P.—No. 11

No. 22. INHABITANTS OF HAMPDEN AND HEEBEET. The Committee direct me to report that the Petition is in accordance with Standing Orders ; that its prayer is that provision may be made in the Bill now before tho House for the disposal of the AVaste Lands of the Crown in the Province of Otago, for the establishment of Town and Farmers' Commons in Agricultural Districts, and that they are of opinion that the Petition should be referred to the Select Committee on AVaste Lands. J. Ceaceoft AVilson, C.8., 7th xAugust, 1566. Chairman. No. 23. INHABITANTS OF SOUTHLAND. The Committee direct me to report as follows:—That the Petition is signed by four hundred and twenty-four persons, whose 'vocation and place of abode are for the most part affixed to their names ; that the prayer of the Petition is that a Commission of Inquiry may be appointed by the General Assembly of New Zealand, to conduct the investigation specified in "The Southland Eailway Commission Ordinance, March, 1866," which Ordinance received the Governor's assent ; that compliance with the prayer of the Petitioners necessarily involves the expenditure of public money; that the Petition not having been recommended by the Crown violates Standing Order No. 260 ; and that consequently the Committee abstain from offering any remarks upon it. J. Ceaceoft Wilson, C.8., 9th August, 1566. . Chairman. No. 24. MOHI NGAPONGA. The Committee direct me to report that clause 7 of the Order in Council of the 16th June, 1866, published in the New Zealand Gazette of the 20th idem, prescribes, in accordance with the provisions of clause 3 of " The New Zealand Settlements Amendment and Continuance Act, 1865," means of appeal from the decisions of Compensation Courts; and that they are of opinion that the Petitioner should have recourse to those means before applying to tho Legislature. J. Ceaceoft AVilson, C.8., 9th August, 1866. Chairman. No. 25. PAPAKUEA ASSOCIATION. The Committee direct me to report that the Petition does not violate Standing Orders; that the Petitioners pray for the further protection of acclimatized birds and animals. The Committee are of opinion that the subject is worth}- of the serious consideration of the Government. J. Ceaceoft AVilson, C.8., 9th August, 1866. Chairman. No. 26. EDAVAED BEOUGHTON. The Committee direct me to report that, although there are two interlineations in tho Petition the words interlined are of no moment, and that they do not in any material way affect the intent and meaning of the Petition. The Petitioner is the brother of the late Charles AVilliam Broughton, who w-as treacherously assassinated on Sunday, Ist October, 1865, by some Maori rebels, in the immediate vicinity of a fortified pa, not very far from Kakaramca, in the Patea District, whither he had been enticed on tho plea of discussing, m his official capacity, some of the conditions of the Peace Proclamation of the 2nd September, 1865, which, as was pretended, required explanation. The deceased left behind him four half-caste children. Another child has been born posthumously, and the Petitioner prays, on behalf of the five orphans and the mother (a Maori by birth) for the kind consideration of the Legislature. The Committee are of opinion that it is the duty of the Colouy to take upon itself the task of educating and providing for the family of the deceased, and they unanimously direct me to suggest that an allowance of two hundred pounds sterling per annum should be granted to the family, provided that the children be educated as European children, to the satisfaction of trustees to be appointed by the Government; forty pounds of such allowance to cease and determine on the death of the mother, and thirty pounds to cease and determine upon the decease or upon the arrival at the age of nineteen years of each child. And further, with a view to leaving for ever in the memory of the Maori race a memento of the detestation in which the dastardly crime committed on the Ist October, 1865, is held by the Colonists of New Zealand, and the fixed determination to reward to the utmost of their power the heroic deeds and devotion of their public servants, that there should be made to the children a grant of land in one block, to include, if possible, the spot where the deceased was assassinated, to the extent of three hundred acres, the same to be inalienable, and so settled, if practicable as to descend intact to the descendants of the orphan children from generation to generation. J. Cbacboft Wilson, C.8., 10th August, 1866. Chairman.

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REPORTS OF COMMITTEE