This letter, from lawyer and politician William Hughes Field to the attorney-general, points out the unfairness of the '10-owner' rule introduced by the Native Lands Act 1865. To simplify Māori land transactions no more than 10 owners were recorded for blocks of less than 5,000 acres. Field refers to a block owned by 11 people, one of whom was left off the certificate of title when the block was sold. He asserts that in any future Māori land legislation, 'provision should be made to remedy the manifest injustice'.
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Alexander Turnbull Library, W. H. Field Collection
Reference: 73-128-089
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