Extracts from the Speech of His Honor the Superintendent of Wellington to his Provincial Council, 22nd November, 1869; being those portions bearing upon the judgment given in the Native Lands Court on the re-hearing of the claims of the Ngatiraukawa dissentients to the purchase of the Manawatu-Rangitikei Block.

"I have to bring under your notice once more, the question of the Rangitikei-Manawatu Purchase. After many and vexatious delays, extending page cxvi over a period of nearly three years, the validity of the purchase has at length been affirmed by the judgment of the Native Lands Court—the highest legal tribunal before which the question could be brought; and the title has been declared extinguished in the regular manner by a notification in the New Zealand Gazette.

Gratifying as it is to be able to announce that this valuable block of land will shortly be at the disposal of the Province for colonising purposes, it is not less so to be able to state that after a long and exhaustive investigation before the two ablest Judges of the Land Court, the Manawatu purchase has been completely vindicated, and that the statements thereon, which from time to time I have made to the Council, have been in every particular substantiated and confirmed.

When I last addressed you, I had occasion to comment unfavourably on the decision of the Native Lands Court at Otaki, which I ventured to characterise as 'illogical, inconsequential, and in its practical operation unjust.' You will not fail to observe on perusing the elaborate and interesting judgment of their Honors Messrs. Fenton and Maning, which I have now the pleasure of laying before you, that the terms which I used in reference to the Himatangi case are more than justified by the dictum of the Chief Judge on the broad question of inter-tribal title; and it will scarcely surprise you to be informed that the block of 5000 acres which was awarded to Parakaia and his hapu by the Otaki Court, and which he neglected to take up within the period prescribed by the Act—thereby allowing the award to lapse—reverts to the Crown under the subsequent judgment of the Court, which excludes the Ngatiraukawa, except the three resident hapus, from the country lying between the Rangitikei and Manawatu rivers.

The decision of the Court is the more satisfactory, considering that it was delivered by judges specially named by the natives themselves, or those acting for them; and judges who, from their position and experience, were eminently qualified to adjudicate on so important a case.

To show how complete is the vindication of the purchase, I would point out to you that not only are my published views as to the tribal and territorial status of the Ngatiapa confirmed by the decision on the issues submitted to the Court, but that even in the details of my proposed arrangements with the Ngatiraukawa, the Court has completely endorsed the fairness and justice of my proposals. As I have previously informed the Council, there was a small number of bona fide Ngatiraukawa dissentients to whom I considered it necessary to make an award in land. To these non-sellers, I proposed giving 6000 acres in full satisfaction of their claims; and it is a significant fact, that omitting the 200 acres awarded to Wiriharai—who was admitted by the page cxvii Crown as an act of grace—this is the exact aggregate quantity awarded by the Court to the several sections of Ngatiraukawa claimants. Apart from this, I may mention, that out of over a thousand claimants, only sixty-two were admitted by the Court, that being the exact number of recognised dissentient claimants whose names were, on a previous occasion, laid before you. I need hardly assure you that it is very gratifying to me personally to find the whole of my views upheld by the highest native tribunal.

I would also inform you that during my recent visit to Rangitikei, I succeeded in arranging a division of the back-rents, to the apparent satisfaction of the several sections of claimants, who, after four days of fruitless korero, consented to leave the matter entirely in my hands.

And I must here acknowledge the readiness with which the present Ministry, in redemption of a pledge of their predecessors, advanced the necessary funds, by way of loan to the Province, to enable me to fulfil my engagement with the natives. The squatters have been called upon to pay up the arrears of rent. If they do so promptly, as I believe and trust they will, I propose, in accordance with the recommendation of a committee of the Council, to protect their interests by adding the value of their improvements to the upset price of the land immediately surrounding their homesteads, as was done in the case of the Lower Manawatu settlers. If, on the other hand, they refuse to meet their engagements, legal proceedings will be at once instituted against them by the Government, and the penal laws will be strictly enforced for illegal occupation. I have so repeatedly borne testimony to the value of the services rendered by Mr. Walter Buller in these protracted negotiations, that I gladly draw your attention to the high and well deserved tribute paid to him by the honorable the Premier, for the able manner in which he has fulfilled the difficult and arduous duties entrusted to him.

I hoped that this would have been the last time that I should have occasion to refer to this block, but I regret to inform you that the same parties by whose unprincipled opposition the settlement of this question has been so long delayed, and the peace of the Province so repeatedly jeopardised, are still persisting in their attempts to excite the natives to prevent the survey of the land; for a special messenger arrived a few hours ago with a letter from Mr. Stewart, stating that on arriving at the Oroua, he had been told by the natives not to proceed with the survey. Until these parties find themselves liable to the pains and penalties of the Disturbed Districts Act, as I trust they shortly will, it is hopeless to expect them to cease from their vile intrigues. But until I receive advices from Mr. Bailor, I am not inclined to attach much importance to Mr. Stewart's information. We may expect, as soon as the telegraphic communication with Wanganui is re-opened, to be put in possession of the real facts of the case."