Sir George Grey and the Sale of Timber and Water Rights at Tairua.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1671, 26 June 1875, Page 2

Sir George Grey and the Sale of Timber and Water Rights at Tairua.

We learn that it is the intention of hi 3 Honor tlm Superintendent to publish, in a Pro vivcial Government Gazette, the two deeds bearing on the sale of the timber and water rights on the Tairua block to private purchasers shortly before the block was purchased by the Government. We have before us copies of these deeds. The first one is a deed executed by" the native owners of Mercury Bay, in which they sell to Messrs. Richard Seccombe and J. C. Seccombe, brewers of Kyber Pass, Auckland, the forest-trees for the sum of £500, upon or about all that piece or parcel of land containing six thousand acres more or leas situated at Tairua, with the " sole and exclusive right to cut such trees, and to make all paths, roads, and tramways required, to dig sawpits, erect sawmills, make watercources and dams, and to have the exclusive use of all creeks, rivers, and watercourses or streams on the said land," and to do all other things necessary or desirable for the removal of the said timber, and further to give effect to the foregoing the Baid grantors do demise and lease to the said grantees the land mentioned with all rights and appurtenances thereto belonging as tenants in common for the term of forty years at a yearly rental of five shillings. The agreement further makes this sale and lease binding on the grantees' heirs and executors notwithstanding any_act or thing the grantors may do to the contrary, and gives a good title. This agreement is witnessed by J. W. R. Guilding, licensed interpreter ; and Gerald O'Halloran, land agent, Shortland ; is certified by the usual declaration under the Native Lands Acts, and bears date November 24th, 1872. The second deed is dated December 24, 1872, and sells and conveys to the Queen for the sum of £2900 all that parcel of land at Tairua containing .36,000 acres, boundaries of which are described, subject to the sale and grant of the timber and other rights demised by the deed between the grantees and Messrs. Seccombe. This deed is also witnessed by J. R. Guilding, Licensed Interpreter, and Gerald O'Halloran, and is indorsed by Mr James Mackay, jun., Agent for Land Purchases,[lmmigration and Public Works Act.