COMMISSIONERS REPORTS

C—No. 1

64

General.

£21100. £3000. £soo. £50.

Extract from Translation of Native Deed of Sale of Land in the District of Wairarapa, dated Ist September, 1853. It is further agreed to by the Queen of England on her part to pay us at certain periods, within certain years to be decided on by the Governor of New Zealand and ourselves, that is, that we are to have a certain additional consideration for the land we have sold, to be paid to us for the forming of schools to teach our children, for the construction of flour mills for us, for the construction of hospitals aud for medical attendance for us, and also for certain annuities to be paid to us for certain of our Chiefs; but it is hereby agreed that we and certain officers who shall be appointed by the Queen or the Governor of New Zealand shall carefully discuss in Committee to which and at what times and in what proportions the saitl money shall be applied to each of the purposes above specified. The payments to be made annually to our Chiefs are to be decided upon by the Governor of New Zealand only—or by an officer appointed by him, who shall have the power of deeiding as to which of the Chiefs shall receive the said annual payments. These- payments for all the above purposes are to be as follows:—that is when the surveys are complete and the land is resold which wo have transferred to the Queen of England or to the King's or Qeeen's who may succeed her, a certain portion of the money to be received by the Queen or Government of New Zealand as payment for the said land is to be deducted for the purposes which have been above specified; the amount of the money to be returned to us is 5 per cent, or equal to Five Pounds out of every Hundred Pounds after deducting the surveys and other expenses connected with laying off the said lands.

NELSON PROVINCE. THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY. Land Commissioner's Office, Auckland, 7th April, 1856. Sir,— I have the satisfaction to report to you for the information of His Excellency the Governor, that the negociations 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 last been brought to a favourable 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 10th of August, 1853, by which they agreed, subject to certain reservations, to relinquish in favour of the Crown for a sum of Five thousand pounds, 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 Urville's Island, was excepted from the sale. 5. A first portion of the purchase money, amounting to Two thousand pounds, was paid at the time of the execution of the Deed ; the balance of Three thousand pounds, remained to be discharged in six annual instalments of Five hundred pounds each. 0. In addition to the cash consideration payable to the Natives, which from the smallness of the sum they evinced some rehictance to accept, it was further agreed by Sir George Grey that fifteen of the principal Chiefs should have Scrips awarded to them, representing Fifty pounds each, which should be available in the purchase of Crown Lands in any part of New Zealand. 7. Tiventy-six of the Native claimants were also to have Two hundred 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 lime^ as the land might be required for their use. 8. The Natives have not yet evinced any desire to select this land, which they regard more a3 a provision for their future wants, than as needed for immediate 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, previous 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 brouo-ht 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 ('ifferent tribes (residing on both shores of Cook's Straits) to the unpurchased lands in the Nelson Province, occasioned considerable difficulty. For instance, the N"atitoa tribe of 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 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 in the Nelson Province.