G.-5

34

hearing was adjourned. I had a written agreement with the Aitangahauiti about their land, in January, 1575. The lands agreed for at that time were Arakihi and Parariki, and the three blocks referred to in the payment vouchers. Those were all sales. Ilenure Potae had a right besides his mana in Pua te Boku (Tauwhareparac). In case of Huiarua, I have no reason to expect any special difficulty in getting the owners' signatures when the title is established. Huiarua forms no portion of Tauwhareparae. I have paid some small sums of money (not more than £200) since my interview with Pita te Huhu in February, 1875. I did not stop my operations on account of what he said to me. I was in treaty for Waingaromia No. 3. There are two parts, one called Waiugaroinia, and the other Waingaromia No. 3. I was in treaty far one of them since October, 1874 —Waingaromia No. 3. Mr. Head came to me in April, 1875, and asked if I was in treaty for the other. I told him I had no claim on it, and asked him not to interfere with the other. He asked me what I thought he ought to give for it. Pita te Huhu had a claim to a portion of my part, and he did not wish to sell. His claim might have been 2>ooo out of 16.500 acres. Pita and Cooper had 4,000 surveyed, and called it Waingaromia No. 3. I heard afterwards that Cooper had advanced £200 on this portion (Waingaromia No. 3). That did not prevent me from paying the £200 I had promised, on account of the 10,500 (Waingaromia No. 3, Waihora No. 2). Pita claims the whole of Waingaromia No. 3. That has gone through the Court, and a rehearing was asked by the Natives who have dealt with me, on the ground that a number of their names have not been inserted on the memorial of ownership. Pita's name and some of my Natives were inserted as owners. Some of the Natives told me they had signed to Cooper. One of them —Hori Karaka —had previously signed to me, and was admitted by the Court as an owner. I do not think I paid him anj r money. I paid it to Natives whose names were afterwards put on the memorial of ownership. The two Natives I paid it to had not signed to Cooper. Money has been distributed amongst those who had signed to Cooper. The judgment appears to give Cooper's Natives a pre-emption in the ownership. Henare Ruru has been admitted an owner in Waingaromia No. 2, hut he is opposed to Pita te Huhu's claims. The £100 paid to Tamati te Eangi was not for himself alone ;he was to distribute it as he thought fit. He was appointed at a public meeting —or rather several meetings —at which the shares of the various hapus were determined. About £1,000 was paid for that 74,000 acres. I have given post-dated cheques formerly on behalf of Government. The cheques now referred to were not post-dated. I do not think it is true that Natives receiving post-dated cheques have had to pay 25 per cent to get them cashed. They always knew they were post-dated when they got them. I have consulted with the Land Purchase Office about it, and have discontinued the practice. I have not sent in applications for hearing through the Court here, except in some succession cases. Ido not think Mr. Locke ever suggested to mo to do so. I made no application for special Courts for Government business, except to the Government. One morning, I think the same day the scene in Court took place, April, 1876—it may have been the morning before —Judge Eogan and Potae, or another chief, I am not sure who, also Karauria, were in my room. On that occasion I stopped Karauria from talking and interrupting the Judge. I did not say he was drunk, so far as I can remember. In Court the Judge did not say Hetiare was in an unfit state, until the altercation had gone on twenty or thirty minutes. I think Potae's remark about pononya utu a very improper one. lam sorry to say I have heard the same opinion very commonly expressed amongst the Natives. I have given up arguing against that idea; it is too strong for me to remove. When I advised the Natives to let the cases be heard in any way the Court wished, I intended that a rehearing should be applied for. The sister of Itutene Kuhuhu, wife of Hepeta Matai, was acknowledged as an owner. I heard the Court say that Hepeta was appearing on behalf of his wife. The Natives do not understand why she alone was admitted. My impression that the cases were prejudged, and my expression relating to it, may have received some colour from the proof of prejudging given in the letter of the Judge to the Poverty Bay Herald. At the time I hoped the bias might be unconscious. With respect to the case of the payment vouchers, Dr. Nesbitt informed me that he had attested a deed to Eead from Potao for one of these blocks, and that consequently he had hesitated to attest one for me. He repeated the same thing at Tolago in presence of some gentlemen, when Captain Ferris had said it was not so; it was for Puremungahua. I have never applied to the Court here to telegraph my applications for hearing. Of the 113,000 acres mentioned, on which I have paid £2,000, not more than 12,000 have passed the Court. £300 was paid for Waimata West to a number of Natives. Eeferring to Judge Eogan's advertisement in the Poverty Bay Herald, of the lands mentioned therein, eleven cases had been heard, in all of which judgments had been given in favour of the Natives with whom I dealt, including the three payment voucher cases. In the other four the titles are complete to Government, except absentees and dead persons. I have paid money for lands not yet surveyed. This completed Mr. J. A. Wilson's evidence, and the inquiry was adjourned at half-past 4 p.m.

Tiiubsdat, 9th Noyembeb, 1876.. The Commission resumed at 11 a.m. Samuel Locke, sworn: I am District Officer for the District of Poverty Bay, on the East Coast. My duties are denned by " The Native Lands Act, 1873." I received my appointment on the 29th November, 1873. It was then that I took charge of this district as District Officer. I had been in charge of the district several years before that as Eesident Magistrate and Native Officer. I reside at Napier. Up to the time when Mr. Heale, Inspector of Surveys, came to Gisborne, in February, 1875, there was no recognized Survey Department. The business was transacted through me, and I managed the best way I could. The usual custom was for the Natives, or the purchasers or lessees