I.—2b

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181. Did you give the Natives to understand when you went to take possession, or shortly before it, that you had the sanction of the Government for the Sheriff to take possession of it ? —I did not say anything to the Natives at all about it. I considered I was there by the orders of the Supreme Court. 182. Did you tell the Sheriff Government had given you authority ?—I think I did. I had au official letter from the Government. 183. Had you authority to push for possession ? —I had a letter dated the sth November from which I will read: " The various important questions put by you in that letter [2nd October] have now been carefully considered by the Government, and I have the honor to state, in reply, that the Government will not interfere with the Sheriff in the execution of his duty, nor with yourself in any lawful steps you may think it proper to take for the purpose of enforcing your legal rights." 184. Do you call that authority to push for possession ? —I did not consider I required any authority from Government. 185. No ; but did you consider that an authority ? You say Government had given you authority, and now you quote from a letter. Is that the only thing that authorized you to push for possession ? —I showed the Sheriff this letter. 186. Is that the only thing you have ? —I called upon the Sheriff immediately, and gave him notice to execute the orders of the Court, which I conceive I had the right to do without any authority from Government. 187 Ido not dispute your right. lam only asking whether Government had given that authority, and whether that letter be the only authority you based that assertion upon? —-That is the only authority I got from Government. I fancy there was a correspondence between the Sheriff and the Government, but that Ido not know The Sheriff positively told me he refused to act until he received from the Government something of that sort. 188. Mr. Tomoana.] Who are the persons you say have no interest in this land ? —Henare Tomoana, Peni Temuera, Menaena Hohaia; and Paora Kaiwhata is supposed to have an indirect interest. 189. Can you trace our genealogies—our Maori ancestors ? —No ; I fancy the Native Land Court did that, 190. When the land was before the Native Land Court, were these two persons put in the Crown grant simply on their own individual claim ? —I do not know at all. That is simply the business of the Court. I was not present in the Court, and knew nothing about it. 191. Did you not know that Paul Kaiwhata had a claim to that land ?—I have said Paul was recognized by Mr. Braithwaite, the lessee of the land, that he had a claim, although his name is not in the grant. I have never been able to ascertain why he was recognized. 192. You say you did not know any claim I may have to the land ? —No, I never heard of it—that you had established any claim to the land. 193. I might have a claim to that land according to Maori custom without your knowledge of it? —That may be ; I am speaking of the English usage in reference to it. 194. Did you say that Temuera was never living on this land ? —I never knew him to live there. 195. Do you not know that Temuera is related to Paul Kaiwhata, and in this way he is an elder branch of the same family of Paul Kaiwhata, and that ho is a sort of uncle to me ?—-No, I did not know that. If I had Ido not consider it would make any difference in my position with regard to the land. They are not grantees of the laud. 196. Do you not know that I gave evidence in the Supreme Court as to the boundaries of the land ? —-Yes, as concerning the grantees. I understood not as to your own right. 197 Did not the Judge ask me if I had a claim to the land?—l cannot say 198. You say the owners of the land which the Maoris proposed to give are not interested in Omaranui? —Which land —Kahurau ? I say that some portion of the grantees of Kahurau —there were three or four who had not been consulted, and would not consent, and were not at all related. I do not think a single one, excepting only Paora Kaiwhata, had any interest in the two blocks. I believe neither of the grantees of Omaranui is included in the Crown grant of Kahurau. 199. Do you not know that people living on this disputed piece of land were owners of Kahurau ? —No. I say they are not. Some portion of them were in the Kahurau grant. 200. Did not Hohaia consent to give up Kahurau ?—Possibly he may, but the whole ten did not consent. I understood five of these ten had never been consulted. Two or three came to me when they heard the thing was talked about, and told me they had not been consulted, and would have nothing to do with it. 201. If any single grantee of Kahurau was disposed to sell his interest in the block, could he not do so ?—He could not give a title to the whole block. I never had anything to do with Kahurau at all. All I know is, I happened to be in the room when Kahurau was talked about. 202. Where was it that Tareha told you that Government had written to them, telling them they (the Government) had thrown down the thing ?—Tareha did not tell me that, I think, but Government told me they had informed the Natives so, and Mr. Ormond in his evidence said you had shown him a telegram to that effect. 203. If you had gone on to Ngatihira on your own authority, do you think the Maoris would have allowed you to take possession of the land ?—I went on the authority of the Supreme Court —the highest authority in the colony 204. Was it not because the matter was in the hands of the Government, and the Natives considered it so ? Was that how you got possession of the land ? —I do not know at all. I understood from the Natives themselves, and from the Government, that the Natives were perfectly aware that the Sheriff was going up there some days before he went. 205. Do you not know that there was a writ issued by the Supreme Court before for Ngatihira to be taken by the Sheriff?—Yes. 206. And the Natives resisted the execution of that writ?—The Natives, like every other person, I consider, must obey the orders of the Supreme Court. If any Europeans had resisted the Sheriff they would have found themselves in gaol.