G.—6

1874. NEW ZEALAND.

LAND PURCHASES, MIDDLE ISLAND. (REPORT BY MR. ALEX. MACKAY.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by command of His Excellency.

LAND PTTBCHASES IN THE PEOVINCE OF NELSON. No. 1. Mr. Alex. Mackax to the Under Secretary, Native Department. Sir, — Native Eeserves Office, Nelson, Ist October, 1873. In compliance with the purport of your minute of the 23rd ultimo, on the annexed correspondence received from Pirimona Matenga and others, laying claim to lands situated in the interior of the Province of Nelson, I have the honor to furnish the following information, together with a map to illustrate the several purchases that have been effected with the Natives, to each of which a distinctive letter has been allotted; and in order to make matters as intelligible as possible, the whole of the transactions will be dealt with seriatim, commencing with the New Zealand Company's purchases in 1839. A. — New Zealand Company's 'Purchase. This purchase, was investigated by Mr. Commissioner Spain in June, 1843, and land to the extent of 151,000 acres awarded to the Company in the Nelson Settlement, in various quantities, in the districts of Nelson or Whakatu, Waimea, Moutere, Motueka, and Massacre Bay, saving and excepting one-tenth of the quantity awarded, and all the pas or burial-places and grounds actually in cultivation by the Natives. The land that formed the subject of the aforesaid investigation was claimed to have been purchased by the New Zealand Company from the Natives under two deeds of purchase. The first of these deeds was executed at Kapiti on the 25th October, 1839, by the chiefs Eauparaha, Eangihaeata, Hiko, and others, members of the Ngatitoa Tribe, and the second was executed at Queen Charlotte Sound on the Bth November, 1839, by a large number of Natives of the Ngatiawa Tribe. Besides the articles alluded to in the above-mentioned deeds as forming the consideration paid by the Company to the signing parties for these lands, Captain Wakefield, on his arrival at Nelson with the preliminary expedition, assembled the resident Natives of the several districts enumerated above, and made them presents of merchandise to the value of £980 15s. A further payment of £800 was also made to the same Natives by the Company's Agent in the presence of Mr. Spain. This amount was appropriated as follows :—To the Motueka Natives, £200 ;to the Whakatu or Nelson, £200; to the Ngatiawa, £100, and a special payment of £10 to Ngapiko, a chief of Motueka ; and £290 was set apart for the Natives of Massacre Bay. These people, however, declined to receive the amount allotted them, and the matter remained unsettled until 1846, when, through the aid of the Hon. Mr. Sinclair, Colonial Secretary, the Church and the Wesleyan missionaries, the contending parties were at last induced to complete the sale to the Eesident Agent of the Company. Deeds of release were signed on the 14th August, 1844, by the Nelson, Motueka, and Ngatiawa claimants, relinquishing their claims to land at Whakatu (Nelson), Waimea, Moutere, Motueka, Eiwaka, and Titapu (Massacre Bay) excepting their pas, cultivations, burial-places, and reserved lands. The natives of Massacre Bay, on payment to them of the £290 on the 23rd May, 1846, also signed a release to the New Zealand Company of all their claims to land at Tata, Motupipi, Takaka, Eangiata, Puremuaia, Aorere, and all other places in the aforesaid district. The reservations alluded to in the several deeds of release under the head of pas, burial-places, and cultivations were subsequently laid off afresh in 1847, under the supervision of Mr. Sinclair, P.M., on behalf of the Government, and additions to the size of the parcels were made at the several places, as the number and requirements of the people rendered it necessary. The position and acreage of these reservations, as well as the New Zealand Company's " tenths," are more particularly described and delineated on the plans and schedules annexed to the second grant to the New Zealand Company, executed by Governor Grey, August Ist, 1848. S. — Wairau Purchase. This tract of country was acquired by the Government in 1847 from the Ngatitoa Tribe for the sum of £3,000, to be paid by annual instalments of £600, carried over a period of five years. The deed of cession was signed at Wellington, on the 18th March, 1847, and comprises the whole of the block. Two large blocks (marked C on the plan), containing an approximate area, in the aggregate, of 117,248 acres, were excepted from sale. These blocks, however, were subsequently included in the second sale to the Government in 1853, the Natives only retaining 2,939 acres of the quantity for themselves. I—G. 6.