Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

A compendium of official documents relative to native affairs in the South Island, Volume One.

[Text]

No. 2. Despatch from Acting Governor Shortland to Lord Stanley.

Government House, Auckland, 15th November, 1843.

My Lord,—

I do myself the honor to forward to your Lordship the report of Colonel Godfrey, the Land Commissioner, to whom I intrusted the investigation of the titles to land in that part of New Munster, on the Nanto-Bordelaise claim.

I respectfully request your Lordship's instruction on this case, only remarking that the Peninsula itself is a most valuable locality, and that Akaroa is one of the most important harbours and stations in the Island, if not absolutely the most important.

I have, &c.,

Willoughby Shortland

Lord Stanley.

page 76

Enclosure in No. 2.
Report of the Commissioners appointed to examine and report upon Claims to Grants of Land in New Zealand.

Report on Nanto-Bordelaise Company's Claim.

Claim No.—
Claimant's name and address La Compagnie Nanto-Bordelaise.
Native names from whom purchased or obtained Tuauau, &c.
Date of alleged purchase 2nd August 1838, and August 1840

Report—Nanto-Bordelaise, Claimants.

The Commissioners have the honor to report, for the information of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, that from the accompanying evidence taken in this claim to "All Banks Peninsula, in the Middle Island of New Zealand, with the exception of the Bay of Hikuraki, Oihoa on the South, and Sandy Beach, north of Port Cooper, on the North, the boundaries," the supposed con[gap — reason: damage]ts 30,000 acres,—

It appe[gap — reason: damage] no deed or memorandum to Captain Langlois, through whom the claimants derive, has been proved to have been executed by the Natives in the year 1838, nor has any Native evidence been produced of the contract for this purchase having been made in 1838; but George Fleuret, a European, deposes to his belief that an agreement was then made by Captain Langlois for the purchase of some quantity of land from the Natives.

No deed has been exhibited to the Court in proof of the transfer made by Captain Langlois to the Company; but such a transfer of his interest may be assumed from the evidence of Mons. S. de Beligny. The Native chiefs, Iuika, Tuauau, Tikao, Parure Nga Mana, and others, have admitted the sale to Captain Langlois in August 1840, of the following portions of land in Banks Peninsula:—

In the Port of Akaroa.

From Point Tikau to a stream called Katiangata, and extending backwards to the top of the adjacent mountains; the probable contents about 400 acres.

At Pigeon Bay, Port Levy, and Port Cooper.

Portions called Pohue, Kokakongatungatu, and Kohaihope; contents unknown, but the boundaries of these tracts can be pointed out by the Natives.

These Natives state that they sold these portions of land to Captain Langlois, upon his second arrival in the Peninsula, when accompanied by the immigrants, which appears from the evidence of Messrs. S. de Beligny, J. M. Cebert, and George Fleuret, to have been at Pigeon Bay on the 9th August, 1840, and at Akaroa upon the 16th August, 1840.

They admit to have received, as payment for these lands, the goods, &c., stated in the deed of sale, amounting in value to £234 sterling.

This payment is proved to have been made a few days after the above-mentioned dates by the evidence of J. M. Cebert and G. Fleuret, the latter of whom deposes also to having seen Captain Langlois give some clothing to a Native named Chigary, and others, at Pigeon Bay, in the year 1838.

The said Natives have likewise declared that they consented, in August, 1840, to sell their interests in larger tracts of land in Banks Peninsula, to Captain Langlois, for a further consideration of cattle and goods promised to them by him, but which they have not received, and they expressed their readiness still to dispose of any lands not required for themselves.

It has been admitted by the same Natives, that a chief named Taiaroa possesses a common right with them in portions of Banks Peninsula.

Tuha Waike, a Native chief, opposes this claim on the part of himself and the chiefs Patuki, Taiaroa, and Karetai, on the grounds that they did not consent to the sale, or receive any payment; at the same time, he states their willingness to alienate their rights for a consideration.

Statements to the following effect have been exhibited to the Court by Mons. S. de Beligny, the agent of the claimants:

1.Setting forth the claimants' engagement with sixty-three French emigrants.
2.The clearing and cultivation of 107[gap — reason: damage] acres by the said persons.
3.The expenditure by the claimants in the transport and maintenance of these emigrants sent out by them have been strictly performed, and the Court has also been satisfied of a considerable outlay in making roads, bridges, and improvements.

This claim having been referred for special examination by His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government, and the copy of a letter from the Right Honorable the Earl of Aberdeen, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated 28th July, 1842, having been exhibited to the Court, in which it is declared that Her Majesty's Government purpose that the claim should be dealt with similarly to those of a British Company; the Commissioners do not adjudicate upon it according to the practice hitherto adopted towards individual claimants, who have made or completed their purchases of land after the Proclamation issued upon the 14th January, 1840, by His Excellency Sir George Gipps, forbidding the acquirement of lands from the Natives of New Zealand after that date; and consequently, in the opinion of the Commissioners, rendering the completion of all such contracts null and void. But considering the peculiar circumstances of the case, the Commissioners, without offering a decided or specific recommendation upon it, have confined themselves to a recapitulation of all the evidence they could obtain relating to it.

Dated at Wellington, this 21st day of October, 1843. Edward L. Godfrey.
M. Richmond.