CROWN LANDS BOARD.

Waikato Times, Volume XVI, Issue 1354, 5 March 1881, Page 2

CROWN LANDS BOARD.

The regular meeting of the Auckland Crown Lands Board was held on Thursday. Present : Mr p. A. Tole (Chief Cpmniissioner), in the chair, Messrs Firth, Tonks, May, and Moibt. The minutes of last meeting were read and confirm od. !

TUE LINCOLNSHIRE FARMERS. Mr Fink : I would like to ask, at this stage of the proceedings, what is now -the condition of affairs as to. Messrs Grant and Foster and the Te Aroha lands. Has any communication been received from the Government, and, in facl-, in what condition is the "whole matter 1 The Chairman : I am in receipt of correspondence from the .Government, which I shall lay before the Board. The correspondence is as follows :—: — The first was a letter from the Under-Seeretary of Crown Lands, forwarding coi'respondence for the information of the Board : — General Crown Linds Office, Wellington, Februaiy 26, 1831 :— Sir,— ln order that you mty be aware of the correspondence" that has pushed between the Government and Me>sis Grant and Foster with reference 1 to concessions asked for in the terms of special settlement atTe Arolu, I foiwdid to you thtouyh the Commissioner of Ciown Lind^ at Auckland copies of Messrs Grant and Foster by the outgoing mail to England.— -I have, &0. , W. Rolloston, Minister of Linds. — To C.iptain Steele. General Crown Land 3 Office, Wellington, Februaiy 2b, 1881 : — Gantlemen, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the l-t of December last, addies^ed to iho Hon. the Premier, in which you state that you have received through Captain Steele a copy of the terms and conditions upon which the Ie Aioha block is offered to you for settlement, and in reply thereto I forward for your information copies of correspondence noted in the schedule annexed which will inform you of the concessions the Government is prepared to make to you. These are as follows :— l. It is agreed that the Crown grant for the Te Aroha block shall be issued without any reservation as tomineiale. 2. The native reserve of 61 o acres will be included in the land to be dealt with, but it will be necessary that ifc should, be valued separately, in order to comply with the provisions of the Land Act Amendment act, 1879, relating to special settlements. 3. The Government will propose to Parliament a vote for a sum sufficient to make a drain to the extent of 650 chains, at a piice not exceeding 35s per chain. You will clearly understand fioin the corespondeuce that tne Government is unable, without the consent of Parliament, to make concessions in respecfc of drainage, and that their being able to comply with this portion of your requests will entirely depend upon the will of Parliament. With reference to the statements contained in Mr Whitaker's memorandum, I wish to recall to your recollection the fact that when I had the honour of meeting you in Auckland I distinctly pointed out that the Government would be unable to treat with you for a special settlement except under the clauses of the Lands Act Amendment Act, 1870, relating to special sobtlomouts, and I directed the Commissioner of Crown Lands to supply you with a copy of tlw Order-in-Council relating to Mr G. Y. Stewarts settlement at Te Puke, as showing in detail the conditions under which the Government would be able to treat with you. The terms therefore, of the agreement which has been entered into with Captain Steele on your behalf, are strictly in conformity with what it was understood they would be if Government came to an agreement under the clauses of the Act relating to special settlements, and I may point out particularly with reference to the question of price that, in accordance with the Act, this was not a matter which Government could determine, as the law expressly prcvides that the price should be fixed by a competent valuer, and, of course, any improvements which might be made would increase the valuation. I regret that any misunderstanding should have arisen on your part as to the terms of the ogreement, which appear to have been fully understood by jour agent, and I need scarcely say that the Government has been placed in a somewhat embarrassing position by your appointing an agent and then objecting to the teims to which he has agreed. With regard to your request that Mr Roche, who is at present in Auckland, may be permitted to acquire land in the block set apart for you; it must be understood that, in carrying out any arrangement that is made, the Government can only deal with you as the principals iv the matter, or with your duly authorised agent, strictly in terms of the arrangement, as laid down in the Order-of-Council authorising the formation of the settlement, copy of which has been furnished to you. Mr Rcche, will therefore be referred to Captain Steele. — I have, &c, W. Rolbston, Minister of Lands. To Messrs Grant and Foster, Healing, Lincolnshire, England. Memo, from the Hon. F. Whitaker to Minister of Lands :—: — As Messrs. Grant and Foster have thought fit to iutroduce my name into their letter of the Ist December, I desire to make some explanations, in order to correct statements which I will not call misrepresentations, but which are, at all events, gross inaccuracies. They say, " When in New Zealand, we were led to believe, through the Attorney-General, that as an inducement to farmers to come out, and the consequent promotion of settlement, that not more than 30s an acre would be charged, that the native reserve should be included, and that the land would be drained and roads formed and we are somewhat surprised that these terms have not been approved by the Waste Lands Board. We are now asked to give some 34s per acre ; the native reBerves, which f orm the most valuable portion of the property, are "withdrawn ; no drainage or roads are to be effected for us, and a clause is introduced which* we are told is iinusual in the colony, reserving gold and mineralr." Now, in this passage, there is scarcely one conect statement, and as the best correction, I will narrate what actually took place between myself and Messra. Grant and Foster, on the subject of the matter referred to. Application was made by them to the Waste Lands Board, to set aside a block of land near the Te Aroha mountain, fora special settlement, and negotiations were carried on, resulting in the Minister for Lands (Sir Rolleston) and the Waste Landd Board assenting to the proposal upon terms which wore to be similar to those granted to Mr Vesey Stewart, of which they had a copy. I had nothing to do with these negotiations. On the day before (I believe) that on which Messrs. Grant and Foster left, I saw them at the- , Northern Club, and in the course of conversation, they asked nic,, what price would be put on the land by the Gover n: meat, J directed theirattention to the terma pf the Act of the Assembly authorising tfca establishment of special lettlements, .which: expressly provides tbaj; the prices of the litud is to be fixed by » competent valuer,

and explained tliat^t^e- Waste^tian?^ Board couid not interfere' with this; nor'^ the Government, except so far as the 'appointment of the valuer. I addeiMjKat the Chief Surveyor (Mr Percy Smith) was appointed in the ca->e of Mr Vesey Stewart, and probably would be in this case. The "CfiietSurveyor was asked, not officially, but simply for Messrs. Grunt and Foster's inform ition, what he considered about the value of the land they wanted, and in reply lie saiJ ho thought it worch about 30s ?n acre. The subject of drainage was men (toned in fho conversation a tf the 'ClfiV ynd they wished me to say that cprfcain drainage, which hsvd^bcea- pointed, du^ to . them by the Government Surveyor, and f-)r-*vvhicb. -I understood -then* a- 'contracthad been made, should be', completed. I explained that I knew nothing about ii,, but added that I had no,,doubt that any contract made would be 'earned out. I have no recollection* whatever, tha^r^ada were mentioned, Native reservek lyere mentioned, and they expressed a wish that some ' reserves should be Included in the block they wanted., I suggested that they should apply accordingly, and t>aid that if it was Government land I saw no objection. TlvJy.-said there was no timo then, but they had appointed Captain Steele as their agent to comjJetp tb.eir t arrangements, and his appointment' wa<*, after their arrival in Eog-land} confirmed by the following telegram from them to the Government:— ''Cipt. fcteele authorized act for us Aroha ; request favour prompt i-ettlement." With reirard to the clause in the Order-of-Council reserving gold and silver (other minerals are not mentioned), this was inserted on my advice. Aftor Messrs Grant and Foster left New Zealand, gold was discovered near the Aroha mountain, some miles from the land selected by them Gold and silver bsing loyal metals belong to the Crown, , whether found on private land or not, without any reservation in all the Austialian Colonies, if not univer- ' sally throughout the British dominions! I was afr.iid sb'ne misapprehension/ and consequent dissatisfaction might arise* on this subject, and took the precaution against such happening. I see no objection to the omission of any reservation m the Ciown grants, which shouldindeed be made in the form always used where purchases of land are made from the Crown. I only wish to add in reference to drains and roads that it is difficult to understand how Messrs Grant and Foster could possibly believe that the Government would expend on land worth 30s an acre some £2 to £3 per acre on improvements, and then sell itto them ai? 3(K It seems to me that the mere statement of such a proposition carries its own refutation ; moreover, Mr Vesey Stewarts terms of purchase contained no such arrangement, and those for • Messrs Grant and Foster were to be substantially the same. If the improvements referred to had been made I presume they would have been added to the price fixed on valuation. I request that Messrs Grant and Foster may be furnished with a copy of this memo.— (Signed) Fred. Whitaker, 17th February, 1881. The next memo, was an urgent telegram from the Hon. Mr. Rolleston to Captain Steele, containing agreement as contained specially in his letter to Messrs Grant and Foster. Telegram.— Auckland, February 15, 1881.— Hon. W. Rolleston, Wellington. — Will you agree on behalf of Grant and Foster on the understanding the drains are completed at once- to the extent mentioned in your telegram ? (Signed) VV. Stkkle. Telegram.— Wellington, February 25. Captain Steele, Anckland,— Government will propose vote to Parliament, but we cannot undertake to go on with drains at once, before Parliament votes the money, unless you will undertake to pay it if Parliament declines to vote it. Please reply urgent. Mail closes to-morrow:. — W. Rolleston. Telegram.— Auckland, February 26. — Hon. W. Rolleston, Wellington. — Grant and Foster. I accept conditions on understanding that Government pledge themselves to give effect to concessions in the spirit in which it is understood they are agreed. (Signed) W. Steelk. Telegram. Grant and Foster, care Vogel, London. Concessions asked respecting minerals, native reserve and drains agreed to, subject to the conditions Steele accepts. (Signed) J: Hall, Premier. Mr Tonics : Then, the position we are in is, we don't know whether they will take this land or not. The Chairman: No. Captain Steele has now definitely accepted. Mr Firth : The only question now is, whether we should put ourselves out of the way to encourage these special settlements. My opinion is that we should not — that we have done enough already. Mr May : I think we certainly should not. There have been only two blocks available for some time, and these have been shut out from people living here, who ought to have as good a right to be able to select land for themselves asstrangers coming into the country. Mr Firth : If the country is not worth coming to without these special advantages, it is not worth coming to at all.