3

to their desire have been fully reported in my
letter to you of the fifteenth (15) December,
1854, and in one of the same date addressed
to Major Richmond, copies of which are here-
with enclosed.

17. I should here add, that the two old
    chiefs who participated in this payment, and
    who have since both died, expressly charged
    their surviving relatives to use their utmost
    influence in the Government to settle
    this question, and this duty, as a parting
    request of these chiefs, they have most assidu-
    ously and faithfully performed.

18. The instalments now paid, together
    with one hundred pounds (£100) to one of
    the Ngatiawa chiefs, at Gore Harbour, com-
    pleted the sum of five thousand pounds (£5,000)
    stipulated for in the original Ngatitoa deed of
    sale. As there remained, however, unsettled
    claims of various resident tribes, I applied
    for and obtained a further advance of two
    thousand pounds (£2,000) to comple the
    purchase.

19 Owing to repeated and most unexpected
interruptions, arising from my being obliged
to go to Wairarapa and Hawke Bay; thence
by the east coast to Auckland, and twice
(owing to disturbances there) to Taranaki; dis-
appointed, moreover, in not being able to get
the natives of the North Island, from illness,
attention to their crops, or other causes, to
accompany me; I was unable to pay that
attention to the claims of the residents in the
Nelson Province, which it was my earnest
desire to have done, with a view to the
speedier settlement of a most important ques-
tion, which had been already so long pending,
and which the natives, though their patience
must have been greatly exhausted by these
delays, declined to settle with any other
officer except the one who commenced the
negociations.

20. On the thirtieth (30) October, 1855, I
    was instructed by his Excellency Colonel Gore
    Browne to accompany him from Taranaki to
    Nelson, where an opportunity was afforded,
    from the number of natives assembled there,
    to effect an arrangement with the Ngatiraua
    and Ngatitama for a sum of
    six hundred pounds (£600), the receipt of
    which is acknowledged in the deed executed
    by them on the tenth (10) and thirteenth (13)
    of November, 1855.

21. This deed provides that the land ex-
    hibited on the plan thereto attached shall be
    reserved for the natives; it is, together with
    what they elsewhere possess, of sufficient
    extent for their present and future requirements
    even if they have a considerable increase of
    cattle and horses; it is situated within natural
    boundaries, requiring no outlay for surveys,
    and lies on a part of the West Coast, as yet
    remote from European settlers, but which the
    natives were particularly anxious to retain.
    A Government right of road, should it in future
    be required, is provided for by a clause to that
    effect inserted in the deed.

22. In proceeding by the Zingari from
    Nelson to Wellington, with his Excellency the
    Governor, on the thirteenth (13) November,
    1855, a survey party and interpreter were taken
    on board, and landed on the way in Queen
    Charlotte Sound, with instructions to lay off
    the necessary reserves in that part of the
    Nelson Province. This duty they were enabled
    to perform without much opposition on the
    part of the Maories, and by the fifteenth (15)
    January in this year the reserves were marked
    off.

23. On the twenty-fourth (24) of that
    month I crossed the Straits from Wellington
    to Cloudy Bay, in a small vessel; taking along
    with me the Ngatitoa chiefs Rawiri Puaha,
    Hohepa Tamaihenga, and others, and was
    followed by Matene te Whiwhi and Tamihana
    te Rauparaha in the course of a few days.

24. The left bank of the Wairau river being
    the southern boundary of the purchase, I held
    a meeting with the natives of that place, in
    number about one hundred and twenty (120).
    They fully assented to the sale, having partici-
    pated, except a small party of the Rangitane,
    in the first and second payments made at
    Porirua.

25. To the Rangitane one hundred pounds
    (£100) was now paid in full satisfaction of all
    their claims.

26. The reserves laid off at the Wairau
    consist of seven hundred and seventy (770)
    acres on the left bank of that river; a small
    bay, named White's Bay; and about two
    hundred (200) acres adjacent thereto; and two
    (2) sections, of fifty (50) acres each, to the
    chiefs Wiremu Nera te Kanae and te Tana
    Pukekohatu. The latter section has been
    marked out; but the former, in consequence
    of the absence of Te Kanae, though its general
    position was defined, had not been surveyed.
    For these two sections I beg to recommend
    that individual Crown Grants should be issued
    to the above-named chiefs.

27. From the Wairau I sailed for Tory
    Channel and Queen Charlotte's Sound; a
    portion of the country inhabited chiefly by the
    Ngatiawa. The people had assembled at
    Waikawa to meet me; when, after several
    debates, which lasted for some days, I was
    enabled to effect a final settlement of their
    claims for a sum of five hundred pounds
    (£500), the receipt of which is acknowledged
    in the deed signed by them on the ninth (9)
    February, 1856.

28. The unsettled state of the Ngatiawa
    tribe, and the disposition manifested by them