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1908 NEW ZEALAND.

NATIVE LANDS AND NATIVE-LAND TENURE: INTERIM REPORT OF NATIVE LAND COMMISSION ON NATIVE LANDS IN THE COUNTY OF ROTORUA.

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

Native Land Commission, Kaikohe, Bay of Islands, 16th April, 1908. To His Excellency the Governor. May it please Your Excellency,— We have the honour to submit for your consideration a further report dealing with an additional area of land in Rotorua County. Rotorua County. The area dealt with in this report is 50,023 acres, all within the Thermal-Springs District.' ,]our[] recommendations are set out in detail in the schedule hereto, and are framed so as to accord with our recommendations in our first report dealing with Rotorua County and the Thermal-Springs District. Summarised they are as follows:— A. B. P, For Maori occupation ... ... ... ... ... 7,198 120 To be incorporated (approximate) ... ... ... ... 27,750 0 0 For lease (subject to reserves) ... ... ... ... 8,205 0 0 For sale * ... ... ... ... ... ... 6,870 0 0 50,023 1 20 This will reduce the area of lands not dealt with in our previous report to 131,551 acres, of which 61,861 acres are being investigated and partitioned by the Native Land Court, and may be ready for us to inquire into next month. Some special features of the blocks included in the schedule may be referred to. Although thejßotoitijßlock (area about 19,000 acres) has been subdivided, the surveys have not been made, and the areas of the various subdivisions are not ascertained even approximately. This is only one of the many large blocks owned by the Ngatipikiao, and bordering on the series of lakes from Rotoiti to Rotoma and Okataina, which are in avery unsatisfactory position. We strongly recommend that the surveys of these blocks be executed, even if it should become necessary to cut off portions of land to defray the necessarily heavy expense. We have recommended incorporation of this block for the reasons stated in our previous report. It is all the more necessary because of the nature of the title. Incorporation will hasten the settlement of the block, because it will concentrate the power of disposal into the hands of Committees, which will disregard difficulties arising from the application of Native custom to further subdivisions.