NGARUAWAHIA SUBURBAN LANDS.

Waikato Times, Volume XIII, Issue 1136, 7 October 1879, Page 2

NGARUAWAHIA SUBURBAN LANDS.

Tub following Position, to. the Legislature, from persons owning property, residing or otherwise interested m the town or district of Ngaruawahia, will be taken You nd for signature m the several Waikato townships, .and m Auckland. We publish it m full; that everyone may know what he is asked to sigm :-— ; TO THE HONORABLE THE HOUSE OF RKPKESEtfI'ATIVIS.S. OF NEW ZEALAND, I.\ PARLIAMENT ASSEMBuED'. The Petition'of the undersigned humbly sheweth : — 1. That your petitioners are residents at the township of Ngaruawahia, Wai- . kirto, or persons owning property there,, and others interested iii that place. 2. That our object m petitioning is, to , have the Government land m and around Ngaruawahia put up for sale, by auction, according' to law. A right which the Auckland Waste Lands Board are, at present, unable to give us, as the land has been withdrawn from sale, by order of the Government. 3. That, at tbe first G-avermnent land sale, m 1864, viz., of Ngaruawahia town lands, enormously high prices were paid to the Government for sections of laud, with the idea or belief that it was to be tho Government township, m Waikato. Instead of this, the Waikato Militia were located at tho other townships (of Hamilton, Cambridge' and Alexandra.) nnd the men kept oh pay or rations for a considerable time, while Ngaruawahia had no such iiid, nor has anything been done by the Government to assist the progress of the place. The first land sale realized £10,000, and sales of town lots, at high upset rates, since, haye netted, say, £2000 more (12,000 about m all). 4. That since this first sale, m 1864, land has hardly been obtainable m Ngaruawahia. For. a long time, the Government refused to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any land iv or about here,: the answer to applications invariably being, that it was withdrawn by order of the Native Minister,. the late Sir Donald Maclean. And . when the residents occasionally extracted a reluctant promise from some passing Cabinet Minister, to sell the land at fair values, we found that, when put up for sale, it was at such prices as to be prohibitory ; for instance, allotments m Hamilton were put up at the upset price of £5 each, and realized from .£4O to £50 each, while Ngaruawahia allotments, at the same sale, were put up at £100 each,. and, of course, were not sold at all. Again, suburban land, on top of a range, two miles from tho township, Avas put up at the upset price of £8 per acre, but was not worth £l-pev acre, and that also did not sell either, thus preventing settlement here. 5 . That after a great many deputations to Ministers, letter writing-, public meetings and petitions to your Honorable House, the residents managed ' to get the Waste Lands Board of Auckland (after the passing of the Lands Act) to cut up somo land, and to offer it for sale, by-p ublic auction. But three days prior to date of sale, thn Board had to withdraw the land by order of the Premier (-Sir George Grey), and the Honorable tho Native Minister (Mr Sheehan), thus our hopes were dashed to the ground. I his was just before the great native meeting at Hikuraugi, and we were led to believe that this laud was required to bo given back to. the natives, aud that if the good of the country demanded this sacrifice on our part, we hud a right to put up with it ; and afc a public meeting held here, it was decided to accept, for a time, this doctrine, and to wait patiently the result of the following great native meeting at Kopna. G. That the ICopua ...cetiug took place, after which the Premiar (Sir George Grey) wrote to Tawhiao that he would . remove the " tapu " from the lauds m Waikato, and allow them to be sold to Europeans. He also promised residents here that the restriction here ou the Ngaruawahia lauds should at once be removed, and permission given to the Waste Lauds Board to sell ; so far, this has not been done, though the • Board themselves have brought the subject under the notice of the Government, as also have the Ngaruawahia Town Board. 7. That this locking-up of the lands for some imaginary good which was to accrue to the natives, or the colony, has, at aU events, done this township (nay, district) an irreparable mischief ; since it can be | shown that men who had saved money, earned on public and other works, left the place and went elsewhere, because they could not buy land and settle down here, and now that the public works about here arc finished, we cannot again have the same chance of obtaining settlers— thus the township has received great injury. 8. That so great has been the want of ; land for settlement, that when pnrsom could not purchase it, they have been compelled to squat on the Government allotments, and they are there still. .Further, capitalists who would havo started manuf .icturics here have been deterred from establishing themselves, simply because they 'could not obtain sites for business purposes. 9. That having, thus pointed out to your Honorable. House, the great ; and lasting injury which we have sustained by having the natural progress o 1 the place blighted or stayed by the action of our various Governments, and having failed m all our eifovts to havo such an ■ unsatisfactory state of things altered, we can only go. to youv Honorable House to ask that these lands bo open for, sale, and to seek redress for tho injury" done to our community. And your petitioners,* as* in duty bound, will ever pray,