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take charge of the Bill, and use every power to get it passed into law. I shall have it prepared before the beginning of the session, and hope to have it circulated amongst the Native people, so that they will have an opportunity of discussing it before the House meets. Wi Pere: I ask you to bring before your colleagues this proposal, that chiefs from various districts may go to Wellington to advise the Government with regard to the proposed legislation. Do not consider the expense that will be incurred; it will only be for one time. The Government should not consider this expense; they should look at the great expense incurred in printing and circulating Government documents amongst the half a million Europeans in these islands. Before leaving Wellington I asked that a certain number of copies of the Native Committee Eeports and Native Hansard should be sent to me : only a few copies have been sent. With regard to this new word you have spoken —that is, applications for surveys—l am glad you referred to it, because that was overlooked by us. It will be well if the choice as to who are to carry out the surveys was left in the hands of the Committee; they would then arrange that the lowest prices should be charged. According to the present law, only in the cases of land surveyed by Government surveyors are thecharges reasonable. If surveyors other than the Government surveyors are allowed to survey the land, the charges are very high indeed. The block may only be a small one, yet as much as £1,000 is sometimes charged. I had the Mangatu Block surveyed, and the charge was very small; that block contained 160,000 acres. There was another block of land of ours, which was only 30,000 acres, yet £1,400 was charged for the survey; and all the land was swallowed up to pay for the survey. I only paid £700 for the 160,000 acres. There are other cases such as this : the Natives get a block of land surveyed and they pay for the survey; it is afterwards found that the survey is inaccurate, and the land is re-surveyed by a Government surveyor, and the Natives are charged for the second survey. It was the Chief Surveyor who authorized the first survey being made. The Natives paid for it, and they are afterwards called upon to pay a second time for a fresh survey. I shall now refer to a matter which you arranged while I was in Wellington—that is, the 500 acres for myself and my people in the Patutahi Block. The sections which I selected in Wellington are, I find, nothing but pumice; no food will grow there. That is the reason they have not been already purchased by Europeans. Those lands would not fetch 10s. or £1 an acre. There is a small piece of land —it is a sort of hill —which still remains in the hands of the Government, and, although a great part of it consists of cliffs and precipices, I would be glad to take that, because the land is good, although it is very broken. The place I speak of is on the Patutahi Eoad, where it ascends the hill. Mr. Barraud is no doubt acquainted with this land ; he will know whether it has passed into the hands of Europeans or not. But it is not sufficiently large to discharge this liability. I ask you, in case of my being obliged to take this 500 acres, that you will add another 500 on account of its inferior quality. I have made inquiries about the burial-grounds, and I find that the Europeans are very hard in their demands with regard to those matters. I inquired of a European living near as to the quality of the 500 acres, and he advised me not to go to the land at all, because it was not good. I think, therefore, that I should have the whole of the balance of the land, even if it is three thousand acres ; I would then withdraw my claim to have the burial-grounds given to ' me. There is a European owning land at Taratahi who would sell his land for £12 an acre. This European, on whose land the burial-grounds are situated, offers to sell at £10 an acre, and, if the Government will buy them, I will hereafter endeavour to pay off the Government money year by year. If the Government will pay for the five acres, I will pay for the balance of it; if the Government will purchase the land for me from some Europeans, even if they have to give as much as £2,000 for it, I will repay the Government any excess that they have to pay. There was one case where a certain piece of land was arranged to be given for the Natives, and the reserve was made in a different place altogether; the graves were not included. The people present here desired me to request you to give them some ammunition. Some of the people advised me not to make this request, lest it should be said that we want this ammunition to shoot one another. I wish to explain to you that, in years when birds are plentiful, a chief should have as many as twenty licenses granted to him. My elder brother is in the habit of getting as many as a hundred issues of ammunition in the season when birds are plentiful. The reason preserved birds were so scarce at this meeting is that the Maoris had no ammunition. When Maoris go to shoot birds they shoot them for others —for great meetings, &c. —so that they may be able to entertain chiefs who come to see them. I hope that you will appoint some competent person who will be able to tell you when birds will be plentiful, so that ammunition may be issued freely during that time. The Natives have noticed that birds will be plentiful this year, and the shooting season should commence in April. I hope you will consider this matter now. Mr. Ballance : With respect to the supply of ammunition, there will be no difficulty about any respectable Natives receiving permits to purchase as much as they please. They have only to apply to Mr. Booth, the Eesident Magistrate, and he will grant them permits, the only limitation being that, if there is any known bad character, he will not issue licenses to him; but every respectable Native will have a permit, without any difficulty. I hope that meets your views upon that point. Several licenses can be granted. The restrictions have been greatly relaxed, and you will find no difficulty in future in obtaining sufficient for your wants. Now, with regard to the Patutahi Block and the graveyards, if Wi Pere will call to-morrow, we shall be able to discuss those questions, and I will try to effect a fair arrangement. With regard to the Hansard, I gave instructions that they should be sent to him, and lam surprised that they have not been received. I will have inquiries made by telegraph, and have them sent as soon as possible. Wi Pere : Some came, but others did not; it may be that Natives have taken them away from the post-office. Mr. Ballance : With regard to the meeting of Native chiefs in Wellington, that is a matter that I have thought a great deal about. It occurred to me that a meeting of the Native chiefs before the session commenced, from all parts of the Island, might be of some good, if they were able li—a. i.