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An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

No. 38. — Mr. Commissioner Searancke to the Chief Commissioner

No. 38.
Mr. Commissioner Searancke to the Chief Commissioner.

Pukekohe.—Report on disputed Reserve. Land Commissioner's Office, Auckland, 17th November, 1857.

Sir,—

I have the honor to submit, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, the following report upon the disputed reserve at Pukekohe.

The final purchase of Pukekohe Block was made by the late Surveyor-General (C. Ligar, Esq.) and Mr. District Commissioner Johnson, on the 16th June, 1853.

A reserve of land, particularly named as Te Awanui o Taikehu, is made in the Deed of Sale for the aboriginal owners, neither the extent nor the boundaries being there defined, but after completion of the sale a verbal arrangement respecting the boundaries was made with the Natives, I believe by Mr. Johnson. In the latter part of the same year, 1853, Mr. E. Fairburn was instructed by the Surveyor-General to mark out the block into sections; which duty being performed, he returned to Auckland, and was followed immediately by Ihaka and Mohi, who, at an interview with the Surveyor- General, stated that the piece of land reserved by them for their own use, and known by the name of the Awanui o Taikehu, had been included by Mr. Fairburn in his survey; they complained also that Mr. Fairburn had not, in accordance with Mr. Ligar's promise, given them notice of his survey of Pukekohe, in order that some of them might have accompanied him to point out the limits of their reserve. In consequence of this protest, the Crown grants for European selection in this block were for some time withheld, but subsequently issued.

The Natives have constantly, from that time to the present, both verbally and in writing, protested against the occupation of this land; they have also repeatedly cautioned the settlers themselves, in a firm though friendly manner, against making improvements on land which was especially reserved by themselves at the time of the sale.

Having received instructions from you, as Chief Land Purchase Commissioner, to investigate this case, I wrote to Mohi and Ihaka, who arrived in Auckland on the 2nd instant, when, as they still persisted in their claims, and after several days discussion no settlement was arrived at, I agreed that we should proceed on to the ground, when the precise locality of the Awanui o Taikehu, named in the deed as the reserve, might be pointed out to me.

Ihaka and Mohi did not keep their appointment with me at Pukekohe, but I obtained the assistance of several other natives of the same tribe, who clearly pointed out the land claimed by them, being a large and very fertile tract of country, dotted with their former settlements and cultivations; the burial places also of several of their chiefs were pointed out upon the land thus claimed, the precise extent of the land which they demand I found it difficult to define, but have marked it on the accompanying sketch by a yellow line.

The reserve set out for them by Mr. E. Fairburn, but which the natives have never recognized as the one originally agreed upon between Mr. Johnson and themselves, I have marked with a pink line; the area of this is about Three thousand one hundred and fifteen acres (3,115 acres).

Having been now for some time endeavoring to settle this dispute with the Natives, and finding that they are resolved to maintain their claim upon this land, for which Crown grants have been issued to European settlers, and a large portion of it actually in their occupation, as re-sold by the original purchaser under the Crown; considering also that any acknowledgment on my part of the right of the Aborigines to any portion of land sold by Government to private individuals, would tend to shake that confidence in the value of a title from the Crown which it is desirable to maintain undisturbed, I have throughout my negotiation with Ihaka and Mohi treated the matter lightly, and page 295as a casual error of the surveyor arising from his ignorance of the localities. In this light the Natives look upon it, but depend upon His Excellency to restore to them the land which was especially reserved at the time of the sale of the Pukekohe Block, and which is now held and occupied by European settlers.

The extent of land claimed by the Natives as included in their reserve, but which has been sold by the Crown to private individuals, is about Two thousands and ninety-nine acres (2,099 acres). On this there are three residents, Messrs. Carruth, Meldrum, and Arrowsmith, occupying together 793 acres.

Duly considering the extent of the interests thus involved, and the extreme difficulty and delicacy of this question, I have most carefully abstained from committing myself to any initiative step towards its adjustment, wishing the Natives rather to propose some means of settling it. As they have not done so, confining their claim to the land itself, I am compelled to refer the case back to next, the 19th instant, in order that this long protracted dispute may at once be settled.

The quantity of land contained within the boundaries of this reserve as claimed at present by the Natives, and pointed out to me upon the spot, is about Five thousand and fifty-four acres, but Messrs. Baber and White, who were present at the verbal arrangement with Mr. Johnson, expressly state that they are not entitled to more than two miles square, i.e., Two thousand five hundred and sixty acres (2,560 acres), which, to include the lands known by the name of Te Awanui o Taikehu, and the boundaries as mentioned in Mr. District Commissioner Johnson's Memorandum, would cover not only the lands occupied by Messrs. Arrowsmith, Meldrum, and Carruth, and the section owned by Messrs. Hall and Fairburn, with a small portion of Mr. R—'s section, but also Twelve hundred and sixty acress of the reserve as set out by Mr. Fairburn.

I have, &c.,

William N. Searancke.

Donald McLean, Esq., Chief Commissioner, Auckland.