D.—S

1874. NEW ZEALAND.

IMMIGRATION. (CORRESPONDENCE RELATING TO THE INTRODUCTION OF IMMIGRANTS UNDER THE CONTRACT WITH THE EMIGRANT AND COLONIST'S AID CORPORATION, AND REPORT BY MR. HALCOMBE ON THE PROGRESS MADE IN THE COLONIZATION OF THE MANCHESTER BLOCK, MANAWATU.) (In continuation of Papers presented 13th August, 1873.)

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by command of His Excellency.

No. 1. Mr. Halcohbe to the Hon. the Colonial Teeasuber. Sib,— Wellington, 11th August, 1873. I have the honor to inform you, that I am prepared, on behalf of the Emigrant and Colonist's Aid Corporation, to pay to the Government the sum of £15,000, at such time after twelve o'clock to-morrow as you may be pleased to appoint. Of the sum so proposed to be paid, £7,500 is to be an absolute payment under the Feilding contract for 10,000 acres of land referred to in former correspondence: the balance, viz. £7,500, is to be held by the Government as a guarantee of the bona fides of the Corporation in the due performance of their contract, and may be hereafter used in the purchase of land at such time as the Government may be pleased to release the amount for that purpose. I am advised that it is necessary for me to obtain such a receipt for the first-mentioned amount of £7,500 as may enable me to deal with the land purchased thereby under the Land Transfer Act. I have therefore the honor to request that, in anticipation of the proposed payment, this subject may receive the consideration of the Government, and that I may be informed, if possible before the time appointed for the payment, what form the receipt will assume. In reference to this matter, I ascertain the position to be as follows : —ln the first place, no proclamation has yet been issued reserving the Manchester Block from the ordinary operation of the Wellington Provincial Land Regulations; and, in the second place, under proclamation by His Honor the Superintendent of Wellington, the Manchester Block forms part of two reserves, viz. the townships of Palmerston and Sandon. With reference to the first point, I am advised that the Government is not in a position to give me a legal receipt for the purchase money of the 10,000 acres until a proclamation has been issued, as provided by section 2 of the Peilding contract. With reference to the second point, it is apparent that, having in view the future operations of the Corporation in dealing in detail with the Manchester Block, and in giving titles to purchasers, it is a matter of very great importance that the lands of the Corporation should be dealt with under the Land Transfer Act as an independent block, freed of the complications necessarily arising from the fact of its forming part of two separate reserves made by the Provincial Government, each of these reserves having sectional numbers bearing no reference to those of the other, and absolutely preventing any uniformity in the registration of the subdivisional section numbers of the Corporation's survey. So far as I have been able to ascertain, all difficulties will be removed by an insertion in the proclamation of the Manchester Block, a clause cancelling the former reservations by the Superintendent so far as they are affected by the new proclamation; and lam allowed to say that His Honor the Superintendent, recognizing the necessity of freeing the Corporation's titles from complication, will raise no objection to the adoption of this or any other legal method by which the Manchester Block may be placed in an independent position for the purposes of registration and transfer. I have made use of the term the " Manchester Block," which is the name given by my Directors to the Fielding purchase, and I should esteem it a favour if you will be pleased to direct that this title shall be adopted in the proclamation of the reserve. I may also observe, for your information, that among the papers in the Public Works or Immigration Office, referring to the Fielding purchase, is a full description of the boundaries of the Manchester Block, which was forwarded some time ago to the Government for the purposes of its proclamation. I have, &c., A. Follett Halcombe, Agent, The Hon. the Colonial Treasurer, Emigrant and Colonist's Aid Corporation Wellington. D.—B.