NATIVE LEASES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume I, Issue 32, 6 February 1862, Page 5 (Supplement)

NATIVE LEASES.

(From the New Zealand Advertiser, January 11.) “ Cannot I do what I like with my own P” was the indignant question put to the English nation through the House of Peers by the late Duke of Newcastle, the father of the present Colonial Minister ; and, while he was laughed at by his brother lords for putting to them so absurd an interrogatory, the English people returned an indignant negative to it. A peer of the realm cannot do as ho pleases, not even with his own property. Privileges not granted to the English aristocracy are, however, permitted to bo exercised in this Colony by the nominal owners of large and unoccupied tracts of country which probably few of these nominal owners have even explored. A road, on paying a fair compensation, may be made in England through a nobleman’s park, not only without his consent, but in direct opposition to his most cherished views and feelings. Here the native lords of the soil possess more extensive powers, and higher privileges. They can not only exclude from occupation lands for which they have no use, and but a very questionable title, though a fair compensation would be given for them, but they can forbid any road from being made through their territory (?) though necessary not only for colonial but for imperial purposes ! They can do more. They can stop even a Bishop in his peaceable progress from one English settlement to another, take him prisoner, and compel him to return from whence he came, not only with impunity, but without even a word of consure or comment upon such proceedings from the present Ministry or from the newspaper press in the pro-Maori interest. Instead of any steps being taken by the present Government to abate the evils arising from this state of things, it appears to us that they are taking a course which will stop the progress of real colonisation, and give to the unheard-of privileges claimed by the Maories the protection and the authority of the law. We are semi-officially informed by the Lyttelton Times “ that it is the intention of the Government to induce the natives themselves to frame regulations for leasing ther lands, defining trespass, and imposing penalties. The necessary powers have been already granted to the Government by the 1 IN alive Land Purchase Ordinance,” and it is hoped that the natives will accept these proposals for finally settling the trespass question. Should Mr. Ward succeed in his undertaking, it is probable that he will visit the Wairarapa district for a similar purpose. From this it will be seen that it is proposed to put British colonists, resident in Hawke’s Bay and the Wairarapa, occupying native lands under laws made by the natives, and to subject them to penalties imposed by a native council for any breach thereof. How British colonists will stomach this remains to be seen. A proposal of this kind might be proper in “ native districts,” but it surely can never be carried out in settled districts like those of Hawke’s Bay and the Wairarapa. The Government, under the “ Native Land Purchase Ordinance,” may grant a license to a settler to occupy native lands, but we doubt much whether that Ordinance grants any such powers as those indicated. We doubt, moreover, whether it is politic to admit the right of Europeans in settled districts to occupy unregistered lands held by natives in their tribe character. We deny that the natives in those districts possess such a natural and equitable title to property in land, which they do not occupy, and which they cannot use, as they would do diet they hold it per indvstriam—hj having expended the labor upon it necessary to render it productive. They might as well claim a property in the water in the Province, and deny the right of the settlers to use it, as to claim a property in the natural grasses growing on unappropriated land. “ It is agreed,” says Blacks! one, “upon all hands that occupancy by use gave the original right to the permanent property in the substance of the earth.” “Now is it likely,” says a high authority, “that any individual would have been allowed to appro- , priato more land than he could occupy in this sense.” Apart, however, from any considerations of this kind, if we allow individual settlers to hold lands from Maories, in their tribal capacity, and put such settlers under Maori laws, and subject them to Maori imposed penalties, wo shut up the North Island as a field for colonisation, for we shall prevent such lands from being alienated to the Crown, and destroy the fund out of which the country can be opened up, and by means of which the lands thereof can alone possess a value much more than nominal. A brief reference to the Ordinance under which the powers claimed by the Government arc said to be granted, may not be out of place. Immediately after t he first arrival of His Excellency Captain Grey in this Colony, in 1846, an Ordinance was passed by the Legislative Council—cntitulcd the “Native Land Purchase Ordinance,” for the purpose of preventing any dealings with the natives for lands other than by the Goverment. The Ordinance was made expressly to provide for the prevention, by summary proceeding, of unauthorised purchases and leases of land. The preamble sets forth that it is essential to the prosperous colonisation of New Zealand that the disposal of land therein should be subject to the control of the Government of the Colony—and to that end the right of pre-emption in and over all the lands within the Colony hath been obtained by treaty, and is vested, in Her Majesty, her heirs and successors—and all lands alienated without the sanction of the Crown by any person of the native race to any person not of the same race do, by virtue of such alienation, vest in the Crown aspart of the domian lands thereof —and whereas divers persons have without sanction of the crown entered into contracts for the purchase, use, occupation of lands, which private contracts arc not, and in most cases cannot be, made with due regard to the validity of title to the land comprised therein, and are often defective by reason of a want of a clear understanding by the parties to the contract of the terms and meaning thereof—and whereas by such secret and irregular purchase not only is the law sought to be evaded but the general tranquillity of tbe Colony ''islinhle tube seriously endangered—for the purpose therefore of providing a speedy and effectual remedy for the evils aforesaid, the Native Land Purchase Ordinance was enacted. Under its provisions persons purchasing land from the natives, or occupying, &c., native land without a license from

the Government, were liable to a penalty not exceeding £IOO for the first offence, and if he continued in occupation of such land one month after conviction he was liable to another penalty not exceeding £100; and it was also provided that any person who had been active in procuring such conviction could be awarded any portion of the penalty recovered upon such conviction, not exceeding in the "whole one half thereof. In the fourth session of the Provincial Council a Committee was appointed to enquire as to the quantity of land within the Province held by any of its inhabitants under lease or license from the natives. This Committee consisted of Mr. Bcvans, a member of the Provincial Government, and Messrs. Wakefield, Duncan, Masters, and Wilson . From the evidence they procured it appeared that in the Wanganui district a solitary case of the enforcement of the law had had the effect of put ting an end to the practice. The Committee reported that the continuance of the practice of holding lands from the natives by lease or otherwise is calculated to throw difficulties in the way of the further purchase of lands in the districts where it exists ; and they made the following recommendations to be urged upon the Governor and the General Assembly, viz.:— “ 1. To take measures for ascertaining correctly the nature and extent of all such agreements now existing between natives and other of Her Majesty’s subjects. “ 2. To give the parties to such agreements, who may be willing to afford assistance to the Government in effecting purchases, a guarantee of the right of pre-emption over one homestead to the extent of 80 acres. “ 3. To endeavor to overcome the repugnance of the natives to part at once with all interest in the land, by entering into agreements with natives to sell, on receiving a portion of the purchasemoney down, and annuities for one or more lives as circumstances may require, secured on the faith of the Government. “4. To adopt the most active and energetic measures for enforcing the law, for the future, against any person entering into any such bargains with the natives, whether verbally or in writing, without the official knowledge and legal sanction of the Government.” This report was adopted by the Council, and, through it, by the Superintendent. The following evidence of Mr. 11. Bussell is of the greatest importance. On being asked by Mr. Duncan if he were of opinion that the existence of the present leases or agreements made with the natives is likely in any way to act prejudicially towards the completion of the purchase of lands by the Government, Mr. Bussell replied, “ I believe if the system he allowed to continue, and to spread, that it will augment the difficulty of purchasing the lands from the natives, and increase the cost to the Government.” We do not doubt that the bringing of all such transactions under the knowledge and even the sanction of the Government would be an improvement on the present system, but it would be miadvisable to permit such transactions at all except on the principal that “ an evil which cannot be cured must be endured.”