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1908. NEW ZEALAND',

NATIVE LANDS AND NATIVE-LAND TENURE: INTERIM REPORTS OF NATIVE LAND COMMISSION ON NATIVE LANDS IN THE WAIAPU COUNTY.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

To His Excellency the Governor. May it please Your Excellency — We have investigated the Native land known as Tauwhareparae Iβ and If, near Tolaga Bay, and we recommend that it lie set aside and reserved for Maori settlement, and that an Order in Council be issued accordingly under section 10 of "The Native Land Act, 1907." We have the honour to be Your Excellency's humble and obedient servants, Robert Stout, A. T. Ngata, Commissioners. Rotorua, 18th January, 1908. May it .please Your Excellency,— We have the honour to forward a further report on Native lands under the Commission issued to us dated the 21st day of January, 1907. We propose to deal with the Native lands in what is called the East Coast District under the heading of counties, and in this report we deal with the Waiapu County. Waiapu County. The Commission sat at Waiomatatini, near Port Awanui, from the 9th to the 12th of December, 1907, both inclusive, and later sat at Waipiro Bay and Tokomaru Bay, to deal with lands in the southern portion of the county. Wo have placed in an appendix to our report an address delivered by Mr. Ngata at the opening of the Commission at Waiomatatini. This address gives in a succinct form the early history of the Native-land question in this county. The area of the Waiapu County is 705,228 acres, approximately. Of this area 150,000 acres were acquired by the Crown, and 172,000 acres sold to Europeans, making a total of 322,000 acres the freehold of which the Maoris have parted with. They own a balance of, roughly, 380,000 acres, of which 113,025 acres are under lease to Europeans. The first land was obtained from the Maoris mainly through the influence of Sir Donald McLean, who asked the Maoris to sell the interior land, keeping the sea-coast for their own use. The price given to the Maoris for the inland land was from Is. to 3s. per acre, and most of it went to the Crown. Other portions were sold to Europeans at from 2s. to ss. an acre. Between 1876 and 1893 large areas of the lands reserved from sale, and lying generally to the south of the Waiapu River and between the sea-coast and the lands sold, were leased to Europeans. They comprise the well-known Waipiro, Tuparoa, Taoroa, and Tokomaru leaseholds. We show in the First Schedule to this report the lands which are now under lease to Europeans, and the unexpired terms of the same. In the Second Schedule are shown the lands, the titles to which have been ascertained, which are now under Maori occupation or which are desired to be reserved

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