19

G.-4

Appeal No. 123. —8y Tiopira Tamaikohn, claiming the inclusion of three additional persons in the order. To this there are no objectors; we have therefore included their names, numbered from 567 to 569, inclusive, in the list attached to the file, with shares as shown therein, for inclusion in the block, and we recommend that their names and shares be added to the order accordThis appeal further asks that the interests of Tiopira Tamaikoha, No. 410 in order, and Ngahirata Tiopira, No. 497 in order, be increased to twenty shares each, there being no objectors. We have therefore inserted the increased shares asked for opposite their names in the order respectively, and we recommend that their shares be so increased accordingly. Appeal No. 12j.. —8y Puihi Marutawhao and otherß. This appeal was withdrawn by the appellants, there being no objectors. We recommend that it be dismissed. Appeal No. 126. —8y Mehaka Tokopounarnu and others, claiming the inclusion of thirtyseven new persons in the order as owners. This claim was opposed by Numia Kereru, and each of these two cases was duly inquired into by this Commission and heard to its conclusion. We have considered the evidence, and we are of opinion that Mehaka has failed to establish his case. The ancestral right alleged by the appellants is denied, and the evidence of occupation advanced by them is not clear, with the exception of the occupation of Hami while he was married to and living with Katau, and the occupation of his sister Repora, the mother of Mehaka, during the time she was the wife of Hukanui. We are of opinion that the objections put forward by the case opposing this appeal are irrefutable, and that the claim for inclusion should be disallowed and the appeal dismissed, and we recommend accordingly. Appeal No. 127. —8y Rawiri Kokau and others. This appeal was gazetted as applying to Tarapounamu-Matawhero Block, but was, at the request of Rawiri Kokau on behalf of all the appellants, allowed to be amended by being withdrawn from amongst the appeals in regard to Tarapounamu-Matawhero Block and taken as applying to Te Ranga-a-Ruanuku Block. This appeal was heard by us to its conclusion, as also was the case of objection thereto set up by Numia Kereru. During the course of the inquiry application was made that two pas, named Oteahu and Okuao—alleged by the appellants to be walled pas (" pa maioro ") existing on the land, and the existence of which was strenuously denied by the respondents—should be visited and inspected upon the land. Two persons were therefore selected by the contesting parties, one from each of the two opposing cases, and deputed by this Commission to inspect the land, and report to us in person on their return. We have duly considered the evidence put forward by each of the two contesting cases. The land has been inspected, and the two pas alleged by the appellants could not be found, nor were there any sites of whares to be seen at the places alleged by them to be pas. We are of opinion that the appellants have failed to establish their case of objection to the award of the previous Commission. We recommend that their appeal be dismissed, and that the decision of the previous Commission in regard to the dividing boundary between Te Ranga-a-Ruanuku Block and Tarapounamu-Matawhero Block be affirmed. The seven persons whose names are hereunder set out are the persons who have been selected by the owners of the land from amongst their number and proposed by them to be the members for the Hapu Committee for this block, and agreed to by all the owners present before this Commission sitting at Whakatane on the Bth day of March, 1907 : — 1. Numia te Ruakariata. 5. Hiki Natanahira. 2. Te Pouwhare te Roau. 6. Te Pairi Tuterangi. 3. Te Whetu te Paerata. 7. Hori Aterea. 4. Mika te Tawhao. Gilbert Mair. D. F. G. Barclay. Paratene Ngata. Tarapounamu-Matawhero Block. Appeal No. 138. —By Ngahiwi te Kapiti, asking that her interest be increased to twenty shares. It was eventually" settled before this Commission that the interest of the appellant Ngahiwi te Kapiti, No. 881 in the" order, be increased to fifteen shares, and we recommend that her interest be so increased accordingly. Appeals Nos. 131 and 139. —By Te Hira Tangohau and others, asking for the inclusion of two additional persons in the order with an interest of five shares each. There being no objectors, we have added their names, numbered 884 and 885, to the list attached to the file for the shares asked, and we recommend that they be added to the order. These appeals further ask that the interests of eleven persons in the order, Nos. 22 to 29, inclusive, and Nos. 182, 183, and 184 respectively, be increased, and there being no objectors to the increased interests asked for, we recommend that they be increased accordingly to the shares shown opposite their names in the manuscript list attached to the file. Appeal No. 135. —8y Matiu te Kurapa and others, for the increase of the shares of twentythree persons, numbered respectively in, the order from 170 to 180 and 185 to 196, inclusive. There being no objectors, we recommend that their interests be increased accordingly to the shares shown opposite their names in the list attached to the file.