Untitled

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1167, 5 October 1882, Page 2

We have learned with some surprise that our action in requesting the New Zealand Land Settlement Company to make the public at large thoroughly acquainted with the state of title of the blocks of land they arc offering for sale at u short date, viz.; rouawa and Waimata, has met with some reprobation at The hands of those interested in the Compkuy'a wc-.lare. b. it, wc ;:sk, more injurious to the inteiests of the Company to make the pubha acquainted with those titles as they stand, or to lo ivu people t*} arrive by hazardous aud possibly untrue u jujucture at a solution of tiie matter? Undoubtedly we say that it would have been far better and wiser in the interests of the Company and the public generally had our requests been complied with. There are many persons down south and up north who would hesitate on taking a long journey to attend the sale unless they were satisfied that on their arrival they would have a fail chance of purchasing good land with title that shall be undeniable, anil shall be given immediately at time of sale ; nor can anyone allege that we are wrong in so saying, or that we are influenced by any but public considerations. If we have had to put the matter very plainly to the Company it is simply their own fault for not doing what they as business men should have recognised as being their first duty. There can be no doubt that a buna Jide Native Lands Purchase Company must succeed if they can deal for cash ami their promises are duly kep'; with the Natives, and that very foolish cry of philanthropy abandoned. Is there a single person who'has lived in Poverty Bay during the past twelve years who would have the hardihood to assert, or the innocence of credulity to believe, that we white men work as much in the interests of the Natives as we do in our own? Out upon such cant. The Natives themselves arc nut tu be brought to believe it ami the public won’t believe it either, and the fact of such a line being adopted has done more to damage the Company in the eyes of the Natives and Europeans alike than all the pertinent questions we could have put to them. We have never sought to deteriorate from the value of the Company’s operations by such questions, which, we need hardly say wc have been constantly requested, oven worried, to make ; on the contrary we think that v,’p. uuve the Company such ample rooiii for heplyiug to those'questions as, pertinent as they may appear to be, must, if such replies had been faithfully given, have greatly tended to improve their position in the financial world. Muy be that this Company stands on a sounder basis than any of us have any idea, but if that is the case they are acting foolishly in concealing the fact ; still if it be so they have our hearty congratulations. Had tbev answered the questions wc put to them they would have saved us much bother amt .Home little expense in seaxihing- lUgistrv*. ete., for—title, which co ihl easily have been assured to us by the Company’s reply in the plainest of statements. In fairness to the Company we may state that we are assured by the Manager of the Bank of Now Zealand as late as last Saturday, that the title would be complete before the lands were offered for sale, but we cannot disguise from ourselves that it n ould have been well had tho Company explained the exact circumstances of their title as it stands at prosent. It would be a serious thing for the district and a damning thing fur the (lompany if capitalists were attracted tq Gisborne by the fascinations of the programme only tu find that the title to the land about to be offered to them was incomplete, ft danger which would have been easily obviated by a plain and straightforward answer to the questions.which wc put to them &nd which seem to have been a fruitful source of annoyance. Wc certainly cannot avoid publishing ouch questions when fairly asked to do so, personally, or hy written request bearing tho undoubted signature of the writer, even at the risk of fallingout with our friends. That such requests hu\c from time to time been made to us wc have frequently informed the Company both through our columns and through persons interested in the sale of thcMJ lauds ami the welfare of Gowpaiiy. We Utoulaim iwiy

wish to interfere with the well being of Uie interests concerned, but it must be renn bered that the public have to be sa isfied as well as the Directorate of any Company, u. iing before the pub ic as a medium betw* .n Nj’.tivc and European, whose words ami ; - tions are to be a guarantee to both rai s, and must always be open to criticism it their hands. Leiters published by Nat? - s lately tend to cast doubts upon the bona J< i-s of the Company, in justice to whom wc ; -I it our duty to publish the accompanying extracts from the Deeds Registry Office i:i Hawke’s Bay, and from the Nalive Lu’;ds Registry Office in Auckland, as shewing . *e exact state of the Company's title to Pouawa “Lease, date 9, 12, 70, Natives to G. >. Cooper. ‘2l years lease, ]S, 9. 71 Nath •, G. E. Read, ‘2l years ; assignment 22, 6. 7’2, G. E. Read, P. Barker, mortgage, 22, 6. 7’.’, P. Barker, G. E. Read: assignment 20. 7. 75, McDonald and Barker, to 1). Domi ; mortgage, 22, 6. 78, D. Doull to A. McDonald : mortgage 3, 8. 78, 1). Doull to N.Z.L.M.A.C.; assignment 25, 7. 78, A. McDonald to Bank of N.S.W.; after above will of G. E. Read appointment new Trus*»-es Ward to Read’s Trustees. Conveyance W;. rd to Read’s Trustees, power of attorney. Nothing else registered.” “ Not got title under Land Transfer, 1 it the following is registered against Poua a run Waimata:—The necessary enquiries in relation to vesting the land in freehold tenure in William Lee Rees have been made and arc s atisfactory. As soon as new certificate is prepared the necessary endorsements can be ma le when subdivisional plans are approved a - <1 ’ registered. As far as can be ascertained the plans have not been