Opinions and Information Relative to the Tenure by Which the Natives Hold Their Lands.

Extracts from a Letter from George Clarke, Chief Protector of Aborigines, to the Colonial Secretary.

Referring to your letter of the 15th December, 1842, requesting me to furnish information relative to the tenure by which the natives hold their page xii lands, I do myself the honor to submit the following remarks. As I have already observed, great changes have taken place in the internal regulations and divisions of districts, and in many cases lands have completely changed owners, but in every case that I can recollect, possession has followed immediately upon conquest. There is scarcely a spot in the Bay of Island but has changed masters—where the conquered either amalgamated with the conquerors or retired to a distant part of their possessions. By the latter step they maintain their independence, and still claim all their lands not actually in possession of the conquerors, but by the former they only claim what they cultivate specially, and in common with their conquerors, but conceding to them the precedence. In this way Paroa, Kororareka, Wangaroa, and the North Cape have completely changed hands, and are now possessed by different tribes from those who possessed them twenty years ago."