His Honor the Superintendent, Otago, to the Hon. the Postmaster-General.
Sir,—
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, in reply to mine of the same date, on the subject of certain water frontage reserves in the town of Dunedin.
My letter should have informed you that I had on that day written to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary on the subject to which that letter referred.
From the tenor of the last paragraph of your letter there would appear to be some misapprehension as to the steps taken by Mr. Clarke, when in Dunedin in May last, to obtain such information as it was in the power of the Provincial Government to afford on the subject of its claim to the reserves in question.
About the middle of 1864, Mr. Clarke called on me, and intimated that he was instructed by the General Government to ascertain what objections the Provincial Government had to make to the action of His Excellency Sir George Grey in making a reserve for Natives in Princes Street, Dunedin.
On ascertaining from Mr. Clarke to what reserve he referred, I stated the grounds on which the Government objected to an alienation of the land for Native purposes, at the same time informing him that although I believe documentary evidence was in existence which would sufficiently substantiate the objections urged by me, the discovery of this evidence would probably be attended with some difficulty.
I referred Mr. Clarke to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, in order that he might procure access to the original maps of the town of Dunedin, from which it would be seen that the frontage to the bay had been originally surveyed into sections, but that such sections had afterwards been withdrawn from sale and reserved for public purposes.
Mr. Clarke stated that he would call on me again before leaving Dunedin, in order to ascertain if I could afford him further information on the subject. He also (I believe at my suggestion) intimated his intention to write to me. I have ascertained that Mr. Clarke did call at my office again, but I was not fortunate enough to see him. No letter, however, from that gentleman can be discovered amongst the office correspondence.
In the manner above described the matter as between Mr. Clarke and the Provincial Government began and ended, and I concluded that that gentleman had been satisfied that the objections verbally urged by me were sufficient to deter the General Government from taking further steps for the alienation of the public reserve in question.
Since the date of my last communication to you I have discovered some portions of correspondence on the subject of the reservation of sections fronting Dunedin Harbour, and enclose extracts from them as follows:—
1. | Extract from letter dated Dunedin, 18th June, 1847, addressed by C. H. Kettle, Esq., then Chief Surveyor of the New Zealand Company, to Colonel Wakefield, the Chief Agent of the Company. |
2. | Extract from letter dated 25th November, 1847, from Mr. Harrington, the Secretary to the New Zealand Company, to Captain Cargill, the Company's Agent in Otago; and |
3. | A copy of the indorsement thereon, in the handwriting of Captain Cargill. |
I also enclose an authenticated copy of that part of the original survey map of Dunedin showing the sections in block 8 which appear to have been reserved by His Excellency the Governor for Native purposes. The evidence thus afforded, although not so complete as may yet be obtained, sufficiently proves that the Court of Directors of the New Zealand Company decided that the sections fronting the Dunedin Harbour should be withdrawn from sale to private individuals and reserved for public purposes, and that the withdrawal of the same from sale took place accordingly.
I have been informed that instructions have been received by the Commissioner of Crown Lands to pay to the Sub-Treasurer of the General Government the sum of £6,031 18s. 9d., being part of the amount received by him from the tenants in occupation of the reserve, and that the sum in question has, in compliance with such instructions, been transferred to the General Government account.
This act of the General Government has rendered it necessary that I should lay the matter before the Provincial Council, in order that an expression of their opinion may be obtained on the proposed alienation.
I have, &c.,
J.
Hyde Harris,
Superintendent.