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

[No. 7.]

No. 7.

Mr. Alexander Mackay to Under Secretary, Native Department.

Nelson, 24th March, 1870.

Sir,—

I have the honor to forward herewith a conveyance of sections 5, 6, and 160, at Motupipi, from the College Governors at Nelson to Her Majesty the Queen, in order that the said land may be vested in certain Natives residing at Motupipi, in fulfilment of a promise made to that effect in the year 1863.

With reference to the original proposal that the Crown should invest this land in the hands of trustees to be chosen from among the Natives for whose benefit it has been restored to the Crown, I would beg to recommend instead, as a means of preventing jealousy and quarrelling among those whom it is proposed to benefit, that the land should be subdivided, and individual Crown Grants, withholding the power of sale, should be issued to each of the persons interested, under the provisions of "The Crown Grants Act, 1862," and for this purpose I would beg to propose that a subdivisional survey should page 338be made of the land in question. This would not occupy very long; and if Crown Grants were issued as suggested, it would give much greater satisfaction to all concerned than merely granting the land intact to one or more of their number as trustees for the whole.

Should the Government see no objection to the above suggestion, I could put the work in hand at once. There would, however, be one difficulty in the way of making a uniform survey of Nos. 5 and 6, owing to the intersection of these sections by Native Reserves I, J, and K. The Native title over these reserves has never been extinguished, and in the event of its being found necessary, for the sake of uniformity and for other causes, to carry the divisional lines through these lands, the title being still in the Natives would preclude the possibility of including such portions of any of the allotments forming part of such reserves in a grant of portions 5 and 6. I presume, however, that his difficulty could be overcome by obtaining the assent of the Natives owning reserves I, J, and K, whose interests are identical with those in whom it is proposed to vest sections 5 and 6, to bring these lands under the operation of "The Native Reserves Act, 1856," and, on this being effected, reserves I and J, and sections 5 and 6, could all be dealt with as one block.

It will be observed by the plan in the margin of the conveyance, that it would be very awkward to deal separately with either of the blocks, owing to the peculiar shape of the aforesaid reserves, and, for the sake of convenience, it would be advisable if the whole could be dealt with as one block; moreover it would prevent complications in future if the whole could be treated alike, and save the Natives the necessity of having ultimately to take their claims to I, J, and K to the Native Lands Court to procure a title.

Should the Government nevertheless deem it advisable to adhere to the first intention,—that of granting the land to trustees only,—I would beg to submit the names of Eruera Wirihana Te Rauakitua, Pirimona Matenga, and Raniera Matenga, as trustees for sections 5 and 6, and those of Rawiri Watino, Hohaia Te Rangirunga, and Hira Rawiri, as trustees for section 160.

Waiting your instructions,

I have, &c.,

Alexander Mackay, Native Commissioner.

The Under Secretary, Native Department.

Enclosure in No. 7.
Deed of Conveyance of Sections 5 and 6 and 160, in the District of Takaka, by the College Governors to Her Majesty the Queen, for Native purposes.

This deed, made the first day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, between the Governors of Nelson College, incorporated under and by virtue of an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand, passed in the Session holden in the eighteenth and nineteenth years of the reign of Her present Majesty, intituled "An Act to incorporate the Governors of Nelson College," of the one part, and Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, of the other part: Whereas the said Governors are seized of or otherwise well and sufficiently entitled to the pieces or parcels of land hereinafter described: And whereas the said lands have been for some time past occupied by certain Natives of New Zealand: And whereas it has been agreed to exchange the said lands for certain waste lands of the Crown situated in the district of Amuri, which have already been granted to the said Governors, in order that the said land herein after described may be reserved for the benefit of the Natives: Now this deed witnesseth, thain suance of the said agreement, and for the purposes aforesaid, the said Governors of Nelson College do by these presents convey and assure unto Her said Majesty Queen Victoria, her sors and assigns, ali that piece or parcel of land situate in the district of Massacre Bay, in the Province of Nelson, in New Zealand, being sections numbered 5 and 6 on the plan of the said district, containing two hundred and sixty-five acres, more or less; bounded towards the South-west by sections numbered 9 and 10 on the said plan; towards the North-west by section numbered 7 on the said plan; on the North-east partly by a Native Reserve and partly by the Motupipi River; and on the South-east by the Motupipi River: and also all that other piece or parcel of land situate in the district of Massacre Bay aforesaid, containing one hundred and fifty-eight acres, more or less, being section numbered 160 on the plan of the said district; bounded towards the North-east by a reserve for hospitals and lunatic asylums; towards the East by Crown land; towards the South-west by sections numbered 162 and 163 on the said plan; and on the North-west by a road; together with the appurtenances thereunto belonging or appertaining, and which said pieces or parcels of land are more particularly delineated and described on the plan drawn in the margin of these presents, and thereon coloured pink, to hold the said pieces or parcels of land hereinbefore described, with the appurtenances, unto Her said Majesty Queen Victoria, her successors and assigns for ever.

In witness whereof the said Governors have caused their common seal to be hereunto affixed, the day and year first above written. (l.s.)

The common seal affixed in the presence of Robert Pollock, secretary to the Council of Governors.