78

as it appears from Mr. Collins' statement
he has done.

Under these circumstances I think that
the strict enforcement of the Notice given
by me would be attended with much in-
justice to parties situated as Mr. Collins
is, who, having acted on the faith of state-
ments made to them by the late Commis-
sioner at Hawke's Bay, would now in
consequence of his subsequent receipt of
Deposits from later applicants for the
same Runs, and the terms of my Notice
issued in ignorance of the course pur-
sued by him, find themselves postponed
in favour of the later applicants.

The only course by which the injustice
referred to can be obviated will be to
withdraw the Notice already given by me,
and issue one in the enclosed form, which,
if your Honor approves of the course
suggested, may be inserted in the next
Gazette.

Your Honor will observe that I have
limited the terms of the present Notice
to the Hawke's Bay District; the few ap-
plications registered by Mr. Bell being
all on the West Coast, and being unac-
companied by Deposit—nearly all of
them without boundaries—and no occu-
pation under them having taken place—
no inconvenience or injustice will arise
from my previous Notice, which in cases
not complicated like those in the Hawke's
Bay District, is, I think, still applicable
and expedient.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your very obedient Servant,
WILLIAM FOX,
Chief Land Commissioner.

His Honor the Superintendent
of the Province of Wellington.

STATEMENT FOR THE CONSIDER-
ATION OF THE COMMISSIONER
OF CROWN LANDS.

That in July 1854, I applied for a Run
in the Porangahau Block.

That my application was received by
the Commissioner of Crown Lands at
Ahuriri, and acknowledged by him to be
the first application for the Run in ques-
tion.

That I was promised the Run by him
on its purchase from the Natives.

That in 1855, a notice was published in
the Gazette, which made it imperative
on all first applicants for Runs to pay de-
posits on the same, before they could be
received by the Commissioner.

That in the latter part of 1855, I called

at the office of the Commissioner of
Crown Lands at Ahuriri, and was by him
informed that the Notice above mention-
ed, referred to all future applications, not
to applications such as mine, which had
been made before the said notice was
published.

That my claim was again allowed by
the Commissioner to be the first to the
Run in question, and that I was again
promised the Run on its purchase from
the Natives.

That the established practice at Ahuriri
has been that the first applicant for a
Run should have the prior claim to it,
and that this practice has been acted upon
in almost every case in which a Run has
been granted in the Ahuriri District.

That in 1856, (two years after the date
of my application) applications were re-
ceived at the Commissioner's Office at
Ahuriri for the same Run, and deposits
were made on the same.

That the Commissioner (Mr. Domett)
himself filled up the forms of application
for the said applicants, (as can be now
seen at the Land Office at Ahuriri,) and
further, that the Commissioner transfer-
red my name on the map, (it is usual
at the Ahuriri Land Office to write the
name of the prior applicant for a run on
that portion of the map of the country for
which he has applied) to another portion
of the Block, for which I was not an ap-
plicant, and for which there was also a
prior application.

That on the 17th of April 1857, another
notice was published in the Gazette,
stating, that no applications whether al-
ready made, or hereafter to be made, will
be treated as conferring a priority unless
deposits, at the rate prescribed by the
Regulations of February 1855, be paid
upon the same.

That as soon as possible, after this
notice came to my knowledge, I tender-
ed my deposit, through an Agent, to the
Commissioner at Ahuriri.

That my agent was then informed
by the Commisioner (Mr. Tiffen) that
the applicants of 1856, (who had been
obliged by the Regulations of 1855,
to pay deposits before their applications
could be received) had, through having
paid these deposits, become prior ap-
plicants to myself who had applied two
years before them and whose prior right
to the run had been acknowledged on
two different occasions by the Commis-
sioner of Crown Lands. Or in short that
the notice of 1857, as read by the Com-
missioner at Ahuriri, took from me the