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

No. 41 — a. — Report of a Special Committee of the Provincial Council of New Plymouth on the Purchase of the Waiwhakaiho Block

No. 41
a.
Report of a Special Committee of the Provincial Council of New Plymouth on the Purchase of the Waiwhakaiho Block.

The Committee appointed to inquire into the purchase of the Waiwhakaiho Block are compelled to report that the result of their examination has convinced them that the terms on which that block has been acquired are such as to render the purchase in the highest degree unsatisfactory, and worse than useless to this province.

The Provincial Council having been referred by Mr. McLean, for information on this point, to the documents deposited by Mr. Cooper, on leaving this province, in the care of Mr. Halse, the Committee requested the attendance of the latter gentleman and the Government Surveyor.

A copy of the deed of purchase entered into by Mr. Cooper with the resident Natives was produced, by which it appears that £1,200 was paid for their claims in the Waiwhakaiho Block, exclusively of £1,000 paid to Natives in Wellington, in satisfaction of absentee claims of the Ngatiawa Tribe in this province; but the deed seems to have been accompanied by no plan or specification, and the lands to be reserved to Natives, instead of being defined, are vaguely described as those "shortly to be marked on the plan when the survey is completed," neither the number of acres nor the portion page 23of the district in which they are to be chosen being mentioned. The only, document describing them is a sketch-tracing now in the Land Office, which was not made until shortly before Mr. Cooper's departure, and was only compiled from his memoranda at the suggestion of the Surveyor. From this document it appears that the block contains about fifteen thousand acres, and from its peculiar shape (being only one mile wide on its coast boundary, and gradually increasing in width to a distance of fourteen miles inland, where it is three and a quarter miles wide) the nearest portion of the inland half is upwards of nine miles from the coast.

The reserves made for the Natives by Mr. Cooper amount to 1,784 acres, and 395 acres are, according to agreement, to be purchased by them at 10s. per acre before any portion is given out to settlers. In addition to this, by the deed signed at Wellington 500 acres are to be purchased by Wairarapa at 5s. per acre. Thus the acknowledged reserves and Native purchases amount to 2,679 acres; whilst Henare te Whare (Te Puni's son) repudiates the sale altogether, and claims as his patrimony 1,400 acres, 300 of which have already been reserved by Mr. Cooper for other Natives.

The "Committee would draw the special attention of the Council to the following facts: That, while the sum of £1,000 has been paid to Wellington Natives, as compensation for all their claims, not less than 1,500 acres have been appropriated for them in this block, and even for the benefit of Nelson Natives expected to arrive here; and the resident Natives are allowed to exercise their right of choice prior to Europeans—a policy which injurious to this province, both as lessening the supply of land for settlers, and because it holds out inducements to Natives in other parts of the colony to return here. That, respecting 500 acres (included in the above 1,500) to be purchased at the nominal price of 5s. an acre by Wairarapa, the Committee can obtain no information whatever, andj until it is chosen, no sales to Europeans can take place. That, instead of a quantity of available land being brought into the market for the benefit of present settlers and immigrants by the acquisition of the block, the land, after being purchased, has been dealt with in such a reckless manner that (including Henare te Whare's claim) the whole of it for five miles inland has again become. Native property, either as reserves or by purchase. That the necessity of surveying these reserves entails an additional expense on the Survey Department. That the Committee's inquiry results in finding,—That the purchase of the block in question has, in the first instance, been conducted in a very loose and uncertain manner; that all that portion which will for years be of any use has been lavishly disposed of again in one way or another to those from whom it was purchased; that a large sum of money has been spent in buying land without furnishing any useful supply for European settlers; and that the system of paying for blocks of land, and granting reserves the extent and position of which are to be determined at a future time, does but encourage the Natives to ask for larger reserves; thus virtually inducing them to give up their land that they may receive it back again surveyed and apportioned, with the requisite funds to cultivate it; that this kind of arrangement, instead of benefiting this province, tends only to the advantage of the Natives and that of other provinces, and will but make it more difficult to effect satisfactory purchases of land from the aboriginal owners in future.

Robert Parris,
Chairman of Committee.