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nor shall it be lawful to exercise any act of ownership on the land as aforesaid except under the written permission of the district Ariki and the Eesident Commissioner. Any act in contravention of this Ordinance shall be punishable by a fine of not exceeding £10, or in default four months' hard labour. 3. All offences under this Ordiuance shall be heard and determined by the High Court. Passed this Bth day of November, 1902. S. Savage, Clerk to Council. Makba. Ngamaku. TINOMANA. Pα. Karika.

No. 40. Sm, — Premier's Office, Wellington, Bth December, 1902. 1 have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter (No. 94) of the 12th November, reporting an outbreak of measles at Earotonga. It is to be hoped Dr. Gatley will be more careful in future, and that no serious results will follow his indiscretion. I have, &c. The Eesident Commissioner, Earotonga. C. H. Mills.

No. 37

No. 41. Sik, — Premier's Office, Wellington, 9th December, 1902. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter (No. 82) of the 7th October, reporting that the revenue for the half-year ended the 30th September, 1902, amounts to £2,140 17s. 10d., an excess of £268 ss. Bd. over the estimate for the whole year, and to congratulate you on the very satisfactory state of affairs. I have, &c, The Eesident Commissioner, Earotonga. C. H. Mills.

No. 36.

No. 42. Sik, — Premier's Office, Wellington, 11th December, 1902. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter (No. 100) of the 14th November, forwarding the rules and regulations of the Cook and other Islands Land Titles Court, and to inform you that they have been duly submitted to His Excellency the Governor. I have, &c, The Eesident Commissioner, Earotonga. C. H. Mills.

No. 43. Sm, — Premier's Office, Wellington, 17th December, 1902. I have the honour to enclose the Earotonga Island Council Ordinance, No. 2: "The Coast Timber Conservation Ordinance, 1902," duly assented to by His Excellency the Governor. On the covering sheet which you forwarded you omitted to insert the Short Title of the Ordinance, which, you will observe, is referred to in the certificate which the Solicitor-General has to sign, and I have to request that you will be careful to insert it on all future occasions; and also, as there are many legislating Councils, that you should add the word "Federal" in the case of Federal Ordinances, and, in the case of an Island Council, the name of the island in the Short Title. I have, &c, The Eesident Commissioner, Earotonga. C. H. Mills.

No. 44. Sik,— Earotonga, 17th December, 1902. 1 have the honour to report for your information that I have this day returned from the Island of Aitutaki, where I had opened the first sitting of the Land Titles Court held within this Group. In the fourteen days' sitting I managed to settle twenty-two cases that have long been in dispute. The fees charged are very small indeed, but nearly £40 will be the result of the fourteen days' sitting, and it is evident that the Court and Surveyor will be well-nigh self-supporting for the next five years. I have, &c, W. G. Gudgeon, The Hon. C. H. Mills, New Zealand. Eesident Commissioner.

No. 45. Sik, — British Residency, Earotonga, 23rd December, 1902. I have the honour to inform you that on the 19th instant, Ngamaru, the chief Ariki of Atiu, Mauke, and Mitiaro, caused the title of the Island of Takutea to be investigated by the Court. There was really no question as to the ownership, and the island, comprising some four hundred acres of very fertile land, was awarded to Ngamaru.