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Report on the Petition of Moroati Kiharoa and 7 Others.
Petitioners pray that inquiry be made into matters connected with the purchase (by the late Dr. Featherston) of certain land at Manawatu. They object to the sale, on the grounds that the land was not sold by its rightful owners.
I am directed to report as follows:—That this is one of the numerous petitions which have been referred to the Committee involving very complicated questions of Native title to land, and that the Committee does not feel competent to make any satisfactory recommendation on the subject, it being a question which should be dealt with by some legal tribunal, capable of making a full inquiry.
John Bryce,
Chairman.
[Translation.]
Ko te Kupu a te Komiti mo runga i te Pukapuka-inoi a Moroati Kiharoa me ona Hoa e 7.
E tono ana nga kai-inoi kia kimihia te tikanga o te hokonga a Te Petatone, kua mate tata ake nei, i tetahi whenua kei Manawatu. E whakahe ana ratou ki te hako, e ki ana ratou ehara nga tangata nana i hoko i nga tangata no ratou te whenua.
Kua whakahaua ahau kia ki penei atu ki te Whare:—Ko tenei tetahi o nga pukapuka-inoi maha kua tukua mai ki te Komiti e whai tikanga ana ki etahi take raruraru o nga Maori ki te whenua a kahoro te Komiti e kaha ki te whai kupu marama mo tenei mea, he mea hoki tenei e tika ana kia kimihia e tetahi tikanga whakawa e kaha ana ki te kimi i nga putake katoa.
John Bryce,
Tumuaki.