EXTRACTS FROM THE LAST BLUE BOOK ON NEW ZEALAND. Crown Lands Office, Wellington, August 20, 1851.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume X, Issue 975, 6 December 1854, Page 4

EXTRACTS FROM THE LAST BLUE BOOK ON NEW ZEALAND. Crown Lands Office, Wellington, August 20, 1851.

"} Si ß.rr'lß pursuance of the directions containedl^ tyourilettevasqnainttag. us i that hii Excellencyithe GoTemor*io-Chief bad been pleased to appoint us * board, tp examine- and report upoptb'e oo'ndlti«o-of the>*rious records and the docup menu of the late Ntw Zealand Company, re- 1 ceutly bashed over lojtjit Government by Mr. 5 Kelham, we have the honoMr report Ac remit j of our, iaTestjgation. < - ~ ■•'- v : , ! ;Tbes« record's relate almost entirely to tbedis-; posal of land. ' It waa at first . our intention toi hate repo>ted;geWrially,tbat they. were, in a very . incomplete state, and, that it would be necesssry to construct altogether new ones, witb. respect to most of. the. transactions- nnder, the Company's contracts. ~> »■»*■' ' v - v .-■'.-> r But upon further consideration, it appeared to us indispensable "to § pter; into so.me^detail «>n the, condition of tbei documents placed in our bands,, in consequence of our received amonjg !tbem 4he copy of *n official! despatch fr.oqa tbje l«tc Principal Agent- of ike- Zealand-.Com-pany 'to - the. Directors on tbe> tame subject,? written very, shortly before his departure for Eng-' land, and containing information -very .different! from that which 'it iaour duty to^give you now. 'The despatch we refer to is. dated the 24th i December, 1850, and it therein stated to be a !!.hrief report _of the ..progress _ofj the afrangero.ents in reference to: land in thiah, settlement."After stating what some of thoie arrangements were, . it proceeds as follows: — ■ ; r -■! "Thf p>n», the registers, and other documents jecorjding and verifying the yaiions, trans-. actjpos£abo ( ve,r.efered Jo, are. in ,tbe {Company'a 1 o^Bce*. at Wellington. , l^bey.are complete for. all , practical, „pur,po*ps, but. tbe for r , cl««iog;t.l)e. poqjpany'a.officea renders it imppssibje>:to prepare duplicates or ; copies for transmiMionhoine.v*, .^> . ; „ • . , , „\Ve? J t>eg now to inform you of what are the •ctUfcLfwta.offtJe.cas.e ; and i> may be ,as,wejl to say here, that .the whole of the documents relating to the Company's, land .transactions in this .settlement, which were in the principal agent's' posi^ssion J when tie .wrote that despatch, hare been banded over to us. , s , 1. There is no complete register .of ; tbe. land that has been selected by the Company's purchasers. Tbe original and only book of choices for land orders merely gives the name of tbe persou selecting, without stating whether he was the owner or merely tbe agent ; in the part which relates to the country lands, (here ate few pages without several erasures and. alterations ; and in a number of ca*es, tbe names entered in the book .a*, those of persons selecting,' differ from Jhose marked on the selection maps. The register ol choices for scrip is still less complete, thousands of acres being known or supposed to have been selected of which no record exists, as will be more particularly shewn presently. t 2. There, is no register ,of the town and country sections, shewing which of them have been selected and which not. This could only be found out through a variety of references, among which ■ any one not acquainted with them would soon get lost. Ij would, t for instance,, be extremely difficult for either of us to say with, certainty whether 1 iny'given section was -open or not, for sale, or for, jihe cboics of a person-, holding an unselected land order, " » . . <3 f .,£fceie , it, no. register of the actual landowpers in jthe .«e»letntDt. There -are raer«ly.listt ,ol per^pns'^rbo frpin. ( it(me to , time have .had;, land orders jsifced Jo, tbera, .very pajriaai Uftt of the transfers koown -or presumed to have been made. The, same t^i^cu^y. and variety of te&rence, exists in tbs way of knowing -whether any gi^en person m a land owner or not. . „ "■* 4. The selection plans, several of which are in a very torn and dirty, condition, Jurnishyjao,-better- ! standard of reference and record than ?tbe (books. Some contain the names of tbe original owners, others indiscriminately of owners * and agents \ b and even these names cannot always be depended, upon. >In some of the plans the' sections are coloured in a variety of ways, without the least iqdication-of what the ' Colours mean ; in other*; . selections are marked which do not appear in the registers,' and jire^neglected 'to be marked, though > the register declares tbtm ; in others, selections , are marked in pencil, any statement x>l boundaries appearing tojbavebetjp thought quite immaterial;, an.d her.?/ and there are records of selections in the following fashion :-rr-^ - i »long^ Torakina, 1 from the surveyed block for small holders upwards to the busb> M ". >L •■ • Then somebody is to have ** 600 acres above M*Gregor; If apptoved try N; Sutherland ;" but 1 who, does not appear* ■' " l , < 5. ■ The Company had- a considerable quantity ' of -land as "Private Estate," for which it paid in cash upwards of £8,000. r The- best of this was taken in exchanges and re-selections at ■ valued prices ; but thefe is no list nor, written record of those valuations,-oe.of wbomade them, but merely > an indication of eertain;sums on various sections upon the plans, without signature or other, evi1 dence of correctness. '. - • - 6. But the condition of tbe Company's papers : may perhaps be best understood by the following I examples. We have Jaken them from the re- > cords renting to the compensation given to resi1 dent iandowners. noder; { the arrangement of 1848, which was from the beginning under ;the immedii ate contrbl of tbeUte principal agent himself, and where bo obstacles whatever (as there were in i cases of English transactions) "existed in the" way . df a systematic and perfect' registration of every ! transaction. ' vltv It is well known,; firstly* that very \ : little of the compensation .scrip remains unsef- • lected ; but therejs, no , registry for nearly two-, | .thirds of .the choices* la tjkw : saopellespatch wb I .haVtjqii/Jtedabovei the agept;says :: — ■ ' L -*' The Tequiaite surveys-were completed, i^ the f summers of 1849-50, and selections have been r m^dk.ty' n«!mjly; all! tlie r paVtWs. inthfed,^ the i greater portion in (ht Wanganui and Rangltiki

districts,, but tome also in the Port- Nicholson? block; J v i Now, scrip was dssned jfor 42,000 acr>s, and* there is only a registry for theicboice of 15,000;. but this being notoriously incorrect, jnobody can tell the real amount .that bai afld hasVootbceo. chosen. > ,r "* "*' • Secondly. In. many of thecases oh the largest holders, where selections are kpowti,' orl *re supposed to' have been made, none whateVer it recorded ; or inch a record givenvas, is Equivalent to none at all, or as. woul,d be more puzzling thanfloft^j. T he -subjoined table will f s|w,w what ismeant:-^ 1' ' „, , . L 4 ;<. ; <. r '" " J'S ■ ' •«" »":'*"' ■- - • x> " J ®'& Begistration^of ike Se'lectioi* ift{v^tj?»- 525'" »'i ,'»x>'« - r>{ " ! Danieil '.-.". J 8,000 The district' stafeti, outnopo1 i i,-.^; n. -- i - -sitionor othfee; partioular. H* pburt^n . . < w Jjsoo' A pumbpr of; separate sect jonS ' ' ,' \' j ' '- , ,are, looqwn tp. ,lu^e."beeri ' - > • ' taken." of which there is no> , .. „ i oi'tt . ",';.'_ 'record* ' - ' ' v I. E; Feafherston J^»oO F ; No 1 Tecord whaterer. W..Swuinson ♦ . > l;QsftvShe same.^ . , EidgTTfty* & Co. 1,8.Q(£ XhV;same. " A.Brandon..,. , ,6(K> : . Mere reference, to the. mftp, 1 ,- .-rrithont p^rticttlars, W/B-'Bliodes/. "450 the same. s n W-tDoteet" I '/..: 1;650'- The same- \■» " _E. Catchpool .;. 750 No record "whatever* Capt. Smith.-... 1,800 The same; -O " \ Hon;H.Petre,i 400 The same., *, James Parker'.. 500 The same, „, , j;'Wade 7i'.. : i: BS5t The's.ame. ~ H.'11.-Harrlßoii ,1,500 The' aistrifet" state*, " lmt no „ „- • particulars. liiandcwmers l€ r 125 ' > !•••'* acres. >. ■ -> •< ' The aboi e table shows fonrtee,n ,'aefipbolders^ to an amount exceeding sixteen .'thousand acres* whose selections are wholly or nearly unrecorded*' in the register., We proceed' ripwJo^.'grVe,* list .of .persons ',(amo'og others) on tbe.-iplecfion maps for, large 'bjpeks; chosen by them, "bjfcwjio, for a«gbt the r,eg^ters.te^n§*er badangjit t0 • e l e * I t at^ a"cre t ,.jo r r r ooly hadaright ip^seJilt^'pftrt of what is set dpwn fpr : th«w» , .«-v vr i q . ' '" .••••' , ■ -■- ' «gS |" „ Name. «^5 * Bfemarka, W. Fitzherbert." - 2,400 Not an original purchaser, nor an; record of his right to choose ntf acre. " " • • T, Wilson .... 1,500 Fo record whaterer* BPGrigor ...... 1,350 The same. , : , , Tylee& Green.. 600 The aoine. B. Jenkins .... 535 No record' as to 375 acres. H. Boss ....... 700 No record whaterer, W. S. Rhodes. . 1,400 No record as to 950, acres. . , 7 persons.. vftcres. This table therefore shows that seven persons have been allowed to select on the maps more than 8,500 acres, for 8,000 of which. they do not appear by the books to have any title whatever. It is presumed, or rather it is notorious, that they are derivative purchasers *of scrip ; but from whom, or when, they acquired any right, there isnothing to show. In the same -Despatch whicb we have quoted, the late principal agent informs. the directors that " the scrip' lssued was at once marketable, and that to the extent of from I,ooft to 15,000 acres bad change J hands ;" there is. not the slightest record by which the transfer of a single sciip is capable of being proved. 7. Notwithstanding what has been said, there are no less than twenty-four books or registersunder various names, wherein the various trans~ , actions with land are professed to be. traceable.. But as transaction will sometimes be found., enter- • cd. iojnefrjy jill the books at •n<?e, sometimes Jn> only, a few., sometimes in bot.ope^ and sometimes jriot at .all, ( the, confusion really, existing is ,mad» almost inextricable by tbe mulytude^and^ variety 'of references. which cannot be .d^pended^npon^. it r i«io.be deplored that, as tbe pViocip|l , agepk JsitateS, '' V the time allowed, for closing tjjej Company s, offices rendered it impossible to prepare duplicates or copies for transmission home j" for jtbe receipt of these twenty-four books would i effect on J!y have shown that instead of their being •" complete for practical purposes/ they were for purposes nearly worthless. - - The result tbela pf the intestigation we havemade hy Bis Excellency's ordeOs shortly as follows :— namley, that the registers, plans, and other records -of the New Zealand Qonap.a»y'a 'transactions in land 'n ibis settle men* tie so incomplete and incorrect, that they would bave been quite irisufißcient for the jayestigation proposed to I take place by the nomioeef of the Company, api pointed dodtntitActofParliatijent, and are equally valueless for the'pnrposes of* the investigations that will now take place under the ;" New Zeal, and Company's. Land Claimant** Ordioance." That before tbe Comnissioner who ' may bji ap;po|nted under tfee Otdinance can decide upon' any 'op Crown grants can ht issued, entirely ■new registers must be - constructed,, with veryi Igreat labour and' at a very great Ipis.af time. And jtbst the claimants themselves, and especially the resident landowners, instead of bein£;able, as they ought to be, to refer to official records of the iCompany as the best proof of their title, will, ia ; a large number of cases, be unavoidably ppt to. 'great trouble and perhaps law expenses in th» prepajation of such evidence of title as it will be possible' for any Commissipjier to accept,^ „ _ "!^Ve bave^&c. .-,,, r . . ' ■ : (Signed) Hbnrt S*. Hi^x-i ' . m '.. ; Resident Magistrate. ,' - - • -T. : H.FI,TZOEBAIiI> r ' '■>'■-, Government Surveyor. " ,^,,- ' F.-D. : Bell, 't ■}--'•- Com; Crown-Lands. • ,' ■. c: Tbe-' board appointed 1 by tbe irrw/p . : « '-> ' Goirern'ot-m-CKief. fThVH-on* tfae ColonW Sepretary,' < •' " 1 .tj/ &C, &C. -

Name.