REPORT BY MR. SEARANCKE ON THE NATIVE LANDS IN THE WAIRARAPA.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1860 Session I, C-03

C—No. 3

REPORT BY MR. SEARANCKE ON THE NATIVE LANDS IN THE WAIRARAPA.

Return to an Address of the House of Representatives to His Excellency the Governor, dated October 11th, 1860.

(Mr. Carter.)

C—No. 3

REPORT ON THE WATRARAPA LANDS.

MB. SEARANCK.E TO CHIEF LAND PURCHASE COMMISSIONER. Wellington, July*lB6o. SlR '~ I have the honor to forward to you General Report on Land Purchasing operations in the District of th Wairarapa, also plan of th/same, showing all the different Blocks bought: the Reserves made in the same for tile Aborigines; the lands the purchase of which has not yet been completed; and the lands still in the hands of ihe Aboriginal owners, , The plan is compiled from the numerous dist.net surveys made during the last severyearsand is still ver P v deficien in many parts: this deficiency I propose to remedy by ma king a comp lee TWonomeVical survey of the whole country between Castle Point to the North, the Ranges on the Weft and the Coast on the East and South, and by the completion of the surveys of Reserves in eonnertion with the Trigonometrical survey. ' _ , ~ . Thlplan forwarded herewith can only be regarded as a Sketch Plan, though I bcheve correct in 3 - Ihave.&c, William N. Searancke, Donald McLean, Esq., • District Commissioner. Chief Commissioner, Auckland. Enclosure. GENERAL REPORT ON THE WAIRARAPA DISTRICT. The Wairarapa Di,t,ict includes all the land laying between the Rimutaka and Tararua Ranges on the West yard Coast on the East and Southward and the Boundar.es ot the Block of and, known as the Ca tic Point Block on the Northward, and is very thmly occupied by a branch of the Sea N« kahungunu family, a tribe occupying the whole of the East Coast from Wairarapa Lake o U c SoutTto Tmanga to the North. This District, from its be.pg an open country, was enentcd pre'lato V irruptions from the tribes resident in and abovt the neighbourhood of Wellington andtleWes Coast, who, driven from their own lands at Mokau, Kawhia and Wha.ngaroa, had headed by Te Ilauparaha, migrated and settled here driving its former owners the Muaopoko and NVatlahu,~ tribes before them; the former were almost extirpated, the latter retreated into w4ar!nn which they subsequently deserted, being completely broken-spirited by repeated a tacks, »S3S ii ■ body jNukutaurun, a settlement near Table Cape where they remained abont twelve year returning t./wairarapa barely two years previous to the first arrhs, lot settlers m Wellington 11 tho Sim. of Watepouri, and other Chiefs, who had been the cause of their migration. Ibe fact of i be in.- a broken tribe prepared them to welcome European setters among them, and subsequently fearful thitThe Government would remove them, consented to the ahenation of their lands by sale to 4116 C The n ialfl of lands commenced in the year 1853, and was vigorously carried on both in that year and in 1854 the payments for most of these lands extendi.,, over a term of years, a system well adapted to enible 1 c Maories to establish themselves comfortably and lay the foundation ot future wealth and to enable tl t ■""> , fth Government to retain some control over the expenditure; £C£ ***■«*«££-£ was not done, and the result has been that the deferred cut of payments for Luis has had a directly opposite effect to what was intended (x.c ,) an incessant SSSi *E iS only to sell the hu.ds still in their hands but also to keep a constant ag.tat.onove the lands formerly sold in order to obtain from the Government renewed supplies of money for wasteful . ,!.?,: , they aonear to think they are entitled to. The leading Chiefs of Wairarapa have sold ESSrSSTtBKSJE land, "they are now in a helpless state of debt and poverty they ted .no. rather wasted in a thoughtless and prodigal display the capitalderived from then- land , .v 1 1 f'l?vi ,- it out to advantage and living on its interest. Flattered by Storekeepers and others listened with eager credulity to the.r d or otion of tlir lauds as boundless, they were able to obtain credit to an extent almost incredible con' S that Lev had to overreach European sagacity. But a small proportion of these liabilities Wb;,li dated, and this state of debt and poverty has paved the way lor discontent and jealousy , s bod he Government and the Europeans generally ; has caused a much higher pme to be against Louiu.e ] j c . VPll . lv offe ,. e d for sale, and also the claims on them to bo hSta ■ihev«.sh oceans living in possession of lauds which they now believe to have b en ocli-hly sold a too low and without disputing the actual sac of the land, unceasingly LalVrenewed demands for payments, which demands having no other a emative, according *jfce leneweu ,L \leeds of sale, but to dispute and prove the fallacy of, has led, I am aware SS2SS.22%X" the CaimaL to myfelf, and will be found to be preju icial to any Officer of the Native Land Purchase Department acting in tins District for some time, until at Loai-time and non-success proves the fallacy of their claims. least t me ana non s p thfm (hey ke use of> have beer!:niade for the Native, amounting altogether to about 20,224 acres, the nght of run over

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C---No. 3

REPORT ON THE WAIRARAPA LANDS.

these reserves I have in several instances succeeded in letting to advantage to the neighbouring runholders ; the Natives holding a right of occupation for agricultural pursuits of any portions they preferred I have lately found that the rents being frequently monopolised by a few to the prejudice of the others, though the arrangement made was agreed to by all at the time, has been a fruitful source ot trouble and dispute. Nearly the whole of the lands still owned by the Maories are let to Europeans and produce a much larger rental per annum than they would if owned by the Government, these rents are generally received by those who did not join in or receive any benefit from the land sales of 1853 and 1854 " l9nftnn J n aPProX,n r at l* , if a .,. 0 , f 0 ,e Wair f »P a n »t»<* within the boundaries shewn on the plan is 1,200,000 acres, of which 057,804 acres have been alienated by the Maories to the Crown. Reserves toticeitentof2o,224 acres have been made out of the alienated lands for their use and benefit. i«7 c,/ CreS St - "" f l '- W iatw ?« small on account having being made on them. 187,850 acres are still in their hands and at their absolute disposal. The quantity of land the purchase of which is still incomplete is large, the delay in its completion may be explained by the demands.on it being so exorbitant, by their being so disputed as regards r i \r j& % t "'°i ° P ° ly In f orae instances of th e lion's share by a few only of those interested; and by the difficulty I find in assembling together the different claimants; all these difficulties considered, J. hare thought it the most judicious course to adopt, to at least delay the completion until the payments required were more moderate and within the limit of my instructions. A rather important question requiring consideration is the 5 per cents, due to the Maories on the lands sold by the Government in certain blocks only; there is much excitement among them on this subject, and they have repeatedly demanded that the money so due should bo paid to them, it appears that the undertaking as expressed in the deeds of sale, is that 5 per cent, of the whole sum received by the Government on account of land, should be laid out either in building Churches, Schools, Mills, or in some other way for their advantage. I would, therefore, most respectfully recommend that steps should be taken to settle this question. In the lower part of the valley, the Natives interested are unanimous m wishing that the monies due to them on the 5 per cents, should be expended in the erection of a mill, tins I would recommend should be carried out, as it would be an encouragement for at least some time for them to carry on more industrial pursuits than they have lately been engaged in. One ot the principle assumed causes of discontent in this District is an attempt made by me (in conversationa argument only) to induce Rawiri Piharau to remove from the land on which he is at present illegal y settled, it having being bought from the Government by Europeans. It appears that when the block of land was sold on wh.ch the township of Featherston is situated, a reserve of 100 acres was guaranteed to Rawiri Piharau at a place called Motupiri on the Tauherenikau River, nearly three miles distant from the Torohanga, the spot on which he is now illegally located. The land now pointed out by the Natives as Motupiri was sold in 1854, by the then Waste Lands Commissioner to a settler named Vennellwl.ol.asbu.lt a house on it with other considerable improvements, without noticing in any way Rawir. s claim, which the Natives say was brought forward before any improvements were made and frequently since. Both on my arrival here and since, this question has been a trouble to me; urged on the one hand by the Europeans to g.ve them possession of the lands illegally occupiedby Rawiri, on the other to conhrm him m possession of his holding or to give him his land at Motupiri.it has not been in my power to comply with the request of either. I could not give Rawiri land bought by Europeans though forcibly held by himself, nor could I give him a portion of Mr. Vennell's land which he holds by grant from the Crown, but I represented to him that his illegal withholding of European's land at the lorohanga would not be tolerated by the Government,and that he must remove, offering him land elsewhere; this was refused by him, I then made an attempt to purchase for Rawiri the land on which he is living, this I was in hopes to have succeeded in, but subsequently failed by the interposition of others ; subsequently, I, in compliance with your instructions, informed Rawiri, who in the meantime had been joined by several other Natives from the Upper Hutt and Whanganui, that in order to remove a cause of trouble and .11 feeling between the Europeans and Natives, I would put him in possession of one hundred acres of land at Tauherenikau which I had surveyed for him at the time, and also nay him a sum of £100 if he would remove off the Torohanga land, when his crops were ripe and removable, this also he declined, saying that unless Te Manihera told him to remove he would not do so. . j /« W \ e r ~', , " !l ° declined askin g Rawi » t0 ren >ove unless he were put in possession of the land at Mr. Vermeil s homestead. In January last I had another meeting on this subject, when the whole ot the Natives interested were present, and I was then informed that the only terms on which they would allow Rawir. to give up possession of the land, was, one hundred and fifty acres of land elsewhere and a sum of four hundred pounds as compensation for resigning his claim to the land held by Mr. Vennell. As I could not comply with the terms, I informed the Natives so, and this most vexatious question still remains in statu quo, and as a grievance on which the Natives ground all their complaints. ° In conclusion, I deny that the feeling of the Natives with respect to Land Purchases, except through their own mutual jealousies, is bad, * A few, principally those with small or doubtful claims, are now headed by Te Manihera, a Chief of some influence, to oppose any further alienation of land to the Crown. Another more friendly party exclaim loudly against the delay in the purchase of their lands, the cause I have already explained, furthermore .sit not preferable that they should rather bare a complaint of non-purchase or noncompletion of purchase than that those feelings of amity which have so long existed and still exist in tnis district between the two races should be endangered. William N. Searancke, District Commissioner

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