Native Lands.

Maori Record : a journal devoted to the advancement of the Maori people, Volume I, Issue 4, 1 October 1905, Page 3

Native Lands.

interests of the applicant. He will fully consider the nature of the locality, the state of the neighbouring and resident natives, their abundance or deficiency of land, their disposition towards the Europeans and towards Her Majesty’s Government; and he will consult with the Protector of Aborigines before consenting in any case to waive the right of pre-emption. 3. No Crown title will be given to any pah, or native burying ground, or land about either, however desirous the owners may now be to part with them; and as a general rule the right of pre-emption will not be waived over any land required by the aborigines for their present use. although they themselves may now be desirous that it should be alienated. 4. The Crown’s right of pre-emption will not be waived over any of that land near Auckland which lies between the Tamaki road and the sea northward. 5. Of all land purchased from the aborigines in consequence of the Crown’s right of pre-emption being waived, one-tenth part, of fair average value as to position and quality, is to be conveyed by the purchaser to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, for public purposes, especially the future benefit of the aborigines. 6. All transactions with sellers, all risks attendant on misunderstandings, on sales made improperly, or on incomplete purchase, must be undertaken by the buyer, until their respective purchases have been allowed and confirmed by grants from the Crown. 7. As the Crown has no right of preemption over land already sold to any person not an aboriginal native of New Zealand, and whose claim is, or may be, acknowledged by a Commissioner of Land Claims, no grant will be issued to any other than the original claimant or his representative. whose claims have been or may be investigated by a Commissioner, and recommended by him to the Governor for a grant from the Crown. 8. As a contribution to the land fund, and for general purposes of the Government, fees will be demanded in ready money at the rate of four shillings per acre for nine-tenths of the aggregate quantity of land, over which it may be requested that the Crown’s right of pre-emption may bo waived. These fees will be payable into the Treasury on receiving the Governor’s consent to waive the right of pre-emption. And on the issue of the Crown grant, after an interval of at least 12 months from the time of paying the above-mentioned fees, additional payments will be required, at the rate of six shillings per acre, in ready money, to be applied to the land fund and for the general purposes of the Government. 9. Land so obtained is to be surveyed, at the expense of the purchaser, by a competent surveyor, licensed or otherwise approved by the Government, who will bo required to declare to the accuracy of his work, to the best of his belief, and to deposit certified copies of the same at the Surveyor-General’s office previous to the preparation of the Crown grant. 10. Copies of the deed nr deeds, conveying such lands, are to be lodged at the SurveyorGeneral’s office as soon as practicable, in order that the necessary enquiries may be made, and notice given in Maori as well as in the English Gazette that a Crown title will be issued, unless sufficient cause should be shown for its being withheld for a time or altogether refused. 11. The Government, on behalf of the Crown and the public, will reserve the right of making and constructing roads and bridges for public purposes through the lands to be

THE PRE-EMPTIVE RIGHTS OF THE CROWN OVER NATIVE LANDS. [CoNTUIIiUTED.] Now that there is some stir in connection with the Native Lands, and the question has been asked in the House of Representatives if the Treaty of Waitangi was in full force or not. to which question a very unsatisfactory and evasive answer was returned by the Native Minister, it may be of interest to the readers of the Record to have the full text of the proclamation of Governor Fitzroy in 1844, where he waives the right of pre-emption on behalf of the Queen over certain lands in New Zealand :—■ PROCLAMATION. By His Excellency Robert Fitzroy, Esq., Captain in His Majesty’s Royal Navy, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Colony of New Zealand, and Vice-Admiral of the same, etc. : From this day until otherwise ordered I will consent —on behalf of Her Majesty the Queento waive the right of pre-emption over certain limited portions of land in New Zealand on the following conditions : 1. Application to be made in writing to the Governor through the Colonial Secretary, to waive the Crown right of preemption over a certain number of acres of land at, or immediately adjoining, a place distinctly specified, such land being described as accurately as may be practicable. 2. The Governor will give or refuse his consent to waive the Crown’s right of preemption to a certain person, or his assignee, as His Excellency may judge best for the .public welfare, rather than for the private /

granted, the owners being fairly compensated by other equivalent land, as settled by arbitration. 12. No Crown grants will be issued under the foregoing arrangement to any person who may be found to have contravened any of these regulations; and the public are reminded that no title to land in this colony, held or claimed by any person not an aboriginal native of the same, is valid in the eye of the law, or otherwise than null and void, unless confirmed by a grant from the Crown. Given under my hand, issued under the public seal of the colony, at Government House, Auckland, this 26th day of March. 1844. Robt. Fitzeoy, Governor. This first attempt at waiving the right of preemption did not meet with the public favour that was anticipated, and the pains and penalties were of no avail.one-tenth of the land to go to the Government; four shillings ready money (no P.N.’s or paper money received) to go to the land fund on consent of waiving pre-emptive right, and six shillings more when the title issued. This was the way the poor natives were fleeced under the guise of giving them free trade in land. No doubt ready-money purchasers realised that if they bought 100 acres of land they only obtained ninety acres, and had to pay four or five pounds to the land fund. The offers to the natives would be based on this land tax of ten shillings per acre, -and yet people in the colony growl at one penny in the pound to-day; and it was the unfortunate natives that really paid this tax. and yet we are told that the natives have paid no rates or taxes. The £lO in the £IOO stamp duty, afterwards imposed, was £lO in taxation paid by the natives. Of course, there was a great outcry against a ready-money land tax of ten shillings per acre, so this led to a fresh proclamation on October 10th of the same year, 1844. Clause Bof the first proclamation is expunged, and most of the other clauses retained, but—o Temporal 0 Mores!the land tax was reduced to one penny per acre. What a fall from ten shillings per acre six months previously 1 The preamble of the last- proclamation is worth noticing, for it was the assertions of some persons telling the natives that they were previously slaves and serfs so far as their land was concerned that caused the disquietude of the Governor, and led to the reduction of the tax to one penny per acre. Whereas, by a proclamation bearing date of the 26th March, 1844. it was notified to the public that the Crown’s right of preemption would be waived over certain portions of land in New Zealand ; and whereas the terms and conditions set forth in such proclamation on which the right of preemption would lie waived, have in some cases been disregarded, either by persons making purchases of lands from the natives without first applying for, and obtaining, the Governor’s consent to waive the right of pre-emption, or by much understating the quality of the land proposed to be purchased from the natives ; and whereas certain persons have misrepresented the objects and intentions of the Government in requiring that a fee. should be paid on obtaining the Governor’s consent to waive the right of preemption on behalf of Her Majesty who, by the Treaty of Waitangi, undertook to protect the natives of New Zealand, and. in order to do so, has checked the purchase of their lands while their value was insufficiently known to their owners :

And whereas the evil consequences of misstating the motives of the Government, and asserting that to be a mark of oppression—even of slavery—which is in reality an effect of parental care—are already manifest, and are certain to increase seriously if the cause be not removed : And whereas the natives of New Zealand have become perfectly aware of the full value of their lands, and are quite alive to their own present interests, however indifferent at times to those of their children: Now, I, therefore, the Governor, acting on behalf of Her Majesty, do hereby proclaim and declare that from this day no fees will be demanded on consenting to waive the right of pre-emption; that the fees payable on the issue of the Crown grants, under the following regulations, will be at the rate of one penny per acre ; and that until otherwise ordered I will consent, on behalf of Her Majesty, to waive the right of pre-emption over certain limited portions of land in New Zealand on the following conditions.” These conditions are the same as in the proclamation of March previously, with clause 8 expunged. In face of the present restrictive legislation history may yet repeat itself, as shown in the above preamble. Whether the Government realise it or not, they are setting up a volcano so far as the native lands are concerned, and the increasing bitterness aroused in the minds of the younger and up-to-date Maoris will yet find its expression in dealing with their lands directly to the Europeans, in direct opposition to Government restrictive legislation, and the Government of the day will suddenly find themselves overwhelmed in the volcanic outburst of the hitherto law-abiding Maori and the lava-like heat of a burning public opinion, as it is realised how progressive settlement is held back by retrogressive and restrictive legislative enactments diametrically opposed to the petition of the- 6000 adult Maoris presented last session, which precludes any protestations of ignorance as to what the will and wishes of the native owners are, and their aspirations to deal with their Crowngranted lands with all the rights and privileges of British subjects.

[We think that far too little attention is given to the bitterness of the young Maori above alluded to.Ed.]