Copy of letter from Mr. Alexander Mackay, to Hon. the Native Minister.

Sir,—

I have the honour to enclose herewith a copy of my letter to the County Chairman at Hokitika, on the subject of roads through the Native reserve at Arahura, in compliance with your intimation that you were desirous of obtaining information on the matter to enable you to decide as to the justice of the claim, now urged by the member for Westland Boroughs on behalf of the County Government, that a sum of £100 demanded from the Government by Mr. Cassius—a tenant on the reserve at Arahura—in compensation for a road taken through his leasehold by the Provincial Government, should be paid out of funds arising from the Trust Estate, instead of by the County, on the ground that the Government have a right to take roads through the reserve wherever it is found necessary, because an allowance for road purposes had been included in the reserve.

The County Government appear to base this fancied right to take roads through the reserve because a surplusage of 560 acres was added to it by the Surveyor, Mr. Müeller, who executed the survey, and who, it is asserted, was specially employed as a servant of the General Government to survey the Native reserves on the West Coast, under the orders of the Commissioner of Native reserves, who, consequently, must have been cognizant of what was being done in the matter. With reference to the above, I would simply state that the Surveyor was not in the employ of the General Government, neither was he under my instructions in any way; I merely furnished him with page 48the necessary information as to the position and area of the reserves he was employed to lay off, and nothing further. He had no directions from me to include a surplusage in the reserves for road purposes; anything he did in that way was done at his own discretion, or else by the direction of the Canterbury Government, in whose employ he was. His services were engaged by the Hon. Mr. Hall, who was then Secretary for Public works at Canterbury, to lay off the reserves as an Officer of the Survey Department, and all plans of surveys executed by him were furnished to that Department. I was not supplied with plans until fully a twelvemonth after the work was completed, and then only in part, and in the case of the Arahura reserve, I had to go to the expense of having a plan prepared for the use of my own office.

It will be seen by the foregoing remarks that a misconception exists on the part of the County Government, as to the liability incurred by the Native Trust Fund, in having received so large an allowance for road purposes in this reserve; and I would submit that, if the fact of saddling the property with so large an excess, without the knowledge or consent of the owners, or anyone on their behalf, is to be made a pretext for taking land for road purposes anywhere through the estate, whether through occupied land or otherwise, and that all demands for compensation in consequence should be met out of funds accruing from the estate, it would be well that so expensive a gift should be returned to the donors.

During the time the present County formed a portion of the Province of Canterbury, the Chief Commissioner of Goldfields, Mr. Sale, admitted the liability of the Provincial Government to pay for the road in question, and agreed to give to the occupants the sum now claimed, £100, in the event of it being found necessary to take the road in that direction; there was no record, however, made of the offer, and the County Government are not inclined now to carry it out, but it is nevertheless a fact, as Mr. Sale informed me personally of his intention to do so.

Having refuted the assertion made by the County Government, respecting the employment of the Surveyor, it does not seem necessary to enlarge further on the question here, as the perusal of my letter to the County Chairman on the subject will put you in possession of my views of the case.