REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON LAND SCRIP.

Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1856 Session I

1 856.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON LAND SCRIP.

EXTRACTS FROM THE VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

o t j q ■ VoTES > No - 3 > Feidat, APRIL 18, 1856. • .Land Scrip Mr. Sewell, pursuant to notice, moved, That a Select Committee be appointed to already satkfipd Hf +1 naturo +^ d amount of Lan d Scrip issued within the Colony, and aneady satisfied, and of the amount of all such Land Scrip remaining unsatisfied - and of ill MrtS ftr That SUch Committee do of MrLudlam B *° WeUS> " d T '» Ee >» rf '» ■» Question put and passed.

*; .„> Votes, No. 18, Thttesdat, Mat 15, 1856. SoWliTntil week° f the Committee on Land Scri P postponed, on motion of Mr,

-p. , . Votes, No. 23, Thtjesdat, Mat 22, 1856 tponemcnts (3) :_On motion of Mr. Sewell, the Eeport of the Committee on Land Scrip postponed to this day week.

s Pn=fr,™ , Votes, No. 28, Thursday, Mat 29, 1856. postponed until this day wedsT SeWeU ' R ° P ° rt ° f th<3 Committee on Land S <*ip

'6 T :iTifl <3™™ r -u. ?n, ES ' No " 31 > Wednesdat, June 4, 1856. • 10 notioe ' m " ed>Kr - Th,TO " Question put and passed.

*- - - Question put and passed. ' »' Comrfte on Lmd

15 ' » Sc!p ™

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7. Land Serin -—Af, v *•' X °' 4 ®' Wednesday, June 25, 1856. c rtl' 6 " a ' S °° Lmd Scrip ' bV0 " sI " ° p ae *** ° !

REPORT.

The Select Committee of the House of Representatives, appointed April 18, 1856, to enquire into and report as to the nature and amount of Land Scrip issued in the Colony, and alreadysatisfied, and of the amount of all such Land Scrip remaining unsatisfied, and of all outstanding and unsatisfied Land Orders, report as follows Your Committee have enquired into the subjects referred to it, and taken evidence thereon. There as some difficulty in ascertaining the particulars, but they find the facts, as far as they can be ascertained, to be as follows. Scrip has been issued to a great extent in all the Settlements except Canterbury and Otago. The circumstances under which the issue took place were as follows ; Ist, as regards the Settlements of Wellingtoil, New Plymouth, and Nelson, which were founded by the New Zealand Company; that body having failed to a great extent to give possession of the lands purchased of it and paid for in casli several years before, or having given possession of worthless land, entered into arrangements for the adjustment of the claims of the purchasers. The basis of the adjustment was, a right of re-selection where desired, and an award of compensation in satisfaction for the loss occasioned by the delay in the performance of the contract. In Wellington the compensation was 011 a fixed scale of 150 acres in addition toevery 100 originally purchased, in the case of residents, and 75 acres additional in the case of absentees. At Nelson and New Plymouth the claims of residents were adjusted by arbitration; those of absentees were taken at a fixed amount. Residents in all cases were required to select, within certain districts, then provided by the Company; absentees from districts to be thereafter assigned by the Company, but which were not assigned before it ccased from its colonizing operations. The right of selection was to bo exercised within twelve months after any district had been declared open for it; and had it been effected during the continuance of the company's operations, could of coui-se only have been made in those districts within which the Native title was then extinguished; and in all eases the right of selection was limited to the Settlement within which the elaim arose. The functions and obligations of the Company devolved on the Government in July, 1850, at which date the claims of resident purchasers had been for the most part satisfied by the selection of land, but those of the absentees remained: unprovided for. * In 1851 an Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council of the Colony, the effect of which was to re-open the adjustments effected by the Company, and to give to all purchasers under it a right of re-selection, while it provided a Commission to adjudicate upon all claims arising out of contracts with that body. Parties desiring to re-select, or in whose favour an award of the Commissioners was made, were to be entitled to Scrip issued by the Colonial Government, which was to be taken as cash, at a fixed rate, at all Government land sales within the Colony, except those within the limits of hundreds in New Ulster, (practically within the present limits of the Province of Auckland) and the town site of New Plymouth. The Ist of January, 1853, was fixed by the Ordinance as the latest time within which claims could be preferred, unless in cases where it was made to appear to the satisfaction of the Governor that the claimant was for same reasonable and sufficient cause prevented from preferring his claim within that period. Practically, no limit was adhered to, and your Committee understand that a very large number of the claims were preferred after the date assigned, and without any reasonablo or sufficient cauje shown, or required to be shown, for the delay. In the Province of Auckland, Land Scrip has been issued by tbe Government apparently without legal authority, chiefly in satisfaction of old Land Claims, originating either in purchases from the Natives by individuals, before the establishment of British authority in the Islands, or in the failure of the Government to give possession of Lands which it had sold. There appears to be six classes of claims, for which Scrip has been, or ought to be issued, and of which a large amount has not yet been exercised by tjio holders.

3

1. Original Land Orders of the New Zealand Company, never selected anywhere. Of these there exist, unexercised, in Wellington, as much as may cover 500 acres; a few in Canterbury, under the Association, probably not exceeding that amount; and in the other Settlements perhaps the same quantity in the aggregate. 2. Land Orders (under the New Zealand Company) selected in districts where the Native title is still unextinguished, and where possession cannot be given ; of these there are to the extent of about 30,000 acres at Wellington, and 2000 at New Plymouth. 3. Compensation Land Orders (or Scrip) under the Company's adjustments, still unselected, a very small amount, say 1000 acres. 4. Unexercised Government Scrip, issued under the New Zealand Company's Land Claimants Ordinance, before referred to, or otherwise, probably 48,000 acres. 5. Ascertained absolute contracts, not yet fulfilled, probably 1,000 acres. 6. Claims which may still be preferred under the New Zealand Company's Land Claimants Ordinance, if the limit as to time be disregarded, probably 15,000 acres. The total amount, therefore, which the Government is bound to satisfy appears to be :— 1 ....... 1000 acres. 2 32,000 3 say ....... 1000 4 48,000 5 1000 £ 15,000 98,000 acres. It appears to your Committee that the transactions in respect of which Scrip has been issued were originally of a purely local character, and that the privilege of selecting in Settlements other than that in which the claim originated (granted by the ordinance before referred to,) was in no way based on the equity or justice of the case; and that it was unfair in its operation, particularly in reference to Otago and Canterbury, which could not reciprocate. Your Committee think that either on the contemplated transfer of the Waste Lands, or under the existing system, (should that transfer not be effected,) all existing claims in reference to such lands should be respected. But, considering the circumstances of the issue of Scrip, the original limitation as to the right of selection within particular districts, and the length of time during which the holders have had every opportunity of selection, those Waste Lands which have been purchased since the date of the accruer of the Scrip holders' title ought to be protected to a certain extent against its operations Ihis they conceive would be best effected by giving a power in the Transfer of Waste Lands Act to the Superintendents to proclaim districts within which no Scrip should be exercised ; such power however ought only to extend to those Lands in which the Native Title has been extinguished since the passing of the ISewZealand Company's Ordinance; a course which practically will confer on the Scrip holders all the privileges to which by the equity of their case, regarded in reference to the inception of their claims, they can be possibly entitled. lour Committee also unanimously concur in thinking that the exercise of Scrip should be limited to the respective settlements m which the claim satisfied by it originated, and that in no case should bcrip be allowed to pass at the Government Land Sales for more than £1 an acre. WILLIAM FOX, Chairman. Committee Room, House of Representatives, June 25, 1856. !