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

No. 134. — Report of Commissioner of Native Reserves

No. 134.
Report of Commissioner of Native Reserves.

Province of Auckland.

The tenant of the lower part of Lot 4, Section 12, in Mechanics' Bay, having become insolvent, has given up his occupation. The sea-wall built by the Harbour Commissioners has entirely cut off the water-frontage of this reserve, and materially injured it. The tenant had taken it for a timber-yard, but it has become unfit for such a purpose.

At Onehunga, the tenant of Subsection 8 of Lot 11, Section 20, has also given up occupation. The completion of the railroad to the new wharf has to some extent transferred business from the vicinity of the old wharf where this reserve is situated. I have, however, succeeded in reletting a part of this land to Mr. Sims, on yearly occupation, at a rent of £3 10s. a year.

The land at Blackett's Point, Lot 89 of Suburban Section 1, has been surveyed into six lots of about an acre each, and offered for ease by public auction. The following lots have been let: Subdivision No. 1, 1 acre, 21 years, at £5 a year, to Mr. ——; Subdivision No. 2, 1 acre, 21 years, at £3, to Mr. ——; Subdivision No. 3, 1 acre, 21 years, at £4, to Mr. ——; Subdivision No. 4, 1 acre, 21 years, at £5, to Mr. ——; Subdivision No. 5, 1 acre, 21 years, at £4, to Mr. ——; Subdivision No. 6, 3 roods 20 perches, 21 years, at £3. In all, £24 a year, against £13 a year, recent rent.

Lower part of No. 4, Section 12, Mechanics' Bay, has been relet for £12 a year, for 21 years. An iron tank has been purchased for the hostelry, Mechanics' Bay, for the sum of £4 5s.

At Onehunga a custodian has been placed in charge of the storehouse and hostelry. The Waikatos are again making use of this place that had been unused by them since the commencement of the Waikato war. The sum of £6 3s. 6d. has been expended in materials and building of a chimney to this hostelry.

At Coromandel the chief Makuare te Pukeroa applied to be allowed to substitute a larger and more valuable piece of land for Porangau No. 13, containing 29 perches. By an inadvertence he had allowed this land to be reserved for him while it was under contract for sale to Mr. John Lynch, who has built a house upon it. I personally examined the piece offered, and found it was of larger area (1 rood 23 perches) and more valuable, being at the actual landing-place, and in use as a timber-yard. The exchange was therefore allowed, and the substituted land placed with Mr. Keddell, R.M., and myself, in trust for Makuare and his heirs. The tenancy of the Maungatapu estate at the Piako, containing 6,110 acres, has been transferred from T, B. Gillies, Esq., to W. A. Murray, Esq.

Waiuku.—The lands granted in 1866-67 to the loyal Natives of Waiuku under "The Friendly Natives' Contracts Confirmation Act, 1866," have been cause of much trouble to the Natives beneficially interested. They comprise upwards of 3,749 acres, and were conveyed in trust to certain chiefs for themselves and their tribes or hapus. The chiefs contracted for the actual sale of some of these reserves, and let others in an irregular manner. Instead of dividing the rent derived amongst those legally entitled to receive it, it is asserted that they have kept it for their own purposes: certainly they have rendered no accounts. They have also sold the valuable timber, to the material injury of the land, and the lesser claimants complain that this is done without their concurrence or participation. Various propositions have from time to time been made to the Natives to adjust these matters, but, although the Native trustees are willing to rid themselves of the trouble of management, they have hitherto declined to accede to any arrangement that did not leave to them such a share of the profits as was incompatible with the rights of the lesser claimants. I visited Waiuku in May and met Paora te Iwi, Wiremu Tauroa, and other Natives of influence. After an exhaustive discussion of their position in relation to the reserves, I proposed that the most fertile and valuable of the reserves—Tahurangatira—of 1,700 acres, should be cut up into conveniently-sized sections for each family or individual, as might be required, and allocated to them by an officer of the Government. The trust grants should then be surrendered, and grants, with limitations on sale, made to the families or individuals to whom the land was so allotted. The Natives present agreed to this, and have written a letter (copy appended) expressing their desire that such plan should be carried out. I promised, Sir, to recommend the measure to your approval. It will require an expenditure, chiefly in surveying, of about £300 to carry out; but, having in view the fact that an individualization of title had been from the first promised to these people, and believing that the plan would tend to remove a long-continued source of irritation, I did not hesitate in assuring them that it would receive the careful consideration of the Government. If the individualization of the Tahurangatira reserve can be successfully carried out, other of the reserves may also have to be divided; and, when enough subsistence-land is surveyed off and rendered inalienable, the restrictions to lease, which are now keeping several large and valuable reserves unutilized and are much complained of, might be removed and tenants found for them.

Tauranga.—The lease of Lot No. 50, in the suburbs, has been transferred from Mr. H. L. Skeet to Mr. Noah Parsons. The tenant, Mr. Gray, of Lot No. 72, in the town, having shown conclusively that the rent agreed to be paid was excessive, a new arrangement has been entered into, by which the rent shall be £5 a year instead of £7. Lots Nos. 140 and 141, in the town, have been let for twenty-one years to Mr. R. F. Koller, for £5 first seven years, £10 second seven years, and £15 for remainder of term.

Province of Wellington.

The following lands have been purchased by the Commissioner of Native Reserves for the Govern-page 89ment—namely: No. 1. Sixty-nine acres at Pencarrow. Head, being the Wellington Lighthouse site. This was a part of a large reserve made by Colonel McCleverty, in 1848, for the Pitone Natives. By some inadvertence a beacon first, and subsequently a lighthouse, was erected on this reserve, without the consent of the Native owners being asked. In 1865 the lighthouse was purchased by the General Government from the province, and several attempts were made to purchase the necessary land for a station, but the Natives required a sum that was unreasonable and excessive. In September last I obtained the assent of the Natives to convey to the Crown sixty-nine acres around the lighthouse-station for the sum of £138; and to commute their claims for rent, firewood-taking, and cattle trespass from the time the General Government had been in possession, July, 1865, to July, 1873, for the sum of £35. The sale has been carried into effect, and the deeds registered.

The adjacent land at Orongorongo had been held since 1852 as a sheep-station by Mr. Riddiford, who had received a Crown grant from Governor Grey for an area of 594 acres in the midst of it. The cession of the land to the Crown had never, however, been completed. It lay just beyond the limit that the Natives averred they had sold to the New Zealand Company, and a payment of £30 out of £100 had been made to them for it in 1853, when the negotiation was interrupted. In November last I assembled together the Natives interested in the land, and offered them £70, being the unpaid balance originally agreed upon. A long discussion ensued, and the land having advanced greatly in value, and it being known that it was Crown-granted, a larger price was demanded. Ultimately, £30, as interest, was agreed to be given, and deeds of cession were signed and registered.

I have purchased from the owners of Section 57, at Taita, in the Hutt, four acres of that reserve, for the Wellington-Masterton Railway, for the sum of £100.

At Ikamaru, near Ohariu, a section of 100 acres sold to a settler was known, for several years past, to extend over a piece of land that was originally a Native reserve, and over portions of which certain Natives still claimed an interest. About a year since, after a very close investigation, three women, Paritawhera, Rihi, and Riria, were found to have valid claims—the two former to forty acres each and the last to sixty acres, which areas were respectively awarded to them. As Paritawhera's claim lay contiguous to the settler's land, I obtained, at the instance of the Commissioner of Crown Lands here, your sanction to buy out her title, which I did for the sum of £15. The land was poor and hilly, and of little value to the woman, but of considerable importance to the settler.

The town acres Nos. 89 and 90, in Taranaki Street, on which stand the barracks of the Armed Constabulary, have been purchased for the Crown from the Te Aro Natives for £500. By these several arrangements, the causes of a long-standing discontent in the minds of the local Natives have been removed, as well as some anxiety felt by the respective settlers.

The town acres Nos. 995 to 1,005, in Rintoul Street, near the Adelaide Road, comprising 11 acres, have been let by tender to Dr. A. Johnston, for twenty-one years, at a rent as follows: First seven years, £20 a year; second seven years, £25 a year; and third seven years, £30 a year. The lease of town acres Nos. 972 to 989, in the same locality, has been transferred from the Hon. Mr. Mantell to Dr. Johnston. All the pegs of these lands having disappeared, it was necessary to have them surveyed, at a cost of £7 10s.

The reserve, Te Puka, of 60 acres at Wainui, West Coast, has been let to Mr. Isaac Smith, for seven years, at £6 a year, and 155 acres of the Wainui Reserve to the same person at £8 a year.

I stated in my last report that the owners of the Native reserves in Polhill's Gully, Te Aro, and at Ohariu, had placed those lands in my hands, being unable to manage them themselves. Since taking over these lands, I have collected rents and recovered arrears to the amount of £124 11s. 6d., and placed the property generally on a more satisfactory footing. Thus the road in the upper part of the gully ran along impracticable levels. This has been altered, and a new line of road arranged, and the site, 29 perches, conveyed to the Crown. As the main water-pipes for the city supply led over this ground, the City Council has paid the sum of £25 for the alteration.

I have let part of Lot No. 39, in Wordsworth Street, containing 3 roods, to Mr. William Thompson, for twenty-one years, at £10 a year, from 1st January, 1874. I have recovered £5 arrears from the late tenant of No. 37 and other part of No. 39, and made arrangements by which the new tenant takes upon himself the liability of £20 more of arrears that the Natives had suffered to become due from the outgoing tenant, whose terms of occupation were of an unsatisfactory nature.

I have had surveyed, at a cost of £5, Section 91 at Ohariu, and let it to Mr. J. Marshall. It contains 119 acres of hilly bush land. The terms are, for first seven years, £15 a year; second seven years, £20 a year; and last seven years, £25 a year. This has not been hitherto utilized.

The Native reserve at Kaiwharawhara, called Otari, of 134 acres, has been let for fourteen years to Mr. Samuel Woodward, at £20 a year for first seven years, and £25 a year for remainder of term. This has not before been let.

About 1 acre 2 roods in the immediate rear of the Wellington Gaol has been let for twenty-one years to Mr. M. Reid, on behalf of the Provincial Government, at £3 a year. This land has not before been utilized.

The tenant at Makara has paid up £40 of arrears of rent, which is divisible amongst Ngatitama Natives here and at Wellington. The two last-named reserves have been voluntarily placed with me by the Natives for management.

Whanganui.—The foreshore of the river abreast of the market-place, and of Sections 74,75, and 76 in Taupo Quay, has been set aside for a Native market and landing-place for canoes, due provision being made for public access to the river. Out of the confiscated lands at Patea and Whenuakura 500 acres have been set aside as reserves for general Native purposes. They will be ready for letting on completion of survey. Leases fallen in or surrendered, four. New leases granted, or contracts made for leases, sixteen. Arrears of rent recovered, £113 1s. 6d. Arrears of rent at present, nil. Transfer of leases, three.

Lands placed in the Management of Commissioner.—The Ngatitoa chief Wiremu Tamehana has voluntarily placed with the Commissioner of Native Reserves for management three sections in Block No. X. of the Village of Takapuahia, at Porirua; and the Natives Erenora Tungia and Hoane page 90te Okoro, of the same tribe, have placed with the Commissioner twelve sections in Block No. VIII of that village.

McCleverty Reserves.—The following lands have been under the action of the Native Land Court, and the Native title determined: Komangatawhiri, Reserve 3; Haukopua; Ngauranga, Sections 8 and 9; Omororo, Section 16, Ohiro; and part of town belt.

Charles Heaphy,
Commissioner of Native Reserves.

Wellington, 29th May, 1874.