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

Enclosure in No. 3. — Mr. Tole to His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland

Enclosure in No. 3.
Mr. Tole to His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland.

Shortland Street, Auckland, 1st May, 1876.

Sir,—

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter, dated 27th ultimo, from the Provincial Secretary, covering copies of a letter to your Honor from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, and also of a memorandum from Mr. Kemp, and a letter from the chief Paul Tuhaere.

I have carefully perused that letter and its enclosures; and, in reply, beg to state that there is (whether designedly or not, I am unaware) nothing in them which deals with, much less explains, the extraordinary circumstances connected with the sale of the Waipoua and Maunganui Blocks, as stated to your Honor in my letter on this subject; and that the Hon. the Colonial Secretary appears to me to have at least misinterpreted my letter to your Honor, seeing that he, strangely enough, replies as if the Native Parore were the complaining party, whereas the most casual perusal of my letter could not have failed to make it manifest that Tiopira, and not Parore, was and is the aggrieved person. Furthermore, in view of the fact that my letter was submitted to Messrs. Kemp and Preece for information, it is incomprehensible to me how such a misconstruction as that to which I allude could have arisen, except by reluctantly attributing it to design, a cause to which I should be glad to learn it cannot be ascribed. But passing on to the merits of this correspondence, your Honor will observe, by a comparison of the facts contained in my previous letter relative to Tiopira, with the reply, and the irrelevant enclosures therewith from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, that those facts are in no respect controverted, or justified, or even explained. Nowhere is it denied that on the occasion of the execution of the deeds by Tiopira, the consideration money of each of the blocks (Waipoua and Maunganui) was not only understood to be £2,000, but that amount only was also interpreted to him; and that, after execution, the consideration money was increased to £2,200 and £2,300, and those sums inserted in the respective deeds.

Indeed, it is admitted by Mr. Kemp, under whose "personal notice" these matters came, that the "extra price" was given to Parore. Nowhere is it denied that Tiopira did not receive his proportion of the "extra price," though on the face of the deeds, and by his executing tshem, he is made to acknowledge the receipt of such proportion. Nor again is it denied that, at the time of the execution of the deeds by Tiopira, it was distinctly understood and publicly expressed that the pecuniary consideration of each deed was £2,000, and that according to that intention, and not otherwise, he subscribed his name. But this acknowledged settlement was permitted to be violated to the prejudice of Tiopira, for, in the concluding sentence of his memorandum to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Mr. Kemp, under whose "personal notice" "these arrangements" came, states that Parore afterwards (i.e., in the interval between the signing by Tiopira and that by Parore) sold his interest for £2,500, from which it would appear that an impropriety is at once admitted. And yet I may say, with astonishment, the result of the inquiries made by the Trust Commissioner under the Native Lands Frauds Prevention Act is deemed to be satisfactory. It is needless further here to discuss the effect of statements which would properly be the subject of evidence in any inquiry which it might be deemed necessary to institue. Suffice it to say, I do not consider that the correspondence in reply, now forwarded to me by your Honor from the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, affords any explanation whatever of the allegations contained in my letter, and therefore no satisfaction of the grievances therein sepecified. The Native Tiopira personally called on me at my office on Saturday week and Monday week last, in company with his son, and Mr. Woods, a Native school teacher, who informed me that he (Tiopira) came to interview me on the subject of my correspondence with your Honor on his present business; and knowing that the Hon. the Native Minister was expected soon in Auckland, I advised him (Tiopira) to remain in Auckland till Sir Donald McLean's arrival, a course which was readily assented to. Previous to this interview I had never seen Tiopira, and I believe his visit to me is attributable to a letter which he received from the Chief Paul, who subsequent to my former letter to your Honor wrote to Tiopira, informing him that he (Paul) had seen me, and that I had written to your Honor on his behalf. On this occasion, also, Tiopira seemed to entertain great indignation in relation to the matters connected with the conclusion of the sales of Waipou and Maunganui Blocks; and further expressed his desire of accompanying me to interview both your Honor and Sir Donald McLean on the subject. I have not, however, seen him since; but having heard that he has been the guest of the Chief Paul, I am inclined to conjecture that Tiopira, acting under the sinister influence of deputed finesse, has refrained from calling on me. This being so, and having received no official intimation that the grievance has been satisfied, I must again request that your Honor will, if there appear now still to be sufficient reason, urge either that such satisfaction (by payment to Tiopira of his proportion page 118of the extra purchase money) be made, or an inquiry with that view held; and that in the meantime all proceedings relative to the deeds of the blocks in question be stayed. No better opportunity than the present could arise, as the Hon. the Native Minister and all the parties concerned are now in Auckland.

I cannot close this letter without adverting specially to one point in the Hon. the Colonial Secretary's letter, to which he has devoted a concluding paragraph of an uncomplimentary import. I would not trouble your Honor with any comment on this aspect of the subject were it not manifest that, by an inordinate investigation regarding the source of my information, either by the Hon. the Colonial Secretary or the officers to whom he referred the papers, strenuous efforts have been made to raise a false issue and divert attention from the subject-matter under consideration. These efforts are shown by the letter apparently extorted from the Chief Paul, who seems, as far as I can judge from the translation forwarded to me, in a state of duress to have written categorical answers to indicated questions. I use the word "duress" advisedly, for otherwise surely it cannot have escaped the memory of Paul that he came to my office on Tiopira's business; that, as Tiopira's agent, he, with Heta te Haara and te Haurangi, accompanied me to interview your Honor, as your Honor is aware, upon the subject only of the matters contained in my previous letter; that, prior to this interview, he, with Heta te Haara, te Haurangi, and Mr. William Young, a licensed interpreter, went with me to Colonel Haultain, Trust Commissioner, to show cause why, under the circumstances already detailed by me, the registration and other steps towards completion of the deeds of conveyance should be stayed till an arrangement satisfactory to Tiopira had been arrived at. The Chief Paul makes no mention of these facts, and consequently does not contradict them. I am, therefore, certain that Paul has allowed himself to be constrained into writing this letter; otherwise, in the face of the conclusive incidents above quoted, he could not have resorted to so desperate and audacious a statement as that wherein he says, "but, as for myself, I had nothing to say with reference to the matter complained of."

The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, I think, seems to regard my position in this correspondence as importing other than purely professional significance. My relations in this matter, as in the case of Heta te Haara and te Haurangi (concerning which I await a reply), are simply those of a solicitor and client—a circumstance which there is evidently an inclination on the part of the Hon. the Colonial Secretary to ignore. The issue before us, and the only one which with any show of pertinence we can deal with, is, not as to the source of my information in relation to the matters (which are, as described by me, "facts"), but whether or not that information is correct, or can be established. This issue, I hold, is untouched by the correspondence forwarded to me, and therefore the grievance complained of still remains unexplained and unredressed.

In conclusion, I enclose a letter from Mr. C. E. Nelson, Licensed Interpreter and Assistant Land Purchase Agent, who in such capacities possesses personal knowledge of the transactions now in question; and beg to call your Honor's especial attention to the circumstances therein detailed relating to the extraordinary statements made and position now sought to be assumed by the Chief Paul.

I have, &c.,

Joseph A. Tole,
Solicitor.

His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland.