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Pages 47 and 48.

The answer to this is that these persons never decided at all. The decision in cases of difficulty has invariably been in the Governor's hands, where alone it could properly rest if no Tribunal was in existence.

But the objection here made comes rather late. These officers have been the means of acquiring nearly 30,000,000 acres for the Crown in New Zealand without objection on the part of Sir W. Martin, who was Chief Justice during the time when by far the largest part was purchased. The truth is, that investigation by means of the flexible practice of the Land Purchase Department has hitherto afforded a better security for bringing out the truth as to Native title than any formal and solemn enquiry before a Court of Law would have done, and must continue to do so until the Natives themselves shall give their assent to the institution of a Land Court.

That the Officers of the Government were the proper persons to conduct the enquiry was certainly the opinion of the party with which Sir W. Martin is identified. In a letter addressed to the Governor by Archdeacon Hadfield on the 15th April, 1856, he says:—"It is absolutely necessary if the peace of the country is to be preserved, that all transactions with natives in reference to the purchase of land should be entered on with the greatest caution and care; and that these should be entrusted to those only in whom the Government has perfect confidence, and who are directly amenable to the General Government," (Parl. Pap, July 1860, p. 234.)