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A Compendium of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs in the South Island. Volume Two.

No. 5. — J G. Johnson, Esq., to D. McLean, Esq

No. 5.
J G. Johnson, Esq., to D. McLean, Esq.

Lyttelton, 11th May, 1856.

Sir,—

I have the honor to enclose a letter which has been addressed to you by the Natives of Kaiapoi on the north side of the Canterbury block.

The tribes who inhabit that place, Port Levy, and Banks' Peninsula, appear to be the same; their number is estimated at three to four hundred, and they inform me that if I am not prepared to adjust the grievance they complain of, that they will use all their influence to prevent a settlement of the question on Banks' Peninsula.

I have been fortunate enough to obtain a copy of the Blue Book, containing the reports of Commissioners Kemp and Mantell, and I gather from that source that the Natives of Kaiapoi urged their page 9claims before Mr. Mantell, who declined interfering, as it was outside the limits of Mr. Kemp's purchase of the Canterbury Province, to which Mr. Mantell's commission was confined; but at the same time, he expressed his opinion that the Ngatitoa had no right to sell the land so far south as Kaiapoi.

As far as I can learn, the claim of Ngaitahu to compensation for their land sold by the Ngatitoa to the north of Kaiapoi is a just one, and, if further investigation should confirm this opinion, I would recommend that I be authorized to extinguish this claim by a payment of a sum not exceeding one hundred and fifty pounds. When justice has been done to the Kaiapoi Natives, I shall then be in a position to make use of their influence in carrying out Mr. Mantell's award at Akaroa; which influence will be necessary if the arrangements at Akaroa should be attended with any difficulty.

Kaiapoi is the boundary on the northern side between the Canterbury and Nelson Provinces; and the land over which the Kaiapoi Natives appear to have a claim, is within the Nelson Province, in the block from the Wairau to Kaiapoi, the particulars of which, and by whom purchased, I am not aware.

If the liquidation of this claim should be sanctioned by the Government, it will be seen that it is for land in Nelson Province, the owners of which reside in the adjoining portions of the Canterbury block.

I have, &c.,

John Grant Johnson,
Commissioner N.L.P.

Donald McLean, Esq., Chief Land Commissioner, Auckland.