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obtained authorized surveys on lands negotiated and surveyed by the Government. Ido not, however, propose to occupy your valuable time on these and other unjustifiable encroachments on the public domain, having already reported to you fully on all such cases in my letters Nos. 51-75, 53-75, 48-75. 4. Purchases of Town Lands made this Year. —l have to report that I have purchased [the township site at Tologa Bay, the same being situated at the entrance to Uawa River, and is in fact the only ground available for the purpose. The European portion of the village at Tologa has always been upon this land. The site is not extensive, being little over 400 acres, the titledeed to 252 acres of which is now in the hands of the Government at Wellington. I regret that the balance of this valuable land (properly called Mangarara No. 2) appears for the present to be classed in the category of lands unjustifiably interfered with by Europeans, vide my letter No. 48-75. In this, however, as in similar cases, I have applied for the statutory protection afforded by the 42nd clause of " The Immigration and Public Works Act Amendment Act, 1871." The money paid on the township site at Tologa amounts, on the portion to which the title is secure, i.e. on the Township proper, to .. .. £637 18 1 Mangarara No. 2, to .. .. .. 338 3 11 £976 2 0 5. Purchases and Leases of former Years still Incomplete. —The area of lands coming under this head is 132,000 acres; the number of blocks four, one of them being in Poverty Bay and three in the Bay of Plenty. The amount of money advanced in each case is £90, £20, £10, and nil: total, £120. This sum is amply secured in the interests on which it has been advanced. It would be too much to expect to escape opposition in a district where the land is good, and where it may not have been advisable to apply the restrictive clauses of the Immigration and Public Works Acts. As a matter of fact, I have experienced an opposition from European owners than which nothing could be more strenuous, partaking sometimes even of a personal character. Yet I have given no cause for such behaviour, for, excepting in the case of Puhatikotiko, the township site near the oil springs, ten miles inland of Ormond, I have not interfered with prior negotiations by Europeans. It is to be remarked, however, that embarrassments of the nature referred to have been mostly experienced by me among persons whose position and circumstances should have been a protection to the interests of the Government. When I came into this district to purchase land, the whole country at the back of the sheep runs on the coast was a terra incognita, as far as the Natives and myself were concerned. In some cases a human foot had scarcely ever passed over it, while in other localities no human being had seen the land for many generations. The only road was the coast road, and a few tracks, mostly sheep tracks, running a short distance inland. As the acquaintance, therefore, of the Natives of the present generation with its tribal boundaries was almost entirely of a traditionary kind, and as business could not be conducted satisfactorily on either side without data of a more certain nature to go upon, I deemed it necessary to explore this unknown district, in order to define the boundaries and areas, and to ascertain the quality and topographical character of the country. This exploration, though conducted in the summer season, proved to be a no less arduous undertaking than Sir James Alexander, in his last work on New Zealand, had predicted it would be. The service was ably performed by Captain Simpson, and the expense attending his explorations, amounting in all to £278 13s. 3d., has, I believe, been amply repaid to Government by the information gained, and the security and facilities afforded to the transactions of this department, no advances of importance being allowed by me until the character of the country had been ascertained. Sir, before concluding this report, I beg most respectfully to thank you for the discretionary powers entrusted to me during the period in which these negotiations have been in progress, as I feel sure that these powers have contributed largely as an element of success to the extensive transactions and engagements that have been carried out by me on behalf of the Government during the year that is now about to expire. I have, &c, J. A. Wilson, The Hon. Sir D. McLean, K.C.M.G., Land Purchase Commissioner. Native Minister, Wellington.

No. 5. Mr. R. Parris, Civil Commissioner, New Plymouth, to the Under Secretary, Native Department. Sir,— New Plymouth, 4th May, 1875. I have the honor to report, for the information of the Government, on the progress made in land purchase operations since my report of the 6th February last. Since that date, I have concluded the purchase of the Ahuroa block, 12,600 acres, purchase money £1,575; and the Otoia block, 2,660 acres, purchase money £332 10s.; both deeds duly 2—C. 4.