THE HALF-MILLION CLAIM.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13937, 24 June 1909, Page 7

THE HALF-MILLION CLAIM.

BY AN AMERICAN CITIZEN. FOUNDATION OF THE CLAIM. In connection with the claim of half a million made by the American Government 011 behalf of one of its citizens against the Nu<v Zealand Government, it is admitted that it concerns a large area- .of laud in the Auckland province acquired /or a mere song from the natives pcior to 184'J by a man named W ebst®r, and the story is told as follows*— Vhen the country was constituted tUere lived 011 the little strip of laud iuside the Coromandel Harbour, and known as Herekino, a man who has been described as a big ,stout, jolly individaul, ioud of voice and free of manner, possessing in addition to. a strong American accent a personality that, forced its domination upon all and sundry with whom he came in contact. He had arrived some years before as a ship's carpenter upon an American whaler, and seeing possibilities, both pleasiit and, profitable ,in life ashore 111 New Zealnd that an American whaler would never offer, he cast in his lot among the small band of pakehas that were scattered liero and there in the midstof the cannibal lords of the laud. \Villiam Webster was his name,, and very soon,, from one of the simple ""makers of nations" in New Zealand, Ve became the dictator and arbitrator Tipfrweeii Native and European over ' a wide "range of country, including the Hauraki Unit' and all its neighbourhood. In short, without the medium of Will jam Webster 110 pakeha could obtain'as much'land as would suffice to give resting room to his tent or whare, and he was the bosom friend of the great Coromandel chief Hooknose, whose daughter he was givenf in marriage. So Webster settled in the laud ■and prospered. His busy: mind, not content with mere idle proprietorship of the vast areas of Native demencs he had either acquired or of which he had claimed possession, he established trading stations all over the Gulf and iFirth of Thames ,and through these he reaped a rich profit at the time of the influx of immigration to New South .Wales by buying shiploads, of maize,-po-~. tatoes and other food from the Natives and sending them across to New .South Wales. ' His headquarters were at this little spot of Herekino, where he kept a boarding-house for convenience of the numerous adventurous spirts who came and went, and with whom money or kind was frequently plentiful. From the influence and power he exercised, both over Maori and pakeha,- Webster obtained the sobriquetj of "King of Waiou." When the commission was appointed by Governor Hobsou in 1841 to enquire into and settle the questiou of these land claims and grants, Websters' claim to landed property was •ound to fit with the enterprise of such a man, his possessions or claims. of possessions including big areas, m tin; choicest, spots bordering the gulf, the .Waitemata haying been an aop irently favourite pegging-out place of his long before the New Z"ali»n'J Cover omenc thought of making it the provun.i->! capital, or even before any sign of European habitation manifested _ itself round its shores. He also, it is authentically stated, laid claim to the whole of the Great Barrier Island, while the Piako Country met with considerable attention. When these various '"land-owners" were required to give an account of their proprietorship and its origin .Webster agreed to declare himself a claimant as an Englishman and not as an American citizen, and when the allotments were made his large estates dwindled down to mere backyard sections by comparison. Apparently, with the majority of the other dispossessed ones, he accepted the situation as philosophically as might be, and little or nothing was; heard in protest from him until in the early fifties, when he left New Zealand for the Californian goldfields, 111 search of further fortunes. Some time after having left the colony -a claim was received by the New Zealand Government from Webster, who was then in -San Francisco, and either the original claimant or his heirs have at intervals been pressing their claims against the New Zealnd Government for this dispossessed property. Some few years ago, however, Sir Robert Stout was commissioned to sift the whole matter and report upon it, and the result was that Webster as a claimant was ruled out of court. It is almost certain that Webster is the man referred to in the claim respecting which the Solicitor-General is going to England, but it also seems prettv clear that there is little likelihood of the claims being substantiated, for before the Crown settled the rights of claimants to land the Native rights were invariably extinguished first by purchase, so that in the event of a claim bciri*: disallowed the hind by right of purchase went to the Crown. The Hon. G.. Fowlds .Minister for Education, speaking of the Webster claim for £.300,00(1. to a "Press" reporter said: —"I don't see how it is jHissible for the claimants to make anything out of the claim. In the first"place it relates to_ transactions which occurred about (» years ago. When the colony was first set up there wore land claims put in for one million or so more acres of laud than the two islands contained, and most of these ••laims were for land in the North Island. A competent commission was set up to investigate and adjudicate 011 the claims, and Webster got his award after matters in connection with his claim had been carefully looked into arid eonsiderd. At various times the question now under consideration has been raised, and some time ago it was taken before the American Senate by petition, with the result that the movement has been revived. I think that Webster is dead, and that there is a syndicate of some description holding his supposed rights. The claim was put forward by the American Senate to the Imperial Government, and Dr Fitchett has gone Home with the necessary papers .to put the whole case before the Imperial authorities."