G.—±

XXVIII

absolute necessity of this work being done before the sectional surveys Avere commenced, seems never to have been appreciated either by the Civil Commissioner or any member of the Government, though from various quarters; earnest remonstrances on the subject had long been pressed upon them. 2. But, as a matter of fact, were any reserves made ? It Avould scarcely have been necessary to discuss such a question, were it not for a statement made by Mr. Sheehan in the House of Bepresentatives : " I can show," he said, "a plan prepared by which it Avill be seen that nearly 4,000 acres out of 16,000 were to be reserved for the Natives; and not only that, but their burial-places, their pas, and the mouth of every stream running into their lands. So that all that was possible was done. Out of the block containing about 95,000 acres, it Avas understood that Major Brown should be in. a position to make reserves to the extent of 25,000 acres, so that these Natives would be in the position of being the wealthiest tribe in that part of the country. So that when we are told that the surveys were proceeded with Avithout any inquiries or any reserves being made, Ave are told that Which is not the case." In a telegram to Mr. Mackay the Minister had already made this statement in more specific terms. " Some of your suggestions," Mr. Sheehan says, " I entirely agree with, and have already given instructions to act upon, such as defining and settling the questions of reserves. While our own instructions in regard to Waimate haA'e been of the most liberal character, we could not give effect to them until the Natives had pointed out the reserves Avhich they specially require. Hitherto they have declined to do this. We have now done it provisionally for them. Every fishing-place, the mouth of every stream, every burial-place, and all their cultivations, are reserved, besides a large lot of other sections as Well. The sale-map is speckled Avith reserves." Erom a reference in Mr. Sheehan's minute of 11th April, it is even possible he may have contemplated carrying out Mr. Richmond's scheme of 1807, repeated in 1872 by Sir I). McLean, of a large reserve of all the land between "Waingongoro and Inaha rivers. On the other hand Major Brown, whose business it was to make the reserves, distinctly states that he never made any, either before or during the time that the sectional surveys were going on : and that up to the time Avhen the surveyors were turned off, no reserves had been marked off on the ground or AA rere delineated on any plans, nor had any intimation as to where he intended to make them been given by himself to the Natives. He also tells us that the plan to Avhich Mr. Sheehan referred as proof of reserves having been made to the extent of 1,000 acres, was constructed in the folloAving Avay : After the surveyors had been removed by the Natives and the surveys discontinued, Major Brown came to Wellington : there, on the 2nd of April, he went to the Survey office and marked off', on the plan of the sectional survey of the Waimate Plains, such reserves as he thought proper, selecting about 3,000 acres of the surveyed sections and colouring them as set apart for Native reserves. The existence of this coloured plan seems only to have been known to the Survey office, Major BroAvn, and the Government. Mr. Humphries the Chief Surveyor at New Plymouth, under whose direction the surveys at Waimate necessarily Avere, and Mr. Whitcombe the Commissioner of CroAvn Lands, were ignorant of it till Ave showed it to them. Major Brown says distinctly that these reserves were not made even in this manner till after the lands Avere advertised for sale. Even then they appeared in a tabular statement of the lands which was prepared for publication in the Gazette, and which narrowly escaped actual publication, not as Native reserves but as lands " withheld from sale." The fact of these reserves having been made at all is to this day unknown to the Natives. They are, moreover, entirely inadequate, both in extent and position, to fulfil the promises made to the Natives by Sir Donald McLean and Mr. Sheehan: not embracing a single acre of the settlements along the edge of the bush where the majority of the people live, and where Major Brown himself never doubted that the principal reserves would have to be made to satisfy the reasonable wants of the several hapus. On this question, then, we can come to no other conclusion than that it is true, both in the letter and the spirit, that no reserves were made either previous to the commencement or during the progress of the surveys; that none were ever

1879.

Hon. Mr. Sheehan, Speech, 23rd July 1879, Hansard, vol. xxxi., p. 184.

Hon. Mr. Sheehan, Telegram, sth April 1879. Appendix A , No. 12.

Hon. Mr. Richmond, 1867: Parris, P.P. 1872, 0.-4. Sir D. McLean, ibid. Major Brown, Evidence, Q. 661 et seq.

Appendix A, No. 17.

Major Brown, Evidence, Q. 665, 701.