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An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

No. 54. — The Chief Commissioner to Mr. C. W. Ligar, Auckland

No. 54.
The Chief Commissioner to Mr. C. W. Ligar, Auckland.

Remarks on Native Affairs.

Sir,—

Land Commissioner's Office, Auckland, 19th May, 1856.

There are some subjects in connection with Native affairs which I should offer as a supplement to the evidence I have already given on land-purchasing to your Board.

  • 1. The first of these is in reference to the pensioning of certain chiefs as a means of preserving the tranquillity of their districts, and attaching them to the interests of the British Government. It is clearly my opinion that it would be most judicious and advisable that a sum of £500, in addition to what is already paid as pensions, should be placed at His Excellency's disposal for this purpose, as it might be the means of averting a war with the Natives, the expense and injury of which to the colony it would be difficult to estimate, more especially when it is considered that the British Government might in the course of no very distant period recall the force now in the country, and leave the colonists to their own resources for defence.
  • 2. I believe that another means of insuring more permanent and friendly relations with influential chiefs would be secured by enabling some of them to acquire lands in the vicinity of Auckland, as it is evident that if they had an interest in lands near a town, where the value of property is likely to increase, they would feel bound, from the motives of self-interest, to protect the town and its inhabitants.

The amount advanced in the shape of loans for mills, vessels, horses, agricultural implements, in the Auckland Province since 1851, has been £4,806. Of this sum, £2,768 has been repaid, and it may be estimated that £1,556 15s. 2d. will be repaid during the present year, leaving a balance outstanding of' £482, of which the date of payment is uncertain. Judging from what the Natives have done with those loans, the faithfulness with which they have been repaid, the stimulus it has given to industrial pursuits, the influence it has given the Government over them, and the addition it must have made to the revenue of the colony, points out this system of giving loans as very desirable, and I would submit for the consideration of your Board whether it would not be advisable to recommend the placing, in addition to what is now outstanding amongst the Natives, a further sum of £2,500 at His Excellency's disposal to enable the Government to purchase lands in the vicinity of Auckland for such chiefs as might wish to have a landed property, which would, tend so much, to identify their interest with our own.

When it is considered how largely the Natives contribute to the revenue of the colony, and how much the peace of the colony depends on their improvement in the arts of civilization, I would submit these suggestions for the favourable consideration of your Board, in the hope that you may embrace those subjects for the consideration of His Excellency in your report.

I have &c;

C. W. Ligar, Esq. Donald McLean,
Chairman, Native Board of Inquiry. Chief Commissioner.