G.—s

6

same time a portion of the block in question, claimed by the great chief Eenata Kawepo, was excluded from the sale, by which arrangement all Maori difficulties relative to the Mohaka purchase w rere removed. In July also we completed the deeds of Tauhara Middle lease, Eunanga No. 2 lease, and Tauhara Block purchase, transmitting the same to Wellington. In the month of August the following conveyances were forwarded to the Under Secretary at Wellington—namely, Te Puke, Paengaroa, Kaikokopu, and Waitahanui Blocks, estimated at over 100,000 acres. A series of meetings with the chiefs Poihipi Tukairangi, Hohepa Tamamutu, Hitiri te Paerata, Takerei, Euha te Parangetungetu, Te Beweti Waikato, Te Papanui, Te Heu Heu, Haxiraki, and others, regarding land claims on the west shores of Lake Taupo, Te Tatua on Waikato, Paeroa, Kaingaroa, and other places ; and we succeeded in obtaining the necessary signatures to complete the conveyance of Tauhara North. Early in September we proceeded to Ohinemutu, where we met numerous deputations of Ngatiwhakaue, Ngatituara, Ngatiraukawa, Ngatitahu, Ngatiwhaoa, Ngatiwahiao, and others, who expressed their general approval of the system adopted by us in relation to the land transactions throughout the district, and pleaded the necessity of settling the land titles by ourselves and local committees, as suggested by us when our land negotiations on behalf of the Crown were first initiated. In this month likewise we completed and posted deeds of Tauhara Middle purchase, Tauhara North purchase, and Oruanui lease, accompanied by explanatory memoranda. Also in this month was held the great Taupo meeting relative to certain territory on the western shores of Lake Taupo, disputed on the one side by the Hau-Hau element, under the chiefs Hauraki, Te Tuhi, and others, and on the other by the friendly Natives under Te Heu Heu, Paurini, and Hohepa Tamamutu. Major Scannel was chosen president of the meeting, and the assessors who aided in the deliberations were Te Kepa te Eangipuawhe and Arekatera to Puni. The evidence taken was most voluminous ; the inquiry extended over fifteen days. The whole of the testimony adduced at this local Court was forwarded to the Hon. the Native Minister, for his information. In November a meeting of the Ngatimanawa and other tribes was held in respect to boundaries of the Kaingaroa previously leased conditionally to Government; also an energetic discussion regarding the building of a Maori village schoolhouse, Ngatimanawa having presented as an endowment fortytwo acres of land, and proposed to collect the sum of £50 in aid of the building fund. Subsequently a meeting was convened at Wairoa for the purpose of inquiring in respect to multitudinous claimants of the Paeroa lease and Kaingaroa generally. The meeting was largely attended by the Tuhourangi, under the leading men Te Kepa te Eangipuawhe, Waretini, Aporo te Bangikaniwhaniwha, Hohua te Manihera, Pauroa Takahurioakanui, and others. There were representatives also of the Ngatiwhaoa present, Ngatitahu and Ngatitaru. No decision was arrived at regarding surveys and the inquiry into Maori titles of land, in consequence of the opposition pertinaciously adhered to by the Tuhourangis. In December a meeting with tho Ngatirangitihi tribe was held at Te Awa-o-te-Atua relative to land matters generally and the question of survey. Eesult on the whole satisfactory. At Maketu a meeting was held relative to the Puke, Eangiuru, Papanui, and Paengaroa Blocks, the various owners having expressed a desire to close without delay the land transactions between themselves and the Government. At the request of Mr. Brabant, Inspector of Native Schools, a meeting was held in the carved house, Tamatekapua, at Eotorua, the land agents being present with the resident tribes, the business being the collection of money in aid of the Ohinemutu school fund, to which the chiefs agreed. Next in order is a conference with Ngatitahu and Ngatiwhaoa respecting the leases already initiated of Tumunui, Eotoreka, Kapenga, and Paeroa. A communication regarding these blocks was, in consequence, transmitted to the Government. During the month of January the surveys of the Heruiwi and Puke Blocks were initiated and continued till nearly the end of February, when a local disturbance, caused by armed Natives in respect to the Puke Block, induced us, after two days' patient investigation in the Maketu Court House, before Mr. Hamlin, E.M, regarding the various points in dispute by the belligerents, to withdraw temporarily the survey party; but the surveys of the leased blocks, named Heruiwi and Pukahunui, were continued and ultimately completed. Eelative to a local land dispute at Taupo of about twenty-five years' standing, between the Ngatitahu and the Ngatitama, Mr. Toung was deputed by the Hon. the Native Minister to inquire into and settle if possible the long-pending difficulty, and after various conferences with the disputants the matter was referred to a meeting convened at Paeroa for final settlement, at which place it was arranged, Mr. Young being present, that two of the contending claimants on the Ngatitama side should be allowed to remain in peaceful possession of the disputed territory named Tutukau. Thus terminated this vehement disputation of many years' standing, which periodically threatened to decimate by war the contending tribes, and thereby involve a tribal or general rise to arms in the Arawa country. In the month of March, Petera te Eangihiroa and other members of the Ngatihineuru tribe entered into a compact with Hawke's Bay Natives to repudiate the leases previously agreed to by themselves and Government; and in order to recall Petera te Eangihiroa and his adherents to a sense of their just duty, Mr. Toung was instructed to meet the dissentients at Eunanga, where, after considerable speechifying Petera, evaded the subject, which compelled us to instruct both Captain Lloyd and Mr. John McGregor to complete as speedily as possible the necessary surveys. The great event affecting our numerous negotiations in the Bay of Plenty and Lake Districts was a large gathering at Paeroa, twenty-five miles from Ohinemutu. AYe being engaged with G. S. Cooper, Esq., and having other matters of consequence requiring our immediate attention, we were represented at the important Paeroa meeting by Mr. Young, who took the notes of the proceedings and replied to various questions mooted by the different speakers regarding certain points respecting land estimated to be of considerable consequence by the Maoris, and published by the Ray of Plenty Times and by the Waka Maori, which we append here: —