I.—B
10
At each of the Native settlements marked on the map the number of the inhabitants is also given, which may serve hereafter for a guide as to the quantity of land it may be thought desirable to set apart for their use, a matter which, I believe, may be easily and finally settled as the surveys of the coast-line progress. I have, &c, H. Tacy Kemp, W. Gisborne, Esq., Private Secretary. Commissioner pro tern.
Mr. H. T. Kemp to Mr. Gisborne. Sir,— Wellington, 21st June, 1848. In allusion to my letter of the 19th instant, and with regard to the arrangements for the future payment of the instalments for the land in the Middle Island, I beg to offer one or two suggestions. In the first place, I should explain that it was originally intended that they should be paid annually ; but the first instalment of £500 being scarcely sufficient to satisfy the claimants present, and rather than this should be a subject of jealousy or dissatisfaction amongst them hereafter, I have been induced to promise that the remaining three instalments shall, if possible, be paid half-yearly. I did this after consulting with Mr. Kettle, the Company's principal surveyor, and I trust no serious difficulty will be found to result from this arrangement. With reference, then, to the manner in which the payments are to be made hereafter, I beg respectfully to suggest that one moiety should be paid over to the chief Tikao, at Akaroa, on behalf of his tribe, in their presence, and through the hands of the Eesident Magistrate. In the same manner, the other moiety might be forwarded to the public officer at Otago, to be paid over to the chief Taiaroa, receipts in each case being taken for the amount. This plan would, I think, not only be simple, but less expensive, and dispense in a great measure with the necessity of collecting the Natives together from the more distant parts of the country, and at the same time be a great convenience to those persons residing in the neighbourhood of each of the settlements mentioned. The above arrangement was proposed in the first instance by the chiefs themselves, in the presence and with the consent of their people, and is one which, I believe, would giye general satisfaction. I have, &c, W. Gisborne, Esq., Private Secretary. H. Tacy Kemp, Commissioner pro tern.
No. 4. —Translation of Kemp's Deed. Hear, 0 all ye people ! We, the chief, and people of Ngaitahu, who have signed our names and marks to this deed on the twelfth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, consent to surrender for ever to William Wakefield, the Agent of the New Zealand Company established in London, that is to say, their directors, our lands and all our territorial possessions lying along the shores of this sea, commencing at Kaiapoi, at the land sold by Ngatitoa, and at the boundary of Whakatu, and thence on to Otakou, and on till it joins the boundary of the block purchased by Mr. Symonds ; running from the sea to the mountains of Kaihiku, and on till it comes out at the other sea at Whakatipu Waitai (Milford Haven). But the land is more accurately defined on the plan. Our places of residence and our cultivations are to be reserved for us and our children after us; and it shall be for the Governor hereafter to set apart some portion for us when the land is surveyed by the surveyors ; but the greater part of the land is unreservedly given up to the Europeans for ever. The payment made to us is two thousand pounds, to be paid to us in four instalments. Paid to us this day, five hundred; in the next instalment, five hundred ; in the next, five hundred ; and in the last five hundred : making a total of two thousand pounds. And the signing of our names and marks being the token of our full consent, is done at this place, at Akaroa. on the twelfth of June, 1848. [Here follow the signatures.]
[Translation.] H akaroa, 22nd February, 1849.—0n this day was paid to us the second instalment for our lands, herein described. Five hundred pounds (£500) were handed over to us. Mr. Mantell, Commissioner for Extinguishing Native Claims, divided the money among us. [Here follow the signatures.]
No. 4a.—Mr. Gisborne's Letter to Mr. Kemp upon his Departure from Instructions. Sir,— Wellington, 21st June, 1848. I have the honour, by the direction of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, to acknowledge your letter of the 19th June instant, forwarding a report of your mission to the Middle Island, and enclosing the deed of sale executed by the Ngaitahu Natives. His Excellency desires me to state that, upon perusing these documents, he has learnt with surprise and very great regret that you have altogether deviated from the instructions which were given you for your guidance, and have left unsettled the very points you were sent to adjust. His Excellency desires me, further, to add that, in the instructions conveyed to you by his directions in my letter of the 25th April, 1848, it is stated, " the object of your mission is the extinguishment of any title which may upon inquiry be found to be vested in the Native inhabitants to the tract of country lying between the district purchased from the Ngatitoa Tribe and that purchased by the New Zealand Company at Otago." It was never contemplated by Her Majesty's Government that the very few individuals within the limits referred to should be considered the owners or occupiers of that immense district; and the Lieutenant-Governor desires me to say that, at a personal interview he had with you on this very subject, prior to your setting out on your mission, he was particularly careful in trying to guard you from the error of acknowledging a validity of title in the few resident Natives
Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.
By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.
Your session has expired.