Assets Company v Mere Roihi ; Assets Company v Wiremu Pere ; Assets Company v Panapa Waihopi ; Assets Company v Wi Pere ; Assets Company v Teira Ranginui ; Assets Company v Heni Tipuna

FIRST-NAMED appeals from a decree of the Court of Appeal (Oct. 29, 1902) in favour of the respondents, declaring the proceedings of the Native Land Court, the provisional register in the Land Transfer Office, the Governor's warrant, and the certificate of title issued thereon, to be void, and ordering the certificate of title issued thereon to be delivered up to the district land registrar at Gisborne to be cancelled, and the register to be amended accordingly, with costs.

Second appeals from a decree of the same Court (Nov. 8, 1902) declaring that the appellants were trustees of the lands in suit for the respondents, who were entitled to mesne profits for such period since June 18, 1879, as was not barred by limitation.

Third appeals from a decree (Oct. 29, 1902) declaring that the instruments by which the appellants claimed were void, and that the registration thereof upon the provisional register and the certificate of title issued to the appellants were also void, and that the certificate should be delivered up to the district land registrar at Gisborne to be cancelled, and that both registers should be amended accordingly. Mesne profits were also directed to be recovered.

The respondents in all three appeals are aboriginal natives of New Zealand. The respondents to the first appeal claimed to be owners according to native custom of a block of land called Waingaromia No. 3, as found in their favour on March 22, 1876, by the Native Land Court, which ordered that a memorial of ownership be issued. But at the time of such finding they alleged that no approved plan of the land within the meaning of ss. 33, 71, and 83 of the Native Land Court Act of 1873 was in existence, nor was any memorial of ownership under s. 47 actually issued therefor until 1889. The appellants, on the other hand, alleged that one Cooper purchased the block from the native owners by a memorandum of transfer of December 9, 1876, and on December 28, 1876, obtained an order in freehold tenure under the Act of 1873, and on February 5, 1877, provisionally registered this order under the Land Transfer Act of 1874. In April, 1889, they, as mortgagees from Cooper, obtained from the Native Land Court (the Chief Judge signing for John Rogan, a retired judger a memorial of ownership in favour of the respondents antedated March 22, 1876, caused to be indorsed thereon the certificates provided by ss. 61 and 75 of the Native Land Act, 1873, and the order in freehold tenure all dated December 28, 1876, and in favour of Cooper, and caused the memorial with its indorsements to be provisionally registered. They then obtained from the Governor of the Colony a certificate of title issued to Cooper, and from Cooper a transfer to themselves of the lands in suit, and from the district land registrar a certificate of title thereto. Two suits were then brought, which, so far as material to this appeal, were for the same object — namely, to have the certificate of title called in and cancelled, or to have the appellants declared trustees for the plaintiffs.

The respondents to the second appeal claimed to be owners according to native custom of a block of land called Waingaromia No. 2, declared to be such by a memorial of ownership dated March 22, 1880, issued by the Native Land Court, and that they had neither sold to the appellants nor done any act whereby they ceased to be owners, nor had the memorial been cancelled or destroyed in accordance with law. The Native Land Court had, however, on February 19, 1877, issued a similar memorial, although at that time no approved plan sufficient to give the Court jurisdiction was in existence. The said Cooper had on the previous January 9 obtained a memorandum of transfer, and on June 28, 1877, an order in freehold tenure of the lands in suit, and caused it to be provisionally registered. These proceedings the respondents alleged had been annulled by order of the Governor in January, 1879, i.e., prior to March 22, 1880; but the liquidators of the Glasgow Bank, as assignees of Cooper, caused the certificates and order in freehold tenure required by ss. 61 and 75 of the Native Land Act, 1873, to be indorsed on the memorial of March, 1880, and obtained a certificate of title from the district land registrar dated August 28, 1882. On August 15, 1883, they also registered the Glasgow Bank Act, 1882, which vested the land in them.

The respondents to the third appeal claimed that they and others had been found to be owners of the block Rangatira by a memorial of ownership dated May 21, 1875, issued by the Native Land Court; and that after partition an order had been made on May 12, 1886, under the Native Land Division Act, 1882, declaring them to be owners of Rangatira No. 2 (the lands in suit), which order also directed that a Crown grant should issue to them. The...