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Maori Land Board. —Receipts and payments for the year totalled £99,326 and £98,700 respectively and showed a slight decrease over the preceding year, which can be accounted for by a corresponding decrease in disbursements on behalf of the Bast Coast Commission. The installation of an accounting machine has facilitated the clerical work in the office. Maori Welfare. —The operation of the social-security legislation has practically eliminated grants from the Civil List to indigent Natives. The Maori Welfare Officers in this district maintain close co-operation with the Social Security Department, and have assisted numbers of Maoris to submit claims for benefits. In addition to finding relief work under the Native employment scheme, assistance has been afforded the Placement Officers in manning Scheme 13 contracts. Practically the total expenditure on employment promotion under both these schemes has been in respect of land development work. Ikaroa and South Island District. Native Land Court.—The Court sittings during the year in respect of the two circuits presided over by the Judge numbered thirty-nine, and extended from Hastings in the north to Invercargill in the south. The Court again dealt with several matters of considerable complexity which involved Native interests in land, representing fairly large values. Several applications concerning the ownership of the valuable Palmerston North Reserves came before the Court in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Native Purposes Act, 1937, but the Court's decisions have not yet been given. The investigation, under special statutory authority, of the ownership of the Wakapuaka Block, near Nelson, comprising an area of nearly 18,000 acres, was completed by the Native Appellate Court, and a special sitting of the lower Court was held at Nelson in December to deal with an .application for partition of the land as between the parties concerned. The dispute as to the ownership of this land was the subject of petitions to Parliament, and the report by Judge Harvey (parliamentary paper G.-6b, 1936) upon these petitions deals comprehensively with the interesting historical background associated with the Wakapuaka Block. Applications for rate-charging orders continue to be made, and a number of these were heard by the Court. Every opportunity is taken to impress upon the Natives their liability to meet local-body taxation and to encourage them to pay their rates in order to prevent their lands being further encumbered. There has been a measure of success to record in this respect. Maori Land Boards.—There has been a steady increase in the work of the Boards in administering and controlling the proceeds of alienation of vested or freehold Native lands on behalf of the beneficiaries or owners. The activities have also been extended by the delegation to the Boards of the detail work in connection with Native reserves administered by the Native Trustee. Native reserves vested in the Native Trustee by statute for administration number 164. These reserves, which are all situated in either the South Island or the Ikaroa district, are as follows : — Acres. North Island Tenths (Wellington City) 38 Palmerston North City 71 Other North Island reserves . 4,000 South Island Tenths (Nelson City and district) 4,200 Town of Greymouth 500 Other South Island reserves (practically all on the West Coast) 13,500 The annual rent roll from approximately 2,800 Native reserve leases is £16,520, and there are 2,510 beneficiaries to whom rents are distributed half-yearly The expansion of business is reflected in the fact that rent and royalties collected by both Boards during the year amounted to £35,648, representing an increase of approximately £12,600 over the previous year. The accounting work of the Boards has been greatly facilitated by the installation of a bookkeeping machine. The speed and accuracy with which the considerable amount of routine work is now carried out by machine methods has enabled the Boards to handle almost double the volume of accounting with practically no increase in staff. The annual accounts disclose that both Boards are in a very sound position financially, with ample reserves and well-secured investments. Housing. The machinery of the Court was used extensively to assist Natives to acquire housingsites. In proper cases lands have been partitioned in order to give applicants a good registrable title to offer by way of security, and many gifts of sections have been confirmed' by vesting orders made under section '20 of the Native Housing Amendment Act, 1938. The Native housing question is largely a sociological problem, but at present it is possible to provide dwellings only for those who can give the required margin of security and an adequate assignment of rents or other moneys. Notwithstanding the economic limitations of a large body of the Natives, steady progress has been made in providing houses and so improving the living and social conditions of the people. There has not been observed, as yet, any marked improvement in the grounds and surroundings of the houses erected, especially in the 'nature of gardens and ornamental trees, but it is hoped that the encouragement offered to the Natives to take a pride in the beautification of their house-sites will have the desired result. Maori Welfare. —This important phase of the Boards' activities has received full consideration during the year, and every possible avenue of improvement is constantly under review

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