Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 1016, 13 May 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. SATURDAY, MAY 13, 1871.

Yesterday, in the Provincial Council, his Honor the Superintendent gave some information on a matter, which

may yet give rise to unpleasant compli fßAtiona,and probably entail considerable expense and i rouble upon the Province. Qolonel Lambeit had moved for a return showing the particulars of the leases of

pertain reserves in the Tikokino and Hampden blocks, having discovered that certain of the lessees of these reserves were in the habit of felling and disposing of valuable timber, to which they asserted a light, but which the mover consideied to be the property of the Province. Tn promising that the return should be prepared, his Honor, as we have .said, drew attention to a

matter of still greater importance--no less than the leasing and even selling by the Government of parcels of land in these blocks over which the native title had not been extinguished. We have i\() particulars of this matter fur thou

than those which appear in our report of Council proceedings to-day; but from the brief statement made by M* Honor we aathi»r that the fault rests on a suiv vevor who, in subdividing the land, from some eau-e which does not appear, mistook the proper boundaries of the blocks, as originally laid off by Mr Weber. His Honor himself had failed to trace the cause of this discrepancy ; : the fact, however, remained. One settler who had leased a portion of these reserves, and had paid two years' rent to the Government, fonnd that the natives laid claim to and took possession of a portion of his allotment; and in other cases parcels of land claimed by the natives had been conveyed to Europeans as land. It would of course be premature to comment on tlie above in the absence of further particulars, but a somewhat similar circumstance has occurred before in this Province. Our readers will remember the inconvenience and expense to which the Government were put some time ago by the re-survey of Puketapu, and the general re-adjustment of boundaries and wholesale removal of fencing which took place on that occasion. The cases are very similar, except that in the Puketapu affair there were no native claims to perplex the matter. The question arises—How came such blunders to pass muster at the survey ofL'cp ?—a question difficult of solution. Such errors, however, are always liable to occur so long as valuable public servants, well versed in the traditions of their office, may be dismissed for party ends. The Province may yet be cast in heavy costs through a single instance of Superin ten dental pique.