the different purchases which were made from time to time by Mr. McLean, or under his direction in that district. One of these purchases was attended by me long before I entered the Land Purchase Department and it was clear to those who witnessed the transaction that the Commissioner exhibited an amount of energy, unwearying attention and caution, in dividing the purchase money among the respective families who owned the land, which established him in the good opinion of the leaders of the Taranaki tribes. When I was a land purchase Commissioner in the Native Department I may say, without being egotistical, I was not unsuccessful in purchasing land under that system, and I am not aware of any real dispute or protest having been raised out of any land purchased by me except in a political point of view by the adherents of the so called Maori King. I am however prepared to say that even before the Native Lands Act became law the Natives in the Kaipara district were so dissatisfied with the amounts I was authorized to offer that it would have been very difficult if not