Petition of Natives against the Natives Land Co's Bill.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4529, 11 July 1883, Page 2

Petition of Natives against the Natives Land Co's Bill.

The -following is the substance of a petition from the Poverty Bay natives against' the passage of the above bill, pre* sented to the House yesterday by Mr Bryce:—lst. That the Native Land Courts of the colony hare, declared'that your petitioners are the owners of large bloekß of land situated in the Poverty' Bay district. • 2nd. In or about the jear 1878, and at various times since, several of your petitioners and' other native owners, wore induced to ■ convey their interests in several of such blocks in trust for the sole use and absolute benefit of the conveying parties and their dm- 1' dren. 3rd. The said trustees hajje wrong, tally sold, mortgaged, and otherwise parted with such lands to private individuals, and received large sums of money, exceeding £5000, but no portion of the money received by them has been paid to your petitioners, «nd the said trustees refuse .to,account to* your petitioners.for^bfrsame. ; <4). After the sale and mortgage of" our lands the said trustees, or some of them, and others, in concert with persons and companies, to whom

I • said trust es. or some of'toem, wero 'largely indebted, aad iv concert with those persons to whom they bad sold and mortgaged our lands, and with other Europeans anxious to dispose of the lands acquired by them to the said 'rußtees, informed a company, called the "New Zealand Native Lands Settlement Company, , Limited," to purchase such lands, and to lake over sneh securities, and up to this time, and a long time afterwards your petitioners had 'no knowledge whatever that the trustees had sold, or. mortgaged the lands which your petitioners i»d conveyed to them in trust. The company bo formed acquired, without any consider** tion, the interests then r«oiaiatta#*«*4ed inline said trustees, who thereby considered themselves released from their trusts by wrong representations and promises made by members of. .tbe.saidjeom' pany. Further interest iv other f large blocks of land indneed some of the native owners to appear before a Trust Commis- ! sioner and Judges of the < Native Land ! Court »t Gisborne, to state before. ,such Commissioners that the whole of the con* sideration,jni>ney mentioned in the deeds of conveyance respectively was duty paid to the native owners, so as to obtain certificates to the deeds under " The Native Land Fraud Prevention Act," where**, in truth, and in fact, the considerations/were never paid, bnfc the company caused cheques, in one instance a cheque for £8000, to be delivered to such of t£e native owners so "swearing, and immediately afterwards, had such chrquei returned to them and then destroyed?, ,(6) The said company, with the ajinitaiMi of said trustees bave. in the manner .above set forth, obtained titles to oar lands which they had sold, mortgaged, oc otherwise encumbered tor the purpose of jre« pureUasing, at very large pricts, natiye lands held by members and directors of the company, and paying themselves large profits. The said company have declared a dividend of 8 per cent, out of the capital and paid the same to European shareholders,■ but your petitioners,/ the real owners of the land, have got nothing excett a promise that by-and-bye, we will - receiv • large sums of money.' (7) Ytrar petitioner*; judging from the past trans* actions of the said trustees, and of the -aid (tompaoy, have cause toifean that a calamity is not far distant when* all our . lands so concerned as aforesaid, will be seized aad sold (some have already been sold) by the mortgagees, the said company wound up, and your petitioners will' then become piupers "without lands or houses. Several of yout petitioners have bruvely fought and isbed their'blood.durisg then*tiv»*waruMnaiofaining the supremacy of-yotir beloved Queen Victoria; in return all we seek is your protection*., • Btb. We do tot desire to repudiate anything we have-' ddne.r but we pray you, your petitioners being now without land or money, 1b causer daim steps to be taken as may .compel the Dysons in' whom we placed Confidence 'to render to us oar just rights a^d^^bey. should fail to <ty sb,;that Parliament will pass a law eompilKng them. 9th. Tjgesaid trustees, and the said oompany hiiH ac* quired laud estimated by them to be worth nearly- £500,000 from us for nothing, which they have sold or mortgaged 'to -„_, individual members of the company and others whose interest it will, be to sell and ■ ' buy in all our lands mh«9-tiiiJxMtiomf.M.,^, unable to reduce the mortgage. 10th. Tour petitioners have heard that several members of both houses of Parliament, not fully acquainted with ■the past transactions .of the said trustefs and the said company, have been induced to become shareholders, and make large advances to' the company under the impression that yoar-psption? ers, and the other native owners Have been fairly treated in the matter, and will sup* port a bill to extend the limits of opera* tions and general enlargements of the powers of the said company, which' is to be presented to the honorable House, to become law. (11) We pray, before joa allow such bill to pass, you will be pleased to' ascertain the truth of the allegations contained in this petition, by Boyal Com* mission or otherwise, o that you may truly ascertain the manner in which t?a " said trustees and the • said company have acquired the lands, otherwise very great injustice will be done to your petitionera, who submit that all bills purporting to deal with native lands »hould be intro* dueed by the Government to Parliament. Ropata Taita, and 150 r»k .;. ..- >