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I.—2a

of the arrangement Dr. Buller called on me in respect to these particulars ; and whatever was carried out was carried out with the consent of Dr. Buller and of the Natives. Several of them came down to see me on the matter. 242. Dr. Buller was present then? —On all occasions. 243. A good deal has been said about Parakaia in the evidence given before this Committee : did it ever come before you that Parakaia agreed to McDonald being his agent for the receipt of the money ? —These are questions which I cannot answer. I did not deal with that. I saw that some justice was required to be done, and I addressed myself to the doing of it without reference to anything else. 244. Did you examine into the whole question as far as you could, by documentary evidence and otherwise, at the time of this settlement? —Yes. 245. Did you examine into questions concerning these back rents?—l went into the whole of that question carefully, and as completely as possible, as the papers in the office will probably show. 246. I presume that you carefully examined all documents on the Ministerial files ?—All that were accessible to me. 247. Mr. Te Ao.] Can you give the names of any Native owners that were present at your meetings ? —I cannot remember. No doubt there would be some record of the persons who were present. There were half a dozen of the principal men, representing all the people. 248. Maihana : was he one? —I think so. 249. Do you know what hapu Maihana belongs to ?—No, I could not tell you. 250. Have you not heard that he is a chief of another tribe, the Ngatitirangi ?—I cannot recollect. That is all I know —that there were several chiefs there, and I understood them to represent the interests of all the owners. 251. Was the whole of the land returned ? —The whole of the Himatangi was returned, as I understood it. The question of right would be settled by the Native Land Court. Subsequently the Court settled the claims of the hapus. 252. Would you mind referring to the map of the Himatangi Block that lies on the table? — The land which we intended should be given back is described in the schedule to the Bill. I could not say whether the boundary is laid down on the map, or whether that is the proper boundary. 253. The Legislative Council did not accept the proposition of Dr. Buller to forego the back rents?— The Legislative Council struck out the last words of clause 17, but left the general words. It was understood that the passing of this Act should be taken as a complete satisfaction by the Natives of all demands whatever, both in law and equity, which they might then have, as arising out of or concerning their claims in respect of this land. Nothing could be clearer than that. The other words were put in as representing a special matter' 254. Did you not put on record for the opinion of your colleagues that justice should be done to these Natives, and that wrong should not be inflicted on them ?—My object in meddling with this matter at all was to do justice to the Natives; and, as we agreed about the whole of the conditions, I was satisfied that justice had been done. lam satisfied that something more than justice has been done. 255. Seeing that the Government has given back the land, is it right that they should keep the money. Should they not both go together ? —When a bargain is made between two persons, each understanding the conditions of the bargain, there should be no going behind those conditions ; and in consideration of 5,500 acres of land being given to the Natives to which the Native Land Court said they were not entitled, these Natives abandoned all claims of every kind whatever upon the Government. 256. Seeing that the Court awarded 5,500 acres of land, and said it was theirs, was it right that the amount of rent accrued from that land should be kept back?—lt was not kept back. The only question is now, whether the right persons got the money or not. It has been shown since a fact which we did not know then —that all the money excepting £50 had been paid to some person or - other. 257. Do you know who were the people that received that money ?—No, Ido not know. All that I know and insist on is this : that when a bargain is mutually made, and one of the parties to the bargain fulfils its engagements, the other party must fulfil theirs. They are not friends to the Natives in this or any other case who talk to them in any other strain. 258. Do you know anything of another block of land, which the Government gave to the Ngatikauwhata? —No, I do not know. 259. Do you not think, seeing that Dr. Featherston gave the money to the wrong people, that the Government is still liable ? —I do not know that it was given to the wrong people :it was said so ; but that is a question always open to discussion. 260. Has not the Native Affairs Committee of the Legislative Council reported favourably on the petition of the Natives praying that the money be given to them?—l believe they have, but that does not make it right. The report of the Native Affairs Committee has not altered my opinion at all. It does not alter in any way the agreement I made with the Natives, upon which I take my stand. Reports of Committees are like Ministers' promises, and are sins that come home to roost sometimes. 261. There has been a little doubt thrown on this matter as to the right of the Natives who made the arrangement with you. You say you do not quite remember who the Natives were. I want to ask ytfff, are you quite clear that Dr. Buller was there on behaTf of those Natives, that he was acting for the Natives interested, and that he agreed to the arrangement that was made in the Bill ? —Quite, absolutely.. ,He brought the Natives to me and sat with me. The whole arrangement was made with Dr. Buller's concurrence and the concurrence of the Natives, one and all of them. Dr.