Statement of Mr. Walter Buller's Services.

As far back as June 1864 the Superintendent of Wellington, in his opening Address to the Provincial Council, bore testimony in the following terms to the assistance he had received from Mr. Walter Buller in the purchase of the Upper Manawatu Block of 250,000 acres:—

"After long and weary negotiations and many disappointments, I am happy at last to announce to you that a Memorandum of Agreement for the sale of the Upper Manawatu Block has been duly signed, that all the owners have, after repeated runangas, agreed to the terms, and that the final Deed of Purchase is being prepared * * * It would be both ungenerous and unfair if I did not take this the earliest opportunity of publicly acknowledging the invaluable services page 5 rendered in this matter by Mr. Walter Buller. Had it not been for his cordial co-operation and for his indefatigable exertions to induce the natives to come to reasonable terms, the sale would in all probability have been postponed for an indefinite period."

Mr. Buller neither asked nor received any remuneration from the Province for the services rendered on that occassion. He shortly afterwards negotiated the purchase, on very favourable terms, of the Paretao and the adjoining Block in the Lower Manawatu—both important acquisitions, as the land was urgently required for the Government township of Foxton.

Towards the end of 1864 negotiations were commenced by the Superintendent for the purchase of the Rangitikei-Manawatu Block of about 260,000 acres, the title to which was in dispute between the Ngatiapa, Ngatiraukawa, and other tribes; and Mr. Buller, who was at that time Resident Magistrate at Manawatu, rendered further valuable aid by attending all the public meetings of the tribes concerned, and negotiating with the chiefs. In his Address to the Council in 1865, His Honour again adverted to Mr. Buller's services, stating that it afforded him "peculiar gratification" to do so.

Mr. Buller, having afterwards been removed to Wanganui as Resident Magistrate, was applied to again in October 1865 by the Superintendent to assist him in the purchase; and by his own consent an arrangement was made with the General Government, whereby he was detached for this special service, with the understanding that his salary whilst so engaged should be charged against the Land-Purchase Department. In addition to his own ordinary salary, Mr. Buller merely received from the Provincial Government an allowance of 17s. per diem to cover all travelling expenses, but with the understanding that, when the purchase was completed, the Council would be asked to vote him an honorarium.

The Superintendent, in announcing the successful purchase to the Provincial Council in May 1866, spoke as follows:—

"I need not say that you are mainly indebted to Mr. Walter Buller (whose services it will be my duty on a future occasion to bring under your special consideration) for the successful issue of these long, difficult, and delicate negotiations."

The purchase-money was paid over to the natives in December 1866; and in the following April the Superintendent, in his opening address to the Council, said:—

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"I venture again to express a hope that the Council will (knowing how much the successful issue of these long-pending negotiations is due to Mr. Buller) bestow upon him a substantial recognition of his valuable services."

The Government accordingly placed a sum of £500 on the Estimates. The following Report of what ensued is taken from the 'Wanganui Chronicle' of that date. * * *

Further complications having afterwards arisen in the district, Mr. Buller was called upon to assist the Provincial Government in proving their title to the Block in the Native-Lands Court. He assisted Mr. Fox as Counsel for the Crown at Otaki, and the Attorney-General in Wellington, during sittings of the Court extending altogether over a period of nearly three months. Mr. Buller prepared lengthy briefs, and got up the whole of the evidence at those protracted hearings. He was afterwards entrusted with the management of the surveys in the District; and the Hon. Mr. Fox, in his place in the House of Representatives on the 20th July, 1870, bore high testimony to the manner in which Mr. Buller had "overcome the difficulties by his patience and perseverance."

The Honourable the Premier, in a letter to Dr. Featherston, dated November 6th, 1869, said:—

"The Government have also to request that you will convey to Mr. Walter Buller, R.M., who has assisted you through the whole of this transaction, its sense of the able manner in which he appears to have fulfilled the difficult and arduous duties entrusted to him."

A month later (December 4th) the Provincial Secretary, Mr. Halcombe, wrote as follows to Mr. Buller:—

"We had fully intended to bring on the grant to you this Session; but the unfortunate news of the stoppage of the survey, the conflict about the exclusion of the volunteers, and the extreme poverty of the Province, all rendered the present an inopportune time for such a proposal. We therefore deferred the matter, but with the full intention of bringing it forward next Session."

The Session, however, of 1870, passed over without any action being taken in the matter.

In the Session of 1871, the subject was brought forward by a private Member (Mr. Pearce), who was a Member of the Government when the grant was first proposed in 1866. The following Report of the debate

which ensued is taken from the ' Wellington Independent' of that date.

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On the Council going into Committee on Mr. Pearce's motion,—

The Provincial Treasurer, after explaining the views of the Government, said, "he thought that, considering the long time that had already elapsed in dealing with this matter, it would be the wiser course to delay it a little longer. The Government had no wish to act in a hostile spirit; on the contrary, they were desirous to act as liberally as might be. In order to prevent the motion being finally disposed of, he would move that the Chairman should leave the Chair."

Mr. Pearce thought the course taken by the Government was not a bold one, was in fact timid. They first admitted the valuable nature of Mr. Buller's services and the substantial claim he had upon the Province, and yet they wished to indefinitely postpone the question on the ground that the Government could not then afford it. Procrastination in this instance amounted almost to repudiation. The Council had over and over again admitted the claim of Mr. Buller. It was not a gratuity that was asked for, but the fulfilment of a promise made by the Superintendent and sanctioned by the Council. * * *

Mr. Pearce's motion was ultimately lost by a majority of one, the Government voting against it.

The implied promise on the part of the Government to bring it forward on a subsequent occasion has never been redeemed, and Mr. Buller is still without any substantial recognition of his services.