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benefit themselves, whilst they wrong their fellow-subjects, would be most pernicious, and that no advantage to be gained from it would compensate for the dishonesty it would generate it the country A wise Government should at once put an end to such a system. The second argument, that before going into the Patetere business a condition was made with the purchasers that every acre of land acquired by them should be put up to auction in the ordinary way, appears to me to be an admission that there was something wrong to the public in the transaction, for which compensation ought to be made. If that is the case, the public which has suffered the wrong is, through its Courts or Parliament, the proper judge of the nature and amount of the compensation to which it is entitled, not the parties who committed the offence. I have been earnest in pressing my views upon you because I sincerely believe that a very wrong thing has been done, and that it is our common duty to endeavour to obtain redress, and a reversal of a transaction which I regard as so injurious to the public interests, and which some of my constituents have, through me, so properly and temperately complained of in the hope of obtaining justice. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, "Wellington. G. Geey.
No. 42. Sir, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 15th June, 1881. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, in reply tomine of the 17th March, upon the subject of the acquirement from the Native owners of the tract of country known as the Patetere Block. The whole question of the Patetere land purchase has been, and may again be, so fully discussed, that it seems to me to be unnecessary to reply at length to your letter, though I am bound to say that I cannot admit the correctness of many of the statements which it contains. The only practical suggestion which, as I gather from your letter, you have to make is contained in the following paragraph:— " To do this would be in truth to punish virtue and its progeny, and to reward vice and its descendants. All danger of this happening will be avoided if the Government will next session introduce a Bill as a Government measure by which it shall be provided that, upon its being established to the satisfaction of the Supreme Court that any lands claimed to have been purchased by any person or persons from the Natives, and which are in their possession, have been so purchased by unlawful means, the said Court shall thereupon declare such alleged purchase to be absolutely null and void, and such lands shall become public lands, to be dealt with in such manner as Parliament may direct." In reference to this, I have to say that it appears to me that the Supreme Court, in its ordinary jurisdiction, already has power to deal with illegal purchases, if properly brought under its cognizance, and therefore that legislation in that direction is not required. I have, &c, Sir George Grey, K.C.8., M.H.E., Wellington. Thomas Dick.
No. 43. [Translation.] To the Governor. Otaki, 7th June, 1881. Friend, —This is a petition of ours to you respecting our land, Te Tokoroa, wrongfully purchased by certain land companies from the Natives. We are greatly grieved, for on our arrival we found that the investigation of the title to the land was over, and the money spent; therefore we petition you to grant a rehearing of our land, Te Tokoroa. This land was the permanent possession of our ancestors, from whom it has descended to us, their descendants. Friend, do you grant the application of your children. That is all from us. It rests with you to move the Native Land Court in this matter. From Matene Te Whiwhi and Others. Do you grant the application of your children. Greeting to you, the head of the Maori and European races in New Zealand.
Authority: G-eobge Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.—lBBl.