G.—2.

XXXVIII

made alloAA rance for his promise." But the Ministry refused to reopen the question; and the end of it A\ ras that upon a calculation being made of the quantity required to meet 755 absentee-claims at 16 acres each, the Government aAvarclecl 12,200 acres to five of the tribes. But on the Attorney-General being desired to draft an Order in Council to give effect to this decision, it appeared doubtful whether the Governor had any authority to do Avhat Avas proposed, as the Act did not contemplate claims of tribes and hapus. Presently the Confiscated Lands Act of 1867 Avas passed, which Avas intended to supply the poAver: yet nothing was done to allocate the awards. At the same time that this took place, the Government also made aAvards to certain chiefs as folloAvs :— 200 acres to Te Puni, " in recognition of his long and faithful services"; 100 acres to Wi Tako, for "recent services"; 100 acres to Mohi Ngaponga, because the Court had said he had a better claim than the rest of the excluded absentees; and 100 acres to Hemi Parai, in consideration of his having remained at Wellington at the instance of the GoA rernment, Avhen he might have returned to Taranaki. Now not a single acre of these awards made by the Government has been allotted to this day. The promise was made in 1866. A year afterwards the chiefs begged to have their land allotted. In 1869 they asked again. When they tried once more in 1870, the Native Office declared that as the land of Taranaki had been returned to the tribe, the Government were absolved from their promises to these chiefs. In 1871 they renewed their prayer, complaining of being "humbugged by the Government." Again the Native Office insisted that the Government did not noAv possess the land they had promised to give the chiefs, and there was nothing to compensate them for. In 1873 they brought forward their claim once more, and Sir Donald McLean promised to see to it. But nothing wras clone till 1878, when Wi Tako asked that Mr. Richmond's papers might be searched to show how the land had been promised. An attempt was then made to find Wi Tako himself a piece of land; but it failed for six months, when Mr. Sheehan took it in hand. Then Major Brown offered Wi Tako a section in the Ngaire district, about a mile from Stratford ; but the situation being objected to by Wi Tako, the papers got put away till Ave unearthed them the other day. The spectacle of these four chiefs trying in vain for 13 years to get the paltry dole of land which had been promised to them in recognition of* loyal service, is sad enough; but Avhen it is remembered that one of these chiefs Avas Te Puni, the earliest and truest friend whom the English settlers ever had, the story ought to fill us all with shame. We could not bring ourselves to believe that such a tiling could be; nor Avas it till after repeated applications to the Native and Land Departments, that Ave could be persuaded of its reality. But there is a more troublesome thing to settle than the awards we have been speaking of, and that is the case of the Natives known as the "Chatham Islanders." Previous to the great Waikato invasion half a century ago, these people lived at Waitara. Elying before the Waikato Avarriors they left their homes, and after many Avanderings settled in the Chatham Islands, enslaving the aboriginal, race of Miorioris. No sooner did they hear that they Avere excluded by the Compensation Court than they resolved upon returning to their former homes. The efforts of the Government to prevent them were of no avail, and the first party of the re-migra-tion (about 120) landed at Taranaki in January 1868, the rest (about 150) following in November. The Government ordered Mr. Parris to make the best arrangement he could for settling them " on the land set apart for them in common with other absentees." But no land had really been set apart for anybody. AL. Parris put them on land at Mimi and Urenui, and there they are to this clay. They haA'e always been among the staunchest adherents of Te Whiti, and who can Avonder at it ? It will not be easy finally to settle their claims, for there is a prior claim of nearly 10,000 acres of Court aAvards to bo satisfied betAveen the White Cliffs and Urenui: and Mr. Parris in his evidence estimates that adding this amount to the area required for the Chatham Islanders, 20,000 acres will haA'e to be provided,

1866. Attorney-General Prendergast's Opinion, September 1867; Appendix C. No. 1. Confiscated Lauds Act, 1867.

Hon. Wi Tako, 12tli November 1869. Native UnderSecretary's Minute; 9th September 1870. Mohi Ngaponga, Hon. Wi Tako ; 6th December 1871. Un der- Secretary Cooper's Minute, 22nd December 1871, on 71/1347. Hon. AVi Tato, 9th November 1878, 78/4527. Hon. Mr. Sheehan's Minute, 4th April 1879.

Judgments of the Compensation Court, June 1866.

Mr. Rolleston to Mr. Parris, 21st December 1867: Evidence, Q. 795. Parris, Evidence, Q. 795 to 802.