H.—l2

28

B. Prices charged on Goods sold at Mitchelson Brothers' Lease Stores.

AVEEAGE PBIOE PAID FOB GUM FOB TWELVE MONTHS OFF LEASE LANDS. Babylon, £2 6s. 6d.; Maropiu, £2 ss. 9a. ; Flax-mill, £2 75.; Kaihu, £2 3a. 6a. Prices ranging from 7s. to £5 per hundredweight; average price, £2 ss. Ba.

Men employed at Gum-digging on Lease Lands.

Output of Gum. Output of gum from all sources in 1897, 552 tons, as against 1,138 tons in 1893. Average output per year for fourteen years, 712 tons. Bent of Lease. Eent, £600 per annum, to — Nimmo, Esq.; in 1893 it was £1,000. Lease was for ton years, rental commencing at £1,200 for first year, with reauction of £100 for each year after.

C. Return of Cash and Goods supplied to E. Mitchelson and Brothers' Stores for Two Years ending the 31st December, 1897.

* A number of people deal at this store who are not gum-diggers, but it is not possible to separate their purchases. f At this store a number of customers are not gum-diggers. ] This store is supplying bushes, and paying bush orders. We are unable to separate the different items without considerable trouble. D. Dbains. Drain at Long Gully, being dug by Austrians, a mile and a half, consisting of cross drains; area of swamp, one mile long by 300 yards wide; depth of drain, 8 ft. ; wilth at top, about 10 ft. ;at bottom, about 6 ft. Number of men in party, 22. Drain at Flax-mill Swamp, about a mile and a half long; area of swamp, same as above. Drain about 5 ft. by 4 ft. by 2ft., running smaller at top of the swamp. These swamps are given over to thoso who are draining thorn for the term of our lease, subject to the u j ual conditions, we to protect them from encroachment by other diggers not being of the party. The number of men in this party is twenty. B. Conditions upon which the Ustdebsigned is permitted to Dig Kaubi-gum on the Kaihu No. 2 Block, Kaipaba. 1. All kauri-gum dug or obtained in any way from the said blocks shall continue the property of Messrs. Mitchelson Brothers, and shall be delivered by the person digging the same to them at either of their stores on Kaihu No. 1 Block, and until so delivered shall be held by the person digging the same as bailee for them. 2. No rent being charged for the right to dig gum above mentioned, it is hereby agreed in lieu thereof that, on delivery as aforesaid of any such gum, Messrs. Mitchelson Brothers (whose decision as to quality or description of gum shall be final and binding upon the person delivering the same) shall have the right to fix, and will thereupon pay, the fair and reasonable value thereof to the person aelivering the same whose receipt shall be a sufficient discharge. 3. Any person being upon the said land shall leave and vacate the same within, forty-eight houra after receiving notice, either verbal or in writing, requiring him or her so to do from Messrs. Mitchelson Brothers or their agent, and will not again enter upon the said land without first obtaining permission from Messrs. Mitchelson Brothers or their agent; such notice, if in writing, shall be deemed to have been given if left at the last-known place of abode of such person. I agree to the above conditions:

Commodity. Flax-mill, Babylon. Maropiu. Kaihu. Flour (100 lb.) Potatoes (new), per owt. Sugar (per lb.) Milk Tea (perlb.) .. Candles (per lb.) Beef (per tin) Bice (per lb.) s. a. 16 6 12 0 0 4 0 9 2 6 1 0 1 3 0 4 s. d. 16 0 12 0 0 4 0 10 2s. 6d. to 3s. s. a. 16 0 10 0 0 4 0 10 2s. 6d. to 3s. s. a. 14 6 10 0 0 3J 0 9 2s. to 2a. 6d. 0 10 Is. Id. ; ls.9d. doz. 0 4 i"s

Babylon. Maropiu. Kaihu. Flax-mill. Totals. Austrians British Maori 81 23 57 18 22 20 20 30 14 168 75 42 285

IK )(i. Cash. Goods at Cost, with 10 per Cent. added. Cash. Goods at Cost, with 10 per Cent. added. 'lax-mill* Sabylon laropiuf ipanake J £ s. d. 1,602 7 7 5,631 15 5 6,999 7 6 £ s. d. 570 10 0 2,223 2 7 2,585 2 9 £ s. a. 1,682 7 7 5,017 6 11 4,637 9 11 £ s. d. 664 10 0 2,148 10 9 2,177 18 6