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

No. 95. — Report by the Select Committee on the Dunedin Disputed Reserves, 26th August, 1868

No. 95.
Report by the Select Committee on the Dunedin Disputed Reserves, 26th August, 1868.

Your Committee have directed their inquiries to the circumstances under which the Bill to authorize the payment of the sum of £6,031 18s. 9d., being the rents which have accrued from the Dunedin Princes Street Reserve to the Superintendent of Otago, was lost in two consecutive Sessions of the General Assembly, and also to the manner in which the money was finally paid to the Provincial Government in the month of September last.

A Bill intituled "An Act to declare the Superintendent of the Province of Otago to be entitled to certain Rents received on account of a Reserve situate in Princes Street, in the City of Dunedin," was introduced into the House of Representatives by Mr. Stafford in the Session of 1866, and was read a third time on the same day. It is described in the Journals of the House of Representatives as having lapsed in the Legislative Council. A reference to the Journals of the Legislative Council shows that, on the 28th September, "it was ordered to be read a second time that day six months."

On the 30th of July, 1867, Mr. Dillon Bell obtained leave, in the House of Representatives, to bring in the same Bill that had been rejected in the previous Session in the Legislative Council. Mr. Speaker expressed his opinion that the Bill was of a private character, and on his suggestion a motion was carried that it should be referred to the Joint Committee on Private Bills, to inquire into its nature.

On the 6th of August, on the motion of Mr. Bell, it was ordered that the Bill should be laid aside, Mr. Bell stating that the Government had taken the matter up.

On the 7th of August the Hon. Mr. Stafford obtained leave to introduce the same Bill, stating that the Bill "had no other object than to enable the moneys held by the Colonial Treasurer to be paid to the Superintendent of Otago in trust for certain purposes."

On the 23rd of August the House went into Committee on the Bill, and amendments were introduced in the preamble and in one of the clauses of the Bill, the words "to declare the Superintendent to be entitled to the said sum of six thousand and thirty-one pounds eighteen shillings and ninepence, subject to the trusts expressed in the said grant, and" being omitted in the preamble, and the words, "It is hereby declared that the Superintendent of the Province of Otago and his successors are entitled to the said sum of six thousand and thirty-one pounds eighteen shillings and ninepence, and" being struck out in Section 3 of the Bill. The amendments appear to have been made from the belief that the words struck out would have validated the grant.

The Bill was read a third time and passed on the 10th of September, and is described in the Journals of the House of Representatives as having "lapsed in the Legislative Council."

The Bill was read a first time in the Legislative Council on the 12th September, and is described in the Journal as having lapsed.

The loss of the Bill appears to be attributable to the following circumstances:—On the 22nd of August a petition from a Native chief, named John Topi Patuki, claiming to be interested in the reserve, was presented to the Legislative Council. Its prayer, as described in the Journal, was that, "the Dunedin Princes Street Reserve Bill be not passed, but that the whole question be dealt with by a judicial tribunal."

The petitioner refers to the Bill as one "whose effect, if it became law, would be to deprive his tribe of the funds which have accrued from the letting of this said reserve in Dunedin." The words of its prayer are, "That your Honorable House will refrain from passing a Bill relative to the Dunedin Princes Street Reserve, or its rents." The petition was referred to the Select Committee on Public Petitions, which, on the 12th of September, brought up a Report recommending that, "inasmuch as the question referred to them in the petition of John Topi Patuki appears to be one which can only be equitably and satisfactorily decided by the Supreme Court, in which it is shown that an action in relation to it is already pending, the prayer of the petitioner be acceded to, and that no measure in any way affecting the question be entertained until such decision shall have been given."

On the 17th of September, on the motion of the Hon. Mr. Menzies, it was resolved that "the Report of the Petitions Committee on the petition of John Topi Patuki be adopted."

It would seem that the passing of this resolution was practically a rejection of the Bill, which does not appear to have been again brought under the consideration of the Council.

On the 24th of September, 1867, the accrued rents, amounting to £6,031 18s. 9d., were paid to the Superintendent of Otago, on his giving an undertaking in his official capacity, and on behalf of the Province, that in the event of the grant of the reserves as to the whole or any part of the land being declared invalid in any Court of competent jurisdiction, or by the Legislature, he would repay such amount as was decided to be payable to the Colonial Treasurer. His letter further guarantees the Government against all claims which may be made against the Crown or Government of New Zealand, in consequence of the rents being paid over to the Province.

Your Committee have not been able to satisfy themselves that this undertaking would be a good security, in the absence of an appropriation for the purpose by the Provincial Council of Otago.

It is noteworthy that "The Provincial Lawsuits Amendment Act, 1867," was not in force at the time the undertaking was given.

page 173

On the manner in which the money in question was paid out of the Treasury, your Committee have taken the evidence of the Comptroller, the Assistant Treasurer, and the Accountant of the Treasury. Their statements differ in some particulars, but the facts of the case appear to be as follows:—

On the 29th of June, 1867, an account of moneys determined to be Trust funds was made up by the Colonial Treasurer, after conference with the Comptroller. The total sum, amounting to £24, 431 2s. 2d., which included the item of £6,031 18s. 9d., was, by requisition on the Comptroller, withdrawn from the Public Account, for the purpose of being placed as a fixed deposit, bearing interest, in the Bank of New Zealand. In the Comptroller's words, "This sum was withdrawn from the Public Account under the distinct assurance that it should not be operated upon, but merely for the purpose of obtaining interest."

This assurance was required because the Comptroller considered the requisition not strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Act, but he gave way from a desire that interest might not be lost on the deposit. After the passing of the Public Revenues Act, the Comptroller called upon the Treasury to pay back the whole amount into the Public Trust Fund, as constituted, by that Act, and was informed generally that it was paid in on the deposit maturing. The Comptroller, at the time of giving his evidence, entertained the belief that it had been paid in in accordance with the assurance which was given to him. What actually happened, however, appears from the statement of the Assistant Treasurer. The deposit was originally made for three months, maturing on the 29th of September. On the 24th of September, the sum of £6,031 18s. 9d. had been paid to the Superintendent of Otago out of the Colonial Treasurer's balance, and this amount was recouped out of the deposit when it matured on the 29th of September, leaving a balance of £18,399 3s. 5d. for deposit of that date. This sum remained in deposit till the 3rd of January, 1868, together with a sum at £6,000, of the existence of which the Comptroller was unaware, and which was omitted from the account given by the Colonial Treasurer of the sums placed in deposit in his Financial Statement of August, 1867. It will be seen, therefore, that this round sum of £6,000 apparently restored the original £24,431 2s. 2d. minus £31 18s. 9d., but did not do so in reality, being a sum derived, as already stated, from a different source.

It appears from the evidence that a requisition was made on the Comptroller for this, in common with other items, at the time the sum of £24,431 2s. 2d. was invested in the Bank of New Zealand, and that the item appeared subsequently in a covering requisition made for the purpose of adjusting accounts which had necessarily been in an unsettled state since the coming into operation of the Public Revenues Act. The item was disallowed by the Comptroller in this requisition, but nothing further appears on record in respect of the payment. That with regard to the manner of payment of the sum of £6,031 18s. 9d. to the Superintendent of Otago, the technical irregularity which attended it might not have required special notice in the transition state of the law affecting the Public Account had the assurance of the Treasury to the Comptroller, that the Deposit Account would not be operated upon, been adhered to, a point to which prominence is given by the fact of the Comptroller having declined to countersign the covering requisition which contained the item; and on the general question of the payment of this sum, your Committee consider that, under all the circumstances of the case, special reference being had to the loss of the Bill which was introduced for the purpose of authorizing the payment, the money ought not to have been paid.

Subsequent to the adoption of the above Report, a memorandum by the Comptroller was received by the Chairman, and a special meeting of the Committee convened, when the Chairman was directed to append the following Supplementary Report, along with the memorandum of the Comptroller:—

Your Committee, coincide in opinion with the Comptroller that the Treasurer is still a debtor to the Crown by the amount of £6,031 18s. 9d., and that as soon as the year's accounts are placed in the Auditor's hands it will be that officer's duty to require the money to be repaid, in accordance with clause 70 of the Public Revenues Act.

Mr. Rolleston moved, That the Report be printed.

Major Atkinson moved, That the question be amended by the omission of all the words after "Report," with a view of substituting the words "be referred back to the Committee for further consideration."

And the Question being put, That the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the Question, it passed in the negative.

Then the Question being put, That the words proposed to be substituted be so substituted, it was resolved in the affirmative.

Ordered, That the Report be referred back to the Committee for further consideration.

On 10th September, 1868, Mr. Rolleston, from the Select Committee on the Dunedin Disputed. Reserves, brought up a Report, and the same was read as followeth:—Your Committee having taken further evidence, including that of the Attorney-General, on the subject of the Report referred back to them by the House, on the 26th ultimo, are unable to see reason for departing from the conclusion at which they had previously arrived.

Ordered, That the Report do lie upon the Table.

Ordered, That the Report, and all evidence taken before the said Committee, be printed for the use of members of this House.