mud flats in front of the sections referred to, because they have been delineated on the selection plan of the town of Napier as bounded by the water, although no other guarantee had been given.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
T. H. FITZGERALD,
Superintendent.

C. D. Ward, Esq.,
Barrister at Law,
Wellington.

Wellington,
Dec. 13, 1859.

SIR,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated 8th December, 1859, requesting my opinion on the following point, viz.:—
Whether, on a portion of land lying in front of certain sections in the town of Napier, being reclaimed from the sea, which now flows over it at high water, the owners of such sections could claim compensation (under the 2nd clause of the Public Reserves Act of 1854,) for being deprived by such reclamation of their present water frontage.

I am of opinion that no compensation could in any such case be legally claimed by the owners of any such sections, unless the grant from the Crown under which they claim, be a grant of the sections cum littore maris, in which case the shore, (that is, the space between ordinary high and low water mark,) may pass. But the grants, as far as I have been able to ascertain, have never been thus worded. The soil below high water mark is prima facie the Crown's property, as affirmed by a multitude of authorities (vide, 2 Be. Com. 262; Hale De Jure Maris, 14; 2 Roll Ab., 170: Dyer, 326; Callis, 51, 53; Rex v. Lord Harborough, 3 Barn and Cross, 91, affirmed on writ of error; 5 Bing, 163; Scratton v. Brown, 4; Barn and Cross, 505.) The Governor, under the Public Reserves Act, 1854, has full power as the representative of the Crown, to vest the land in question in the Superintendent. Clause 2 in the above Act does not create any new rights, but merely protects those in existence at the passing of the Act in 1854.

I am not aware of the existence of any Act, Ordinance, or Regulation by virtue of which any right or claim for compensation could possibly be implied in the present instance. In Wellington the case was different: Governor FitzRoy having granted or assured a right to certain persons over a small portion of the water frontage in Port Nicholson. Possibly the words at the end of clause 2 may have been intended to protect their interests.

I remain, Sir,
Your most obdt. servt.,
C. D. R. WARD.

His Honor T. H. FitzGerald,
Superintendent of the Province of Hawke's Bay.

PROCLAMATION.

By His Honor THOMAS HENRY FITZGERALD, Esq., Superintendent of the Province of Hawke's Bay, in the Islands of New Zealand.

WHEREAS, by an Act passed in the first Session of the Provincial Council of the Province of Wellington, and now in force within the Province of Hawke's Bay, intituled "An Act to make further provisions relative to Fencing within the Districts of the Province," It is enacted that the Superintendent of the Province should whenever it should appear to him expedient, declare by Proclamation that the said Act should come into operation within any Town or District of the Province, and by the same Proclamation declare the limits of such Town or District, Now, therefore, I Thomas Henry FitzGerald, Superintendent of the Province of Hawke's Bay, do hereby Proclaim and Declare that the said above-mentioned Act shall come into operation within the South District of Mohaka, the boundaries of which I declare to be as follows, viz.:

North-west and North-east the Mohaka River.
South-east the sea.
South the Waikari River.

DATED this 30th day of December,
in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and
fifty-nine.

T. H. FITZGERALD,
Superintendent.