REPORT BY MR. MACKAY RELATIVE TO

A.—No. 17.

18

inspect miners' rights, under clause 2of the Gold Fields Eegulations. I found this plan answer very well on the Native gold field at Taitapu, Nelson. A question was raised as to the licenses of public-houses and stores. The Natives asked for payment for these —£5 for each of the former, and £2 for each of the latter. I finally agreed that £2 should be paid for each publican's license, and £1 for each business license issued for buildings situated on Native lands. I do myself the honor to enclose herewith the agreement made with the Natives on the 11th instant, and I hope it may meet with your approval. I may mention that Mr. Lawlor and his assistants have rendered me valuable aid in completing these questions, and that they fully enter into all my views on the subject. Ido not deem them to blame for the confusion which has arisen. It must be remembered that the management of gold fields is a comparatively new feature of official business in this portion of the Colony, and is at all times sufficiently arduous without being complicated with a Native difficulty. I have, &c, The Hon. the Native Minister. James Maceat, jun.

Enclosure Ea. Tins Agreement made at Kapanga this eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four : Witnesseth the consent of the chiefs and people, the names of whom are hereunto subscribed, to the following conditions under which Europeans and others shall be permitted to " mine for gold " on their lands situated at Kapanga, Ngaurukehu, and Matawai, in the District of Coromandel, in the Province of Auckland, viz. : — 1. All Native lands, at Kapanga, Ngaurukehu, and Matawai, shall be open to " gold miners ;" except pieces reserved for cultivation, burial grounds, and sacred places. 2. No person shall be allowed to " mine for gold" on the said lands, unless he is the holder of a license, duly empowering him in that behalf. 3. Every license shall be issued by an officer duly authorized by the Governor, and shall bear on it the date of issue and the name of the block of Native land on which the holder shall be entitled to mine for gold, cut timber (other than kauri) for gold-mining purposes, and erect buildings. 4. Whenever any person shall desire to commence gold-mining operations on a block of Native land other than that for which his license shall have been originally issued, he shall not remove to such new locality until he receives permission from the Commissioner so to do. The date of such authorized removal shall be indorsed on his license, and entered in the " Gold Fields Eegister." 5. In consideration of the Natives allowing gold mining over the lands specified in this Agreement, the boundaries of which are more particularly defined in the map hereunto annexed, the Government hereby agree to pay, on the 23rd day of July in every year of the continuance of this Agreement, the sum of £1 for each and every "Gold Mining License" which shall have been issued as aforesaid during the previous twelve months ; the money to be apportioned amongst the owners of the Kapanga, Ngaurukehu, and Matawai Blocks, in proportion to the number of gold miners who shall have been employed on each as shown by the " Gold Fields Eegister." G. The Government also agree to pay the sum of £1 for every " Business License," and the sum of £2 for every " Publican's License," which shall be issued for buildings or tenements situated on the Native lands herein described. All payments in respect of such licenses to be made annually on the 23rd day of July. The first payment to be made on the 23rd day of July, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. In witness of the consent of the said chiefs and people to all the terms and conditions of this Agreement, they have hereunto set their hands, on the day and in the year first above written ; and in witness of the consent of the Government to their part of this Agreement, the name of James Mackay the younger, Civil Commissioner of the District of Waihou, is hereunto attached : —■ Tanewha Ecnata, his x mark. Pita Taurua. Kapanga. Makoare. Patene Puhata, his x mark. Ema, her x mark. Wiremu Epiha, his x mark. Eawiri Takurua. James Mackay, junior. Signed in the presence of vs — H. Charles Lawlor. Alan Baillie. H. Clinton Baddeley. "Witness to the signature of Patene Puhata, attached at Pakihi on the 13th October, 1864 — Tireni Te Hura Tioriori. Witness to the signatures of Ema, Wiremu Epiha, and Eawiri Takuma— Tioriori Te Hura. Kapanga, sth October, 1864. I, Eiria Paora Karepe, hereby consent that the sum of five hundred pounds, payable yearly, for the rent of the Tokotea Gold Field, in accordance with the agreement entered into on the 23rd June, 1862, shall now and hereafter be paid by four equal quarterly instalments of one hundred and twenty-five pounds each, payable on the 23rd day of September, 23rd day of December, 23rd day of March, and 23rd day of June in each and every year of the continuance of the said agreement. I, James Mackay