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Despatch from Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B., to His Grace the Duke of Buckingham.
(No. 106.)
Government House, Wellington. 8th October, 1867.My Lord Duke,—
I have the honor to transmit, for your Grace's information, a Petition which has been addressed to Her Majesty by John Topi Patuki, chief of the Ngaitahu and Ngatimamoe Tribes.
| 1. | This Petition relates to a reserve in Princes Street, Dunedin, in the Province of Otago, which was made for the Natives in the year 1853, and has now become of very considerable value. |
| 2. | I enclose, for your Grace's information, a Memorandum which my Responsible Advisers have prepared upon the enclosed Petition, the allegations contained in which they state are for the most part correct. |
| 3. | Your Grace will find from this Memorandum that my Responsible Advisers, at a meeting of the Executive Council, inadvertently advised me to sign a Crown Grant, dated the 11th January, 1866, by which the reserve in dispute was granted to the Superintendent of the Province of Otago, and which grant I signed in ignorance of what I was doing. |
| 4. | I also enclose, for your Grace's information, copies of the explanations made upon this subject in the House of Representatives by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary and the Hon. J. C. Richmond, the Minister for Native Affairs. |
| 5. | Upon inquiry I find that the sum of £6,031 12s. 9d., accrued rents, was, upon the 24th ult., paid over to the Superintendent of Otago, as following the grant. |
I have thus put your Lordship in possession of all requisite information in reference to a case which I sincerely desired should have been compromised in a generous spirit towards the Natives of the Middle Island, who parted with large tracts of land to this Government for an almost nominal consideration.
I have, &c.,
His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos.
G. Grey.