No. 28.
Copy of a Despatch from the Right Hon. Earl Grey to Governor Grey.

I have, the honour to acknowledge your Despatches, No. 42, of the 19th of April, 1847, and No. 64, of the 5th July, 1847, reporting the steps you had taken to bring to a judicial decision the rights of purchasers under Governor Fitzroy's Proclamations, commonly called the ten-shilling-an-acre and the penny-an-acre Proclamations.

In my Despatch No. 41, of the 10th February, 1847, I had mentioned that, if there-were any cases (although it seemed improbable) in which every condition of these Proclamations has been literally fulfilled, and, in which also it could be proved that the Natives from whom the purchase had been made were the real and sole owners of the, land which they undertook to sell, the grant should not be withheld, but that, unless the whole of these conditions were met, none ought to be issued.

I regret to see, by your first report that already-one of the claimants, a butcher at Auckland, Had treated with most reprehensible violence and injustice a Native who had a claim to some land which this person had bought of a different tribe. This case affords an ample example of the danger likely to arise out of the vast tracts of land suddenly, acquired in the manner mentioned. You had provided for the purchasers the means of equitably commuting such claims; but you state that they showed little disposition to acquiesce in that mode of settlement, being under an impression that it was impossible to shake their titles.

I entirely approve of the resolution you formed, under these circumstances, to bring the question to issue. It appears to have been done in the manner best calculated to give the subject a fair trial; and the learned and elaborate judgment pronounced by the Court will long remain a valuable record of the principles of law applicable to cases of this nature. The result has been to show that the supposed purchase from the Natives conferred no valid title. All proceedings arising out of this decision will probably have been closed before, this despatch can reach you. Should you, however, still require any general intimation of the views of Her Majesty's Government on the subject, I can merely say that in this, as in all analogous instances of cancelled, grants, I think the cardinal principle by which you may feel confident of securing substantial equity in your proceedings is this: that when a European claimant has made a bona fide and considerable outlay on the faith of any Government Act or Proclamation, you should allow him every reasonable facility to acquire the same or a corresponding portion of land, subject to the two conditions of fully satisfying every Native claimant, and of not paying less in all than the established minimum price of land in the colony. I need scarcely add, however, that any individuals who may have been guilty of acts of violence so discreditable to the European character and so injurious to the interests of the community as those you have brought under my notice, in the particular instance specified in your Despatch No. 42, may be deemed to have forfeited all claim to the assistance or good offices of the Grovernment.