3

G.—l

not to the extent that they would have been had the land that was available for them been of good or even fair average quality. Unfortunately it is not so, being mostly either bald fern hills or mountainous timber land, which is not at all the kind of land likely to prove attractive enough to draw the Waikatos from living where they are at present, even if it were possible for them to get a subsistence out of it, which they could not. The poorness of the land under offer to them is not, however, the only reason that keeps them from accepting this offer of land from the Government. The other reason —and lam not at all sure that it is not the main one —is that the time has hardly arrived yet at which they feel justified, or even have a desire, to desert the King, the principles they profess, and their present style of living. Sufficiently troublous times have not yet come upon them: they do not realize the fact that Ngatimaniapoto will most likely separate from them and cast them off without an acre. The advent of Europeans in their midst has not yet been in such numbers as to make apparent to them their own weakness and helpless minority; in fact, the shoe does not pinch enough yet. When it does, I think there will then be no difficulty in getting them to accept lands at the hands of the Government; but, when that time does arrive, lam of opinion that it will be necessary to secure, by purchase or otherwise, a large block somewhere in the Waikato District, which shall combine a sea-frontage, with land inshore of a quality suitable for occupation and cultivation, and which also has timber for building purposes and firewood upon it. As a proof that the majority of the King Natives will not yet accept land from the Government, I may mention the fact that when, in December last, Mr. F. D. Fenton and myself accompanied representatives of the King people down the Waipa and Waikato Eivers, for the purpose of pointing out to them certain blocks of land which were open for their occupation, they would not in any way give us to understand that they intended to occupy them, or that they even appreciated the gift. They merely consented to go on shore and view them, with the apparent intention of claiming them at some future time when they shall think fit. Seeing their demeanour in connection with this matter I took the precaution to inform them that, under the Waikato Confiscated Land Act, unless they occupied the land, or if they absented themselves from it for two years, they would forfeit all right to it. They mostly, however, received my announcement with indifference. Another reason that has and is now militating against the acceptance and occupation of these lands by the King Natives is that Tawhiao has lately developed a desire for travel, and has with his followers since December last been nearly continuously absent from home. The novelty and pleasure of visiting the numerous settlements on the line of march, at each of which it was well known they would be feted to their hearts' content by the resident Natives, was the very opposite of being conducive to their deserting their King for the purpose of settling upon lands for which they do not see the necessity. A great deal was, at the commencement, thought and made of the fact that, these lands under offer to them being part of what once formed their ancestral territory, they would therefore gladly return and settle upon them, but I am satisfied now that such an idea is a fallacy : it may hold good in exceptional cases, but certainly not as a whole. If any further proof of this were required we have only to look at the failure of endeavours during the last fourteen years to get ex-rebels of the Ngatihaua tribe to desert the king and occupy the Tauwhare Block, near Hamilton, which they originally owned, to see that it is only in particular cases and under exceptional circumstances that they have an ardent desire to return and occupy the territory which they have lost, unless it be given back to them as a whole, without any restrictions—in fact, a sort of abandonment of it on our part into their hands. But, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the endeavours to settle the Natives on confiscated lands have, as I said before, been fairly successful; a considerable number of the Ngatimahuta, who had been squatting at places called Moerangi and Matahuru, near the south-eastern end of Waikare Lake, have been interviewed, their desire to return and live in peace and obedience to the law ascertained, and the boundaries of the land which they are to have defined. At the northern end of the same lake a number of the Ngatihine tribe have been located and their boundaries defined; and I have every reason to believe that in both cases their residence will be permanent. Matters are also in progress with regard to certain members of the Ngatiapakura tribe, who have expressed a desire to settle on some unoccupied Government land in the vicinity of Alexandra and the Puniu Eiver, and they will be located thereon in a few days. They will also take a portion of the available land at Kaniwhaniwha, on the western bank of the Waipa Eiver. In connection with this matter of giving land to Natives there is great difficulty in discriminating as to which of the people claiming are the proper persons who can be recognized under the Waikato Confiscated Lands Act as ex-rebels. If the work to be done consisted merely in giving land to those who asked for it, I could have had, long before this, all the available land allocated to applicants —but then they would have consisted in many cases of those, some of whom had no right at all, and some of whom had already been provided for by Compensation Court awards or from other sources, and who, having since sold what was then given to them, would, if allowed, do the same with what they might get now, that is, if they were successful in getting it. My endeavour has been, and is, to only allot the land to those for whom it was intended by the Waikato Confiscated Lands Act. Before dropping entirely the subject of Tawhiao and the King Natives and movement, which is a most important one, it would be well, perhaps, if I here referred to the policy lately adopted by him of travelling through the country and visiting the tribes inhabiting the districts in which he goes, and also state what my own opinion is with regard to such policy. Of course it is only an opinion after all, and, seeing how very hard indeed it is to judge the Maori character successfully, may not be right. However, as my position amongst the Natives is such as to enable me to form an opinion, I give it here. I think that Tawhiao plainly sees, from events which have lately taken place, that Kingism, and the power invested in him as its representative, is doomed, and it is now only a question of time as to when it must virtually end. Therefore, believing this to be the case, he is now, I think, taking steps to enable him to justify himself in whatever he may hereafter do. I think he sees that this end is being brought about not only by European persistency, but also by a certain amount of half-heartedness, and desire to kick over the traces, as it were, of some of his own