Papers Respecting the Five-and Ten-Per-Cents on Re-Sale of Native
Lands.
No. 1.
The Deputy Surveyor-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.
Sir,—
With reference to your letter of the 31st ultimo, requesting to be informed on what occasion and under what authority the clause was inserted in the Native deeds undertaking, on the part of the Crown, that 10 per cent of the proceeds of the sale of land shall be applied to Native purposes, I have the honour to report that the occasion was upon the first negotiation for the Hikurangi Block, and the authority is that of His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief given to the Surveyor- General. A copy of the clause, as delivered by His Excellency to the Surveyor-General, is enclosed.
I have, &c.,
Reader Wood,
Deputy Surveyor-General.
Enclosure.
"It is further agreed to by the Queen of England on her part that there shall be paid for the following purposes—that is to say, for the founding of schools, in which persons of our race may be taught; for the construction of hospitals, in which persons of our race may be tended; for the payment of medical assistance for us; for the construction of mills for us; for annuities for our chiefs, or for other purposes of a like nature, in which Natives of this country have an interest,—ten per cent., or ten pounds out of every hundred pounds, out of any moneys from time to time received for that land when it is re-sold."
A true copy.
Reader Wood,
Deputy Surveyor-General.
Minute.
As Mr. Commissioner McLean has arrived in this district, the best course, I think, will be at once to relieve the, Surveyor-General from the duty of making purchases of land from the Natives, and to instruct the Commissioner to make purchases, absolutely and unconditionally; but not to make any arrangements which might, be looked upon as an evasion or an infringement of the New Zealand Constitution Act, or of the Land Regulations of the 4th of March, issued by Governor Grey.—Wm. Swainson, Attorney-General. 26th April, 1854.