No. 51.
Report of Select Committee of House of Representatives on the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Reserves.

The Select Committee on the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Reserves have the honor to report that their labours have chiefly been directed to the examination of documents bearing on the Dunedin Reserves, including the report of a Select Committee of the Provincial Council of Otago, a copy of which, with such evidence as has been taken, is annexed.

From the evidence it appears that the land comprising the Otago Block was purchased from the Natives, on behalf of the New Zealand Company, on the 29th July, 1844, by Captain Symonds, Government Agent; Mr. Tuckett, Chief Surveyor to the New Zealand Company; and Messrs. Clarke and Scott; and that in the deed certain reserves were made by the Natives, but which did not comprise any of the lands in the towns of Dunedin or Port Chalmers; and the deed contained no provision for any further reserves on behalf of the Natives. Prior to the purchase of this block in 1844, the New Zealand Company had entered into an arrangement with the Otago Association for the colonization of the Otago Settlement, and accordingly the block of land was handed over to the Association.

On the 20th October, 1846, in a letter addressed by Mr. T. C. Harrington, the Principal Secretary to the New Zealand Company in London, to Colonel Wakefield, the Principal Agent of the Company in New Zealand, he (Mr. Harrington) conveys the opinion of the Court with regard to water frontages in the following words:—

"With regard to water frontages, the opinion of the Court, after consultation with Mr. Cargill, is, that it will conduce more to the general advantage of the settlement if such frontages, instead of being sold to private individuals, remain in every instance the property of the public, or of the Municipality as the representatives and trustees of the local public. The acquisition of them by private persons may, indeed, hold out an inducement for the early erection of wharves and quays, but such erections may be otherwise secured by the Municipality; and it is considered that whatever may be the extent of the first advantage, it would be dearly purchased by a greater ultimate inconvenience."

This opinion of the Court was subsequently confirmed by the following despatch from Mr. T. C. Harrington to Colonel Wakefield, dated 21st October, 1846:—

"The draft of the despatch which I had yesterday the honor of addressing to you, Otago, No. 3, 46, having been communicated to Mr. Cargill, that gentleman has addressed to me the letter of which a copy is now enclosed; and I am instructed by the Court to request that you will give effect to the several suggestions therein contained."

The suggestions above referred to were conveyed in a letter addressed to Mr. T. C. Harrington, and dated 21st October, 1846. They are as follows:—

"1st. That Colonel Wakefield, in conjunction with the Governor or officer appointed, should make the requisite appropriations for fortifications, Custom House sites, and all other Crown purposes. page 1362nd. That all water frontages, from about high water-mark, be reserved for public use, as at Glasgow, Bordeaux, &c., &c. Such parts of the same as could not be improved immediately, or are required by the public, will of course be let by the Municipal authorities, upon lease and on encouraging terms, to private parties, but with due provision against anything like the permanent system on the River Thames, in London. 3rd. That Colonel Wakefield, assisted by his surveyors, be requested to appropriate sites for all the other purposes referred to in clause 12, not omitting in each principal town, and under the head of 'Public Buildings,' a site for one Church, with school and playground for the children; and also, in the case of Dunedin, a site for a College."

It appears that these instructions were carried into effect by Mr. Charles Kettle (the principal Surveyor of the New Zealand Company in Otago, and under whose directions the town of Dunedin was laid out), as notified by him in his letter to Colonel Wakefield, dated 18th June, 1847, and from which the following is an extract:?

"I shall also attend to the throwing up of those sections in the upper town (Dunedin) mentioned in the postcript of your letter No. 9, 47, to meet the-views of the Court."

This is also confirmed by a letter from Mr. T. C. Harrington to Captain Cargill, dated 25th November, 1847, and which runs thus:—

"In my note this evening I forgot to mention that the instructions respecting water frontages, &c., &c., had been received, and directions given to Mr. Kettle to carry them out."

The foregoing letter is backed, in the late Captain Cargill's handwriting, as follows:—

"Instructions as to water frontages being reserved for public uses, received by Colonel Wakefield, and sent on to Mr. Kettle. This will so far alter the position of town allotments."

The first body of settlers arrived in Otago in 1848, prior to which the original map of Dunedin had been altered by the authorized reservation of all sections fronting the harbour in accordance with the above instructions. Thus, on the first selection of town allotments in Dunedin, the holders of land orders were precluded from selecting any of the water frontages, as is shown by the evidence of the Rev. Dr. Burns and Mr. W. H. Cutten, taken before a Select Committee of the Provincial Council of Otago at its last session. Subsequently the New Zealand Company having, in July, 1850, ceased its colonizing operations and resigned its charter, the then Governor, Sir George Grey, on the recommendation of Mr. Mantell, appropriated for Native purposes that portion of these water frontages which form the subject of this inquiry. This recommendation was made in a letter dated the 18th April, 1853, from Mr. Mantell to the Civil Secretary, and on the margin of which there is a Memorandum signed by the Governor, dated 3rd June, by which it appears that the recommendation was adopted.

No Proclamation, however, appears to have been published on the subject, nor has any, Crown Grant been issued up to the present time.

After a careful consideration of the above facts, as to the equity of the case, your Committee have arrived at the conclusion that the land forming the Dunedin Reserves, having been reserved from sale for a specific public purpose, was wrongfully set aside for the use of the Natives, and therefore recommend that a Crown Grant be issued in favour of the Municipality of Dunedin, as trustees and representatives of the local public, as was evidently the intention of the New Zealand Company, conveyed in the instructions of Mr. T. C. Harrington to Colonel Wakefield.

In reference to the reserve at Port Chalmers, your Committee were unable to obtain any evidence to show that any portion of the land comprised therein had been previously set aside for public purposes, and therefore see no reason to alter the present arrangement for the disposal of it.