Mr. Commissioner M'Leans Final Report on the Purchase of Native Lands in the Province of Nelson.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 286, 17 July 1860, Page 3

Mr. Commissioner M 'Leans Final Report on the Purchase of Native Lands in the Province of Nelson.

To the Honorable the Colonial Hechetarv, &c, &c,

&c, Auckland. Land Commissioner's Office, Auckland , ' :.- April 7, 1856. SlR—I have the satisfaction to report to you, for the information of his Excellency the Governor, that the negotiations entered into—previous to Sir George Grey's departure, in 1853—with the Ngatitoa tribe, for the cession of their unextinguished claims over the Nelson and Canterbury Provinces, have at length been brought to a favorable termination. 2. In order that his Excellency may be enabled more easily to form a general view of the whole of the transaction, I may here advert briefly to some of the earlier circumstances connected with the purchase! , 3. After repeated meetings and discussions with the Ngatitoa and Ngatitama tribes, who at first intended only to cede a portion of their less valuable land on the West Coast; a deed of sale was executed by them at Wellington, on the tenth of August, 1853—by which they agreed, subject to certain reservations, to relinquish in favor of the Crown, for a sum of (£5000), the whole of their claims upon the Middle Island. 4. These reservations consisted of the cultivations and lands required for the subsistence of the natives resident in the district: it being always distinctly understood that Rangitoto, or D'UrvilJe's Island, was excepted from the sale. 5. A first portion of the purchase money amounting to two thousand pounds (£2000), was paid at the time of the execution of the deed; the balance of three thousand pounds (£3000), remained to be discharged,ih six (6) annual instalments of five hundred pounds (£500) each. 6. In addition to the cash consideration payable to the Natives, which, from the smallness of the sum, they evinced some reluctance to except; it was further agreed by Sir George Grey that fifteen (15) of the principal chiefs should have scrips awarded to them, representing fifty pounds (£SO) each; which should be available in the purchase of Crown Lands in any part of New Zealand. 7. Twenty-six (26) of the native claimants were also to have two hundred (200) acres each out of the land thus ceded by them, in such places as the Governor might set apart for this purpose; and at such times as the land might be required for their use. 8. The natives have not, as yet, evinced any desire to select this land, which they regard more as a provision for their future wants, than as needed for intermedfate occupation. They have, however, applied : some of the scrips, before alluded to, in the purchase of land in the Wellington and Nelson Provinces. 9. The above statement embraces the whole of the more important arrangements concluded with the natives, previously to Sir George Grey's departure; it being then fully contemplated, both by his Excellency and by myself, that the further details of this purchase would have been brought to a much earlier termination; but circumstances, which could be neither foreseen nor obviated, have hitherto interfered to prevent this. 10. The conflicting claims of different tribes, residing on both shores of Cook's Strait, to the unpurchased lands in the Nelson Province, occasioned considerable difficulty. For instance, the Ngatitoa tribe oi Porirua (with whom the first treaty was concluded) had unquestionably, as the earliest invaders, a prior right to the disposal of the district. This they never had relinquished; although, after the conquest, their leading chiefs partitioned out to the subordinate branches of their own tribe, as well as to the Ngatiawa, a few of whom took part with them in the conquest, the lands which these now occupy ih the Nelson Province. 11. The latter parties did not assume to themselves a power of sale, except over the land* they actually occupied; : yet some of them, when not confronted by the leading Ngatitoa chiefs professed to have independent and exclusive rights, while the majority, and even the parties making such assertions, when closely examined, always acknowledged that the general right of alienation vested in the. Ngatitoa Chiefs of the Nbfthern Island. In fabt,°their relative rights through intermarriage, the declining influence of the chiefs, aiid other causes, had become so entangled, that, without the concurrence both of these occupants and of the remnants of the conquered Rangitane and Ngaitahu tribes, no valid title could have been secured. 12.! To arrange, therefore, with the various claimants* as opportunity might offer, was the next duty to be attended to. Accordingly, a section of the Ngatiawa,. who had taken part in the invasion, but had returned to their possession at Waikanae, Taranaki, and other placea ia tho

North Island (intending to migrate from one island to the other as their inclination! led them), were paid a sum of nine hundred pounds (£900) for the extinction, of their title, on the date and in the proportions specified as under. March 2, 1854, for Wairau and Arapaoa, £200. March 10, 1854, title of Taranaki Natives, £500. November 24, 1854, for Te Awaiti, £200 13. In November, of the'year 1854, Mr. Brunner, the Government Surveyor, and Mr. Jenkins,, the Interpreter at Nelson, were despatched to mark off the boundaries of such reserves as would be required for the resident natives. These officers did their utmost to perform this service ; but owing to the jealousy on the part of some Of th.ci natives to the Ngatitoa sale, they were unable (except in .a few instances) to effect any permanent adjustment pf the reserves and boundaries. The reports of these officers are herewith enclosed. 14. In December of the same;; year, a large concourse of natives, front different partsoftheNelsonProvince, were assembled, on one of their periodical visits, at Porirua to hold a tangi or lamentation over some of their relatives recently deceased. \. At this meeting there were present so many influential representatives of the various tribes, that it afforded a favorable opportunity for discussing the merits, of their respective claims. * 15. These meetings resulted in an unanimous desire, on the part of the assembled tribes, to have the second instalment (then due) paid to them at Porirua, instead of at Nelson, as originally intended ; and in order that the whole of them might participate in it (which they could not do if one instalment only of five hundred pounds (£500) were paid), they requested that four (4) years' instalments should be handed over to them at once, urging as a reason that some of their .chiefs had recently died of measle epidemic, while two of them who had taken a prominent part in the conquest, though still alive, were in a precarious state of health, and that it was their unanimous desire that this payment should take place in their presence. 16. To this deviation from the original terms I had some difficulty in assenting; however politic it might otherwise have been, in consequence of the understanding that the second payment should be made at Nelson ; but the natives from that province were themselves the most urgent in requesting me to forego this intention. My reasons for acceding finally to their desire have been fully reported in my letter to you of the fifteenth fl 5) December, 1854, and in one of the same date addressed to Major Richmond, copies of which are herewith enclosed. 17. I should here add, that the two old chiefs who participated in this payment, and who have since both died, expressly charged their surviving relatives to use their utmost influence in assisting the Government to settle this question, and this duty, as a parting request of these chiefs, they have most assiduously and faithfully performed. 18. The instalments now paid, together with one hundred pounds (£100) to one of the Ngatiawa chiefs at Gore Harbor, completed the sum of five thonsand pounds (£5,000) stipulated for in the original Ngatitoa deed of sale. As there remained, however, unsettled claims of various resident tribes, I applied for and obtained a further advance of two thousand pounds (£2,000) to complete the purchase. 19. Owing to repeated and most unex-. pected interruptions, arising from my being obliged to go to Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay; thence by the east coast to Auckland, and twice (owing to disturbances there) to Taranaki; disappointed, moreover, in not being able to get the natives of the North Island, from illness, attention to their crops, or other causes, to accompany me: I was unable to pay that attention to the claims of the residents in the Nelson Province, which it was my earnest desire to have done, with a view to the speedier settlement of a most important question, which had been already so long pending, and which the natives, though their patience must have been greatly exhausted by these delays, declined to settle with any other officer except the one who commenced the negociations. 20. On the thirtieth (30) October, 1855, I was instructed by his Excellency Colonel Gore Browne to accompany him from Taranaki to Nelson, where an opportunity was afforded, from the number; of-natives assembled there, to effect an arrangement with the Ngatirarua and Ngatitama for their claims, for a sum of six hundred pounds (£600), the receipt of which is acknowledged in the deed executed by them on the tenth (10) and thirteenth (13) of November, 1855. ,21. This deed provides that the land exhibited on the plan thereto attached shall be! reserved for the natives; it is, together with what they elsewhere possess, of sufficient extent for their present and future requirements, even if they have a considerable increase of cattle and horses; it is situated within natural boundaries, requiring no outlay for surveys, and ' lies on a part of the West Coast, as yet ■ remote from European settlers, but which the natives were particularly anxious toretain. A Government right of road, should iit in future be required, is provided for by ? a clause to that effect inserted in the deed, i 22. In proceeding by the Zingari from Nel- > son to Wellington, with his Excellency the Governor, on the thirteenth (13) Noi vember, 1855, a survey party and inter- ; preter were taken on board, and landed cm .- the way in Queen Charlotte Sound, with ~ instructions to lay off the necessary reserves fin that part of the Nelson Province., This - duty they were enabled to perform withont ii I much opposition on the part ofthe Maories,

} i and by the fifteenth (15) January in this i year the reserves were marked off. 1 23. On the twenty-fourth; (24).0f that " month I crossed the Straits from Wellington s to Cloudy Bay, in a gsmall vessel; taking along with me the Ngatitoa chiefs. Ra wiri • Puaha, Hohepa Tamaihengia, and others, and was followed by Matene te Whivvhi • and Tamihana te Rauparaha in the course of a few day* 24. The left bank of the Wairau river being, the southern boundary of the purchase, I held a meeting with the natives of that place, in number about one hundred and twenty (120). They fully assented to the sale, having participated, except a small party of the Rangitane, in the 'first and second payments made at Porirua. 25. To the Rangitane one hundred "pounds (£loo^ was now paid-in, full satisfaction of all their claims. 26. The reserves laid off at the Wairau ■ consist of seven hundred and seventy (770) acres on the left bank of that river; a small bay, named White's Bay; and about two hundred (200) acres adjacent thereto; and two (2) sections, of fifty (50) acres each, to the chiefs Wiremu Ne.ra te Kanea and te Tana Pukekohatu. The latter section has been marked but; but the former, in consequence of the absence of te Kanae, though its general position was defined, had not been surveyed. Eor these two sections I beg to recommend that individual Crown Grants should be issued to the above" named chiefs. 27. From the Wairau I sailed for Tory Channel and Qu^en Charlotte's Sound; a portion of the country inhabited chiefly by the Ngatiawa. The people had assembled at Waikawa to meet rae; when, after several debutes, which lasted for some days, I was enabled to effect a final settlement of their claims for a sum of five hundred pounds (£500), the receipt of which is acknowledged in the^deed signed by them on the ninth (9) February, 1856. 28. The unsettled state of the Ngatiawa tribe, and the disposition manifested by them to return to their former possessions at Taranaki (when their presence could only increase the troubles that already beset the land question in that province), rendered the present negotiation with them one of no small delicacy and difficulty, which might, if in any way mismasaged, affect the general tranquility of the country. I was induced, therefore, to assent to reserves of considerable extent being assigned to them in tlfe various bays they were then inhabiting, with, which they appeared to be fully satisfied. A plan, exhibiting these reserves, is herewith furnished for his Excellency's information. 29. To this part of the country, from its past associations, the natives attach great importance, as the scene of many hardfought battles and of final conquests; the great resort, moreover, in former years, of whale ships from different parts of the . world, with whom they carried on a lucrative trade. They could also, at all seasons of the year, resort to its well-sheltered bays and harbors for supplies of fish. 30. As expressive of the national interest felt by them for the place, one of the principal chiefs, Ropoama Te One, the last of several who had spoken, in a most emphatic harangue, in which he alluded to these various circumstances, struck into the ground at my feet a greenstone adze, saying in their usual style of metaphor, "Now that we have for ever launched this land into the sea, we hereby make over to you, as a lasting evidence of its surrender, this adze, named Paiwhenua, which we have always highly prized from having regained it in battle, after it was used by our enemies to kill two of our most celebrated chiefs, Te Pehi and Pok'aitara^ Money vanishes and disappears, but this greenstone will endure, as durable a witness of our act, as the land itself, which we have now, under the shining sun of this day, transferred to you for ever." I allude to this incident that it may, if necessary, be referred to hereafter as an evidence of the importance attached by this tribe to the treaty now concluded, and a striking circumstance likely to be long remembered by them. 31. From Queen Charlotte's Sound I crossed by the Anakiwa Pass to the _ Kaituna and Pelorus valleys. At the Kaituna, the extent of reserve which I deemed necessary for the Ngatikaia tribe, residing there, was three hundred (300) acres. Out of this extent I have to recommend that an individual crown grant be issued to the chief Hura Kopapa. The position of the reserve has been pointed out in the presence of the natives interested,- but I had not then time to have it surveyed. 32. In addition to this reserve, a landingplace for canoes, at a place called Pareuka, was requested by Kopapa; its extent, as pointed out to me, will not exceed'ten (10) acres. A very long pah, occupied by this tribe at a place called Motueka, is likely to be the only site available in that locality for a township. If it should really be required for this purpose, the natives agree to relinquish it; if not, then I would certainly redemmned that it be reserved for . them. Should a town be laid out there, I > would submit that Huea-and Mahihere ■ ought to receive, byway of comp«nsation, [ four (4) of the town sections of fair average i value. I trust that his Excellency will be l pleased to sanction this proposal.''•"/.'.-' 33. From Kaituna the next visit was i paid to the Hoiere, or Pelorus river, to fix ' the reserves and cultivations for the natives , residing there. When thesa had been de- . cided on, as shown in the plan herewith s furnished, the Ngatikaia, formerly the . owners of the beautiful and fertile valleys . ofthe Hoiere and Kaituna, now reduced i in number to about fifty (50) souls, were i paid one hundred pounds (£100) inextinc--3 tiOn of their title, with which sum they api pear well satisfied, it being the first time, t since the conquest, that their claims had ia, , any way beea recognised.

34.1 next proceeded to the Croixelles harbor, but I found that the chief of that place had preceded me to Nelson; where I afterwards decided the reserves to be allotted to himself and his people, the Ngatikoata, and paid them a sum of one hundred pounds (£100) for all their claims. 35. Before going to Nelson I called at Wakapuaka, where a section of the Ngatitama live. These declined to give up any portion of the land held by them at that place ; as they considered it not more than sufficient for their own subsistence: they object also to its being sold without their consent, by their relations in the North Island; and as the land they hold is not of much greater extent than they would really require as a revenue, I did not deem it prudent at present to urge a settlement of this particular question upon them. 36. The only tribe having claims upon this purchase, whom it was impossible for me to visit, are a small remnant ofthe JNgaitaha, about twenty-five (25) in number, residing at Arahura, on the West €oast, a remote, and, as yet, almost inaccessible part of the country. From a settlement of their claim I do not apprehend any difficulty; but, as a matter of justice, if the district is occupied by Europeans a revenue of three hundred (300) or four hundred (400) acres should be secured to them; together with a small amount of compensation for their claims. 37. In conducting this purchase through its several stages, involving the interests of so many different and differently disposed tribes; and altogether the most complicated, as it was also the last, in the Middle Island: I found the limited time at my disposal so fully occupied with the necessary "koreros" or debates attending it, that I was unable to see some of the surveys completed to my satisfaction. I would gladly have done this myself, in order to prevent any possible questions being raised hereafter about the boundaries. Tnese details, however, can be easily arranged by the Government Surveyor, under the direction of Major Richmond, in whom the natives placed implicit confidence; and to whom, besides the memoranda already furnished, I shall communicate additional information respecting these surveys. 38. In the meantime, even these unfinished details are so fully understood by the natives, that I am not aware that there can be any objection to tho land being now handed over to the Crown Commissioner, preparatory to its being disposed of in the usual manner. 39. In a separate communication, I shall hereafter detail the steps taken by Major Richmond and myself, to adjust some disputed rights to land comprised within the limits of Mr. Commissioner Spain's award. I have, &c, (Signed) Donald M'Lean, Chief Commissioner.