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Secretary, upon the subject of the Board’s Re-
solution, No. 25. The Board not clearly un-
derstood whether that letter is to be con-
sidered a refusal of the Board’s suggestions or
not, requests that it may be informed, if his
Honor is unable to provide the necessary funds
to enable the Board to carry out the regula-
tions, whether the General Government de-
clines to direct the payment of the same out of
the Land Fund as suggested by the Board in
the before mentioned resolution.

(Signed) Reader Wood,
Secretary.

Superintendent’s Office, Auckland,
May 21, 1855.

Sir,—I have the honor to enclose herewith
a copy of a resolution, (No. 27), adopted by
the Waste Land Board, by which it appears
that the Board are in doubt as to the definite
meaning of your letter, dated 14th inst., in
reference to their suggestion that the necessary
expenses of the Board should be paid by the
General Government out of the Land Fund.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) Wm. Brown,
Superintendent.

The Honorable the
Colonial Secretary.

Superintendent’s Office,
Auckland, June 11, 1855.

Sir — In reference to my letter of the 21st
ult., transmitting a copy of a resolution, (No.
27) adopted by the Waste Land Board, by
which it appears the Board are in doubt
as to the definite meaning of your letter dated
May 14th, in reference to their suggestion that
the necessary expenses of the Board should be
paid by the General Government out of the
Land Fund, and to which no reply has been
yet received : I have the honor to represent
the serious injury that is being entailed upon
the Province through the withholding the means
for payment of the expenses requisite for the
laying out and sale or occupation of the Waste
Lands which have been placed at the disposal
of the Board, and through the consequent
stoppage, almost complete, of the Provincial
Land Sales.

I feel it my duty to point out what I believe
to be a misapprehension on the part of the Ge-
neral Government in supposing that the Pro-
vincial Government is bound to provide the
funds required for laying out Waste Lands of
the Crown, or for defraying other expenses in-
cident to the collection of the revenue derived
from the disposal of such land ; on referring
to the Waste Lands Act of the General Assem-
bly, by which the Government is empowered
to issue and put in force regulations for the
sale and disposal of waste lands, if recom-
mended by the Superintendent and Council of
the Province, I find it nowhere stated that the
necessary expenses shall be defrayed by the
Province ; and it is certainly not contemplated

by that act that the land sales, in default of
expenses being defrayed by the Province should
be put a stop to.

But on referring to the 62nd section of the
Constitution Act, I find that the Government
is not only authorised but required to pay out
of the revenue arising “from the disposal of the
waste lands of the Crown, all the costs, charges,
and expenses incident to the collection, manage-
ment, and receipt thereof.”

And indeed, were it not for this enactment,
the Superintendent and the Provincial Council
of Auckland, the former by refusing to recom-
mend provision for the specific service in
question, the latter by refusing supplies for
such service, if recommended, would severally
be able to put a stop to the Auckland land
sales, to the injury of the other Provinces, from
whose land fund larger contributions to the
general expenditure would be then required ;
and also to the risk of being accused by the
New Zealand Company of attempting to evade
payment of the debt, instead of endeavouring
to obtain release from it by legitimate and open
means.

Although the resolution of the Waste Land
Board transmitted with my letter of the 21st
ult. be a Colonial as well as a Provincial
question, I confine myself to the latter view
of the subject, in making my urgent request,
for the sake of the advancement of the Pro-
vince, that the expenses incident to the man-
agement of the Waste lands of the Crown, as
provided for by section 62 of the Constitution
Act, may be provided for by the General Go-
vernment, and in making this request I would
take occasion to observe that in my own endea-
vours to revive the Provincial Land Sales, I
have gone even beyond what I was under obli-
gation to do, by placing upon the estimates
submitted by me to the Provincial Council, the
sum that would be required to defray expen-
ses incident to the working of the Waste Land
Board, which the Province is in no wise called
upon to pay.

Allow me, Sir, to express my trust that the
General Government will meet the question in
a similar spirit. You are aware that
no appropriation to the service of the
Waste Land Board has been made
by the Provincial Council, and that my
own power of operation exceedingly limited,
under the regulations is rendered almost null ;
you are aware that the present dependence of
the Waste Land Board for effective action is
upon the compliance of the General Govern-
ment with their request for means to work
with, while it is manifest to all that unless the
land sales be speedily and actively revived,
later disappointment to immigrants, and a pe-
riod of general stagnation must supervene.

I have the honor, &c.,

Wm. Brown,
Superintendent.

To the Honorable the
Colonial Secretary.