13

G—3

In all the cases it appears perfectly clear that they must be held to have merged in the reserves lately made. As regards the Stony Eiver and Opunake Blocks, not an acre of land of loyal Natives has been retained by the Government except the 1,400 acres of Opunake Township (by an arrangement with the Natives); and the foundation of every right to compensation on the part of individual Natives necessarily falls through. The very territory out of which such awards would have been satisfied has been wholly disposed of by its restoration to the Natives in whose behalf such awards were mistakenly made. To give the awards effect in some other district while they had their original lands untouched by confiscation, would either be to compensate them twice over, or to compensate them for a loss which they never suffered—a proceeding for which there is no shadow of reason. As regards the other blocks—Parihaka and Waimate—practically the case is much the same. The reserves are very large and liberal, amply sufficient for the wants of the resident Natives in every case, and capable of bringing in a large revenue besides by leases under the Act of 1881. The reserves were intended as a provision for the whole tribe, loyal and rebel. The compensation awards were only made in favour of the loyal members of it, and at the time they were made did not contemplate their participation in any tribal reserves or any other portion of the confiscated lands beyond the particular piece awarded in each case. If the Commissioner had understood that the awards were to be satisfied outside of the reserves, the quantity recommended by him for the reserves would have been reduced by at least the amount of the awards, and the names of the awardees would have been excluded from the grants. It should be further borne in mind that the awards never had any technical validity, having been issued in a form directly at variance with that prescribed by the Act of 1867, a defect which, as observed by the Commissioners of 1880, reduced them to a mere "promise or engagement binding in good faith on the Government." (See Second Report, 1880, page xxxvi.) In making the recommendations for reserves the Commissioner has considered them as fulfilling all such "promises and engagements " and a complete discharge of all obligations on the part of the Government. Appended hereto is a tabulated statement exhibiting every individual case of merger between Omata and Waitotara Eiver, and specifying the particular block in which it has occurred, in order to prevent any claim which might hereafter be made on behalf of any Native whose award has been so dealt with. There is one other case, that of the Ngatirahiri, North of Waitara, in which a portion of the territory of loyal Natives was taken for the purposes of military settlement, and the confiscation virtually abandoned over the rest of it, but in which no compensation has so far been made for the portion taken. The Commissioner will have to report specially upon this case when he recommends the grants the surveys of which are now in progress. In their Second Report, page xxxvi., the Commissioners of 1880 made reference to the case of the Natives on four blocks north of New Plymouth, who, after having accepted certain lands in satisfaction of their claims (under the provisions of the Act of 1865), received " takoha " on the cession of various blocks to the Crown, part of the confiscated lands in which their allocations should have been made. The question had been raised whether, by their acceptance of takoha, their awards under the agreements would merge. The Commissioners expressed no positive opinion, but pointed out some difficulties attending the question. The present Commissioner does not consider it expedient to enforce merger in these cases for several reasons : Ist. That the proportion of takoha received by the Natives would probably in no case be an equivalent for the land awarded. 2nd. The takoha afforded no permanent source of maintenance to the Natives, but was no doubt spent as soon as received. 3rd. That at the present time it would be impossible to obtain any information as to the distribution of the takoha, while the attempt to enforce merger in these cases would be simply futile, and tend only to create dissatisfaction, the removal of which by liberal treatment was the object aimed at when the adjustment now in progress was inaugurated. William Fox, West Coast Commission Office, West Coast Commissioner. New Plymouth, sth June, 1883.