✨ Report on Native Land Purchases
NEW ZEALAND
GOVERNMENT GAZETTE
(PROVINCE OF NELSON).
Published by Authority.
All Public Notifications which appear in this Gazette, with any Official Signature thereunto annexed, are to be considered as Official Communications made to those Persons to whom they may relate, and are to be obeyed accordingly.
By His Honour's command,
ALFRED DOMETT, Provincial Secretary.
VOL. VI. NELSON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1858. No. 5.
Provincial Secretary's Office,
Nelson, February 4, 1858.
HIS Honour the Superintendent directs the publication of the following Report, with its inclosures, for general information.
By his Honour's command,
ALFRED DOMETT,
Provincial Secretary.
MR. COMMISSIONER M'LEAN'S FINAL REPORT ON THE PURCHASE OF NATIVE LANDS IN THE PROVINCE OF NELSON.
To the Honourable the COLONIAL SECRETARY, &c., &c., &c., Auckland.
Land Commissioner's Office,
Auckland, April 7, 1856.
SIR—I have the satisfaction to report to you, for the information of his Excellency the Governor, that the negotiations entered into—previous to Sir George Grey's departure in 1853—with the Ngatitoa tribe, for the cession of their unextinguished claims over the Nelson and Canterbury Provinces, have at length been brought to a favourable termination.
-
In order that his Excellency may be enabled more easily to form a general view of the whole of the transaction, I may here advert briefly to some of the earlier circumstances connected with the purchase.
-
After repeated meetings and discussions with the Ngatitoa and Ngatitama tribes, who at first intended only to cede a portion of their less valuable land on the West Coast; a deed of sale was executed by them at Wellington, on the tenth of August, 1853—by which they agreed, subject to certain reservations, to relinquish in favour of the Crown, for a sum of five thousand pounds (£5,000), the whole of their claims upon the Middle Island.
-
These reservations consisted of the cultivations and lands required for the subsistence of the natives resident in the district; it being always distinctly understood that Rangitoto, or D'Urville's Island, was excepted from the sale.
-
A first portion of the purchase money, amounting to two thousand pounds (£2,000), was paid at the time of the execution of the deed; the balance of three thousand pounds (£3,000), remained to be discharged in six (6) annual instalments of five hundred pounds (£500) each.
-
In addition to the cash consideration payable to the Natives, which, from the smallness of the sum, they evinced some reluctance to accept; it was further agreed by Sir George Grey that fifteen (15) of the principal chiefs should have scrips awarded to them, representing fifty pounds (£50) each; which should be
Next Page →
Nelson Provincial Gazette 1858, No 5
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🪶 Publication of Commissioner McLean's Report on Native Land Purchases
🪶 Māori Affairs4 February 1858
Native land, Land purchase, Nelson Province, Report
- Alfred Domett, Provincial Secretary
🪶 Mr. Commissioner McLean's Final Report on the Purchase of Native Lands in the Province of Nelson
🪶 Māori Affairs7 April 1856
Native land, Land purchase, Ngatitoa, Ngatitama, Middle Island, Land cession
- George Grey (Sir), Governor involved in land negotiations
- Donald McLean, Commissioner