5

G.-28.

the expenditure of the Company, would acquire in a very short time a higher value than all the land possessed before, as for example the Company have purchased all our lands, let me say in New Zealand lor £\ O,OOO, the price of goods paid to the Natives in the first instance, but the land which we have reserved for the Natives has become by means of au expenditure in sending out a Colony so valuable, that we could sell that reserve here in London if it were desirable for the good of the Natives, for _J30,000 now; and if the Colony goes on, it is clear that within a few years from this time the land may be worth ._^loo,ooo. Supposing the whole of the Company's territory to be 20,000,000 of acres, the quantity reserved for the Natives will be nearly 2,000,000. I feel myself quite satisfied that if the measure were to proceed in the best way, every acre of land reserved would be worth at least 305., so that there would be an endowment of 3,000,000 sterling in the course of time as a Native provision." In reply to a question from Mr. E. Buller, as to what security there is that the Natives will have the benefit of it] Mr AVakefield, said : —" That there is no security at present, because the Government has hitherto refused to let law be established in New Zealand, so that it is impossible to execute a trust. The Company are very desirous of placing this land in trust for the benefit of the Natives." " They have considered the subject a good deal, but they have found great difficulty in defining, till they have be tter inrmation, what the trusts ought to be. Their object in reserving those lands has been to preserve the Native race. That the Native race iv New Zealand will undergo the same fate which has attended other people in their situation there is little doubt, unless their chief families can be preserved in a state of civilization in the same relative superiority of position as they before enjoyed in savage life; and with this view the Company is desirous of investing them with property." " But if it placed the property at once at their disposal, they would sell it for a trifle. It became therefore necessary to create a permanent trust. That the Company would do as soon as they possibly can, and in the meantime they have appointed a Commissioner, whom they have sent out for the purpose of preserving, letting, and taking care of these lands." Mr. Wakefield in further evidence stated :—"That the Company had instructed their agent to pay but little consideration to the subject of the first consideration money for the land, because they regarded all the payments that had been made in New Zealand by missionaries and others, only as little more than nominal; and they laid down a plan of reserves of land for the Natives, which they hoped would become in the long run a very valuable consideration indeed. They determined to reserve a portion equal to onetenth of all the land which they should acquire for the Native families." " The reserved rights for the Natives were acquired as all other rights of choice by lot. The land orders were reserved for the benefit of the principal chiefs and their families. The reserves at that time had not been placed in trust, because the information before the Company as to the state of the Natives was so meagre that they were unable to define the trusts, but they have the territory in which the tenths were situated, and as soon as better information had been obtained, steps would be taken to devise some proper trusts of these lands for the benefit of the Natives, for if they were appropriated to the Natives at once as their private property, they would be parted with in grog shops and other places in a very short time." The witness being asked to define the form of land order issued by the Company to purchasers, stated:— " That it was an order by the Company upon its Surveyor-General, or its principal officer in the Colony, to award to the holders of that land order so many acres of land, signed by three directors and the secretary. The priority of choice was determined by lot, and the Natives' sections were drawn for like others ; and as they were not present an officer of the Company drew for them. The first number drawn for the Natives was No. 7, consequently the officer of the Company in the Colony would have the seventh choice as respects both the town aud country lands for the Natives." Mr. Ward, the secretary of the Company, in reply to a question from the Committee, said : — " That it was not proposed that the Natives should take possession of the tenth reserved for them on the land being surveyed, but that trustees would be appointed to hold it for the inalienable use of the Natives, the proceeds to be applied for the benefit of those Natives who had surrendered the lands." " The Company had already appointed a gentleman (Mr. Halswell) to go out and take upon himself the management and control of those lands; to secure the land, and to do what may be necessary for clearing and looking after it, and managing it for the benefit of the Natives." The following extract from the New Zealand Company's instructions to their principal agent contains the points alluded to by Mr. E. G. AVakefield, in his evidence before the Select Committee :— " But in one respect you will not fail to establish a very important difference between the purchases of the Company and those which had hitherto been made by every class of buyers. Wilderness land, it is true, is worth nothing to its Native owners, or nothing more than the trifle they can obtain for it. We are not, therefore, to make much account of the utter inadequacy of the purchase money according to English notions of the value of land." " The land is really of no value, and can become valuable only by means of a great outlay of capital on emigration and settlement. But at the same time it may be doubted whether the Native owners have ever been entirely aware of the consequences that would result from such cessions as have already been made to a great extent of the whole of the lands of a tribe." " Justice demands not merely that these consequences should be as far as possible explained to them, but that the superior intelligence of the buyers should also be exerted to guard them against the evils which they may not be capable of anticipating. The danger to which they are exposed, and which they cannot well foresee, is that of finding themselves entirely without landed property, and therefore without consideration in the midst of the society where through immigration and settlement land has become a valuable property. Absolutely, they would suffer little or nothing from having parted with land which they do not use and cannot exchange, but relatively—they would suffer a great deal, inasmuch as their social position would be very inferior to that of the race who had settled amongst them, and given value to their now worthless territory. If the advantage of the Natives alone were consulted it would be better, perhaps, that they should remain for ever the savages that they are. This consideration appears mever to have occurred to any of those who have hitherto purchased lands from the Natives of New