THURSDAY, AUGUST 15.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 409, 24 September 1861, Page 2

THURSDAY, AUGUST 15.

The house assembled at 12 o'clock.

Mr. Russell asked the Coloaial Secretary whether the Office of Registrar-General -\ under the Land Registry Act, is now. vacant •; if not, the name oi the gentleman holding the office, and the salary which the Government propose to pay him ? The honorable member observed that- this office had been filled by the honorable gentleman, Mr. Sewell, who had probably vacated it' to become Attorney-General of the Colony; he had seen this latter notified, but he had looked in vain for any notification of his resignation of the other 0ffice........

Mr. Fox said that Mr. Sewell had intended to resign the Registrarship the moment he accepted the office of Attorney-General, but there being being.some operations[in the course of execution which made it desirable that the office should not be left vacant, it was arranged that Mr. Sewell should hold the office till a successor should be appointed, but he had received and would receive no salary as registrar since'he became a member of the Government. The Governmentiritended to carry out the system as soon as they could find a fit successor to Mr. Sewell as Registrar, iu,the manner and to the extent specified in;the resolution of which he (Mr. F.) had given notice. L Outrage at KeriherL - Mr. Mantjell stated that, after1 a careful study of the documents in this case, he thought it doubtful whether Government would take any action in the matter. It appeared from those documents that a man named Holden had drifted northward from Wellington, living among the Natives from pah to pali, bringing with him a native woman of Wanganui, to whom he had been married by Bishop Viard, and by whom he had children. That recently he had stolen a green stone and a pairof trowsers from Henare Motatau, a connection of his wife, which the latter had been obliged at a high price to redeem from a native to -whom Holden had sold them. That in return Motatau went to his house in a boat and, took away Mrs. Holden who went willingly with him, and sent him baclc for her female child, saying, «The boys might remain with their father/ That in the^magistrate'a absence the interpreter advised him to lay his case before the Bench at Riissel, which he objected to. stating his fear that he might be prosecuted for the theft. That on Holden complaining, the magistrate gave him a letter,, to the chief of Henare's tribe, which he volunteered to deliver, but in a week returned to the writer, refusing to take it. That at the last date of information, the woman's brothers had arrived from Wanganui, and she proposed to, go home with them to her own people. He (Mr. M.) was of opinion that if Government took action they would begin by directing an inquiry into the alleged theft out of which the subsequent events had arisen.' ■>•-■• '- Mr. Carleton asked whether it was a fact that the man was knocked down by Henare when tha girl was taken ? He had beeneo informed, but

did hot know it of his own knowledge. Mr. Mantell replied that it appeared that He4Aare, who was In a lamentable state of inebriety, ~Usfcd, when sent for the girl, pushed Holden, and taken her away; but it did not appear that Holden fell. Mr. Weld enquired whether Government had heard whether or not the man had rejoined his wife ?

Mr. Mantell said that from the papers before him he did not infer that such re-union had taken Slace. It seemed on the contrary, that Mrs. Holen was so discontented with her husband as to have determined to return to her own place. District Courts. Mr. Firth moved for a return of tho number of cases brought into the District Court, Auckland, from the the first Court, held in August, 1859, to the 7th August, 1861; showing the total amount sued for and the total amount recovered; showing also the number of appeals (if any) against the decisions of the Court, iie wished by this motion merely to show whether, as far as this province was concerned, these Courts had been useful or not, and to what extend, so that before District Courts were abolished honorable members might know of what use they had been. It had been said that by the abolition of these Courts a new judge would be rendered necessary, but the opinion of the present judges was that another was not required for the work to be done. Mr. Fox explained that in the Districts Courts Act, 1858, there were two provisions, one for the appointment of Judges with full powers, who must be barristers; and the other by which Resident Magistrates, not lawyers, were made judges with more limited powers, which latter was the only one brought into operation in Auckland. The resolution passed last session did not refer to the abolition of the latter system, but only to the appointment of judges with full powers. Of these tliere was only one to be removed—the judge at Wellington. It was intended to continue to work the other part of the Act (by Resident Magistrates) till further legislation should be taken in a future session upon it, extending the Resident Magistrate's powers. The necessity of appointing another judge simply arose from the position of Otago with reference to the the gold diggings, which would cause increase of population and crime, aud on this question the judges^ of the Supreme Court were not in so good a position to form an opinion as the Government or any individual member of the house that was acquainted with Otago. Mr. Firth said that since there was no intention of abolishing these Courts, he did not wish to press for the return. , Mr. Fox had no objection at all to furnish the return. Motion agreed to.

Individualisation of Title at Haiuh's Bay. Mr. Obmond moved * that it is desirable that the Government should afford every encouragement and assistance in their power to Renata and other chiefs of the Ngatikahungunu to promote and carry out their desire to individualise tlieir land titles, as expressed in their letter dated February 6th, 1861, addressed to the Council at Hawke's Bay.' All parts of the house were agreed that the individualisation of title was one of the most direct and effectual steps they could take for the civilisation of the native people; but great difficulties had existed in the way of trying the experiment. There had hitherto been no case which the Government could take advantage of; but in the present case the natives had expressly stated their desire to individualise their titles, and there also existed urgent reasons why the Government should take as immediate action as possible, for the good of the province of Hawke's Bay. He hoped the Government would state the course they intended to pursue with reference to this matter, —whether they intended merely to receive the application and acquiesce, or to give assistance as he thought it would be necessary to do. He would now explain the circumstances under which this application had been made, and the circumstances under which the Provincial Council had been led to enter into a discussion with the natives on the subject. For some time before this proposal was made there had been a feeling of almost hostility growing up between the two races in the province of Hawke's Bay, arising principally from the trespass of European cattle on Native lands, compensation being prohibited by law, and though in some cases it was given, yet some took advantage of the law and refused to give compensation. The natives had felt this to be a great grievance, and adopted every expedient in their power to secure compensation. They threatened to destroy the cattle and take payment in kind, and declared their determination not to allow roads to be proceeded with until the Government should recognise their claims to compensation for trespass of cattle. At about the time referred to the Native Land Purchase Ordinance was brought into actual operation in Hawke's Bay, the Superintendent having power delegated to him to take action under it, a power which had never been delegated to an officer in his position before, and it then produced a very injurious effect. Also the fact that when tried it was found it could not be carried out, caused the natives to look on our laws with more suspicion than they would otherwise have done, and prevented their appealing as they might have done to the laws of the country. The Provincial Council 8 eeing these effects, and that injury was being done to the province, took upon themselves to go into an inquiry on the subject, and therefrom resulted the letter referred to. It being now time to proceed with the Orders of the Day, he moved adjournment of the debate till the following day. Debate adjourned accordingly. Message. The. Speaker announced that he had received a message from the Legislative Council stating that they had agreed to the amendments made by the joint Conference in the Law Practitioners Bill; that they had passed a Bill to amend the New Zealand Company's Land Claimants Ordinance with amendments; and also, that they had passed the Lost Land Orders Act, and the Registration of Electors Act (1858) Amendment Act with certain amendments, to which they requested the concurrence of the house. Ordered, on the motion of Mr. Wood, that the amendments be considered the following day. House adjourned.