Colonial.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 502, 26 August 1857, Page 3

Colonial.

WELLINGTON.

Looking again over our late Wellington files, with the addition of a few numbers brought by the Canterbury, we find the following :— PETITION RELATING TO THE WASTE LANDS. To th» Honorable the Kouse of Representatives forthe Colony of New Zealand. The Respectful petition of the undersigned Inhabitants of the Province of Wellington, sheweth: That the acquisition of the Waste Lands of the Province of Wellington, by extinction of the Native Title, is of vital importance to the prosperity of the Province. That it is generally believed that large tracts of valuable agricultural and pastoral lands may be easily purchased from the natives, among which may be more particularly mentioned the district of the Manawatu one of the finest tracts in the whole colony, containing upwards of 300,000 acres of first rate land, covered with natural pasture, on which a very small number of natives reside, and from the use of which, even for pastoral purposes, the colonists are debarred by law, though their stock in the adjacent country are actually starving for want of room. 'There is also the Forty-mile bush district, lying between the Wairarapa valley and the Ahuriri plains, through which the Provincial Government contemplates carrying a road absolutely essential to connect the Hawke's Bay country with Wellington, and containing some hundreds of thousands of acres of first rate land covered with timber of the very best description. There are also extensive districts nearer the sea coast south of Porangahau, and in the Hawke'e Bay country, which it is believed that judicious negotiation would soon place at the disposal of the colonists. That a very small number of natives, barely a. few hundreds, occupy the vast tract mentioned, living almost exclusively by the cultivation of a few.acres around their pahs, and not in any other way using the fine districts referred to, but on the contrary, being, as your Petitioners are credibly informed, for the most part very desirous of selling the bulk of their lands to the Government for use by the Europeans. • : That any delay on the partof the 0swent, in availing itself of the j^' the natives to sell in any particul

be attended with most serious consequences and not improbably prevent, ultimately, the purchase of districts which could now be easily bought.

That your Petitioners have heard that your honorable House,during its last session, voted funds for the maintenance of large land purchase establishments, and also for the purchase of Waste land? during the current year.

That it appears from a correspondence between his -Excellency's Government and the Superintendent of this Province, which has been published by order of the Provincial Council, that asgsar back as the 24th July, 1856, his Hon|i|f|jrged upon that Government the vital importance of the purchase of the districts abo#e referred to, and that his Honor has on repeated occasions, extending over many months£most urgently renewed such representations, offering at the same time to provide the necessary funds for purchasing the Waste Lands and even for the maintenance of Commissioners; and praying that Commissioners might be sent to the Pro.vin.ee for the purpose.

That notwithstanding the urgency of his Honor's representations, it appears, that nothing has been done by his Excellency's Government tilL about six weeks ago, beyond sending one sub-Commissioner to Napier in Hawke's Bay, fettered by tions from Auckland, which preclude his acting without reference to his Excellency's Government at that place, a course usually involving many weeks' delay, and which sub-Commissioner did not succeed in effecting a single purchase during that period, a fact which your petitioners attribute to no want of either zeal or ability on his part, but solely to the fact of his being known to the natives only as a subordinate officer, and his being obliged to refer for instructions in every case to Auckland.

That about six weeks ago, Mr. McLean (the Native Secretary), is reported to have arrived at Hawke's Bay, and to have since succeeded in purchasing a portion of the Porangahau Block for the sum of £3000.

That no attempt has been made to purchase the other districts referred to, and no steps taken towards any negotiation in respect of them beyond an appointment made by the General-Government in February last, cf Mr, Ligar as Commissioner for Hawke's Bay, which your petitioners understand would have enabled Mr. Cooper, the present sub-Commissioner there to undertake negotiations in other districts, but your petitioners are informed that Mr. Ligar, though appointed, has not been sent, and that Mr. Cooper still remains engaged; with negotiations in the Hawke's Bay Country, while those in the other districts are yet uncommenced.

That the delay which has occurred during the past twelve months in commencing negotiations for the purchase of the Manawatu and Forty-Mile Bush districts, and generally the slow progress of the negotiations elsewhere, have already inflicted most serious injuries on this province, retarding its progress; preventing the execution of public works; obstructing the settlement of the country; disabling the Provincial Government from carrying out plans for developing the resources of the province, for which purpose it has borrowed large sums of money; placing it at an immense disadvantage in comparison with those more fortunate provinces which have had their native fitle extinguished; keeping alive grounds of dissatisfaction in the minds of the native race ; preventing their advancement in the arts of civilization; in a word, it has inflicted a grave injury on New Zealand as a whole, and threatens almost absolutely to stop the progress of the Province of Wellington at a crisis when, but for such obstruction, its progress could not fail to be most rapid and satisfactory.

That your petitioners believe that there is no public object for the execution of which the Government of the colony is responsible which can for one moment compare in, importance, both to the European and native races, with the extinction of the native title in the Waste Lands; and they cannot help expressing, most respectfully, deep regret that the amount of energy exhibited in the attempt to extinguish that title in this province, has been so entirely incommensurate with the importance of the subject.

That your petitioners are further of opinion that so long as the negotiations for the purchase of Waste Lands are conducted by fthe General Government, residing at a distance of seven hundred miles from the districts to be purchased, there is every probability of similar delays occurring, and they conceive that there is no effectual remedy for this most serious evil to be found, except inthe transfer of the power of ' ise to the Superintendent of £he cc iii the manner contemplated by the tution Act, and recommended by

resolution of the Provincial Council of j Wellington, adopted during its fourth Session. , Your petitioners therefore pray tfiat your honourable House will be pleased to take such steps in the matter as may most effectually secure the speedy extinction by purchase of the native title. in the lands of this province. And your petitioners will ever pray &c.