A—No. 1.

Majesty's service for a great part of twenty-two years, will satisfy Her Majesty that I have done my utmost to promote the welfare and happiness of the inhabitants of this part of Her Majesty's possessions. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. GREY.

No. 8. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., to His Grace the Duke of Buckingham. (No. 117.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord Duke, — 4th November, 1867. Adverting to my Despatches No. 106, of the Bth October, and No. 107, of the 11th October, 1867, upon the subject of a petition to Her Majesty from John Topi Patuki, chief of the Ngaitahu and Ngatimamoe tribes, regarding a reserve of land in Princes Street, Dunedin, I have, now the honor to transmit for your Grace's information the further papers noted in the margin which relate to this subject, from which your Grace will find that previously to quitting my Government I have taken care that every requisite steps shall be taken for having the Natives claim to this reserve judiciously decided. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. GREY.

Memo, from Native Minister, Oct. 23, 1867. Memo, from G-ot-ernor to Ministers, Oct. 26, 1867. Order in Council for appropriating £400 for payment of expenses of suit for testing claim of the Natives to a reserve in Princes Street, Dunedin, Oct. 26,1867.

Enclosure 1 in No. 8. Memorandum by Mr. Eichmond. Wellington, 23rd October, 1867. Eeferring to a question put by His Excellency on the subject of the Princes Street Eoserve, Dunedin, I have made inquiry, and find that the Attorney-General advised that no appropriation by the Legislature was necessary to authorize the Colonial Treasurer to pay over the accrued rents to the grantee. He did not, however, express any opinion on the question whether the rents ought or ought not to follow a grant made under circumstances so peculiar as those of the present case. His Excellency stated that he thought the expenses of a suit for testing the validity of the grant should be borne out of the accrued rents of the reserve. That fund is no longer in the Treasury ; but it is in His Excellency's power to order payment out of other rents of Native reserves in which the claimants to Princes Street Eeserve, amongst other persons, are interested. Ministers cannot, of course, offer any objection to a payment which His Excellency's personal connection with several proceedings relating to the Princes Street Eeserve give him a peculiar right to direct. J. C. Eiciimond. His Excellency having raised the question whether any injustice to other claimants to the reserve would attend the payment of the expenses incurred in a suit by or on behalf of the Native claimants, Ministers are of opinion that no injustice would result. J. C. Eichmond.

Enclosure 2 in No. 8. Memorandum by His Excellency the Governor. Government House, "Wellington, 26th October, 1867. The Governor, in pursuance of all powers enabling him in that behalf, directs his Responsible Advisers to lay before him, for his signature, the necessary document directing the payment of the expenses of the suit now pending for testing the validity of the grant for the Princes Street Eeserve, in Dunedin, from the rents of other Native reserves, in which the claimants to the Princes Street Eeserve, amongst other persons, are interested. G. Grey.

Enclosure 3 in No. 8. Copy of an Order in Council. G. Grey, G-overnor. Order in Council. At the Government House at Wellington, the twenty-sixth day of October, 1867. Present: His Excellency the Governor in Council. In exercise and pursuance of all powers and authorities enabling him in this behalf His Excellency the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of New Zealand, directs that to the. extent of four hundred pounds (£400), such funds as shall be necessary to defray the expenses incurred on behalf of the Natives claiming to be interested in the Princes Street Besorve, Dunedin, in prosecuting a suit to test the validity of the grant of the said reserve, made on the eleventh day of January, 1866,

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ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.