No. 12.
Mr. Domett to Mr. Mantell.

Sir,—

I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 17th of August, but which did not reach Wellington till the 29th of September, transmitting copy of a deed of cession of the Murihiku Block, together with maps of reserves in the same; also the receipt of your letter of the 18th of August, reporting upon and explaining the circumstances attending the conclusion of the agreement for the sale of that district and the payment of the purchase money to the Natives.

With reference to the first eight paragraphs of the last letter, His Excellency desires me to remark that some misapprehension appears to exist on your part in relation to the presumed unwillingness, previous to a late date, of the Natives to sell the recently acquired block of land unless the transaction was concluded immediately upon the preliminary negotiations which had taken place. About six years ago, His Excellency remarks, some of the principal chiefs of the district in question agreed, while the Governor was there, to dispose of it to the Government, upon certain terms, when it might be required. Those terms were nearly the same as those to which they have since adhered; and on a recent visit (within the last twelve months, that is) of the same chiefs to Wellington, they appeared to His Excellency to hold to their engagements in all respects. These chiefs were Topi, Taiaroa, and other principal chiefs of the district. There then appeared to His Excellency no immediate necessity for hurrying the matter on, more especially as the Government found it very difficult to procure the funds absolutely required to pay for large tracts of land imperatively demanded by the circumstances of the European population in other places where they were very numerous and the districts of land available for their wants were very limited in extent.

The state of things, however, which, as appears from your letter, has recently arisen, and which rendered the immediate acquisition of the block of land an object of paramount necessity, and the serious delay which you represent as likely to have occurred in the completion of the purchase, had you referred the matter for further instructions, dearly gave rise to a case in which you were called upon to act upon your own discretion to the best of your judgment, and in which it became your duty as a good public servant to incur such an amount of responsibility as was needed to enable you to close the transaction and set it finally at rest.

I am therefore to state that, keeping the above circumstances in view, His Excellency considers that in the course you have adopted you have rendered a very great service to the public, and one which entitles you to his special commendation, as it shows that you possess not only the capacity to see what measures ought to be taken in such an emergency to promote the public interests, but sufficient resolution to carry those measures into execution with a single regard to the public good.

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His Excellency therefore approves of the payment to the Natives of the sum of £2,600 for the lands recently acquired, in accordance with your recommendation—£300 of the last amount to be paid at Otago, and £300 at the Bluff.

From a statement furnished to the Governor by the Audit Office, it appears that the Sub-Treasurer at Otago had received from the sale of public lands the sum of £886 10s. between the 1st of January and the 31st July, 1853. This sum the Sub-Treasurer has been directed to pay over to you, as well as all other land funds in his hands; and you are also authorized and directed to retain in your possession any funds arising from the sale of Crown lands in the Province of Otago until the sum of £2,600 (and any expenses incurred in obtaining that amount), to be paid to the Natives for the newly acquired block, has been liquidated. Any funds derived from lease of pasture lands should also be applied to the same purpose, unless it would interfere with any previous instructions you have received to such a degree as to be detrimental to the public service. It is hoped that the funds thus placed at your disposal will enable you to liquidate the entire debt in question, as His Excellency anticipates that considerable sums will be obtained at an early period from the sale of portions of the new block. If, however, you find yourself in want of the £1,000 or any portion of it for which you apply in your letter, you are authorized either to draw on the Commissioner of Crown Lands at Wellington for that amount at thirty days' sight, or to write to him requesting him to remit to you the required amount to Otago. If you are compelled thus to borrow the whole or any part of this sum of the £1,000 from the Wellington Land Fund, you will be good enough to repay it out of the first proceeds of land sales which come into your possession.

In your letter you allude to the probable expenses you may have incurred in raising the first sum of £1,000 to complete this purchase. I am therefore to state that any reasonable expenses which you have incurred in a manner so creditable to yourself, in completing a purchase so clearly desirable, will of course be refunded to you.