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A Compendium of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs in the South Island. Volume Two.

No. 30. — Copy of a letter from the Superintendent Of Otago, to Major Heaphy, Commissioner of Native Reserves

No. 30.
Copy of a letter from the Superintendent Of Otago, to Major Heaphy, Commissioner of Native Reserves.

Province of Otago, N. Z.,
Superintendent's Office, Dunedin, June 7th, 1870.

Sir,—

I observe on the plan showing the relative position of Native reserves in this Province, which has been prepared by you, and which you were good enough to leave with me, that, in addition to the original reserves, which were made at the time when the territory was purchased from the Natives, there are a number of other reserves made under award of the Native Land Court.

I would allude especially to that at Tautuku, a district in which no Native has been known to reside within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. I may observe that the land in question has been open for selection for the last 16 years, and that applications for it were received at the Land Office, long prior to the award of the Native Land Court, and but for the difficulty in the way of survey, the land in question would have been Crown granted long ago.

I can state from my own personal knowledge, that an application was lodged at the Land Office for a portion of this very land so long ago as the year 1858, and that the completion of the purchase depended solely upon the survey, which, from the inaccessibility of the district, has not yet been effected. It is a question whether this application does not still hold good, so soon as the land is surveyed.

I allude to the case of Tautuku in particular, as showing the complications which are likely to arise out of the capricious action of the Native Land Court, when it takes upon itself to make arbitrary awards of land upon ex parte evidence, which it undoubtedly did in this instance. I may state that at the sitting of the Court here, I, as Superintendent of the Province, claimed the privilege of appearing by counsel to protect the rights of the Province, or in other words the rights of the Crown, but that I was denied any locus standi. As it is, the award is too important to be quietly acquiesced in, and, if necessary, the intercession of the Legislature will have to be sought.

I have, &c.,
J. Macandrew,
Superintendent.

Major Heaphy, Commissioner of Native Reserves.