The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND. SATURDAY, SEPT. 27, 1862. "THE NATIVE LANDS ACT, 1861"

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1727, 27 September 1862, Page 3

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND. SATURDAY, SEPT. 27, 1862. "THE NATIVE LANDS ACT, 1861"

Bo just and fear not; Let ail the ends thou aim’st at, be thy Country*!, Thy God’s, and Truth's.

Wi: rq irint to-day tho great Act of the session, as it was finally passed by the General Assembly. It appears to have been the subject of a long and determined battle, and to have undergone many transformations. We hope to be able in our next, as a matter of record, to give a full report of the debate on the second reading, and of tho proeeedceedings in Committee of the House. The title of the Hill was at one period “An “Act to render the Title of Natives to their “ Lands as valid and effectual as the Title of “Europeans under grant from the Crown,” and perhaps a comparison of this pretentious and sweeping title with that which the Act now has will convey an idea as accurate as can be given in a few words, of the change which the whole Hill underwent in the fiery ordeal through which it passed. Clause 2 of the Bill, as first amended and adopted in Committee, stood thus;—

All lands in New Zealand over which the Native title shall not have been extinguished are hereby declared to he the absolute property of the persons entitled thereto by Native custom, and may, save as hereinafter excepted, and after the respective owners o( the same shall have been ascertained as hereinafter provided, be dealt with by such owners in like manner as Her Majesty’s subjects of European race may deal with lands held by them under Grant from the Crown. Courts, under the supcriutendency of an European Magistrate, for ascertaining the title of Natives, may be established by the Governor; “upon the application” of any native tribe or individual, the court may proceed to ascertain the “ right title or estate” of such applicants, to define and register the same, and to make a report thereupon for the confirmation of the Governor. At this stage of the proceeding, the Governor may make reserves of portions of the land for the benefit of the Native proprietors or their descendants, and may issue a Crown Grant in trust for such reserves. Such reservation being made, and the report confirmed by the Governor, the Court may issue a Certificate of Title, which will be recognized “in any court of law and equity,” Clause xi. provides that the Governor may “endorse his signature” upon a certificate, and cause the public seal of the colony to be adixed, and the “certificate” shall then have the value of a Crown Grant.

The Natives to whom certificates are granted may dispose of the lands described in such certificate, by sale or lease, “to any person or persons whomsoever.” With a view to securing contributions to the land revenue of the provinces a clause was added to the Bill in Committee in the House of Representatives, requiring the payment of two shillings and sixpence per acre, to be made when the “endorsation and sealing” of a certificate were effected. To this was added, in the Legislative Council, the following proviso:— But no certificate shall entitle any tribe, community or person named therein to sell, exchange, or lease for a longer period than seven years, or dispose of any land or interest thereby affected, unless such certificate shall have been endorsed by the Governor and sealed with the public seal of the colony as aforesaid, and the amount pavable on such endorsement and scaling be duly paid.

Both provisions were afterwards struck out upon the Governor’s amendment by which a duty of 10 per cent is imposed upon the first sale of land and 4 per cent upon every subsequent transaction.

With a view, apparently, to transactions in purely Native Districts the “Court” and the Governor have power, by permission of the Natives, to subdivide tribal lands for the individualization of title ; to make regulations and plans of settlement, and provision for raising money for municipal purposes. No contracts for the purchase of Native Lands made before the parsing of this Act are to he recognized, excepting the contract for permission to exercise New Zealand Company’s Land Orders in the Manawatu block. Negociations for the purchase of this valuable tract of land are still pending, and as it was apprehended that enterprising private individuals might interfere with the purchase, the Manawatu block was excepted from the operation of the Act. Wellington having put in its claim it was thought that Auckland too had some interests to protect, and the following clause was moved by Mr. Williamson, the Superintendent:—

Ami whereas certain arrangements having been made by the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland under the authority of the Crown Laud Regulations thereof for the introduction of large bodies of Immigrants into that Province based on the belief that sufficient land for the location of such Immigrants would he from time to time obtained under the present system of acquiring land from the Native owners thereof, and as negotiations have been entered upon for the acquisition of various blocks of land in the said Province and as it would injuriously interfere with the measures adopted for the introduction of Immigrants into the said Province of Auckland, it such blocks as aforesaid were not excluded from the operation ot this Act:

Bo it therefore enacted that all blocks of land in the Province of Auckland for the acquisition of which negotiations have been commenced and are still pending shall he and are hcrcly excepted from the operation of this Act.” For this clause that which stands as clause xxxii. was substituted, and the Victoria Valley and other valuable blocks arc thereby likely to be saved to the public use.

Clause xxxiv. originally bad, after the word “proprietors,” the following words: “ subject to the laws and regulations in force relating to the sale and disposal of such lands Waste or demesne lltndu of tl}g Cyqtvfi ”

This passage, which would have placed the land, when acquired, immediately at the disposal of the local Government, was, on a motion of Mr. Bell, expunged. The Act shall be brought into operation only in such districts as the Governor shall think fit, and in no case until it shall have received Her Majesty’s assent.