Q.—6.

1878. NEW ZEALAND.

NATIVE RESERVES, NELSON AND GREYMOUTH (PAPERS RELATING TO, BY A. MACKAY, WITH STATEMENTS OF RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURE).

Laid upon the Tcihle by the Hon. Mr. Sheehan, with the leave of the House.

Mr. Alexander Mackay to the Under Secretary, Native Department. Sir, — Native Beserves Office, Nelson, Gth August, 1878. I have the honor to forward herewith the annual statement of the receipts and expenditure of the Nelson and G-reymouth Native Reserve Funds for the financial year ending 30th June, 1878. In accordance with the sixth clause of "The Public Revenues Act, 1577," the moneys collected from the above estates have been paid into the Public Trust Office since the Ist of January last. The total amount collected on account of the Nelson fund for the aforesaid period, inclusive of the sum of £45 9s. 9d. on hand, computed the sum of £1,612 5s 3d.; and the expenditure during the same time amounts to £1,268 17s. Id., leaving a balance of £373 Bs. 3d. to tho credit of the fund. With reference to tho recommendation contained in my last annual report, of Gth August, 1877, that the fund should be subsidized by a vote of the House to meet the charge on it for tho salaries paid to the medical officers, I find, on reference to a report on the subject by Mr. James Mackay, under date 11th July, 1861, that he then recommended that Government should aid the fund with a supplementary grant of £100 or £150 to compensate for the charge on it for the salaries paid to the medical men then appointed. The whole of the recommendations made by Mr. Mackay were approved by the Hon. Mr. Pox, who was then Native Minister; but no subsidy has been paid to the fund in fulfilment of the aforesaid understanding, fourteen years having elapsed since the appointments were made. The fund is now entitled, at the lowest computation, to a sum of £1,400, in accordance with the above-named arrangement. The receipts of the Greymouth Reserve Fund for the period under review amounted to £4,247 10s. !)d.; this, added to the balance of £],832 lls. lid. to the credit of the fund at the termination of the previous financial year, computed totals of £0,080 2s. Bd. Tho expenditure during the same time amounts to £4,606 lls. lid., leaving a balance of £1,473 10s. 9d., consisting of £910 13s. due by the Nelson fund, and an available sum of £502 17s. 9d. The expenditure comprised £8,490 12s. expended on behalf of tho Natives, £315 14s. paid for salaries, and £800 ss. lid. expended in various other ways. Out of tho last-mentioned item, £500 has been expended for river protection at Arahaura, adjacent to the Native village. It was found necessary last winter, in consequence of the continued destruction of the river bank above the protective works previously constructed on tho north side of the Arahaura for the protection of the Native village, to extend the work for a distance of 5 chains further up the river; but, before this could be completed, the heavy floods that occurred in October and November last strongly encroached at the upper end of the works, and threatened the destruction of the village from another direction. At the request of the Native owners, who were much alarmed for the safety of their houses, the work was extended for a further distance of IK- chains, to a point on the river bank beyond where the set of the stream impinged on the bank during floods, so as to prevent as far as possible a recurrence of the encroachments that had previously taken place, and insure the safety of their cultivated land, as well as their village. I enclose a rough tracing, to illustrate tho position of affairs. The part of the property first threatened was between Gr and 1). The cost of the work between these points was borne equally by the County government and the fund, as the former body was interested to tho extent of protecting the approaches to the Arahaura Bridge, which had been seriously damaged by a heavy flood that had occurred a short time before the protective works were commenced. The several heavy floods that occurred during the early part of last summer caused serious destruction to the bank at the point marked F, threatening to make a direct course to sea through the Native village if steps were not taken to arrest further encroachment, the set of the stream during floods being from the direction of the dotted line. An additional expenditure had therefore to be incurred to extend the works 11-J- chains farther up the river, to a point that offered good natural facilities for protecting the head of the work. The whole of the work waa completed in April last, the entire length constructed being 26J- chains, at a cost to the fund of £1,515 75.: of this sum, £1,515 7s. does not appear amongst last year's transactions, as the amount was not paid till last month.