The Evening Star MONDAY,AUGUST 10, 1874

Evening Star, Issue 3577, 10 August 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY,AUGUST 10, 1874

Amongst the papers laid before Parliament is a very characteristic “ report on the claim of the Province of Wellington in respect of the Manawatu reserves, by the honorable Speaker of the House of Representatives. Those who regard the witty saying that Sir Francis D. Bell usually speaks on both sides and votes in the middle as a more joke, may perhaps come to regard it as a truth, should they take the trouble to wade through the document. It is not particularly interesting, excepting as being illustrative of the character of the chosen arbitrator and of the grasping greed of the leaders of the North Island Province. The Manawatu Block in the year 1809 was a source of danger to the peace of the Colony. It was purchased for the special behoof of Wellington by the Superintendent of Wellington, and is estimated to contain 193,000 acres of land. Of this area Dr Featherston, the then Superintendent, reserved 3,361 acres for Natives. The original cost of the block was £43,155. Assuming that all Native claims were either satisfied or would not be further recognised, j the General Government, on the reI presentation of the Superintendent of Wellington that the |arrangements for awards of land to Natives not consenting to the sale were completed, declared by advertisement in the ‘ Gazette ’ that the Native title was extinguished ; but there was a clear understanding between the Provincial and General Governments that possession should not be taken until the surveys were completed. Surveyors were at once set to work, but, notwithstanding the judgment of the Native Lands Court that had increased the reserves by 0,200 acres, no sooner was the survey commenced than some of the Natives resorted to force to prevent its being proceeded with. Infer mation was communicated to the General Government that some of the Ngatiraukawa, dissatisfied with the judgment, were determined to obstruct the survey, and had threatened to break the surveyor’s chain and instruments. The situation was a grave one. It seems to us from the papers laid before Parliament that the General Government had been misled by the Provincial authorities; and had it not been that the Fox Ministry had superseded that of Mr Stafford, there can be little doubt a renewal of tli© war would have been the

consequence. The evidence of Mr Halcombe points in that direction, nor does it appear that there would have been any objection on the part of the Provincial Government to the exercise of force, could the balance of the block have been secured to the Province. Fortunately the then Premier and his colleagues held different views. Asserting the supremacy of the Government, in the first instance, by punishing some of the turbulent bu.'ent Natives, they forbore to provoke further agitation until the claims W' v e investigated. The Honorable Mr M'JjEAN, Native Minister, himself examined the matter, and succeeded in settling it by increasing the reserves by 13.875 acres. It might reasonably be imagined that the people of Wellington would have been overjoyed that so serious a matter was so cheaply and amicably settled. But that is not their way of looking at matters. Welling ton’s astute Superintendent, Mr Fitzherbert, considers that Mr M‘Lean had no right to go behind the Native Lands Court, although evidence was given that such a course was not uncommon in dealing with Native claims. There were precedents in Auckland, when sometimes private claimants, sometimes the Province had to relinquish areas of land without compensation by the Colony, There was therefore no reason why an exception should be made in favor of Wellington. Mr Fitzherbert very modestly asks only L 10,796 8s 6d to be paid by all the rest of the Colony into the coffers of Wellington, when “ he believes that fair justice would be distributed (sic) between the Colony and the Province.” According to our reading of the matter, he claims compensation from every other Province in the Colony for a loose, unbusinesslike bargain made by the Superintendent of Wellington, which might have led to bloodshed, and perhaps the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds, happily invested instead, in reproductive works. This claim is based upon the price per acre realised for certain land sold in the block, some of which is valued at 30s per acre, some 20s, and some 8s 3d. It appears that, including survey, ■£4,305 2s had to be refunded, and the remainder of this preposterous demand is for one-half the estimated value of the 13,875 acres, awarded to the Natives by Mr M'Lean. This claim for £10,796 having been referred to Sir Francis Dillon Bell as arbitrator, he took evidence regarding it, and we are in possession of his award. It is a singular instance of the discursiveness of his imagination, and the peculiarity of his logical faculty. The claim was a definite one, and founded upon specific items. According to our idea of the duty of an arbitrator, he had only to say either the Province had no claim, or was entitled to so much; and give his awar-d accordingly. Not so Sir Francis : he looks beyond the record, and s rys;—

Upon careful consideration of the demands of the Province for such compensation, of the documents connected with the history of the case, and of the evidence given before me, I came to the conclusion that the Provincial authorities had failed to make out their case.

That is plain speaking on one side. Of course we expected, as a natural sequence, the award would have been in accordance with it; but we were too hasty. Although Sir Francis thinks the Province has no claim on the ground referred to him to decide upon, he concludes it has a claim upon a different ground, which he was not asked to consider. He says;—

But the same reasons which led me to this conclusion, also led me to think the Province was equitably entitled to relief in respect of certain cash payments made out of its trr asury in connection with its purchase of the block which should be defrayed in the first instance by the Colony, and then charged against the Province in the same way as the cost of purchases from the Natives was till last year chargeable by law.

That is speaking on the other side. On consulting the Attorney-General, however, the honorable the Speaker found he had no power to deal with any other matters than those remitted to him ; so he soliloquises within himself; and finding he cannot award what the Provincial Government would that he should; and he cannot award what he would if he could, he takes a middle course, and won’t make an award at all. Lest any one should think we are joking, we will give his words : therefore precluded by this technical difficulty from making the award I intended • but as the making of an award to the effect that the Province was not entitled to compensation would, 111 my judgment, not do fair justice to the ease, I have thought it my duty to refrain 110 m xnakmg any award at all, and to confine myself to reporting my opinion in Parliament. True to his nature, he has spoken on both sides and voted in the middle.