paid the natives for these landa was money and merchandise. The United States Senate passed the following resolution in January last : — "That after due examination of the matters presented in the petition of William Webster and evidence brought to bear in support of his claim for indemnity from the British Government for lands in New Zealand purchased by him in good faith from the native chiefs, and duly conveyed to him before the Government of Great Britain acquired the sovereignty over that country by a treaty made with the said chiefs, the Senate of the United States consider that the said claim for indemnit}' is founded in justice, and deserves cognisance and the support of the Government of the United Statcß ; and that the Siiid claim as a claim for money indemnity wan not presented by the United Stares to | Great Britain prior to September, 1858. Thiit the President be requested to take ! such measures as in his opinion may be proper to secure to William Webster a just settlement and final adjustment of his cluim agaiust Great Britain, growing out of the loss o£ the lands and other property in New Zealand, of which he had been deprived by tha act or consent of the British Government, and to which he had acquired a title under purchases and deeds of conveyance from the native chiefs prior to the 6th February, 1840, and prior to any right of Great Britain to the said islands. Appended is a schedule of the claim, which is 78,145 dollars for losa and dam ige to January, 1840, for so much paid, laid out and expended in cash and merchandise between the years 1835 and 1840 in the purchases of lantfg aad franchises from certain chiefs of New Zealand, and improvement hereof prior to Januarj', 1840, when the sovereignty of Great Britain over the islands was declared; also, six millions five hundred and seventy-three thousand dollars for hind purchased from chiefs of New Zealand from 1835 to 1840, and franchises pertaining thereto and improvements alletred to have been rnado thereon, which claimant alleges were seqiK'atu'odand taken fro ui him by the British authorities after the assertion of the sovereignty of Great Britain over Now Zealand in January, 1840. The claimant maintains that tho ordor of the Metropolitan Government of 1841 waa only partially nbeyi'd by tho colonial authority, and that the relief apparently conceded by such partial obedience has been made a nullity by the judgment of the colonial court that no order of the British Ministry can be of avail to contravene tho fundamental law of Great Britain that an ali n n cannot take in fee and convoy real estate in laud by title good in law."