A.—4

32

There is no record of his having made any protest against their awards, and he must be held to have accepted them, as he received the Crown grants made in pursuance thereof, and sold or mortgaged all the land so granted. His claims were, in fact, treated with exceptional indulgence, and admitted to a larger extent than those of any other individual. 3. I shall, should your Lordship deem it necessary, transmit certified copies of the documents quoted in my enclosures. They are very voluminous, and I think that the correct quotations will demonstrate sufficiently, especially in the absence of any representation from the Government of the United States, that Mr. Webster has no rights as an American citizen, and that his claims were properly decided by competent authority. I have, &c, James Febgusson.

Memorandum for His Excellency the Goveenoe by the Commissioner of Land Claims in respect of certain Land Claims in New Zealand of Mr. William Webster. The information required concerning this claim relative to the points mentioned in the report by the Emigration Board, enclosed in Despatch No. 75, is given herein, taking the various points seriatim :— 1. " The dates and extent of the several purchases made by Mr. Webster, and the consideration for each." The information required under this head will be found in the schedule attached hereto. 2. " The claim preferred by him to the first Commission, and the grounds on which his grant was limited to 2,560 acres, and on which he was denied the benefit of Lord John Russell's instructions of March, 1841." In a letter dated the 20th July, 1841 (marked 1), Mr. Webster first preferred his claims in the following terms : " I have sent seven copies of titles to land and seven statements of purchases, which I beg you will lay before the Commissioners, for examination only. I have sent all my claims to land in this country before the United States Government, by the advice of the American Consul of Sydney ; and I trust His Excellency Governor Hobson will not suffer any of my lands to be interfered with until the question is settled." He further states that he was willing to come forward to prove all his purchases, but requested to be allowed time in which to do it. He trusted that when his claims were examined the Commissioners would understand that they were all bought before any Government was formed in New Zealand. Governor Hobson minuted Mr. Webster's letter as follows: "Mr. Webster must distinctly state whether he claims land in New Zealand as a British or an American subject. If the former, his case must take the course the law prescribes; if the latter, his claims for land must depend upon the decision which may be arrived by the joint consent of both Governments. But Mr. Webster in seeking assistance from a foreign Government must relinquish all the rights of a British subject, such as the ownership of a British vessel, which, I understand, he now possesses.* [If] the claims of Mr. Webster be lodged as a British subject,* [I will] consent to their being laid before the Commissioners in the usual way." Mr. Webster was informed accordingly, and in his reply dated the 3rd October, 1841 (marked 2), said, " I wish my claims to be laid before the Commissioners, and am willing to take my chance with all others."]- His claims were then referred to the Commissioners in the usual way. From the attached schedule of Webster's claims, it will be seen the Commissioners, Godfrey and Richmond, awarded 7,541 acres to claimant, namely: In case 714 (305)1, 250 acres; case 715 (305 a), 250 acres; case 716 (305b), 550 acres; case 717 (305 c), 800 acres; case 722 (305g), 1,944 acres; case 724 (305 i), 1,187 acres ; case 726 (305k), 2,560 acres : total, 7,541 acres. But, on the 18th December, 1843, in reporting on claim No. 726 (report marked 3), the Commissioners further reported that the awards should be reduced in the agregate to the maximum grant of 2,560 acres, the reason being that clause 6 of " The Land Claims Ordinance, 1841," Session 1., No. 2, 9th June, 1841, provides that "no grant of land shall be recommended by the said Commissioners which shall exceed in extent 2,560 acres, unless specially authorised thereto by the Governor with the advice of the Executive Council." 3. " On what grounds the second Commission altered the previous decision in his case." The second Commission (R. A. FitzGerald, Commissioner), appointed under " The Land Claims Ordinance, 1844," Session 111., No. 3, having been authorised by a minute of the Executive Council, dated the 10th April, 1844, recommended an extension of the award of the previous Commission on the following grounds, given in a memorandum dated the 22nd April, 1844 (marked 4) : (1.) That the outlay of Mr. Webster on his land claims amounted to £7,787 135., which according to the scale of valuation in the Land Claims Ordinance would entitle him to be considered as having paid for 50,904 acres, and, even limiting his outlay to the mere payments to the Natives, he would be fairly entitled to 17,950 acres. (2.) That, considerable sales of land having been made by him on the faith of all his valid purchases being recognised by the Crown, he would be likely to be overwhelmed with lawsuits, and subjected to great losses, if not treated with great liberality by the Governor (Captain Fitzroy). For these reasons Commissioner FitzGerald recommended that there should be granted to Mr. Webster himself 5,000 acres, and to purchasers from him 12,655 acres, in all 17,655 acres. The Governor approved of these recommendations, and the grants were issued on the Ist May, 1844.

* Original torn. f Mr. Webster avoids a definite answer to the Governor's question whether he claims as a British or an American subject. | In explanation of the dual numbers used in this report, it should be stated that in the interval between 1841 and 1856 most of the original claimants had sold their claims or some of them, so that the system of including all the claims of the same owner into one case under the same number with a differential letter for each separate claim, adopted by the first Commission, was no longer applicable. Commissioner Bell therefore renumbered the whole series of cases, giving to each claim therein a separate number, and so that the 459 cases of the first Commission became 1,049 claims under the third Commission.