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No. 1. Sir,-— Niue, 30th May, 1905. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 103, dated the 13th May, 1905. I have made inquiries regarding the material fa, or pandanus, out of which the Niue hats are made. There is apparently no reason to apprehend a shortage of the raw material. Well-informed traders assure me that the fa is as abundant now as ever it was, if not more so. Like Phormium ten-ax the crop is improved by cutting. Considerable quantities of fa have been planted at Hakupu, Mutalau, and Likn, where the best quality is grown. The trouble is that unless outlets can be found for the hats in the Australasian Colonies, there seems to be a danger of glutting the New Zealand market. When present orders in hand are executed, it is anticipated that stocks will be so large that comparatively few hats will be required next season. Under these circumstances there does not seem to be any immediate necessity for the Niue Administration to take action with the view of stimulating the industry. An enhanced demand would lead to a much greater production of hats on the part of the Natives. I have, &c, C. F. Maxwell, Resident Commissioner, Niue. The Hon. C. H. Mills, Minister in Charge of the Islands, Wellington.

No. 2. Sir, — Cook and other Islands Administration, Wellington, 7th June, 1905. I shall be glad to receive by first mail a report on the bringing into operation of sections 5 and 6of " The Cook and other Islands Government Act Amendment Act, 1904." I see by the Cook Islands Gazette that you have taken steps to have the Island Councils reconstituted in accordance with section 6, and I should like to know whether you have completed arrangements for the abolition of the Arikis' Courts in those islands to which European Resident Agents have been appointed, as required by section 5. Please report generally on these two changes. I have, &c, The Resident Commissioner, Rarotonga. C. H. Mills.

No. 3. Sir, — Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 7th June, 1905. In reply to your letter No. 99, of the 12th ultimo, requesting me to report on the report of Messrs. Kirk and Boucher, paragraphs 1 to 4, I have the honour to inform you that I have received numerous applications from young men of small means, now resident in Europe, South Africa, and other places, inquiring as to their chances of success as planters in the Cook Islands. To these men I have sent very careful replies, not that I doubted the ultimate success of any industrious man, but because I feared that men from the Old Country might probably have taken their ideas of these islands from books, and would probably be disappointed when they realised that for eight years they must practise the virtues of industry, self-denial, and perseverance, in order to attain a competence. The only island produce that can be regarded as actual money is the cocoanut, and for this tree the planter must wait from eight to ten years, and during that period must depend on the sale of bananas, or on such outside employment as he may be able to obtain. I am, however, convinced that the man who can lease 50 or even 30 acres for a long term will, when his cocoapalms are bearing, make something more than a living, for in these islands the circumstances of life are easy, and a man can keep both pigs and cattle under his palm-trees, and thus save himself the trouble of keeping down the undergrowth. The real difficulty of the settlement of the country will be in obtaining land for settlement. In Rarotonga the banana-planting mania is so general that people have an exaggerated view of the value of their lands, and, even though they might consent to lease, would probably ask prohibitive prices. At Mangaia and Ai'tutaki there can be very little settlement, for the land in those islands is minutely subdivided, and the Mangaians do not love Europeans. It is at Atiu and Mauke that the real opening for settlement exists. The latter island contains 3,000 acres, and of this not more than 500 is of beneficial use to the 370 inhabitants. Atiu has not yet been surveyed, but the island cannot contain less than 9,000 acres, of which not more than 1,000 acres is beneficially occupied by the 912 inhabitants. It is from every point of view desirable that these two islands should be occupied as soon as possible by an industrious population of Europeans, and to this end I shall shortly proceed to Mauke and survey the remaining I-α, 3,

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