§ MR. LABOUCHERE moved for a Select Committee to inquire into the expediency of guaranteeing by Act of Parliament the liquidation of a loan to be contracted in pursuance of an Act passed by the Legislature of New Zealand for defraying the debt of the colony to the New Zealand Company, toward extinguishing the native title to lands in certain portions of the colony, and for other purposes. He said that the necessity for doing so arose from the difficulties which had arisen between the colony and the New Zealand Company. When he entered the Colonial Office, he found that the noble Lord, the Member for the City of London, had sanctioned an arrangement by which the company agreed to accept a gum of £200,000 in full of all claims on the colony. This amount has to be raised by a loan under the guarantee of this country. When the proposal came before the Colonial Legislature, those portions of the colony which were not involved in the transaction with the company objected to have this sum charged 852 on the customs duties of the whole colony, but offered to agree to a loan of 500,000, if the balance was applied to general purposes. He thought it better to have the opinion of a Select Committee before he introduced any Bill to the House. But no time was to be lost, as the matter was urgent.
§ Motion agreed to.
§
Select Committee appointed,
To inquire into the expediency of guaranteeing by Act of Parliament, the liquidation of a loan to be contracted in pursuance of an Act passed by the Legislature of New Zealand, for defraying the debt of the Colony to the New Zealand Company, toward extinguishing the native title to lands in certain portions of the Colony, and for other purposes.
§ House adjourned at One o'clock.