MR BROOMHALL AND THE TE AROHA BLOCK.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1268, 11 April 1878, Page 3

MR BROOMHALL AND THE TE AROHA BLOCK.

[“ New Zealand Herald,” April 4th.], It is rumored in certain that the highest legal authority hag declared that the sale of the Te Ayoim block to Mr John Brooinhnll, kj the Waste Lands Board of Auckland is illegal, and cannot be carried out, because the contract is in excess of the power placed in the Q-overnor’s hands by the Waste Lands Act of 187 G. It is well Ijpiown that one or two members of the Ministry are opposed to Mr getting the land,

that feeling having been strengthened by the news recently received from England as to the arrangements made by Mr Broomhall, It is probable, therefore, that Ministers will be compelled to say “ nonpossnmns we 'cannot disregard the law.” What the precise nature of the legal opinion is we are not aware, but no doubt it will soon be made public. The clauses which bear upon the question in the Waste Lands Act of 1876 are as follows :—Clause 29 states :

It shall bo lawful for the Governor to sell by priv de contract, to John Broomhall, Esq., now in tbc colony of New Zealand, any block of laud A’liicli he may select in any part of the colony, at such price, and upon such terms and conditions as may be fixed by tV Waste Lands Board of the district in which the 1 md selected is si uated, but subject to approiby the Governor of the price, terms, and conditions so fixed Provided always that the t rioe at ■which such land shall Jje sold shall not be le s than that at which waste lands of the Crown are sold in the land district in which such lauds may be shunted.

But it appears the Waste Lauda Board were premature in making a sale of the land, and forgot a special proviso which limited their action. The. first sub-section of clause 19 seems to place an insuperable obstacle in their way. It says : 1. The Governor, on behalf of the Queen, may trau fer the said lands to the Waste * ands Board of the laud district wherein they are situated, who may sub-let the same in accordance with the provisions of any Waste i ands Act in force in such di-trict. Provided that no lands shall be dealt with until they have been brought under the control of the Waste Lands Board of the district in which they are situated. At the time the land was dealt with by the Waste Lands Board it had not been handed over to that body, nor had the native title been extinguished Indeed, the native title is not extinguished yet, and no one can say when it will be extinguished. The subject was referred to on the 10th of March, when a deputation from the Thames waited on the Native Minister on the subject. Mr Sheehan then said —“ Upon the representations now made to me, it does appear that the Waste Lands Board had no right to sell until the land was proclaimed waste lands of the Crown.” In such cases as those of Mr Yesey Stewart and Mr Broomhall there is always a strong disposition nob to do anything which may look at home like a breach of faith on the part of the colony, but the Ministry will probably in this case take the position that they cannot acknowledge themselves to be committed by a nominated Board, who had done what it is now alleged they were expressly prohibited from doing.