Correspondence between the Local Government and the Acting Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company. (Concluded from No. 398.) Wellington, 8th March, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 400, 2 June 1849, Page 4

Correspondence between the Local Government and the Acting Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company. (Concluded from No. 398.) Wellington, Bth March, 1849.

Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter of the 6th instant, informing me that payments amounting to £1,100 will fall due on the Ist April next, on account of the Porirua and Wairau purchases, effected by the Government from the natives, and referring me to instructions received b\ you from the Governor-in-Chief, to the effect that all money required for puichases of land for the New Zealand Company is to be provided by that body. .

The New Zealand Company, or its Agents, not having been consulted (as I understand was the case) respecting the amount to be paid in these cases, — the purchases having been effected long before the correspondence between the Home Government and the Company on the subject of such payments, which has led to tbe instructions referred to \yy y OU> — ant l the Government having, by the course hitherto pursued in making the prey ious payments, led the Company's Agent to believe that he would not be called on to pay the purchase money in these two cases, which, in point of fact, it was never, I believe, before contemplated he should do ; no provision has been made by me to meet such payments, and I trust that your Excellency will, under the circumstances, be able to arrange to meet them, as the Local Government must have done in the absence of the instructions referred to. I have, &c, (Signed) William Fox. His Excellency the Lt. -Governor, &c. &c.

Mo. 9. Government House, Wellington, 9th March, 1849. Sir. — I have the In. nor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date,, in reply to mine of the 6th March, on the subject of the instalments (amounting to £ 1 , 1 00) which will shortly become due on the Wairau and . orirua purchases. In that reply you object to the Company's liability to meet these payments, on the ground that neither the Company nor its Agents (as you understand was the case) were consulted respecting the amount to he paid at the time the purchases were entered into ; that the Government have hitherto met the instalments as they became due ; and that, therefore, the Company's Agent has been led to believe that he would not be called upon to provide any funds for the purpose. 2. t believe that at the time of the purchase of the district referred to, it was originally contempl ted (as stated in Governor Grey's despatch of 7th April, 1847, a cop> of which was forwardad to Colonel Wakefield) that the New Zealand Company would only select comparatively small portions of the whole tracts bought j and that, therefore, they would only be 'iable to the repayments of a proportion of the purchase money: but the New Zealand Company have received Grants for the whole, and in accepting such Grants, virtually adopted the arrangement which had been entered into with the natives by the Crown. 3. Although, as yon remark, the purchases in quettion were made long before the correspondence between the Home Government and the Company on the subject of such payments, yet the instructions of the Secretary of State on the subject of payment for lands generally were wiitlen subsequently to that correspondence, aud with a full knowledge of the engagements which had been entered into with legard to the Wairau and. Porirua purchases ; nor. as lam aware, has any exception been made to them. The only such exception, to the best of my knowledge, being with regard to the site which might be required for the Canterbury settlement, and for which Earl Grey has sanctioned an advance of such instalments as might, in the first instance become due, from the revenue of the Province, if able to j meet such a demand. In reference to this particular case his Lordship states, " You will observe that in desiring to make these advances, I am departing to a certain extent from the direction given you in my despatch of June, 1847, that the New Zealand Company are to provide the means of paying similar demands from funds at their disposal." And again, in a still later dispatch, dated the 6th July, 1848, and addressed to Mr. Harrington by Mr. Hawes, it is remarked, " Lord Grey trusts that the j Loc 1 revenues will prove adequate to the purpose of the required purchase ; but I am directed to state distinctly, that in the event of their failure, as no Grant has been made by Parliament for the purpose, it is wholly out of his Lordship's power to authorize the Governor to draw upon the British treasury for this object." 4. Such being the general tenor of the Secretary of State's instructions with regai d to the advance of funds for land purchases, and do intimation having been given to me that any exception had been made with regard to' the Porirua and Wairau purchases, I am compelled to suppose that no such exception was intended ; and at least it is :r>y duty to give you early intimation that up to the present time no funds have been placed at my disposal by the Governor-in-Chief to meet those payments, or, indeed, any communicaticn from his Excellency on the su!jject. 5. It is therefore (much as I regret that any difficulty or delay should occur) wholly out of my power io provide for the payment of the instalments tailing due on the first April next, and all that 1 can do will be to

transmit copies of this correspondence to his Excellency the Governor-in- Chief, but without the possibility, as you are aware, of any reply being received from him, or any arrangements made to meet engagements due at that date. 6. It is barely possible, that if any understanding or arrangement has been entered into in England between' the Government and the New Zealand Company on the subject of the Wairau and Porirua purchases, of which I am not aware, the Governor-in-Chief might yet communicate with me on the subject "prior to the Ist of April, on which day his Excellency is aware the instalments' referred to become due ; but I confess I have no reason to apprehend that such an occurrence is probable, nor do I indeed know that there is any likelihood of a vessel at all arriving at Wellington from Auckland withn the period named. I have the honor, &c, (Signed) E. Eyre. W. Fox, Esq., Principal Agent to the N. Z. Company.

No. 13. Government House, Auckland, 24th March, 1849. Sir,— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, No. 16, of the Bth March last, in which you acquaint me that the New Zealand Company, through its Principal Agent, repudiates the idea of that hody being liable for the expenses necessarily attendant upon the acquisition of land from the natives. 2. I gather from the letters of the Principal Agent of the New Z aland Company to yourself, of the 16th and 20th February last, that the New Zealand Company consider that the Government having retained the power of conducting negotiations with the natives for the purchase of their lands for the purpose of securing the interests of the natives, it ought therefore to be regarded as the selling party, and that the persons who purchase the lands from the natives on behalf of the Government should be regarded as its agents, and be paid by the Government as such. Further, the New Zealan 1 Company, through their Agent, contend that the natives are only entitled to a proprietary right in such lands as they ac tually occupy, and that the Crown is entitled to take possession of all vacant teiritory without purchasing from the natives ; and' from this the Agent of the Company draws the inference that, as he the Agent of the Company thinks that the Government ought to have taken from the natives without purchase certain lands for which thd Government have paid the natives, it is not just to impose upon the Company the cost of such a proceeding. 3. I entirely concur in the general view which your Excellency has taken of this subject, and a sufficient answer to the arguments raised upon behalf of the New Zealand Company might be, that at the time the Government undertook to purchase those lands from the natives, the late Principal Agent of the Company entirely concurred in the propriety of this proceeding, assented to the amount which it was proposed to pay the natives, and repeatedly requested me to carry out the arrangements with as little delay as possible. But as the questions now" raised by the New Zealand Company involve most important ptinciples, these appear to require some further consideration. 4. In all British colonies, circumstanced as this is, the funds realised from the sale of the lands are subject to certain charges, as. is at present the case in the Northern portion of New Zealand. Firstly, They are subject to a charge for emigration purposes. Secondly, They are subject to a charge for purposes connected with the benefit and improvement of the native race. Thirdly, To a charge for the expenses connected with their acquisition, and the survey and administration of them. Fourthly, A certain poition of the proceeds derived from the sale of waste lands is applied to the purposes of roads and public improvements. 5. Regular returns of the revenue realised from the sale of land are laid before the Legislature of the colony ; and in point of fact, the whole of this revenue not connected with emigration purposes is brought un- ; der their control, although perhaps not in so direct a manner as might be desired 6. In New Monster, ou the contrary, at the present time, the whole of the land fund of that colony, and the whole of the administration of the Crown Lands in that Province, comprising nearly three-fourths of the whole of New Zealand, are under the control of the New Zealand Company, through their agents in the colony ; neither the Legislature nor Executive Government having any control or cognizance of the mode in which that source of revenue is to be appropriated or in which the Crown Lands

are to be administered. Moreover, the land fund of the colony of New Ulster is, in point of fact, made liable for any engagement which the New Zealand Company may, through their agents, enter into, and the' Secretary of State has recently sanctioned the expenditure of a portion of the land fund of this Province, for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the purchase of a certain tract of land which the New Zealand Company are anxious to acquire in New Munster. 7. It thus appears that the whole of that source of revenue from which payments on account of the natives are provided, from which the expenses of roads and public improvements should be defrayed, which should be charged with the cost p£ the Survey Department, and with .the sums which are expended in -the purchase of lands from the natives, are removed from the control of the Legislative and Executive Governments of New Munster, and are to-be administered by the New Zealand Company, through their agents in the colony, without their being made responsible in any way to any authority in the colony; and the New Zealand Company now further require, that the Government shall from other sources provide !unds for the payment of the expenses necessarily attendant upon the acquisition from the natives of those lauds which, so soon as they are acquired, are vested absolutely in that Company. 8. Under ordinary circumstances it would be my duty to instruct your Excellency forthwith to stop any negotiations for the purchase of lands from the natives which are at present pending, and to refuse to enter upon any such regotiations for the future, until the New Zealand Company had paid all sums which upon these accounts it might owe to the public, and until it had deposited in the hands of the Government such an amount as it was estimated might be required to defray the expenses of the purchase of the land which the New Zealand Company wished to obtain ; and the grounds I should assign for these directions would be, that your Excellency had no funds whatever at your disposal applicable to the purposes to which the New Zealand Company wish them to be applied. But lam unwilling at the present moment to issue instructions of this nature, because I am aware that negotiations are at present pending for the purchase of large districts of land, the acquisition of which I regard as indispensable to the interests of both races, and to the future prosperity of the country, as also to enaule the New Zealand Company to fulfil its engagements to its settlers ; and lam unwilling that any permanent evils should be entailed upon the ii habitants of New Munster from a line of proceeding on the part of the New Zealand Company, which I tiust may have been only temporarily adopted. 9. It will therefore be your Excellency's duty to proceed with the negotiations for the purchase of land at present pending in that manner which may appear to you to be most consistent with the public interests, and having done this, then so soon as the Provincial Legislative Council of the Province of New Mun-ter may assemble, to lay before them a copy of this Despatch and of your Despatch to me, No. 1 6, of the Bth instant, together with its enclosures, at the same time informing the Council the Executive Government have incurred the responsibility of continuing the negotiations for the purchase of land at present pending for the reasons I have above stated ; and that you request them either to make such provision for the expenses incurred by the negotiations so continued, and for those which must be incurred in such future purchases of land as may be found necessary, or to adopt such other proceedings as may in reference thereto appear to them most advisable, and best suited to the circumstances of the case. 10. With reference to the line of proceeding which the New Zealand Company think the Government are required by the instructions of the Secretary of State to adopt in reference to taking possession of lands of the natives without obtaining their consent thereto, I need hardly remind you that your duty to the Crown, which has given such repeated and formal assurances on this subject, would not permit of your adopting such a line of proceeding. I have, &c, (Signed) G. Grbt. His Excellency The Lieutenant- Governor of New Munster.