William Spain

William Spain (14 March 1803–5 April 1876)^[1] was a New Zealand land claims commissioner.

Early life

Spain was born in Cowes, Hampshire, England, ^[2] , son of George Spain.^[3]

Appointment as Land Commissioner

William Spain was sent from England by Lord John Russell as commissioner^[4] after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi to investigate claims by the New Zealand company that they had purchased large areas of land at Wellington and Taranaki for settlers. On the way out he was wrecked along with Surveyor-General Charles Ligar at the Cape of Good Hope. The Governor, Sir George Thomas Napier, sent them on in the Antilla, in which Mr. Spain reached Wellington on Dec. 24, 1841, his arrival being welcomed by the natives "as a means of terminating their disputes" with the Company.^[4]

In New Zealand

Spain found that although many Maori had been paid for land the situation was confused by some iwi(tribes) selling land they did not control and in other cases absentee owners had now returned and had received nothing from the original Maori sellers. Spain was handicapped by not speaking any Maori and having little understanding of Maori land ownership practices. He was keen to enforce the right of pre-emption for the British crown. He recognised the problem for the NZ land company, as settlers were already arriving in numbers and needed somewhere to live. He accepted that the best solution was for the New Zealand company to give increased payments to Maori who were willing sellers but who had been absent during the first round of payments.

Colonel William Wakefield appealed to the home Government against Mr. Spain's jurisdiction, but to no effect; the Government declaring its intention of abiding by its commissioner's decisions. Mr. Spain found many difficulties put in his path, and was a long time engaged upon his complicated work. In the meantime the Wairau massacre occurred, concerning which the commissioner wrote: "I have arrived at the conclusion that the conduct of the Company's agents in forcing a survey of the Wairau can only be regarded as an attempt to set British law at defiance, and to obtain possession of a tract of land the title to which was disputed, and at the very time under the consideration of a commissioner specially appointed to report upon it".^[4] Mr. Spain subsequently had an interview with Rauparaha, the leader in the massacre. On June 12, 1844, he delivered his award in regard to the purchase of land at Waitara in Taranaki. This he decided had been a legitimate purchase by Captain Hobson from the Waikato chiefs, and be therefore awarded the New Zealand Company a Crown grant of 60,000 acres. But the decision was much objected to by the Ngatiawa tribe, who claimed that the land was in reality theirs, and had only been conquered by the Waikatos, who, since they did not occupy, were in their Maori law not possessors. The clamour raised about this point was so great that Governor Robert FitzRoy, fearing bloodshed, set aside the award, only giving the Company 3,500 acres. This caused great discontent among the Europeans, and even Mr. Spain was mortified that one of the few awards he had been able to make in favour of the New Zealand Company should be set aside. It was, it may be noted, this Waitara dispute that led eventually to the wars in 1863 and the following years. At the time, too, the various awards were the occasion of more or less trouble on the part of the natives.^[4]

New South Wales

Spain left for New South Wales in 1845 and practised as a solicitor in Sydney until 1851. He was Inspector-General of Police from 1 January 1851 to 31 December 1851.^[3] Spain was appointed as Non-Elective Member of the first New South Wales Legislative Council on 13 October 1851, a position he held until 1 May 1852. ^[3] Spain was again a member of the Council 31 Oct 1856 to 20 May 1858, and built a family home at Waverley, New South Wales on retirement.^[3]

References