G.—3

3

A block of excellent land in the Hokonui District, comprising 2,000 acres, has been obtained in satisfaction of the aforesaid condition. This property has been let to a tenant for twenty-one years, at £100 per annum, the proceeds to be devoted to educational purposes for the benefit of the Natives residing in the neighbourhood of Foveaux Strait. In fulfilment of the conditions of sale, reserves, containing an aggregate area of 935 acres, were made for the Natives, supplemented by a number of the adjacent islands for bird-catching purposes. Hamilton's Purchase, North of Kaiapoi. As far back as the year 1848, the members of the Ngaitahu Tribe, residing in the northern portion of the Canterbury Province, claimed compensation for land to the north of Kaiapoi, which they asserted had been wrongfully sold by the Ngatitoa Tribe to the Government in 1847. The tract of country for ■which compensation was claimed contained about 1,140,000 acres, extending from the original settlement of Kaiapoi, the northern boundary of Kemp's purchase of 1848, to the Wai-au-ua, a distance of about fifty miles north and south along the coast-line, and from the coast back to the sources of the Ashley (Rakahauri), the Hurunui, and the Wai-au-ua, to the dividing ranges of the East and West Coasts. Of the extent claimed, about 480,000 acres were situated in the Nelson Province, and the remaining 660,000 acres in the Canterbury Province. The Natives demanded in payment either a sum of £500, or £150 and certain large reserves, urging, as a reason for the latter, that they wanted room for their increasing stock. The question was finally settled in February, 1857, by Mr. Hamilton, so far as the Kaiapoi claimants were concerned, by a payment to them of £500, it being found advisable to pay the larger sum in preference to giving the smaller with the reserves asked for, which, under existing circumstances, it was not considered expedient to grant, from the various European interests it would involve. In addition to the sum of £500 paid to the Kaiapoi Natives for their claims, MatiahaTeramorehu, of Moeraki, was paid £200 in 1867, in compensation for his interest in a large extent of country within the boundaries of the aforesaid block. This payment augmented the sum previously paid for unsatisfied claims to the north of Kaiapoi to £700. Reference to the plan will show that the country dealt with iv this negotiation included land formerly ceded within the boundaries of Kemp's purchase. This was not attributable, however, to any intention on the part of the Natives to sell the land twice over, but proceeded entirely from the want of authentic information at that time of the exact position of the northern boundary of the territory previously ceded. Kaikoura Purchase. North of the Eiver Wai-au-ua, and extending as far north as the Wairau Bluff, there still remained an unsettled claim to be disposed of in favour of the section of the Ngaitahu Tribe residing at Kaikoura, ■who had been overlooked in the payments made to the northern tribes in 1847 and subsequently. The block claimed extended from the Hurunui to Cape Campbell seawards, and from the coast back to Lake Sumner and the sources of the Rivers Wai-au-ua, Clarence, and Wairau, the north-western boundary being the White Bluff, containing an aggregate of 2,500,000 acres. The Natives at first demanded £5,000 for their claims, but ultimately consented to accept £300 and sufficient reserves for their use and occupation. The question was finally settled in March, 1859, for the last-named sum and reserves to the extent of 5,565 acres. Arahura Purchase. In 1856, when the claims of the northern tribes were finally settled to land in the South Island, the claims of a small remnant of the Ngaitahu Tribe, residing beyond the western ranges, remained unsettled, owing to the difficulty of communicating with that part of the country. These people had not participated either in the distribution of the money paid to the Ngaitahu Tribe for the country included in Kemp's purchase. The claims of these people were investigated in 1859-60, and a final settlement effected in May of latter year by a payment of £300 and a reserve of land of 10,024 acres, of which 6,724 were set apart for individual occupation, and 3,500 acres to produce a fund for education and eleemosynary purposes, for the benefit of the resident Natives. The settlement of this question and the subsequent purchase of Stewart's Island finally disposed of all the land claims in the South, excepting those arising out of the unfulfilled promises of schools and hospitals and other advantages. The only lands to the south of Cook Strait over which the Native title has not been extinguished, exclusive of reserves, are the islands of Ruapuke, in Foveaux Strait, Rangitoto or D'Urville's Island in Cook Strait, a block of land at Wakapuaka to the north of Nelson, and one at West Whanganui. The total quantity of land reserved for Native purposes in the South and Stewart's Islands, exclusive of the block of 44,000 acres at West Whanganui, which does not come under the category of reserves, amounts to 75,544 acres 2 roods and 14 perches. Trusting that the brief sketch of the several purchases dealt with in the foregoing report, with its accompanying map, may prove useful for future reference, I have, &c, Alexandeb Mackay, The Under Secretary, Native Department, Wellington. Commissioner. By Authority : Gf.oege Didsbpbt, Government Printer, Wellington.—lB76.