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

[No. 42.]

No. 42.

Mr. Commissioner Coopee to the Hon the Colonial Seceetaey.

Respecting Purchase or Lease of Native Reserves.

Land Purchase Office, Taranaki, 19th June, 1854

Sir,—

I have the honour herewith to transmit the copy of a letter which I have received from his Honour the Superintendent of this province, enclosing the copy of a notice which he informs me is about to appear in the Provincial Gazette, declaring all purchases and leases of Native reserves to be illegal under the New Zealand Constitution Act, 15 and 16 Vict., c. 72. I also enclose a copy of my reply of this date, requesting that the publication of the notice may be deferred pending the receipt of your reply to this letter.

  • 2. The clause of the Act of Parliament upon which his Honour's view is founded is the 73rd, which enacts that "it shall not be lawful for any person other than Her Majesty, her heirs or successors, to purchase or in any wise acquire or accept from the aboriginal natives land of or belonging to or used or occupied by them in common as tribes or communities, or to accept any release or extinguishment of the rights of such aboriginal natives in any such land as aforesaid, and no conveyance or transfer, or agreement for the conveyance or transfer, of any such land, either in perpetuity or for any term or period, either absolutely or conditionally, and either in property or by way of lease or occupancy, and no such release or extinguishment as aforesaid shall be of any validity or, effect unless the same be made to, or entered into with, and accepted by Her Majesty, her heirs or successors."
  • 3. I cannot concur in the view which his Honour takes of the clause above quoted, as it appears intended to apply only to land the Native title to which has not been extinguished, and that Native reserves within purchased districts would not have been contemplated as coming within its meaning. His Honour, however, contends that the title of the aborigines to reserves is not extinguished, but that they are left in precisely the same situation as if they lay outside tho exterior boundaries of the blocks. If that were the case, however, I cannot see how they could be secured by the Crown to particular individuals or families, to the exclusion of others who, prior to the purchase, had an equal right to them.

Reserves not purchased, but leased.

  • 4. No purchases have at any time been made of any of the Native reserves by private individuals, but it has been the practice of the settlers here for some years past to occupy certain of them under leases for various terms. These leases have always been settled through the intervention of the officer for the time being in charge of this department, whose duty it has been to see that the leases were page 24executed by the proper individuals, with the consent of all parties interested in the land, and that a fair equivalent was secured to the Natives, as rent, under the leases. Hitherto the system has worked well, and has been productive of no annoyance or inconvenience to the lessees or the Government; whilst, from the dearth of land in the province, it has been found to be of great benefit to individual settlers by enabling them to extend their agricultural operations; to the community at large by the increased productiveness of the soil in the hands of English farmers, and to the aboriginal owners of the reserves by securing to them a regular income from land which they could well spare, as care was always taken to see that the Natives had sufficient land elsewhere for their maintenance before any leases of reserves were sanctioned by the Government authorities. Many of the reserves are now and have been for several years lying totally unproductive, and a desire has recently been manifesting itself on the part of the Natives to let them to the settlers. At the present moment negotiations are pending for the leasing of some of these plots of ground, and leases have recently been executed for others, on terms of advantage to both parties.
  • 5. The enclosed notice has appeared so suddenly, the Superintendent's letter of the 16th instant having been the first intimation which I received of the light in which the question is viewed by his Honour, that, if published, some degree of confusion and inconvenience must result from it, as pending negotiations must be stopped and a doubt thrown upon the title of several respectable settlers, who, upon the faith of their leases having been arranged in the Land Purchase Office, have expended considerable sums in improving the property; the Natives will become discontented, and claims will be made upon Government for compensation by the lessees.
  • 6. I have, therefore, the honour to request that I may be favoured with immediate instructions how to act in this matter, as well in respect to the leases now in existence as to pending negotiations and applications which may be made to me in future to arrange the terms of similar leases.

I have, &c.

G. S.Cooper.

The Hon. the Colonial Secretary.

Enclosures.
(No. 1.)
His Honour the Superintendent, Taranaki, to Mr. Commissioner Cooper.

Superintendent's Office, New Plymouth, 16th June, 1854.

Sir,—

I have the honour to enclose, for your information, copy of a notice which will appear in the Provincial Gazette No. 15 as soon as the printer can publish it.

I have, &c.,

Charles Brown,
Superintendent.

G. S. Cooper, Esq., Land Commissioner.

Sub-Enclosure.

Public Notice as to buying or leasing Native Reserves. Superintendent's Office, New Plymouth, 10th June, 1844.

Public notice is hereby given that agreements for the purchase or leasing of Native reserves, being the property of tribes or communities, are illegal and void under the New Zealand Constitution Act, 15 and 16 Victoriæ, c. 72. Persons entering into agreements, or pretended agreements, for such purchases or leases, are hereby warned that they cannot be protected in possession, and render themselves liable to penalties under the Native Lands Purchase Ordinance, Session VIII., No. 19.

Charles Brown,
Superintendent.

(No. 2.)
Mr. Commissioner Cooper to his Honour the Supeeintendent, Taranaki.

New Plymouth.In Reply. Land Purchase Office, Taranaki, 19th June, 1854.

Sir,—

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 16th instant, enclosing a copy of a notice which will appear in the next Provincial Gazette, stating that agreements for the purchase or leasing of Native reserves are illegal and void under the Act 15 and 16 Victoriæ, c. 72, and subject the parties making them to the penalties of the Native Land Purchase Ordinance, Session VIII., No. 19.

As such a notice will have the effect of calling in question the validity of several leases entered into by Natives with Europeans through the intervention of this office, and of occasioning uncertainty in the minds of the former in regard to acts of ownership in reserves made for them by the Crown, I beg leave respectfully to request that your Honour will be pleased to countermand the publication of the notice referred to, until I can receive instructions from His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government upon this subject.

I have, &c.,

G. S.Cooper.

His Honour the Superintendent, New Plymouth.