Page:Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand.pdf/47

 Rh Do you conceive, if he does not proceed immediately to plant that Tract of Country, the Chief will sell it again, if he is tempted to do so?
 * Not while he remains; but if he came to England and left it in that State it is probable it would be sold again.

Are the Chiefs hereditary?
 * Yes.

Is it always the eldest Son who succeeds?
 * Not always; it depends very much upon whether it was the head Wife's Son. He may have an elder Son by a Slave Wife, who would not rank with the Son of a head Wife.

As it is the Custom that the Son should succeed the Father, would they not, if they knew this Gentleman had a Son, think he had a Title to the Land?
 * Yes, if the Purchaser took Possession of it, and remained upon the Spot; if he left it wholly, as Tamaka was left, they would probably sell it again, and the whole Tribe share in the Payment.

Can you state in round Numbers the Amount of Acres purchased in that Sale?
 * It appeared to me to be quite a County; an immense large Tract.

Is it 2,000 or 3,000 Acres?
 * More than that.

What was given for it?
 * Large Quantities of Blankets; there were Two small Cart Loads of Blankets; there was a large Pile of them as they were thrown in a Heap. There were also Axes, Adzes, Razors, Scissors, and Knives, Tobacco and Pipes, and many other Things.

What did they want Razors for?
 * To shave themselves with.

Do you suppose that it cost the Individual who gave those Things 100l. to purchase this Estate?
 * I should think not more than 150l.

To purchase nearly what you would call a County?
 * Yes.

Do you think that if the Natives hereafter should find that was a very small Sum for the Purchase of that Land, they would be satisfied?
 * I have no Reason to believe but that they would be perfectly satisfied; they seem surprised to think that they should have so large a Payment.

The Land, in the State in which it was sold, did not produce the Value of 100l, to the Seller?
 * It produced nothing except Fern and Wood; it is in part a Timber District.

A Timber District is valuable?
 * Yes; and that was what occasioned the Payment to be so great, or they would not have had more than 80l. Worth of Property.

The Europeans barter for Wood; they do not pay them in Money?
 * There is a Gentleman near Tamaka who has been employed in sending Wood to England; he has Natives and Europeans employed by him to cut the Timber down. The Natives wish the Europeans to employ them as well as Europeans. I believe they would not suffer Europeans to go and cut down Wood, and bring it away, without employing them.

Do you think it would be very popular with the Natives in that Country if People were to purchase 10,000 Acres of them, and then cultivate that by Europeans?
 * I believe it would be the Means of breeding Discontents between the Natives and Europeans; they would consider that it was not right that Europeans should be employed in preference to them; but if they were

included you might employ as many Europeans as you pleased. (123.1.)