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A compendium of official documents relative to native affairs in the South Island, Volume One.

[Papers Relative To The Nanto-Bordelaise Claim To Land On Banks Peninsula, Southern Island]

page 75

Papers Relative To The Nanto-Bordelaise Claim To Land On Banks Peninsula, Southern Island

No. 1.
Despatch from the Earl of Aberdeen to Lord Cowley.

Foreign Office, 28th July, 1842.

My Lord,—

With reference to your Despatch (No. 108) of the 10th ultimo, I transmit to you a copy of a Despatch from the Governor of New Zealand to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, containing a Report on the French Settlement formed on Banks Peninsula in the Southern Island, and stating the arrangement by which he proposes to effect the removal of the settlers from thence to the Northern Island. I also enclose to you a copy of a Report of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners upon the contents of Governor Hobson's Despatch above mentioned; and a copy of the Address of Governor Hobson to the Legislative Council of New Zealand, with reference to the general settlement of claims to land in those Islands.

Your Excellency will commuuicate this correspondence to the French Minister for ForeignAffairs, and you will state to him that Her Majesty's Government propose to deal with the Company connected with the French settlers in New Zealand on the same principle as if they had been a British Company, and to invite them as a preliminary step to prove the extent of their claims, which, when proved to be just, will be allowed in the Northern Island, and that no difficulties will be thrown in the way of their naturalization.

I also enclose to your Excellency, for your information, copies of a note from the Baron do Bourguency, of 17th February, 1841, and of the answer of my predecessor, having reference to the subject to which the Despatch relates.

I have, &c.,

Aberdeen.

His Excellency the Lord Cowley.

No. 2. Despatch from Acting Governor Shortland to Lord Stanley.

Government House, Auckland, 15th November, 1843.

My Lord,—

I do myself the honor to forward to your Lordship the report of Colonel Godfrey, the Land Commissioner, to whom I intrusted the investigation of the titles to land in that part of New Munster, on the Nanto-Bordelaise claim.

I respectfully request your Lordship's instruction on this case, only remarking that the Peninsula itself is a most valuable locality, and that Akaroa is one of the most important harbours and stations in the Island, if not absolutely the most important.

I have, &c.,

Willoughby Shortland

Lord Stanley.

page 76

Enclosure in No. 2.
Report of the Commissioners appointed to examine and report upon Claims to Grants of Land in New Zealand.

Report on Nanto-Bordelaise Company's Claim.

Claim No.—
Claimant's name and address La Compagnie Nanto-Bordelaise.
Native names from whom purchased or obtained Tuauau, &c.
Date of alleged purchase 2nd August 1838, and August 1840

Report—Nanto-Bordelaise, Claimants.

The Commissioners have the honor to report, for the information of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, that from the accompanying evidence taken in this claim to "All Banks Peninsula, in the Middle Island of New Zealand, with the exception of the Bay of Hikuraki, Oihoa on the South, and Sandy Beach, north of Port Cooper, on the North, the boundaries," the supposed con[gap — reason: damage]ts 30,000 acres,—

It appe[gap — reason: damage] no deed or memorandum to Captain Langlois, through whom the claimants derive, has been proved to have been executed by the Natives in the year 1838, nor has any Native evidence been produced of the contract for this purchase having been made in 1838; but George Fleuret, a European, deposes to his belief that an agreement was then made by Captain Langlois for the purchase of some quantity of land from the Natives.

No deed has been exhibited to the Court in proof of the transfer made by Captain Langlois to the Company; but such a transfer of his interest may be assumed from the evidence of Mons. S. de Beligny. The Native chiefs, Iuika, Tuauau, Tikao, Parure Nga Mana, and others, have admitted the sale to Captain Langlois in August 1840, of the following portions of land in Banks Peninsula:—

In the Port of Akaroa.

From Point Tikau to a stream called Katiangata, and extending backwards to the top of the adjacent mountains; the probable contents about 400 acres.

At Pigeon Bay, Port Levy, and Port Cooper.

Portions called Pohue, Kokakongatungatu, and Kohaihope; contents unknown, but the boundaries of these tracts can be pointed out by the Natives.

These Natives state that they sold these portions of land to Captain Langlois, upon his second arrival in the Peninsula, when accompanied by the immigrants, which appears from the evidence of Messrs. S. de Beligny, J. M. Cebert, and George Fleuret, to have been at Pigeon Bay on the 9th August, 1840, and at Akaroa upon the 16th August, 1840.

They admit to have received, as payment for these lands, the goods, &c., stated in the deed of sale, amounting in value to £234 sterling.

This payment is proved to have been made a few days after the above-mentioned dates by the evidence of J. M. Cebert and G. Fleuret, the latter of whom deposes also to having seen Captain Langlois give some clothing to a Native named Chigary, and others, at Pigeon Bay, in the year 1838.

The said Natives have likewise declared that they consented, in August, 1840, to sell their interests in larger tracts of land in Banks Peninsula, to Captain Langlois, for a further consideration of cattle and goods promised to them by him, but which they have not received, and they expressed their readiness still to dispose of any lands not required for themselves.

It has been admitted by the same Natives, that a chief named Taiaroa possesses a common right with them in portions of Banks Peninsula.

Tuha Waike, a Native chief, opposes this claim on the part of himself and the chiefs Patuki, Taiaroa, and Karetai, on the grounds that they did not consent to the sale, or receive any payment; at the same time, he states their willingness to alienate their rights for a consideration.

Statements to the following effect have been exhibited to the Court by Mons. S. de Beligny, the agent of the claimants:

1.Setting forth the claimants' engagement with sixty-three French emigrants.
2.The clearing and cultivation of 107[gap — reason: damage] acres by the said persons.
3.The expenditure by the claimants in the transport and maintenance of these emigrants sent out by them have been strictly performed, and the Court has also been satisfied of a considerable outlay in making roads, bridges, and improvements.

This claim having been referred for special examination by His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, and the copy of a letter from the Right Honorable the Earl of Aberdeen, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated 28th July, 1842, having been exhibited to the Court, in which it is declared that Her Majesty's Government purpose that the claim should be dealt with similarly to those of a British Company; the Commissioners do not adjudicate upon it according to the practice hitherto adopted towards individual claimants, who have made or completed their purchases of land after the Proclamation issued upon the 14th January, 1840, by His Excellency Sir George Gipps, forbidding the acquirement of lands from the Natives of New Zealand after that date; and consequently, in the opinion of the Commissioners, rendering the completion of all such contracts null and void. But considering the peculiar circumstances of the case, the Commissioners, without offering a decided or specific recommendation upon it, have confined themselves to a recapitulation of all the evidence they could obtain relating to it.

Dated at Wellington, this 21st day of October, 1843. Edward L. Godfrey.
M. Richmond.
page 77

No. 3.
Despatch from Lord Stanley to Lieutenant-Governor Grey.

Downing Street, 7th July, 1845.

Sir,—

I have to address you upon the claim of the French or Nanto-Bordelaise Company to a tract of land at Banks Peninsula, on the east coast of the Middle Island, and to transmit in reference to their title certain papers described in the accompanying Schedule.

It is necessary that I should state to you, for your information and guidance, what has occurred here on this subject since I received Mr. Shortland's Despatch of the 15th November, 1843.

Monsieur Mallières, a gentleman deputed by the Company to communicate with Her Majesty's Government, arrived in England in the early part of last year, to make arrangements with a view to the settlement of the claim and the completion of the Company's title.

I directed the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners to place themselves in communication with this gentleman, and they reported to me that he had established to their satisfaction an expenditure by the Company of £11,685. I enclose their reports in reference to this part of the case.

I also enclose a letter which, with reference to the reports of the Commissioners, I directed my Under Secretary to address to Monsieur Mallières, and in which I intimated the course I was prepared to adopt respecting the settlement of this claim.

A circumstance, however, has since occurred to interfere with the course which I then expressed my intention to pursue. I allude to the arrival in this country of Lieutenant-Colonel Godfrey, the Commissioner who investigated the claim in the Colony. I have observed, that although the report of the Land Claims Commissioners is signed by Major Richmond as well as Colonel Godfrey, still that the latter only was present when the evidence of the Natives was taken respecting the purchase made by Monsieur Langlois. I therefore considered it would be unfair towards the claimants to expose them to the delay and uncertainty that would attend a fresh investigation of the claim in the Colony. Conceiving that an earlier and equally correct decision might be arrived at, by referring to Colonel Godfrey certain documents recently submitted by Monsieur Mallières, I directed them to be forwarded to that officer, requesting him to furnish me at his earliest convenience with a supplementary report upon the whole case. This report I have received, which, together with the letter to Colonel Godfrey from my Under Secretary, I herewith transmit; and I am now prepared, after reviewing the principal facts of the case, to issue to you my instructions respecting its settlement.

It appears that the investigation of this claim in the Colony took place before Lieutenant-Colonel Godfrey only; that, attaching less importance to the deeds that have been submitted to him on behalf of their claim, whether in the Colony or in this country, than to the oral testimony received from the Natives themselves, he is of opinion that a purchase was made from the Natives by Monsieur Langlois of a certain quantity of land in Banks Peninsula, but that its actual extent is not known with sufficient accuracy to enable you to issue, under the Seal of the Colony, a grant to the land, and that it will therefore be necessary for an officer to proceed to Akaroa for the purpose of obtaining a more correct description of it; that Monsieur Langlois has been shown to have conveyed his interest in the land to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, of which he is himself a member; that powers of attorney from the members of the Company (Monsieur Langlois included) have been exhibited by Monsieur Mallières, authorizing him to act on their behalf in any communications with Her Majesty's Government; that this gentleman has proved to the satisfaction of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners an expenditure which, at four acres to every pound sterling, would represent more than the whole quantity alleged to be the property of the Company, in the claim they submitted to the investigation of the Land Claims Commissioners in the Colony; and that the supposed contents of the claim were 30,000 acres.

Such, then, being a summary of the present state of this case, I have to issue to you the following instructions, in order to bring it to a speedy and final conclusion.

You will instruct Mr. Edward Shortland (or, if his services be not available, some other officer) to proceed to Akaroa with as little delay as possible, for the purpose of assisting the Agent of the Company in effecting an arrangement with the Natives for the Company's quiet possession of the land they have purchased. You will issue to him instructions similar to those given to Mr. Spain respecting the compensation to be paid by the New Zealand Company to the Natives of Port Nicholson, alluded to in Captain Fitzroy's Despatch and its enclosure, referred to in the margin.

The quantity of land of which it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to authorize the grant to the Company of a confirmatory title is limited to 30,000 acres. You will waive on behalf of Her Majesty the right of pre-emption over the extent of land remaining to make up 30,000 acres, after deducting the quantity of which it has been reported the Natives have admitted the sale.

As soon as you receive from Mr. Shortland his report describing the land with sufficient accuracy to be inserted in a Crown Grant, you will direct that instrument to be prepared in favour of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, to be delivered to the person appointed to receive it by Monsieur Mallières, with whom I will communicate, and in a future Despatch intimate to you the name of the party he has nominated for that purpose.

In conclusion, I have to draw your attention to Colonel Godfrey's observation in favour of Mr. Rhodes' claim, which I observe does not fall within the rules so as to entitle the claimant to a confirmatory grant, yet appears to deserve favourable consideration; and I have therefore to instruct you to give due weight to Colonel Godfrey's representation.

I have, &c.,

Stanley.

Governor Grey, New Zealand.
page 78

No. 4.
Despatch from Earl Grey to Governor Grey.

Downing Street, 30th November, 1848.

Sir,—

Referring to my Despatch No. 69, of the 17th August last, in which I requested you to report any steps which might have been taken with the view of assigning to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company a tract of 30,000 acres, which they are to have in Banks Peninsula, I have the honor to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter from the New Zealand Company, and of the reply which I have caused to be returned to them respecting the present position of the French Company's claim.

I doubt not that you will quite agree, as I do, in the importance of endeavouring to bring this matter to an early conclusion. You will perceive by the enclosures, that after the full consideration which the case underwent at a time when the interests of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company were ably represented in this country by a gentleman whom they had fully empowered to act on their behalf, and after the result, by which it was mutually agreed that the grant of a tract of 30,000 acres would liberally meet their claims, I think that the Government could not be called upon to entertain for a moment any pretension to receive a larger quantity of land. On the contrary, I have to instruct you that the question of quantity cannot be reopened. It only remains therefore to select, as soon as may be possible, a tract containing in one block 30,000 acres, to which it may be in the power of the Government to grant a title to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company. It will be within your recollection that M. Belligny was in 1845 named as the agent for attending to their interests on the spot in settling the business. But in the event of his being absent, or for any other reason unable to perform his part in the transaction, I have to authorize you, unless there should exist any objection on the spot of which I am unaware, to proceed to make a selection of the tract for the Company, on the basis of the suggestions contained in the concluding paragraphs of the enclosed letter from Mr. Harrington.

I have, &c.,

Grey.

Governor Grey, New Zealand.

No. 5.
Mr. T. C. Harrington to Earl Grey.

New Zealand House, 11th November, 1848.

My Lord,—

The Directors of the New Zealand Company beg to draw your Lordship's attention to the present position of the claims of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company to land in Banks Peninsula.

In the report of the Commissioners of Land Claims, Colonel Godfrey and Major Richmond, dated 21st October, 1843, enclosed in Mr. Willoughby Shortland's Despatch of 15th November, same year, and printed in the Parliamentary Paper No. 556, 1844, Appendix, page 433, it was stated that the claim preferred extended to "all Banks Peninsula, in the Middle Island of New Zealand, with the exception of the Bay of Hikuraki, Oihoa on the south, and Sandy Beach, north of Port Cooper, on the north, the boundaries. The supposed contents, 30,000 acres." And further, that the expenditure by the claimants upon public objects had been represented to amount to £15,125 sterling; but that the vouchers being in France, this expenditure could not then be verified.

In Lord Stanley's Despatch of 7th July, 1845, No. 7, printed in the Parliamentary Paper No. 337, 1846, page 78, it was stated that Monsieur Mallières, the representative of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, had established to the satisfaction of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners an expenditure by the said Company of £11,685; and upon a personal reference to Colonel Godfrey, who was then in England, it appeared that that gentleman was of opinion that a purchase had been made from the Natives by Monsieur Langlois of a certain quantity of land in Banks Peninsula, but that its actual extent was not known with sufficient accuracy to enable the Governor to issue a deed of grant, and that it would therefore be necessary for an officer to proceed to Akaroa for the purpose of obtaining a more correct description of it. Directions were accordingly given in the said Despatch to instruct Mr. Edward Shortland, or some other officer, to proceed to Akaroa for the purpose of assisting the agent of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company in affecting an arrangement with the Natives for the Company's quiet possession of the land they had purchased, giving him instructions similar to those given to Mr. Spain respecting the compensation to be paid by the New Zealand Company to the Natives of Port Nicholson. It was also declared in the same Despatch, that the quantity of land to which it was the intention of Her Majesty's Government to authorize the grant of a confirmatory title, was limited to 30,000 acres.

These instructions, the Directors believe, have never been carried into effect, owing probably to the circumstance of the agent of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company having left New Zealand before their receipt in the Colony.

Since the month of May, 1847, as your Lordship is aware, a negotiation has been pending between the Nanto-Bordelaise Company and the Directors of the New Zealand Company for the purchase of the interests of the former. In consequence of the shape which the opposition of Monsieur Langlois has at length assumed, and which I had the honour to communicate to your Lordship on the 5th of last August, hope is no longer entertained of this negotiation being brought to a satisfactory conclusion. But in the course of its progress the Directors have become aware that the members of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company consider themselves enabled to prove an expenditure larger than has been admitted by the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners; that the restriction of the claim to 30,000 acres is alleged to have been occasioned by a mistaken belief that the quantity of land would comprise the whole contents of the Peninsula, and that such contents are now computed by the said Company to amount to 260,000 acres.

Whether any additional claims would now be admitted by Her Majesty's Government, and if so, to what extent, the Directors have of course no means of forming an opinion. Neither can they state whether in this case, as in purchases apparently equally valid, effected by the New Zealand Company, it will be necessary to pay to the Natives further sums of money.

page 79

In the report of Mr. Kemp (the officer employed by Lieut.-Governor Eyre to effect on behalf of the New Zealand Company a purchase of that portion of the Middle Island which lies between the purchases at Otago and at Nelson), which is enclosed in the accompanying Despatch, recently received from Colonel Wakefield, it is stated that "the Natives clearly admit having sold the whole of Banks Peninsula to the French Company."

That Peninsula, your Lordship is aware, contains four harbours of considerable magnitude, namely, Akaroa, on its southern coast, and Pigeon Bay, Port Levy, and Port Cooper, on its northern. "Hikuraki," the Bay excepted from the claim of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, appears to be an insignificant inlet at the junction of the southern coast of the Peninsula with the mainland. On the whole eastern coast of the mainland, from Cloudy Bay, in Cook Strait, down to Otago, there is not a single harbour for ships. Your Lordship therefore will at once perceive the importance of ascertaining, with as little delay as possible, which of the four harbours above mentioned are to become the property of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company; the more especially as, from the unsettled state of the Native claims in the district of Wairarapa in the Northern Island, and the circumstance of the district lying to the south of the Molyneux River and Milford Haven, in the Middle Island, not having yet been acquired, it appears at the present moment to be far from improbable that the site of the settlement of Canterbury will be fixed in the territory lately purchased as above mentioned, on the eastern coast of the Middle Island, and in the vicinity of Banks Peninsula.

On these grounds the Directors beg to submit for your Lordship's consideration, that it will be expedient,—

1.To call upon the Nanto-Bordelaise Company definitely to select, within such time as your Lordship shall deem reasonable, the whole of the land to which it is entitled, in order to the boundaries of such land being marked out upon the spot.
2.To direct that in default of compliance on the part of the said Company, the selection shall be made and the boundaries marked out by an officer to be appointed for that purpose by the Governor-in-Chief of the Colony [gap — reason: damage]nd
3.To make provision that in any such selection, whether made by the Nanto-Bordelaise Company or by the Officer of the Government, one or more of the harbours above mentioned shall be secured for the purposes of colonization.

I have, &c.,

T. C. Harrington.

The Right Hon. Earl Grey.

No. 6.
Mr. B. Hawes to Mr. T. C. Harrington.

Downing Street, 30th November, 1848.

Sir,—

I am directed by Earl Grey to acknowledge your letter of the 11th inst., stating that the New Zealand Company had not succeeded in purchasing the interests of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, and reviewing the present position of their claims.

I am desired to acquaint you, in answer, that Lord Grey is very sensible of the importance of the subject to which the Directors of the New Zealand Company have thus drawn attention, and that he concurs in the general tenor of their observations.

With reference to the pretensions which they have heard that some of the parties interested in the Nanto-Bordelaise Company would set up to tracts of land of vast extent, I am directed to acquaint you, for the information of the Directors, that the case having been examined by the Emigration Commissioners, in communication with a gentleman employed by the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, and fully empowered to act on their behalf, it was mutually agreed that 30,000 acres would be a liberal allowance of land to settle their claims, and that Lord Grey is satisfied that there could be no just reason to depart from that conclusion. All that remains to be done is to determine the particular tract to be assigned to this Company. Of this subject the Governor of New Zealand was reminded by a Despatch sent to him in August last, calling for a report of any steps which might have been taken; and I am now to acquaint you that your present letter will also be transmitted to Governor Grey, with authority to adopt measures for expediting the demarcation of the block of 30,000 acres which is to be allotted to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company.

In conclusion, I am desired to request that you will inform me whether the negotiations in which the New Zealand Company has been engaged have made them acquainted with the address of M. Mallières, the gentleman who acted for the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, in 1845; or if not, that you may be so good as to inform me who may have acted on their behalf in treating with the New Zealand Company.

I have, &c.,

B. Hawes.

T. C. Harrington, Esq.

No. 7.
Despatch from Earl Grey to Governor Grey.

Downing Street, 19th December, 1848.

Sir,—

With reference to my Despatch No. 83, of the 30th ult., requesting you to expedite the selection of a tract of 30,000 acres in Banks Peninsula for the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, I enclose, for your information, the copy of a letter which I have caused to be sent to M. Mallières, at Bordeaux, who has hitherto acted for the Company in this country, apprising him of the nature of the instructions addressed to you on the subject.

I have, &c.,

Grey.

Governor Grey, &c., &c.
page 80

No. 8.
Mr. B. Hawes, to M. Mallieres.

Downing Street, 19th December, 1848.

Sir,—

With reference to the correspondence which took place with you in the year 1845, on the claim of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, in which correspondence it was mutually agreed that a tract of 30,000 acres should be selected in Banks Peninsula, in New Zealand, for the purpose of being granted to the Company in satisfaction of its claims, I am directed by Earl Grey to inform you that no intelligence has yet been received of the selection of a tract of land in pursuance of this arrangement, and that as it must be expedient for the Company, as well as desirable for the public interests, that this matter should be settled with the least delay which circumstances will admit, the Governor has been instructed to use his efforts to select and appropriate a tract of 30,000 acres to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, in communication with M. Belligny, whom you named as the agent of the Company for this purpose, if he be still in the Colony; and if not, taking the best means in his power for securing a just attention to the interests of the Company in the selection of the lands to be set apart for their use.

I have, &c.,

B. Hawes.

Mons. M. Mallières, Bordeaux.

No. 9. Despatch from Earl Grey to Governor Grey.

Downing Street, 23rd October, 1849.

Sir,—

With reference to your Despatches Nos. 19 and 21, of the 7th and 15th of March last, I have to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter from Mr. T. Harrington, announcing the final conveyance to the New Zealand Company of the entire property and interests of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company.

I have, &c.,

Grey.

Governor Grey, New Zealand.

Enclosure in No 9.
Mr. T. C. Harrington to the Right Hon. Earl Grey.

New Zealand House, 12th October, 1849.

My Lords,—

The Directors of the New Zealand Company beg to thank your Lordship for the communication, in Mr. Hawes' two letters of the 5th instant, of Sir George Grey's Despatches of the 7th and 15th of March, Nos. 19 and 21, the former stating that through the absence of any person authorized to act on behalf of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, it had not been found practicable to complete the requisite arrangements respecting the claims of that Company to a tract of land near Banks Peninsula; the latter enclosing Mr. Brunner's journal of his expedition to explore the interior of the Middle Island.

With regard to the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, the Directors are happy to state that the necessity of any further proceedings has been superseded by the completion on the 30th of last June by Monsieur Raillard, the Official "Liquidateur," of the agreement provisionally entered into on the 24th of February by Monsieur Cuzon, repecting which I had the honor to address your Lordship on the 17th of that month and the 1st of June.

Particulars of Monsieur Cuzon's agreement were transmited to the Company's Principal Agent by the ship "Cornwall," on the 13th of April, and of Monsieur Raillard's final conveyance to the New Zealand Company of the entire property and interests of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company in New Zealand, for the sum of £4,500, by the ship "Kelso," on the 4th of last July.

I have, &c.,

T. C. Harrington.

The Right Hon. Earl Grey, &c.
page 81