Extract of a Despatch from Governor Sir G. Grey to Earl Grey. Government House, Wellington, October 20, 1851.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 786, 12 February 1853, Page 4

Extract of a Despatch from Governor Sir G. Grey to Earl Grey. Government House, Wellington, October 20, 1851.

" By the 3d section of the Act 10 & 11 Viet, cap. 112. (being "Ad Act to promote colonization in New Zealand, and to authorise a loan to •the New Zealand Company ") it is enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the said Company, in the exercise of any of the lights or powers thereby conferred upon or vested in them, to sell or dispose of &ny of the lands thereby vested in them (except lands for public purposes) without consideration, or for any less consideration than twenty shillings for each acre. " I am informed that in the case of the settlement of Wanganui the late principal agent of the New Zealand Company, to an extent which is not known to the Government, and at dates with which they are also unacquainted, disposed of land, not for a consideration of twenty shillings au acre to be immediately paid, but upon terms by which, although immediate possession of the land was given to the purchaser, the payment for it was to be only in part paid down, the balance being paid at times agreed upon. " I am further informed, that payments for such lands not having been completed when the principal agent left the colony, and not being yet completed, private agents have been appointed here to receive the balances still due upon such purchases. " The late principal agent of the New Zealand Company being a barrister, I feel considerable hesitation in opposing my judgment on a legal point to his ; but I stijl think the legality of sales of land of the nature I have above described to be so very doubtful, that I must request your lordship's instructions as to whether I should or should not recognize them, or in what manner I am to deal with them ; for it appears to me that Parliament could not have intended to allow the New Zealand Company, in the first place, to dispose of all the Crown lands they could for ready money, and in the second place, to dispose of land by anticipation in the manner I have* pointed out, and then, after they had handed over to the Crown its own estate, receiving for it a very considerable payment, still to go on receiving, through private agents, balances of money upon account of previous contracts for the sale of lands. " The other point upon which I wish for instructions relates to those cases in which the New Zealand Company's agent allowed lands in the Nelson settlement to be purcbased at prices considerably below £1 per acre. The enclosed return will show that about 15,800 acres in the Nelson settlement were disposed of at as low a price as ss. per acre. I have not in my possession the means of furnishing complete or accurate information upon this subject ; probably, however, the New Zealand Company would supply it from the records in their offices, and thus ertablejber Majesty's Government to inform me whether the proceedings of the late principal agent of the New Zealand Company in these respects were in accordance witb law, or in violation of the Act of Parliament to which I have before alluded.," Approximate Return of the Quantity of Land disposed of by the New Zealand Company's Agent at

Nelson, under the compensation arbitration! and assessments, at a less raluation than £l per acre. 4 . _ Acres. Acres. At ss. per acre, among fiftytwo original purchases of allotments in the Nelson settlement, about 7,800 To G. Dnppa, a purchaser in die Wellington settlement, whose claim was transferred to Nelson 8,000 At prices between ss. and 10s. an acre, ' about 2 ioo At prices between 10s. (inclusire) and ' £1 per acre, about 3>700 To** l Acres 21,600 No money was paid for any of the above land. The assessment was made of land oat of which the compensation scrip was to be chosen. This return does not include any of the land giren in compensation (under the resolution of July, 1847. which provided for an increased gift of land where the sections were inferior) .without any spocial assessment (SignedJ F. D. B«ll> October 14, 1851.