Nos. 68 and 42, Sess. I.—Petitions of Te Maiharoa and Others.

Petitioners complain that Government have taken possession of land beyond the boundaries of that which they purchased, which they think is wrong. They suggest that Europeans should be moved off unsold lands, and Natives off Government lands, as a way of solving the difficulty.

I am directed to report as follows:—

That the ostensible prayer of this petition is for the restoration to the Natives of all the land in Canterbury and Otago inland of certain points; but the Committee finds on inquiry that there are virtually two prayers preferred by two separate divisions of the Natives at Waitangi, thus:—

1. Tare Wetere and those whom he represents, including, in a general way probably, all the petitioners and their people, lay claim on behalf of the Middle Island Natives to all the land in Canterbury and Otago inland of certain points, at no great distance from the eastern coast of the Island.

This claim is conclusively shown to be totally unfounded. The whole of the land claimed is clearly included in the area sold by the Natives to the New Zealand Company, under what is known as the Ngaitahu deed of cession at Akaroa in 1848. The original deed has been produced before page 3the Committee, and exhibited to the petitioner, Tare Wetere. This petitioner positively denied the identity of the deed, which he declared had been fabricated for the occasion; but his own signature as one of the sellers appears both on the deed of sale and on a receipt for the purchase-money on behalf of his tribe, and Tare Wetere ultimately acknowledged that this was so. The points or places alleged by the petitioners to indicate an inland boundary of the land intended to be sold are not mentioned in the deed; neither is there any allusion to any inland boundary, nor any exception from the area described in the deed and plan, save only as to reserves. On the contrary, both the deed and plan, and the official letters from Mr. Commissioner Kemp, who concluded the purchase, show that the whole of the Island from the boundary of Nelson to the boundary of the Otago Block, was ceded to the New Zealand Company with the full consent and understanding of the Natives, including many of the present petitioners.

2. Te Maiharoa and others complain that the reserves promised them at the time of the sale to the New Zealand Company have not been given to the Natives, and they ask the Government to give them land to live upon.

With respect to this prayer the Committee finds that the question of reserves was finally decided by the Native Land Court sitting at Kaiapoi in 1868, when the Ngaitahu claims were specially referred to the Court by the Governor, and the Court awarded such reserves as appeared to be sufficient in final satisfaction of all claims.

The present petitioners were fully represented at the sitting of the Court, and the award was made with their knowledge.

The Committee cannot therefore recommend either of the two prayers of the petition. They think it highly desirable, however, that the state of the case should be clearly explained to Te Maiharoa and the Waitangi Natives, and that they should be induced, if possible, to leave the place where they are at present settled in the river-bed of the Waitangi, and to occupy some one of the reserves belonging to them.