L—3a.

146

[JOSHUA JONESi

Hansard for 1888, page 52!)—1 have it here —Sir Frederick Whitaker laid it down —this was on the last day of the session of 1888 —that the Government had agreed and undertaken io do the survey free of cost. But here is another point—l drew the attention of Sir Frederick Whitaker to it: my title was then interrupted by Chief Judge Maedonald of the Native Land Court. He was an upright man, but he made a mistake. Sir Frederick Whitaker said that Judge Macdonald was wrong. Judge Macdonald, in a telegram dated the Ist July, 1887, said that " Signatures to Jones's lease after Ist day of January last would be illegal. : Well, this came down from the year 1215. Here is the mistake made by Judge Macdonald : Sir Robert Stout and Mr. Jackson Palmer have said a lot about the statutes —that 1 did this and I did that outside of this statute and that statute; but it is a very simple rule of law that where an Act of Parliament has dealt with one particular case, making arrangements with regard to it, any law subsequently passed in general terms does not repeal that Act unless it is specially repealed by the general Act. Therefore there was a misapprehension in the mind of Judge Macdonald. The provision I refer to of 1215 was not an Act of Parliament, but is signed " John, Rex." Now, as I have been slandered so much, I am sure you will wish to hear from me concerning the statements that the terms were inadequate, and that I obtained the leases fraudulently, and all that rubbish talked by Sir Robert Stout. It is a very improper thing that he should have been allowed to say so in my absence. When I began the negotiations for the leases a Land Court had never sat in the King-country. Here is clear evidence of it —the Restriction Act, covering about fourteen million acres. There was a block of land at Mokau of 40,000 acres. Ihe Mokau Township is not built on it. It had been purchased by Judge Rogan before the Waitara War; but the Government could not touch it. It was paid for, and he purchased the freehold at 3d. an acre. [Map produced showing land.] Wlien this land of mine went through the Court there had not been any negotiations in the King-country at all. This was the very first Native Land Court that went there. It was in June, 1882. The land went through the Court on a sketch-plan. There had been no survey, but you could not go wrong. There was a river on both sides, the sea at the front, and a line drawn due north and south at the back. Now, Sir Robert Stout, speaking of the lease of If, says. " There does not seem to have been any agreement in writing made with the Natives and Joshua Jones for the lease, except for the purpose described in the lease of 1882.' Now, this If is exactly half the block, as nearly as cm be, as it contains some 28,500 acres. Before Igo further I will ask the Committee to remember that when this land passed through the Court on a sketchplan there were no lands reserved in the block, except two small burial-grounds. The Natives did not want reserves. I have the map here. 9. Mr. Greenslade.] Is Mr. Jones going to put these plans in? —They are in the Stout-Palmer report, of which I have a copy here. As 1 say, Sir Robert Stout says, " There does not seem to have been any agreement in writing with Mr Jones and the Natives." His object in saying that was to show that these pieces at the back —Ig, Ij, and Ih—were invalidly acquired. But the Government Proclamation takes in the whole lot —the Proclamation that he says lie knows nothing at all about. Here it is: "may, by notice in the Gazette, declare that a parcel of land bounded on the north by the Mokau River, on the south by the Mohakatino River, on the west by the sea, and on the eastward by a line drawn from the mineral spring at Totoro, on the Mokau River, due south to the Mohakatino River, shall be and he deemed to have been excluded from the schedule to the Native Lands Alienation Restriction Act, 188 i." That meant the whole of the blocks, because this land [indicated on plan] had been accidentally included in the Restriction Act. 10. How had it been accidentally included , ?— Parliament shut up the whole of the Kingcountry by a special Act. As Sir Frederick Whitaker said, it was intended to shut up the whole of the "King-country with one exception. That exception was my land, but it was accidentally included. The Government, however, rectified the mistake. Now. this Proclamation—l have it here —i s signed "J. Ballance." Mr. Ballance was the Native Minister of the day. It was his place to sign it. Mr. Ballance was up in Wanganui at the time, and L was ushered into the presence of another gentleman, who now professes ignorance of all of it. He went into it; he saw this plan; he saw {"he original lease of 187i>; lie had it all put in front of him, and knew the whole of the terms and conditions. " Oh, yes, Mr. Jones; that is all right; yes." Sir Robert Stout; he is the man who now knows nothing about it. He signed the document in the absence of Mr. Ballance. That is why I wanted you to understand thai tin' Proclamation does not show the real position. It was Sir Robert Stout signed it for Mr. Ballance, although Mr. Ballance's signature was put to it. That, sir, is one of fifty things in tliis report which I asked the Prime Minister to remove from the table. That Proclamation, as 1 say, was signed by Sir Robert Stout himself, who now says there was no agreement; yet he had had the original lease in his hand. I produced it before 'the Legislative Council Committee of 1908. Now. what you will want to know is why the lire limiting the lease should be drawn from Totoro down to Mangapohue. There was an old chief there, and he said, " There is a big rapid up there; the sea-water never goes over it." The old man wns under the impression that the sea-water injured his eels, and he said, "If the pakeha removes that rapid " —there are two big seams of coal there —" I will lose all my eels. When you are ready you can go up to Totoro with your line." So the line was brought down there [indicated on map]. Consequently the boundary of the lease became altered to Mangapohue to suit the old man with his eels. The Natives who signed the lease here [indicated] had ownerships there [indicated]. Some did not sign, and Sir Robert Stout says that that makes the lease invalid. Nothing of the sort. A Judge was sent up afterwards and rectified and validated all this and made subdivisions. Judge O'Brien came and did everything straightforwardly, and there had never been any trouble about it, until it was created by this abortion. It has been necessary to make these explanations with respect to the leases and subdivisions, inasmuch as the StoutPalmer report said so-and-so. Now, witli respect to the conditions in the lease of If, I say that the flat rental was fixed at a low sum— £25 —in consideration of all the expenses I had been put