REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ENQUIRE AND REPORT UPON THE PENSIONERS' PETITION.

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

1 8 5 6.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ENQUIRE AND REPORT UPON THE PENSIONERS' PETITION.

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

Yotes, No. 58, Saturday, July 12, 1856. 13. Pensioners;— Mr. Pox, pursuant to (amended) notice, moved, That the Petitions of the Pensianers presented to the House during the Session, and the Report of last Session, be referred to a Select Committee, to consist of Mr. Merriman, Mr. "Williamson, Mr. East, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Lee, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Hall, and the mover. Report to be brought up this daj week. Question put and passed.

Yotes, No. 59, Tuesday, July 15, 1856. 20. Pensioners' Petitions Committee :—Mr. Pox, Chairman of this Committee, brought up their Report, which was read, and ordered to be printed.

D.—No. 23.

REPORT.

The Select Committee of the House of Representatives, appointed 12th July, 1856, to enquire into and report upon the Pensioners' Petition, have concurred in the following resolutions :— 1. The Committee is of opinion that the obligation of the Government to provide each pensioner with a cottage and acre on landing was a " condition precedent," on the fulfilment of which depended the obligation of the pensioners to perform the duties imposed upon them. 2. That the non-fulfilment of the condition by the Government compelled many of the pensioners, with the consent of their officers iu the first instance, to reside at a distance, which prevented their attendance on parades; aud that to deprive them of their cottages and acres, on the ground of such non-attendance, Wiu-, under the circumstances, unfair towards the men. 3. That any of the pensioners who have been deprived of their cottages and acres in consequence of non-attendance on parade, under the above circumstances, ought to be compensated. 4. That the Committee therefore recommend that the House shall respectfully request His Excellency the Governor to award to each such pensioner respectively, who shall prove to the satisfaction of the Government that he is entitled to the benefit, in conformity with the above resolutions, a right to select 100 acres of country land in the Province of Auckland, under the authority of the 2nd clause of the Land Regulations of that province. WILLIAM FOX, Chairman, Committee Room, House of Representatives, July 14, 1856.