General Assembly.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 803, 11 July 1870, Page 3

General Assembly.

In the Legislative Council on Thursday, 21st June, the Hon. Mr Gisborne obtained leave to bring in a bill to confirm a grant of land on the Waikato river, which had been made by Sir George Grey to Mete Kingi in consideration of services rendered, and which grant it was doubtful if Sir Grey had power to make. Mr Gisborne moved the second reading of the bill next day, when he said the land consisted of a village allotment and 14 acres suburban, being part of a Government reserve. The late Governor, when he made this grant, thought he had the power to do so.—The R'on.Mr O'Neill had not heardany reason why thiß case should be made exceptional, nor why Sir George Grey took upon himself to award land, not confiscated, but belonging to a province, to a private person, lie had not heard that Sir George had the sanction of his responsible advisers in the course he had taken. The bill should be referred to the committee appointed to consider bills affecting the waste lands of the colony.—The Hon. Mr Lee asked it there were not other grants made at the came time, and of the same description ? M r Domett said there were 15 others. He was unable to give information as to the making of these grants, but thought it of the highest importance that a Governor's promises to natives should be religiously fulfilled. -It. might be that Sir George had not legal powwr, but it was only what had been done by several Governors, and almost every Ministry. The practice had been carried to Buch an ex lent chat he doubted if it could be matched anywhere else i nthe British Empire. It there ever had been a minute on the subject, it was lost, as was the case too often with official documents. In one act empowering the Governor to grant land, written evidence of the promise was not made necessary in the case of ;nalives. — The Hon. Col. Whitmore said it was necessary to exercise caution in such matters. It was singular that out of fifteen persons to whom granta had been made, it had

only been necessary to take this course in the case of a member of tho Legislature It was strange, also, that services should be rewarded by a grant of land in another Province, aiid not from the confiscated lands in the district where the native had distinguished himself. This .eagerness to fulfil a promise contrasted strongly with the neglect of the Government to fulfill more recent promises to natives; particularly where £SOO had been offered instead of £3,000, to which the natives were justly entitled. AH loose promises made by former Governors should be thoroughly proved before they were recognized, and an officer should be appointed to examine and report upon all claims. The chief referred to was not at all unlikely to strain his recollection of such matters, as he himself had heard hiai mention the promises of so many influential people of all kinds, that he thought he must occasionally bocome confused in his memory, and that they should not take his own word (only) for it. The Governor's promise might be carried out to the extent of giving the value of tie land; but not Auckland land to a Wanganui chief Other natives would believe that only members of that house could obtain justice and such were the very last for whom a point should be strained.—The Hon. C. J. Taylor agreed that caution should be exercised in the matter, and considered that the bill should bo referred to the Waste Lands Committee. —The Hon. Mr Waterhouse thought such irregularities should be stopped, but faith kept with the natives. He would not oppose the bill; but protested against giving away the waste lauds of any Pro* vince without the sanction of the ministry, —he might >ay, the legislature. He did not think the Waste Lands Committee competent to deal with reserves. —The Hon. the Speaker could not at the moment , decide whether a " reserve " came within the meaning of the term " waste land." — i The Hon. Mr Sewell thought it did not; but a select committee might be appointed. The object was to satisfy the legislature that circumstances would justify it in validating an invalid claim. —The Hon. Dr Grace said that the claimant had rendered important services on the East Coast of Auckland Province, and therefore there no valid reason against his receiving land there. He felt so strongly that such exercises of power should be looked into, that he should prefer to see it referred to a select committee. The Hon. Mr Domett said it would be absurd to refer to a com mittee. He could show from official documents that in one and by no means a remarkable instance, hundreds of acres of : land had been given away upon the mere initials of the Defence Minister, who had ' merely written the word "approved" and * his initials upon the same—aud this without a word of question in either house of legislature or in the country, lu the present case the amount was small, and yet there was a proposal for a committee. — The Hon. Colonel Bussell said that how ever small the amount might be, two great questions were involved—whether cue Governor should give away land, and whether a member of the legislature should receive a grant without the circumstance being thoroughly known and approved of by the Assembly.—The Hon. Mr Johnson had never the slightest idea of the existence of such a state of thiugs as had been revealed by Mr Domett; stili, the bill should pass, as it purported merely to remedy a flaw in a grant already issued by the Governor of the day, whose right was not questioned at the time j but the Government or parliament should see that a restriction should be placed upon individual dealing with land by either Governors or ministers. It would be unwise now to question the acts of a Governor who had left us.—The Hon. Colone. Kenny said it had been shown that monstrous abuses had taken place on the part of both Governors and Ministers, and one abuse was justified by the fact that still greater ones existed. An investigation should be made before the grant was issued, and such arbitrary acts should be effectuallystopped for the future.—The bill was then read a second time, after some discussion, duriug which Mr Domett said any action they could take would not prevent the disposal of lands by ministers of the Crown; that ministers would do so whenever they thought it right; they had large powers, aud sometimes even went beyond them. The fault rested with the legislature which gavethose powers. —Aselect committee was appointed, having power to call for persons and papers, to which the bill vna referred.