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of the six hundred who agreed to that Committee were still the same, and only a minority did not give their consent. The nineteen people still have the confidence of the six hundred people ; but the consent of the remainder of the grantees has never been obtained. The hundred people who have not consented did not object to this Committee; but we have not been able to obtain their consent, because they are scattered all over the country. Hori Taiawhio : This Committee performs a great many works in the way of carrying out the work of the tribe —in keeping order, This Committee has heard a great many land disputes and other disputes; but they have no legal standing, and therefore we now ask that they may be recognized. Mr. Ballancc: I will say a final word about this Committee. I am glad to hear so good an account of it; I believe what you have said as to the desire of the Committee to act rightly in the interests of the people, and I believe it exists by their consent. It has been rightly said that it ha 3 no legal standing ; dug we can only give it a legal standing by force of law. A law must be passed before it has a legal standing; but in the meantime its position is not contrary to the law, and it is evidently doing much useful work, therefore, as I said, the Government Agent will be instructed to give it every assistance, and I trust that next session a law will be passed to give these Committees, who represent the owners of blocks of land, a legal position. I intend to have a Bill drawn up on the subject, and translated into the Native language; that Bill will be circulated amongst you before next session, and I shall be glad if you will give your opinions upon it, so that in future your Committees will have all the force of law, and have the strength of law for everything they do. Wi Eeepa Bangipuawhe: Some years ago Mr. Halse, who was then Under-Secretary for Native Affairs, asked us for our advice as to the best means of preserving the Terraces by keeping Europeans from writing their names, and the Government had a number of notices issued, and they were posted in the district, but the result was not satisfactory; people were not deterred from doing damage. When the land passed the Court, and this Committee of nineteen persons was elected, the Government again communicated with us on the subject of preserving the Terraces and other wonders ; the Committee formed regulations for the prevention of Europeans writing their names or breaking the Terraces or encrustations; and according to the regulations of this Committee, if an European is caught in the act of writing his name, or doing other damage, he will be called upon to pay at once. Some Europeans who have been detected in breaking the regulations and writing their names, &c, have, upon demand being made, paid; but other Europeans have refused to pay. These regulations have been printed and circulated by the Committee in English and Maori; but these notices have not the force of law, although we try to persuade the Europeans that they have. Only a day or two ago, a party of ladies went there under the guidance of Mrs. Graham, and no attention was paid to these regulations ; but the tourists carried away a great number of encrustations. This is the reason why we ask that the Committee may be authorized, so that they may be strong in preventing damage from being done. Mr. Ballance : I am very glad that you have brought this question of the Terraces to my notice, and I think that something ought to be done to prevent damage being done to the Terraces. The law is 'not nearly stringent enough, for I think that a payment for damage done to the Terraces is not sufficient ; my opinion is, that any person who wilfully damages the terraces ought to be liable to be criminally prosecuted and sent to jail. There are some rich savages who would not object to pay any amount of money for damage done to the Terraces ; but if they were liable to a month's imprisonment they would think over the matter two or three times. I think the law should be that any person who wilfully damages the Terraces should be liable to imprisonment. I have heard that the Maoris have been giving a great deal of attention to this matter, and have watched carefully that damage is not done ; but they cannot be everywhere, and damage will be done in spite of them. I am inclined to think that some person should be authorized to prosecute, and that a very severe punishment should be meted out to anyone who damages the Terraces. With regard to the party of ladies who went the other day and brought away encrustations, I would like to say one word. There are a great many people who think that it is no injury to the Terraces to put in some wood and have an encrustation formed upon it by the action of the water. I am inclined to think that that is no offence, because it does not injure the Terraces ; that is not what I referred to. I meant persons cutting out pieces of the Terraces, and the lesser offence of writing their names. Of course, the offence of writing their names is very small compared with the offence of cutting away a piece of the Terrace. Some people do not think that the writing of their names is any offence; for instance, the Duke of Edinburgh wrote his name when he was there, but some savage, in order to get the duke's autograph, cut it out. I think that for that offence six months in goal, with hard labour, would not be too much. Now, I will look carefully into this matter, and see whether the law cannot be amended so as to afford, ample protection to the Terraces ; and I shall ask your Committee to be kind enough to continue to assist us in future, and I would like to thank it for what it has done in the past. Wiari Ngatai then read an address, which was as follows : Friend, Mr. Ballance. Salutations to you. This is a request from Ngatiwhaoa, one of the hapus of Ngati Tuhourangi, who were ascertained to be the owners in a block called Patetere South. Their names were admitted in that block on account of their being descended from Kaea and Manawa. The Court decided that those were the ancestors from whom the block was claimed. This was in 1883. We ask that you will give effect to our request; that is, that you will afford us relief from the grievance under which we labour. First, we were the registered owners in the Patere South Block, the Court having awarded this block to Kaea and Manawa, in 1883; secondly, the unauthorized subdivision of this block which was made by some of the descendants of Kaea and Manawa —that is to say, the subdivision of seven thousand acres that was sold to the Government in 1884. We were not present in the Court when that subdivision was made. We were present in Court when the list of names was submitted and passed by the Court. That was in 1883; but these people who subdivided the land did not acquaint us of their intention to subdivide it subsequently, so that we knew nothing about the subdisvision of the seven thousand acres, or about the selling to