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

No. 2. — Copy of letter from the Bishop of New Zealand, to H. A. Thompson, Esq

No. 2.
Copy of letter from the Bishop of New Zealand, to H. A. Thompson, Esq.

Nelson, September 6th, 1842.

Sir,—

I have the honour to inform you that His Excellency the Governor proposes, when the Native reserves in the settlements of the New Zealand Company shall have become legally vested in the Crown, "to submit to the Legislative Council a Bill for vesting them in three trustees, viz., His Honor the Chief Justice, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, and the Bishop, to be applied by them to the establishment of schools for the education of youth among the Aborigines, and in furtherance of such other measures as may be most conducive to the spiritual care of the Native race, and to their advancement in the scale of social and political existence."

His Excellency has further directed that "until these objects can be carried into effect under the authority of a Legislative Enactment, I should avail myself of the opportunity afforded by my periodical visits to the Company's settlements, to direct, from time to time, the disposal of any funds that may have accrued from the reserves, and to collect any information respecting them that may be desirable with reference to the proposed enactment."

Acting, as I conceive, in the spirit of the foregoing instructions, I now proceed to place in your hands such general directions, with regard to the management of the Native reserves, as may be sufficient to guide your proceedings till you can receive more explicit communications from the Board of Trustees.

I have to request, first, that you will continue to act on behalf of the Natives, as the local representative of the Board; and in so doing, I beg to offer my humble acknowledgement of the zeal and ability which you have already shown in the furtherance of their interests, and especially in your very judicious selection of their town allotments.

The general principles upon which I conceive the Native reserves ought to be let are as follows:—

1.That the Native land should be let not so much with a view to the largest immediate return, as to the creation of a permanent and respectable property, and to the general improvement of the settlement of Nelson.
2.That with this view, the length of leases granted ought to vary with the description of property proposed to be placed upon the ground. The following scale may serve as a general guide, subject to such variations as local circumstances may require:—
a.Lease of seven years, chiefly to be granted for distant allotments to be let as gardens, without covenant to build; ground to be cleared and cultivated within two years; rent not less than ten per cent, upon the estimated value of the allotment.
b.Lease for 14 years with covenant to build and keep in substantial repair wooden houses to the value of seven years' purchase of the annual rent, to be painted once each year, &c., &c.
c.Lease for 21 years with covenant to build and keep in repair brick or stone houses to the value of ten years, purchase of the annual rent.
d.Lease for seven years, renewable at the same ground rent for seven years more, if the tenants, before the expiration of their term, should have erected wooden buildings of the required value.
e.Leases for 14 years, renewable for a further term of seven years at the same ground rent, on the erection of brick or stone buildings of the value required above.

The usual covenants for right of entry, ejectment, watercourse, &c.

You have my full authority to enter into agreement with any persons wishing to rent any portion of the Native reserves, and I take it upon myself to give my personal guarantee that leases shall be page 268granted in conformity with the above-mentioned stipulations, [unclear: s]o soon as the Board of Trustees shall have been formally constituted.

With regard to the appropriation of the revenues accruing from the Native lands, I have given directions for the erection of a small chapel, and one or more dwellings for the use of the Natives of the neighbouring villages, when they come to Nelson for purposes of trade. The spot selected for this purpose is near Green point, and is marked on the Surveyors plan as 50. I have to request that you will occasionally inspect the progress of this work. Mr. Reay will assist you in explaining to the Natives the purpose for which the buildings are intended.

Captain Wakefield has consented to advance £200 upon the credit of the Native reserves for the above purpose.

I am also anxious that a small hospital for sick Natives, and a boarding school for Native children, should be immediately established, on a small scale, as a beginning of the great work which we hope to be enabled, by God's blessing, to carry on uniformly throughout the Colony of New Zealand; the hospital to be under the care of Mr. Wilson, of whose humane and skilful attention to the Natives I have already had experience; the school to be under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Reay. Both must be begun at first upon a small scale, and with no unnecessary expense. I propose the one half of town acre No. 443, adjoining Trafalgar Square, as the temporary site of these institutions. The remaining half, nearly opposite to the bank, may be let to meet Captain Wakefield's liberal offer on the part of the Company. I am willing to advance £200 for the school and hospital, to be re-paid, without interest, out of the produce of the Native lands.

I hope to meet the Chief Justice at Wellington, on the 1st October, and will lay before him the result of my enquiries at Nelson, for the further satisfaction of yourself and the tenants of the Native lands.

I have, &c.,

G. A. New Zealand.

H. A. Thompson, Esq.