9

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88. Where was this Land Office ?—At Christchurch. 89. Did you then write to the Government ? —I wrote to the Government. 00. "Where was it addressed to ?—To Mantell. 91. Where was he ?—At Port Nicholson. I wrote to him; Mr. Fox was Minister. I perhaps wrote twelve letters in a year. 92. What was the answer ?—I never got an answer. 93. Did you never get an answer ?—I got one lately. It is at Taumutu. 94. Who signed it ?—I don't remember. 95. Did not you and the others go with Mr. Mantell to set out a reserve? —Tes; at Taumutu. 90. Where is Taumutu ? —Twenty miles apart. 97. Did you ask Mantell to mark off this piece ?—No ; I only said at the time that Kemp's boundary was at the point (Otakou). 98. Did Kemp tell you that this land should be excluded ?—No; he was always on board of a man-of-war. 99. Did you tell Kemp ?—No. Tuesday, sth Mat. Order of Reference. Mr. Bolleston (in the absence of his counsel) said he did not intend to oppose the securing of their eel-weirs, &c, except so far as they might, by damming water, &c, interfere with the settlement of the country; also, that roads should be secured for the public. Hoeomona Pohio, examined. 100. By Mt. Bolleston.'] What do you want the land for?— Farm purposes. 101. What amount have you already under cultivation? —At Arowhenua?—Kua pou Katoa te mahi. It has all been in wheat. 102. Actually in the past year all cultivated ?—lt was all cultivated and gone in the flood. 103. Was it fenced ?—Yes ; all. 104. Was the grass natural or artificial?— All sown with grass, or in crops. 105. Is it divided ?—No ; each man cultivates where he likes. Mr. Eolleston said he did not object to the eel-weirs and urupas—only to the 400,600, and 450 acres. 100. What was the amount of cultivation in Mantell's time ? —Very large. 107. Did Mantell's reserves equal in size the cultivations then in existence? —Mr. Mantell's reserves did not include all. 108. Did Mantell say anything about eel-weirs ?—Tes; Mantell said "Tour eel-pas remain yours." I remember nothing else. 109. Did he say you should have them for ever? —He said as I have told you, I understood in perpetuity. 110. Did he mean eel-weirs other than those in the reserve ? —Tes, all. 111. Did you not understand that Mantell's reserves were to extinguish all claims under the deed ?—He told us we should have all our pas, graveyards, and eel-weirs. 112. By the Court.'] How will you get to these eel-pas ?—I don't know. 113. What do you want 20 acres round an eel-pa for ? —For horses, and to plant there and to build houses there. The reason I ask for the increased reserve is the deed. We are living as manene. 114. Are you more numerous than they were in Mantell's time ? —They are more numerous. 115. Can you eat more ?—ln Mantell's time we lived on eels, fern-root, potatoes, ti, whitebait, piharau. We were beginning to eat flour, mussels, and wood-hens. Potatoes, pumpkins, and vegetable marrov/s were what we cultivated, calabashes and maize. 116. Now, what do you cultivate ? —Wheat, oats, hay, barley, corn, pumpkins, marrows, potatoes, and eels. We keep cows, in some places sheep, but have no land. We have plenty of horses for carts and farm purposes, and riding and dray horses. 117. Do you till your land when it is worn out? —When it is worn out we should desert it, but are obliged to go on cultivating. If we had other land, we should leave worn-out land and let it recover, and then return. 118. How many ploughs are there at Arowhenua ?—Six ploughs of their own, and they hire ploughs besides. 119. How many ploughs are there at Waimatemate ?—Two, and borrowed ones, 120. How many ploughs are there at Waitaki?—No ploughs; the land is too bad. The land is all worn out at Waitaki, and they don't use it. They cultivate at Waimatemate. 121. Suppose ten grown-up men and ten women, how many children will there be ?—There are forty children at Waimatemate now. 122. How many grown-up people ?—Twenty men and twenty-six women. 123. AVhere do you draw the line between them ?—Ten years old. Wednesday, 6th May. Walter Baldock Dubakt Manteix, sworn. 124. When you made the reserve at Arowhenua Eeserve, did it cover all their cultivations there ? —I am not certain. 125. What was the nature of cultivation ?—Chiefly roots. I remember a field of wheat. 126. Was it understood that these reserves were to extinguish their claims ? —I think the Natives thought the reserve did not wind the thing up. At that time I did, and reported so. 2— G. 7.