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APPENDIX IV.—MEMORANDUM ON A DIFFICULTY IN CONNEC TION WITH THE CONFIRMATION OF CERTAIN LEASES REQUIRING THE ACTION OF PARLIAMENT.

No. 1. Hon. Sir W. Pox, West Coast Commissioner, to the Hon. the Pebmibe. IE >— Wellington, 12th May, 1883. I have the honour to forward a memorandum on the subject of leases on the West Coast reserves, with enclosures, and shall be obliged by your bringing the subject under the notice of the Cabinet at your early convenience. I have, &c, William Pox, The Hon. P. Whitaker, Premier. West Coast Commissioner.

Enclosure. Memorandum for Ministers. A difficulty has presented itself in reference to a portion of the work of the West Coast Commission, the removal of which will probably require the action of Parliament. This difficulty is in connection with the position of a number of persons who have, during a period of several years previous to the appointment of the West Coast Commissions, obtained leases from Natives of lands which have now, on the recommendation of the present Commissioner, been made reserves, and been granted to the tribes or hapus which have been found to be entitled to them. The attention of the Commissioners of 1880 was called to the existence of these leases at an early period of their work, but as they were manifestly illegal transactions, and not in any way involved in the solution of the questions existing between the Natives and the Government of the colony (into which solely the Commissioners were appointed to inquire), they put the subject on one side, and confined their investigations and actions to the ascertainment and fulfilment of the obligations of the Government towards the Natives. However, .during the session of 1881, the present Commissioner having obtained further insight into the subject of these leases, and considering that the lessees had acted in a bond fide manner, and had invested large sums of money in improving the leased lands, and that their tenancy had been on the whole satisfactory and beneficial to the Natives, .and not otherwise to the colony, he suggested to the Government that power should be given to him to confirm these leases on certain conditions which were embodied in the Act of that session (" West Coast Settlement Eeserves Act, 1881"). Section 18 of that Act enables the Commissioner to confirm the leases referred to on the following conditions : — 1. The lease shall have been made bond fide. 2. That it shall have been granted by the persons since shown to be entitled to the land described in the lease, or that subsequently to the issue of a Crown grant such persons have confirmed such lease. 3. That the terms were fair and equitable to the Natives at the time when the lease was granted. 4. That the rents and conditions have been duly paid and performed. 5. That the power of confirmation should only extend to leases granted before the passing of "The Confiscated Lands Inquiry and Maori Prisoners' Trials Act, 1879." The Commissioner has lately called upon the parties claiming leases to produce them to him. About fifty have been submitted, and so far as he has examined into the circumstances he has reason to believe that in the larger number of cases all the above conditions have been fulfilled, except the second. That condition, however, appears to be fatal to the claims of almost the whole; for it happens that, in the apportionment of land to the various hapus the members of which are specifically mentioned as grantees in the several Crown grants, there is hardly a single instance in which the lessors and the grantees are identical. The grantees in almost every case are greatly more numerous than the lessors, and each lease generally covers an area of land which is now subdivided among several hapus, some of which, perhaps, do not comprise any of the lessors in the particular lease. The result is that none of these can be confirmed under the power given in the Act of 1881. Assuming that the Government will recognize the equity of the leases, and desire to carry out the spirit of the enactment in the Act of 1881, I beg to suggest that a short Act be passed, as early in the session as possible, giving the Commissioner power to confirm such leases (though the lessors and grantees be not identical), provided that he is satisfied that at the time the leases were made the lessors were the leading chiefs of the tribe or hapu interested in the land in question, and in accordance with Maori usage were entitled to represent, or in the habit of representing, the tribe or hapu in a transaction of this sort. But in case of any lease being confirmed under these circumstances the rent shall be paid for the future, to the Public Trustee under Act of 1881, who shall distribute it among the persons to whom the land is now granted, he ascertaining (as in other cases where he has granted leases under ..that Act) the proportion to which each grantee is entitled—a thing which in both cases will have to be settled among themselves. Another solution has been suggested, to the effect that the existing leases should be cancelled, and that the Public Trustee should be empowered to grant new ones to the present tenants under