New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, April 18, 1846.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 80, 18 April 1846, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator, AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, April 18 , 1846.

We publish this week^for the information of our fellow colonists, Mr. Commissioner Spain's Report and award on the New Zea-

land Company's claim to lands in the Middle Island, copies of which we have received from the Principal Agent of the Company. We defer until next week the publication of Mr. Spain's awards on the Company's claims to land in Port Nicholson, Porirua, Manawatu and Wanganui, because they are unaccompanied -by the Reports on which they are founded ; but these we suppose will in due course be transmitted through the usual official channels. In the consideration of this Report it may be necessary first briefly to state a few facts in connection "with it which it will be desirable to bear in mind. As we pointed out on a former occasion (in our 78th No.) Mr. Spain has exceeded his commission by reporting, and voluminously reporting on these claims ; hehas-also, as we shall find by his own shewing, determined these claims without fully investigating them. Mr. Spain arrived in Wellington on the Bth Dec. 1841, and on the 18th May 1842 the Land Claims Court was opened. The repeated adjournments and delays which prolonged the sittings of the 'Court until the patience of the settlers was fairly worn out are in the recollection of most of our readeis. Nor did the delays of the Commissioner terminate with the sittings of his Court. On the Ist April 1845 we find Capt. Fitzroy complaining in the Council that he " had not received any Report of the New Zealand Company's claims to the Southward. The Report for Taranaki only he had received from the Commissioner, but to that he did not accede. He had -written for the Reports, they had been promised in all March, and they were not yet received, some months had elapsed since the Commissioner had left that part of the country, and his time was not otherwise occupied, and he was bound to say the delay was not justifiable." But these awards are all dated the 31st March 1845, leaving it to be inferred that they were then delivered. We learn also from Col. v Wakefield's letter that these Reports were transmitted to Lord Stanley last September, but neither the Company's Agent, nor the settlers whose interests are so materially affected by them, receive the slightest intimation of their contents until seven months after, when this desired information is afforded by our present Governor, and these Reports will assist in swelling the contents of another Blue Book to be circulated to the injury of the settlers, without their having -the opportunity of offering either explanation *or refutation of their statements. To increase the complication of this question — to add to the difficulties of its adjustment, while the settlers from their first arrival up to the date of the Commissioner's award have been prevented from occupying their lands, the natives, the other parties in this suit, have directly and indirectly been encouraged by the Local Government .to aggressions and usurpations which are now awarded to taem, as well as the native reserves, on which no effort has been made toy the Local Authorities to place them. In consequence there is hardly a section near the town on which the natives have not established themselves on small patches which, if they are suffered to retain them, will render the rest of the section valueless to the settler. In the Port Nicholson award Mr. Spain determines that the New Zealand Company are entitled to 71,900 acres of land, including the Town of Wellington, from which are excepted the native reserves and all the pas, burial places, and cultivations of the natives, which last are defined to be " those tracts of country which are now used by the natives for vegetable productions, or which have been so used by them since the establishment of the colony" — and those pieces of land in the Town of Wellington claimed by Mr. D. Scott, Mr. G. Young, and"Mr. R. Tod. All the lands lately occupied by the Rebels in the Hutt district are also excepted in the terms of the award, although a further payment of £400 had been made to Rauparaha to extinguish these claims, and these natives were declared by the Commissioner and the Local Government to be intruders ; and although Mr. Spain in this Report declares " that Rauparaha has no claim whatever as

against the resident natives" from whom the district had been purchased. In the Wanganui award the Company, upon payment of £1,000 to the natives of that district, are declared entitled to a grant of 40,000 acres, subject to exceptions and reserves in favor of the natives similar to those in the Port Nicholson award, to some rights of fishing in favor of the natives in certain pieces of water specified, and also excepting any portions of land within any part of the block awarded, " to which private claimants have already or may hereafter prove before the Commissioners of Lands Claims a title prior to the purchase by the New Zealand Company" — so that a grant issued in the terms of the award would only be a yrimd facie grant. We may also here note that in the Nelson award, the land in which district heTiad declared in his Court had been paid for " at the rate of a larger sum per acre than any other land that had been purchased in New Zealand" a similar reservation has been made. In the Manawatu award the Company are declared entitled to one hundred acres! (Mr. Yule's section), and in the Report en which this award is founded, all the payments made by Capt. Smith on the part of the Company, amounting to £1,000, are declared only to have purchased the right of pre-emption. And yet the following extract from Col. Wakefield's letter to the Secretary of the Company (extracted from the Company's 17th"Report, p. 66) will shew, that in his Court, Mr. Spain decided very differently :—: — " The -Commissioner held a court, when Burr and Mr. Kebble were examined, and proved the sale and boundaries of the land from Horowenua to Rangitiki. One chief, Taikapurua, said that be was no party to the sale, and received no part of the payment, and never would take any. Mr. Spain then told the assembled natives that he had decided that Watanui and and all the other people but Taikapurua and his had sold their lands, but that he should recommend that a Crown giant of the whole district should be issued to the Company: that there never would be a better opportunity for Taikapurua and his people to receive compensation for -their lands, and that he earnestly recommended them to arrange with Mr. Clarke the proper amount." The claims of the Company to Porirua and the Wairau are disallowed. The award in the latter case (to which we shall at present confine ourselves) we cannot but designate as flagitious and as directly opposed to the decisions of the Commissioner as stated in \ his own Court. In a letter to the SecreI tary of the Company, dated 30th August, 1844, Mr. Fox, the Resident Agent at Nelson, stated : — "On the Monday after their arrival here, Mr. Spain opened his court to entertain the Company's claims in the Nelson district. Evidence of the original purchase from Rauparaha being already in the possession of the Commissioner, it only remained to satisfy him that the resident natives had received compensation for their consent to the establishment of the settlers among them. This was proved to have been made to them on the arrival of the Nelson preliminary expedition to the amount of nearly £1,000. The Commissioner was satisfied that the original purchase, made by Colonel Wakefield on 'his arrival in Cook's Strait, was valid, and that the compensation to the resident natives was ample. The expectations of the latter, however, having been excited in the long interval during which th? claims have remained unsettled, the Commisioner assented to (though he did not award) a further payment of £200 to each of four families of natives — in the whole £800- as the price of future peace. This sum was handed over on Saturday last, two days before the receipt of stringent instructions received by the Nelson to incur no further expenses on behalf of the Company,. The "Company's claim to the Wairau district has not been disposed of, — Mr. Spain considering it necessary to have some further communications on the subject with Rauparaha before deciding upon if. His present adjudications includes Massacre Bay and Blind' Bay only." And still more to the purpose, in an article in the Nelson Examiner, 31st August, 1844, fully believed to have been written or dictated by Mi . Spain himself, after describing Te Ite's prevarications, and Col Wakeneld authorising Mr. Clarke to settle the matter by making a further payment with a view of insuring the subsistence of a friendly feeling between the two races, and Mr. Clarkes agreeing to settle with them for £800, " for all the districts (exclusive of the Wairau, which question could not be entered upon, owing to the absence of the tribe claiming ■that district, who are at present on the other Island)" it is stated : — " The Commissioner plainly intimated to the natives in open Court through the Interpreter, that he considered they had been previously

amply paid for the land claimed in this district, I at the rate of a larger sum per acre than for any other land that had been purchased in New Zealand. That it vra.s first purchased at Kapiti, j from Rauparaha and others by Colonel WaJcefield, that subsequently on the arrival of Captain Wakefield with the settlers, that gentlemen had gone into the several districts and made the resident natives large presents, amounting to upwards of £900; that the district lately pm chased at Otakou was paid for at a far lower rate than this, while the land was treble in extent, and that they must receive the sum about to be given them by Mr. Clarke- not as a matter of right, but as an act of grace and good will towards them on the part of the Europeans." Blind Bay is declared by the Commissioner to have been fairly purchased. — Why not Cloudy Bay ? The following extract from the Nelson Examiner 21st Sept., 1844 will clearly explain the dilemma of the Commissioner :—: — '* Mr. Spain the other day stated distinctly, and in open court, that he considered the natives had long ago been amply paid for the land claimed by the Company here, — at a larger price per acre than any other land that had been purchased in New Zealand. The sum of £800 then about to be given them, the Commissioner declared they must receive not as part payment, or as a matter of right, but solely as an act of grace and good-will on the part of the Europeans. Now, these lands so fairly bought, so amply paid for, were purchased by two deeds, dated respectively the 25th October, and the Bth November, 1839. The first purchased the rights of E Hiko, and others of the Kawia tribe. Rauparaha and Rangihaeata both signed it ; the second, those of E Hawe and the Ngatiawas. Both not only mention boundaries of tracts including the Wairau, but also expressly particularise " the river and district of Wairau," as well as other places in Cloudy Bay. Nothing could be more clear or explicit. And in both, Kapiti and Mana, and the small islands adjacent, are expressly excepted. Now, had there been unwillingness on the part of the natives to part with the place in question, or i any difficulty about it, would not it have been excepted as well as Kapiti, &c, at least not expressly mentioned as suld ? But there is collateral proof of Rauparaha having knowingly parted with this district; for Colonel Wakefield's journal, published long ago, happens, singularly enough, to allude particularly to the signing for Cloudy Bay. "Rauparaha and Charley signed it by proxy for some relations at Cloudy Bay who are not of consequence in the disposal of laud, but who will receive a part of the payment by their names being recorded." Can anything be moi e conclusive? Blind Bay and Cloudy Bay bought at the same time, by the same deeds, with the same goods. Blind Bay acknowledged by the Commissioner himself to have been better bought than any other land in New Zealand, must not Cloudy Bay have been so too ? Why should the Company's Agent then have made any difference ? Cloudy Bay must have been thought then even more valuable than Blind Bay. Can we doubt for a moment that the Commissioner will declare the Wairau to have been bought as fairly and fully as the other places?" To relieve himself from this dilemma, the Commissioner does not scruple to set aside all Colonel Wakefield' s purchases, and to assume that the subsequent presents made by Capt, Wakefield were the actual purchase of the district. Though in his report he states that in order to obtain a further payment, " few natives will refrain from making statements contrary to fact" — he does not hesitate to ground his decision on the statements of Rauparaha «nd Rangihaeata without any reference to other testimony. Because they have admitted the sale of Wakatu and Taitapu, these purchases are valid : But " far different is the case as respects the two other districts of which the sale by the same parties has been as distinctly denied — Porirua and Wairau — In both instances the opposition to the surveys and occupation has been from the first systematic and determined. The inference is inevitable." — O wise and upright Judge ! But Mr Spain goes still further — he does not hesitate to affirm contrary to the fact, in several places in his Report that "no evidence was offered" of the purchase of the district, that Colonel Wakefield " attempted no proof of its purchase," that " no evidence of its purchase has been adduced by the Company's Agent," whereas it is clear, from the evidence of the settlers at Nelson and according to the article previously quoted (either written or sanctioned by Mr. Spain) that he never entered upon the Wairau question, which he has determined without previous investigation — it is clear that the evidence which established the purchase of Blind Bay and Massacre Bay "at Kapiti from Rauparaha and others by Col. Wakefield," established also the purchase of Cloudy Bay and Wairau which were included in the same deed. But can Mr. Spain deny that in addition to the above, Colonel Wakefield submitted to him Captain Blenkinsop's deed of this district whose claims

he had acquired by purchase ; that he himself signed a map of the Wairau district at Nelson (now in the possession of the Company's Agent at that place) in proof of the Company's claim having been formally submitted to this Court ? From a comparison of Mr. Spain's decisions at Nelson as established by the testimony above quoted, and Mr. Spain's awards we fear " the inference is inevitable," that to remove from the Government the responsibility of their conduct with reference to the Wairau, he has not scrupled to throw the onus of this lamentable catastrophe upon the settlers, without any formal investigation, and on the mere statements of the murderers themselves. — If Mr. Spain expects to receive promotion for such service, we hope he may be disappointed. By such unworthy conduct he has so much increased the difficulties of the question, that unless Captain Grey will manfully resolve to set aside these reports and, untramelled by the official incapacity and dishonesty that surround him on every side, will in the settlement of the Land Claims trust to his own good sense and feeling of justice — we fear the settlement of this question can hardly be said to have yet commenced, and the settlers will be doomed to interminable vexation and disappointments.

The disembarkation of the troops at Porirua from H.M.S. Calliope, H.M. Steamer Driver, and the Slams Castle transport was effected on Thursday. The troops are encamped close to Thorns' station, and a large ware in the neighbourhood has been appropriated as quarters for some of the men. The Driver and Calliope returned from Porirua yesterday evening, and the Slams Castle early this morning. Rangihaeata is reported to have joined the rebels at Pawatanganui, and accounts vary as to the number of his adherents, but the greatest estimate does not ex ceed four hundred natives. A detachment of eighty men of the 99th Regt. under Lieut. De Winton marched yesterday morning to Porirua from Wellington, to relieve the two flank companies of the same regiment at present on duty there. The natives were very quiet, and Rauparaha, who still remains at Porirua, continues to profess the most friendly intentions towards the settlers.

New Police Force. — Mr. E. C. Strode has been appointed Sub-Inspector of the new police force. It is intended that the force shall be armed and divided into four companies, each company will be under the command of a sergeant, and will consist of ten Europeans and one Native, and small parties will be stationed at the outposts at Porirua, Ohariu, and the Hutt. This is the first experiment made by the Government of employing the natives with the settlers in their service, and if a sound discretion is exercised in the selection of the persons employed, it may be attended with a beneficial result. The chief advantage to be derived from the appointment of natives to this force may be expected in the discovery and apprehension of offenders, in cases where offences have been committed by any of their fellow countrymen. If this experiment should prove successful it may be presumed that it will be repeated in other instances.

We may account the opening of the coast road to Wellington, and the breaking up of the blockade established by Rangihaeata, as one of the immediate benefits resulting from the late military movements. Messrs, Cameron and Bell were in consequence enabled to drive their cattle round to Wellington without further interruption, on Thursday evening, after having been detained nearly a month on the road from the time of their leaving Wanganui. It is reported that a good road will be made from Porirua to Wainui in continuation of the road from Wellington.

On Sunday evening last, between the hours of six and eight, there was a severe^ storm of wind and rain, accompanied with tender and lightning. The flashes of lightning were very vivid, and followed each other in rapid succession. The wind had been high during the whole of the day, hut towards the evening it abated and the rain fell in torrents. We have recorded the event because thunder storms are of unusual occurrence in this part of the Island.

The settlers are greatly indebted to his Excellency for the following information respecting the revenue and expenditure of this district. When the present straightforward intelligible statement is compared with the former returns published in the Blue Books, which seemed compiled for the purpose of not giving any information, and which were not accessible until all interest in them had ceased ; the plan in future to be adopted of publishing the public accounts at the end of each quarter must be regarded as a very great improvement on the old system.