A.—No. 1

76

DESPATCHES FROM THE GOVERNOR OF NEW

f-crtificate will give us all that in the first instance we need; for the first thing is to mark out the boundaries of separate pieces of property and to register the owners thereof; to gather those owners into groups, and to bring them as groups into legal action. This is the first step. The individualisation (of which much has been said) is a further step, for which every facility ought to be given, but for which there is no reason why we should wait; as the members of the several groups of owners may join in letting or selling the land. Much of the soil of England was at one time in a similar condition. Selling and Letting. 3. The certificate of title, a document created by an Act of the Assembly, will confer on the holders of it such powers as the Assembly may think fit to give, and none other. Those powers should be, in the beginning, the power of letting land for a term not exceeding 21 years, and the power of sale. To make the exercise of those powers safe, it should be enacted that all contracts for letting should be entered into, and the lease in every case be executed, by the parties in the presence of a Civil Commissioner or of a Resident Magistrate, who should attest the same, and should certify that the lease and a certified copy in Maori had been read over to both parties in his presence, and that both parties understood the same. The rent should be made payable to some person or persons named in the lease, so that no inconvenience should arise to the lessee from the number of the lessors. In case of the death of any of them, the lessee would have nothing to do with any question which might arise as to the division of the rent amongst the persons entitled thereto according to Native custom. That question would be settled by the Resident Magistrate, on the finding of a Maori jury, after the manner of a Copyhold Court. It would be convenient for the officers concerned in this business, that all such leases should be conputed and made to run from fixed quarterly days, so that the rents may fall due at the same time. At present there is often found a considerable disposition to let lands where there is no great willingness to sell. And the letting of lands will of itself, if properly managed, quietly and effectually open the country and prepare the way for sale. For it will put us in possession of a survey of the lands and a complete register of the owners of the several blocks. In this way the title will be made clear and safe beforehand ; and roads —not merely main roads, but smaller roads also—will be opened peaceably and in all directions for access to the lands under lease. Public Auction. 4. As to the power of sale, to make the exercise of it most attractive and satisfactory to the seller, and to exclude all private intriguing, all sources of jealousy and irritation, one precaution is necessary and sufficient. Let no Native land be sold under this Act otherwise than by public auction. Let the Natives see that their interests .are fully protected, and that land is sold by the Government on their behalf just as the Government sells its own land. The auction should take place, after due notice, in such one of the English settlements as might be appointed for that purpose. The name and description of the purchaser being reported to the Civil Commissioner of the district in which the land was situate, he would cause the conveyance to be executed in the presence of himself or of some Resident Magistrate of the district, and forward it to the office in Auckland. The office would receive the purchase money and either remit it or deposit it, as desired by the sellers, and would hand over the conveyance to the purchaser. Thus the great inconvenience and evil, which often attends Government dealings with Natives, of keeping a number of persons hanging about the town for days together, might be avoided. The purchaser should, after a certain time, be entitled to receive a Crown Grant. It would be a valuable addition to this plan if some convenient mode of investing the proceeds of sales could be opened to the Natives, where they might obtain good interests on their deposits, and so might see that they derive a substantial and permanent benefit from our management. The frequent and natural complaint of the Natives, that tbe land abides whilst the payment perishes, might thus be obviated. The present Savings Banks have been instituted for a different purpose, and by the limited amount to be deposited, and by other regulations, are rendered unfit for the object here contemplated. Yet the political advantages to flow from any system which should attract Native investment, and so bind Natives to the Government, are great and obvious. For the attainment of a political end it would be wise to lay stress on those economical considerations, which ordinarily prevail in such matters. If made attractive in this way, the selling of land may be expected to be, after a season, resumed freely. It is possible that in particular cases some inconvenience may be felt, but I have no doubt whatever that (if we look to the general working of the Act, to the attractiveness of its operation, and the peace of the country at large) tho advantages will be found to preponderate enormously on the side of the sale by public auction. By no other mode can the settlers at large be secured against the forestalling of the land by a few ; and by no other will the Natives be satisfied that they receive the fair value of the land. Cases will be found where money has been received by Natives as an advance upon a contract or understanding for sale of land ; and such cases will need to be specially provided for. The persons who have in this way sought to gain a preference over others have no claim to consideration on the part of the Assembly or of tho Government, inasmuch as it is provided by the express terms of " The Native Lands Act" itself, that "Every contract, promise, or engagement, for the purchase, lease, or occupation of any Native land, or of any interest therein, made prior to the issue of a certificate of title under this Act, shall be absolutely void;" to which enactment, moreover, attention has been drawn by an express notification in the Government Gazette. Care should also be taken that the Native seller should not have the benefit of such unlawful contracts ; for which purpose, upon the land being afterwards sold by auction, an amount equal to that which had been already received uuder the private dealing should be deducted out of the purchase money, and paid into a fund for the general benefit of the district. Land Court. 5. The constitution of the Land Court by which the certificate is to be given is a point of vital importance ; for it is provided in section 14 that the certificate shall be conclusive as to the Native