Wellington, 12 December, 1848. Sir, I do myself the honor to enclose for your Excellencys information a copy of a letter which I addressed to Capt. King the Resident Magistrate at Taranaki with reference to the purchase of a block of land of 1500 acres in the Puketapu district. Subsequently to Capt. Kings receipt of my communication the sum of two hundred pounds, therein alluded to, was handed over to the Natives, and the money expended in the purchase of 22 heifers and steers 3 horses and acask of tobc. the majority of the claimants having executed a deed of sale. The reasons which induced the Resident Magistrate (the present Agent of the N.Z. Company at Taranaki being a party to the transaction) and myself to bring this negotiation to a conclusion so far, are so fully specified in the enclosure that it may be unnecessary for me again to repeat them, further than to observe to your Excellency as I had the honor of doing yesterday, that I do not consider the purchase in the present state of the