13

G.—6

Instructed by you, I can adjourn Tolago eases from Waiapu, and can give notice about Waingaromia ; if this does not meet your views, and you prefer hearing Waingaromia at Turanga, I will see the Natives on my way up coast, and report their disposition. I think holding Court at Tolago would suit all parties. Please reply soon. J. W. Poetee, Captain. Judge Eogan, Wairoa.

Enclosure 5 in No. 4. Judge Eogan to Captain Poetee. Re Waingaromia, Second Sitting. (Telegram.) Wairoa, 2nd March, 1876. Just received your message on my way to Gisborne. I think if the Court for Waingaromia lands were opened at Makaraka for a fortnight, then adjourned to Tolago Bay for the same period, afterwards to remove to Waiapu, will be a very proper course to pursue, as the Natives would be eaten up as we go along. J. Eogan, Captain Porter, Gisborne. Judge, Native Land Court.

Enclosure 6 in No. 4. Judge Eooan to Captain Poetee. (Memorandum.) 21st February, 1876. As it is impossible for me to say whether I can return from the Wairoa in time to go to Waiapu to open that Court on the 10th of the ensuing month, I have to request that Captain Porter will have the goodness to proceed to Waiapu and formally take my place, open the Court, and read over all the cases one after the other, and hear any application which may be made by Eopata, which will in all probability be, as I understand from him, for an adjournment for a month or six weeks, which will have to be granted. J. Eogan, Captain Porter, Gisborne. Judge, Native Land Court.

Enclosure 7 in No. 4. Captain Pobtee to Native Chiefs and Sub-Tbibes, East Coast. Copy Circular re Opening and Adjourning Waiapu Court. Panuitanga. Tari o Marihia, Turanganui, 20th o Pepuere, 1876. He kupu whakaatu atu tenei kia mohio ai nga tangata kua putu mai te Kahiti mo te Kooti o Waiapu, kia tu ki Wai o Matatini itelo o nga ra o Maehe; erangi, kaore e tu te Kooti i taua ra, ko au anake ka haere ki kona kia whakapuaretia taua Kooti ka whakanekehia ano ki te 10 o nga ra o Aperira, 1876, heoi, kei haere noa nga tangata ki reira, me noho atu nga tangata ki te kainga. Heoi. Na (signed) Poata, I te ngaromanga o te Eokena. [Teanslation.] Militia Office, Turanganui, 20th February, 1876. This word is to inform the people of the receipt of the Kahiti notifying the sitting of the Waiapu Court at Wai-o-Matatini, on the 10th March. However, I -will go thither merely for the purpose of formally opening the Court, and adjourning the same to the 10th April, 1876 ; do not go there for nothing, but stop at home. Ended. FromT. W. Postee. (in the absence of Mr. Eogan.)

No. 5. Be Wilson's Complaint. In April last, Natives interested in certain succession cases concerning Te Marunga and Tolago Bay Township asked me to gee Mr. Wilson. I called on him accordingly—as he would not call on me — and the arrangement arrived at was that the said cases were to be called on for hearing; but when the time arrived, and the case called, Henare Potae, who was in a state of intoxication, appeared on the scene, and succeeded by his violence in obstructing the proceedings of the Court. I will refer to his conduct hereafter, when the business of the Tolago Court sh;ill have been disposed of, in about two months hence. Orders were made for the successors in the above cases during the last sittings of the Court at that place. I have no papers to refer to yet. I believe Te Marunga is a block of land which passed the Court years ago. How, therefore, could I make reference to a re-hearing ? I distinctly deny ever having alluded to a period of nine months, for there is nothing about it in the Act. It exists only in Mr. Wilson's brain. I also deny that he has ever worked smoothly with the Court from the time he appeared at Opotiki to the present.