14

law, and could not be rendered effective
by any exercise of the prerogative.

9. By the Act 14th and 15th Victoria,
   c. 86, sec. 10, taken in connexion with
   the previous Act 9th and 10th Victoria,
   c. 382, sec. 51, the award of an officer to
   be nominated by you will have the ex-
   onerating effect which the Colonial Or-
   dinance assumes to give to the decision
   of a Government Commissioner, subject
   only to this limitation, that as the Eng-
   lish Acts of Parliament only contem-
   plate the issue of grants of land, the ex-
   onerating effect will not extend to cases
   in which the alleged liabilities of the
   Crown have been satisfied in scrip. If,
   therefore, an award wrongly made in
   favour of a person who shall prove not
   entitled has been so satisfied, the Crown
   will remain liable to discharge its obligation
   a second time when the rightful
   owner appears. Some mode may occur
   to you of obviating this possibility; but
   even should this not be the case, I do
   not think the mere chance of such an in-
   convenience need interfere with your
   operations in settling the claims of the
   Company’s settlers. I need scarcely ob-
   serve, however, that it furnishes an addi-
   tional reason for caution in examining
   them.

10. I have next to point out, that under
    the first section of the same Act and the
    instructions conveyed in Lord Grey’s de-
    spatch of August 5th, 1851, you are not
    only empowered (subject to the above
    condition as to price) to make regula-
    tions for the disposal of Crown Lands
    within the Cook’s Straits settlements, but,
    without any such restriction, to make re-
    gulations “for the closing and deter-
    mination of the affairs of the said set-
    tlements.” If you think it advisable, (in
    conjunction with the general feeling of
    the settlers) to exercise this power, I
    apprehend that the regulations respecting
    the price of land contained in the New
    Zealand Company’s terms of purchase
    would fall of themselves, and the instruc-
    tions as to the sale of land, which are in
    force in the rest of the colony, would at
    once take effect within the settlements.
    Further, the 72nd section of the new
    Constitutional Act invests the General
    Assembly with a power wholly unre-
    stricted (except as regards Canterbury and
    Otago) of “regulating the sale, letting,
    disposing and occupation of the Waste
    lands of the Crown in New Zealand.”
    And the proviso contained in the same
    section, taken conjointly with the 79th

section, declares that, until otherwise
enacted by the General Assembly, the
same powers shall be exercised by the
Crown, or the Governor if duly authorised
by the Crown. It follows that under the
authority conveyed to you in my de-
spatch of the 16th instant, enclosing the
Constitutional Act, you will be at liberty
to make such regulations generally
throughout New Zealand for the disposal
of land during the short interval which
may elapse, until the Assembling of the
New Legislature, as you may think ad-
visable, nor can I foresee any legal difficulty
in regard to the mode of dealing with
Crown Lands, which these very large
powers will not enable you to overcome.

11. The quasi-judicial machinery es-
    tablished by the Colonial Ordinance will, I
    hope, suffice to deal satisfactorily with most
    of the compensation claims which may
    call for revision. With regard to these, I
    think that although cases of gross fraud or
    exorbitancy should be severely scrutinised,
    yet the mass of the claims should be dealt
    with in such a liberal spirit as may secure
    a general submission to the provisions of
    the ordinance. And I take this oppor-
    tunity of observing that I do not consider
    that the merits of any particular case,
    involving as they all do mixed consid-
    erations of justice and policy, can be properly
    dealt with in this country. I cannot, of
    course, prevent, or prohibit direct appeals
    from any decisions at which the autho-
    rities appointed by you may arrive, to the
    Secretary of State, if the parties choose
    to make them; but it is my earnest wish,
    if possible, to leave the adjustment of
    each separate case entirely to those
    authorities.

12. With regard, therefore, to compen-
    sations in Wellington and New Plymouth
    (if there are such) I apprehend that you
    will have no difficulty. With regard to
    Nelson the case is different. Lord Grey
    transmitted to you by his despatch of
    January 10th last, copy of a report
    from the Land and Emigration Com-
    missioners, dated December 10th, 1851,
    from which you will have perceived that
    the law advisers of the Crown had reported
    that the resolutions adopted at Nelson,
    on July 1st, 1847, were binding on the
    Company, and consequently, on the
    Crown. Her Majesty’s Government
    have, therefore, no alternative, but to
    regard them as still in force, and to
    consider the proprietors of land at Nelson
    who may be within the terms of those
    resolutions as entitled to demand com-