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An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

No. 14 — Mr. Commissioner Johnson to the Chief Commissioner

No. 14
Mr. Commissioner Johnson to the Chief Commissioner.

Reporting offer by the. Natives of the Maunga Tapere Block.District Commissioner's Office,
Whangarei, 20th November, 1854.

Sir,

I have the honor to submit for the consideration of His Excellency the officer administering the Government the offer of the Ngapuhi Chiefs named in the margin* to sell a block of land Having frontage to the main harbour of Whangarei, and containing about Eighteen thousand five hundred acres (18,500) acres, for the sum of One thousand five hundred pounds (1,500/.).

A further condition of the sale is that a right be guaranteed to the Chief Tirarau of the first selection, under the present Land Regulations, by purchase at Ten shillings (10s.) per acre, of One thousand acres of any part of the block, the selection to be of a figure conformable to that, prescribed under the existing law, so that the public interest may not suffer by a monopoly of any peculiar local advantages.

I beg to enclose a sketch survey of the block, on the scale of one mile to the inch, including a complete delineation of the natural features of the country. In the neighbourhood of the volcanic hills of Maunga Tapere, Whatitiri, and Maunu, the timber is light, and the soil of the most fertile nature, and the hill of Tikorangi, at the water side, being of lime-stone formation, is very choice land. The frontage to the harbour is also well suited for the site of a town or village. The intervening space between the available land on the shores, of the harbour and the inland volcanic region is composed of sterile ranges which may eventually be converted into sheep pasture, but are at present of little value. I would, however, urge you to obtain the approval of His Excellency to the completion of this purchase without delay, as the acquisition of the land would be highly advantageous to the public, both from its geographic position and intrinsic value—as well as from the moral effect which would be produced page 65on the native mind by the example of an influential chief like Tirarau, in conjunction with several others who in the late war in the North' fought against us about the sovereignty over the country, now disposing to the Crown for European colonization, a tract situated in the midst of one of their most valuable and cherished localities. The land in question is situated on the most available line of road between Whangarei and the Wairria—being accessible both from the East and West Coast— and very little expense would complete from the waters of the Kaipara to Whangarei, a cart road which has been already finished for half the distance by the private enterprise of the Messrs. Walton.

The title of the settlers to this land is undisputed, it being the family hereditary possession of the Chief Tirarau and the late Iwitahi father of Te Manihera. The other Chief, Kepa Tau, is the man in actual possession and occupation at Otaika on the Whangarei. The only native reserve is a landing place near the mouth of the Otaika river called Motukiwi, about an acre in extent, the scene of a hostile encounter, which we considered prudent to leave put of the purchase for the present for fear of bringing the relatives of the people killed there to make claims on the block—but it can be purchased at a future time, and the proceeds devoted to the satisfying the relatives of the slain.

I have, &c.,

John Grant Johnson,
District Commissioner.

Donald McLean, Esq.,
Principal Land Commissioner, Auckland.

* Tirarau, Manihera, Kepa Pau.