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no person should be allowed to hold more than one lease, though this intention is doubtfully expressed. If persons were allowed to hold more than one lease of Native lands, the object of the statute in fixing limitations would, in our opinion, be defeated. We cannot therefore recommend that the leases issued to Miss Meinertzhagen should be given effect to. We think, however, that, seeing she has obtained the consent of so many Natives to a lease of a large area of the block, and has paid large sums of money in advance for rents, and that many of the owners are anxious she should have leases, it would be only just and fair that she should be allowed to obtain a lease of one block, and the owners of the block called No. 3a No. 6, as altered by us in the sketch plan, are all favourable to Miss Meinertzhagen obtaining a lease. We will deal with the rents and conditions of the leases later. (2.) As to the Paparewa Reserve. We have endeavoured to find some reason in the evidence, in the judgment of the Court, or in the argument of counsel, why the Judge should have made this reserve of Paparewa, and awarded it to the persons to whom it was awarded, and we regret to say that we can find no reason for such a judgment. The following facts have to be kept in mind : (1.) It is admitted by counsel for Mrs. Donnelly that the judgment is wrong, in so far, at all events, as the exclusion of Maraea Aorangi as an owner in the Paparewa is concerned. (2.) This Paparewa Reserve has always beenused in connection with the lease held by Messrs. Meinertzhagen and Moore of the south-eastern portion of the blocks. (3.) It contains the dwellinghouse of the station, the woolshed, sheep-paddocks, dip, &c. (4.) The leasehold held by Mrs. Donnelly under the sublease had station-buildings, woolshed, &c, &c, on another block of land. (5.) The land awarded to Mrs. Donnelly and her relatives by the Partition Court contains much level land. (6.) There is little level land suitable for station-buildings, woolshed, &c, on the land awarded to the owners of Block No. 3a No. 6. (7.) It would be most injurious to the value of the block if the station-buildings, woolshed, sheep-yards, &c, were cut off and made a papakainga, and awarded to other owners as the Court has done. (8.) There could be no sentimental question involved in the setting-aside of this reserve, as (a) the land had been in the occupation of Europeans for a great number of years ; (b) Mrs. Donnelly had provisionally agreed to a division which would have excluded her as an owner from any part of this reserve. If the Court meant to prohibit the owners of the block from leasing their land to advantage as a sheep farm, no better steps could have been taken than to have made this reserve a papakainga and granted it to the .owners named. It has been said that this reserve is valuable because it may become suitable for a township-site at some future time. We have examined the land, and we doubt if it would be a proper site for a township in the locality. Where the present Native township is seems to us far more suitable in every way. Most of the land in Paparewa is of small value, being sandy flats and not suitable for building purposes. The only parts suitable for building purposes are those on which the station-house and garden are, and part of the sloping hill above the sheep-paddocks. We recommend that this reserve should be dealt with as follows: (1.) That all the reserve on which the station-buildings, woolshed, and sheep-paddocks are should be given to Erena Karauria, Morehu Turoa, and Maraea Aorangi in the following proportions : Morehu Turoa, 178 acres 2 roods ; Erena Karauria, 47 acres ; and Maraea Aorangi, 94 acres 2 roods. (2.) That the part marked with a red line on the plan, consisting of 124 acres, should be given to Arini Tonore, Iraia Karauria, Pani Karauria, and Tv Tiakitai in the following proportions, viz. : Arini Tonore, 69 acres 2 roods ; Tv Tiakitai, 27 acres 3 roods ; and Iraia Karauria and Pani Karauria, 13 acres \\ roods each. (3.) That to make up to the last-mentioned owners their area for the loss of Paparewa, the piece of land marked " A " should be given in exchange. This will increase the holdings of the owners in No. 3a No. 5 by the area lost in the Paparewa—that is, by 172 acres 3 roods, as follows : (1) Arini Tonore, by 97 acres 1 rood ; (2) Iraia Karauria, by 17 acres roods ; (3) Pani Karauria, by 17 acres lj roods; (4) Tv Tiakitai, by 40 acres 3 roods —in all, 172 acres 3 roods : making the areas in No. 3a No. 5 increased to the following : (1) Arini Tonore, 3,458 acres 1 rood 13j perches ; (2) Iraia Karauria, 421 acres

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