Despatch from Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B., to His Grace the Duke of Buckingham. (No. 117.)

Mr. Lord Duke,—

Adverting to my Despatches No. 106, of the 8th October, and No. 107, of the 11th October, 1867, upon the subject of a petition to Her Majesty from John Topi Patuki, chief of the Ngaitahu and Ngatimamoe Tribes, regarding a reserve of land in Princes Street, Dunedin, I have now the honor to transmit for your Grace's information the further papers which relate to this subject, from which your Grace will find that previously to quitting my Government I have taken care that every requisite step shall be taken for having the Natives' claim to this reserve judically decided.

Enclosure 1 in No. 82.
Memorandum by the Hon. J. C. Richmond.

Referring to a question put by His Excellency on the subject of the Princes Street Reserve, Dunedin, I have made inquiry, and find that the Attorney-General advised that no appropriation by the Legislature was necessary to authorize the Colonial Treasurer to pay over the accrued rents to the grantee. He did not, however, express any opinion on the question whether the rents ought or ought not to follow a grant made under circumstances so peculiar as those of the present case.

His Excellency stated that he thought the expenses of a suit for testing the validity of the grant should be borne out of the accrued rents of the reserve. That fund is no longer in the Treasury; but page 156it is in His Excellency's power to order payment out of other rents of Native Reserves in which the claimants to Princes Street Reserve, amongst other persons, are interested. Ministers cannot, of course, offer any objection to a payment which His Excellency's personal connection with several proceedings relating to the Princes Street Reserve give him a peculiar right to direct.

Enclosure 2 in No. 82.
Memorandum by His Excellency the Governor.

The Governor, in pursuance of all powers enabling him in that behalf, directs his Responsible Advisers to lay before him, for his signature, the necessary document directing the payment of the expenses of the suit now pending for testing the validity of the grant for the Princes Street Reserve, in Dunedin, from the rents of other Native Reserves in which the claimants to the Princes Street Reserve, amongst other persons, are interested.

Enclosure 3 in No. 82.
Order in Council.

G. Grey, Governor. At the Government House at Wellington, the 26th day of October, 1867.

Present; His Excellency the Governor in Council.

In exercise and pursuance of all powers and authorities enabling him in this behalf, His Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of New Zealand, directs that to the extent of four hundred pounds (£400), such funds as shall be necessary to defray the expenses incurred on behalf of the Natives claiming to be interested in the Princes Street Reserve, Dunedin, in prosecuting a suit to test the validity of the grant of the said reserve, made on the eleventh day of January, 1866, be advanced out of moneys arising from Native Reserves in which any section of the Ngaitahu Tribe is interested. And His Excellency the Governor further directs, with the advice and consent as aforesaid, that such funds as may be so advanced shall be repaid, with interest thereon, as shall be here-after directed.