NAPIER'S YESTERDAYS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 46, 10 March 1937, Page 13

NAPIER'S YESTERDAYS

Charles

Price

by ,

REGISTERING A LEASE

XXTTL Many tales are told of the subterfuges resorted to in the early days to qhtain aignatures lo native leases and to register these leases before any other leage could be registered for the same property. Native agents vied with paeh other in the artifices used to ohtain the signatures of the native chiefs, and cared little if the same native chiefs were induced to sign leases for the same property, prqyided they coxfd get theirs registered jirst, because," like registering a mining ciaim, it was the flrst deed of lease to be presenrei for registration which was accepted, any subsequent leases being refused registration. IJnder these circumstances, it is not surprising to find that some of the native chiefs were willing to sign more than one lease foi the same property, pravideo they reeeivcd pay from fcaeh party. Tbey soon learned to be as wdy as Ihe Europeans and to know that only one lease would eventuglly be registered, and that rents woiuld come in from only one source, but what matter if two, throe, or half-a-dozen parties were willing to pay for signatures, even though only ohe lease would be any good. If the Buropeans liked to gamble as to. who should be the flrst in the xace for registration, why not let them. If the European "code of honour" permitted the pakeha to indulge in such taeties as trying to beat other people in such a game, why shauld "the Maori administer a rebuke to the pakehas by declining to sign morq than one lease for any one property. It was evident to the Maori chiefs that some pakehas were quite prepared to take advantage of any triek that would help them to gain their ends and would take in anybody they could, pakeha or Maori. It was in connection with one of the registrations of one of these native leases from Poyerty Bay that I became acquainted with an incident which impressed itself upon my memory. It was sqmewhere about 1876, I fnney, when the etauaiJ office qnd deeds registration for all Hawke'fi Bay and Poyerty Bay Was at Napier, the stamp office, which wns at that time in charge of the lato My, J. B. Fi elder, being on the flrst floor of the Post and Telegraph building, on the Shakespeare road side, and in the portion of the building afterwards occupied by the Electrie Telegraph Department counter. Twp native leases were in course of preparation for one very large block cf land at Poverty Bay. One of these was in charge of the late Mr. J. P. Hamlin to obtain signatures for, while the late Mr. James Grindell, 'of Napier, had charge of the other. Just what bargaining took place to obtain the signatures Qf sqme of the chiefs I do not know, but the leases were finally signed and rqa.dy for registration at about the same time. The lawyer who had prepared one of the leases was a Mr. E. Francis Ward and he had an agent in Napier who acted for him, in the person of Mr. H. R. Lascelles, who office was at the faqt Rfi Shakespeare roaa, just opposite the Stamp Office. Mr. Ward sent a clerk, a Mr. Lawrence I think his name was, to a livery and bait stables to h'ire a horse to commenee the journey to Napier, with instruetions to change horses as often as required. He returned tp the office with the information that two horses had been hired to representatives of another firm of solicitprs, and that two clerks, in cpmpany, had stp,rted for Napier half-an-hour earlier. klr, Ward was not to be baulked by a trifle, He had a friend living a qiuarter of a milp away who pwned a flne hurdle hqrse, just retired from a season 's jumpiug and in good hard conditiqn, This horse was secured, and off went Ward 'g clerk in pursuit pf the others,

Arriving at Wairoa he sighted two norses which he took to be those he \ya « followiug, hitGhed to a post outside the Frasertown Hotel, so when he cfossed the river pn the punt he avoided that strept and slipped rpund the back way, gaining the lead. Arriving at Mohaka he Qbtained his second change of horse and pqshed on. Another change atj I faney, Arapawanui, and a final one at Petane saw him cross the Westshore bridge at about 7.30 a.m., about an hour before the other two who had been told at Mohaka that he was on ahead, but whq had been thrpwn off the seept at Petane by being told that he had taken a wrong course there and had gone over the Wharerangi hills by mistake, and would by that route only reaeh Napier via Taradale. Ward's clerk went round Hyderabad road after crossing the Westshore bridge, and this further induced the belief that he had missed his way when it was learned that he had not been seen at Pprt Ahuriri. HoTYever, he had reached Napier, and had, according to instruetions, handed his deed over to Mr. H- R*. Laspelles, who went immediately to his office to await |he opening of the Stamp Office. About 8..30 a.m. twp tired riders and jaded horses came over the top of the Shakespeare Hill, and down towards the town. Seeing Mr. Lascelles standing in the doorway of his office, they inquired where the Stamp Office was.. "It's jiust opposite, 1 ' said the genial Henry, "Were you wanting to register somcthing, because the office will not be open before 9 °r after, for thp ola man who is registrar is not Yery punetual. Why not take your tired horses to tbe Clarendon Stables ne^t door, and slip into breakfast fpr yQUi'splves. If you like, 1 will cq.ll ypu as soon as the registrar makes his appearance. ' ' The offer was gratefully accepted. About 8.55 a.m. the punetual Mr.. Fielder came along and opened up his office. Mr. Lascelles went straight over and handed in the lease for registration, pard the stamp duty upon st, then went over to the Clarendon and inforpied the two waiting men that the Stamp Ofiicp had just ppenpd. Thp two Gisbornitps were prpfuse iu their thanks for his kindness and pressed a little refreshxxient upon him, which Henry gruciously accepted. Apologising for jxaving t> go out of town and thus be unable to see them again, he departed. The two cierks went to the Stamp Office, presented their document, which was jusi about to be registered when the name of the block to be leased caught Mr.r Fielder's eye. He went to his safe, took out the document he had jnst previously registered, compared the two, eheeked the names of the Maori chiefs anu the witnesses, then handing tbe deed back to the clerks said, "I ani sorry I cannot register this deed, as I have just registered another 4®®^lease fpr the same bloek," "Wbo .did you register- it for?" asked the two clerks almost eimultaneously. "For Mr. Henry Lascelles, as agent for Mr. E. H. Ward, of Gisborne," was the reply. "And who is this Mr. Henry Lascelles?" was the next question. "He is a commission agent," said Mr. Fielder, "and his office is just across the road." "What! The nice, kind man whp said he would let us know when this office was open. A pair of fools we have been." "If those signatures at® geruuine, and I suppose they are,''' said Mr, ^felder, "It seems to be a case of {Jiamond cut diainfQUdj and the other side was a bit smarter than yon were." Two crestfallen messengers returned to Gisborne with their tale of woe, and a very useless deed of lease which had cost a considerable amount of money.