5

C—No. 3.

Hakataramea, I promised that a reserve should hereafter be made there for them; cautioning them gradually to concentrate their gardens round their kaika, and permitting them for the present to continue to use those maras which they stated they had on the way thither. The plans of the above reserves I gave to Huruhuru at Waikowaiti. So far as I could learn, the Natives living on the Waitangi received no share of the last payment; Horomona Pohio having taken what little was allotted to that place. On the 10th we reached Kakanui, where I reserved the land mapped in the accompanying plan. The head man here, Rawiri te Mamaui, who has the Native plan, is a quiet and well-conducted Native. On the 14th November we reached Moeraki, and found there Paitu, one of the owners of the place, who had come in consequence of my letter. He expressed himself much hurt at having received no acknowledgment for his land, nene of the last payment having reached the right owners at Moeraki. He further wished the reserve to include all the valuable part of the beach, and all the Europeans' houses and cultivations. As, however, he is a quiet, and rather well-disposed Native, with much of the chief about him, I succeeded in bringing him round to my views; and on the 21st Mr. Wills finished the survey of the reserve (No. 12) of which I enclose the plan. As this reserve contains no timber fit for sawing, I went the next day to a wood called Te Kuri a few miles north of Moeraki where we set off ten acres of timber for the Natives ; —the land to remain the property of the Government. Very few of the Natives occupying Moeraki belong to this place, the major part having come from Kaiapoi and the Waipara country. They appear to be dying off very fast; which may perhaps be attributable to the stagnant pool which in winter collects in their pa, and to the want of fresh water, there being none within a mile or two of the Kaika. From one of them, the Wesleyan teacher, and principal man of the place, Matiaha Tiramorehu, I received the greatest support and assistance. Their cultivations are very extensive and very well managed. On my offering them their choice, whether to remain or go to the Kaiapoi reserve, they preferred to stay, as they had buried many of their relations at Moeraki, The plan of this and of Kuri timber reserve are with Matiaha. My own copy I enclose. • Leaving Mr. Wills at Moeraki to complete the maps, I set out on the 23rd for Otago, to endeavour to procure Colonel Godfrey's reports; but, failing to obtain them, I returned to Waikowaiti, which 3* reached on the 28th, having, while at Otago, dispatched a boat to Ruapuke for John Topi* and Kihau. The next day I took the census which I enclose; and the following day visited the cultivations, which were as inferior to those of Moeraki as the houses to those of the same place. The next day I set out with the Natives to arrange such a line round the Europeans' houses and gardens as might if possible include them all, without interfering with the Native cultivations. Finding them in some places so intermixed that this was impracticable, I resolved to omit some, if I could thereby obtain a more regular boundary. The Natives, however, declared that nothing but Mr. T. Jones' house and garden should be excluded from the reserve, and that all the rest must be left for them. I tried an experimental line with flax stalks, leaving out many white men's cultivations, but not in the slightest degree interfering with those of the Natives. On its reaching a rise above Mr. Jones' paddock, Kahuti became furious, and Horomona and Haereroa (Tommy Roundhead) sullenly silent. As they would not listen to reason, I adjourned the affair till the next day, begging them to consider well in the meantime. The next day at daybreak the whole population went off to cultivate, and would not attend to business: this was a plan of Horomona to prevent me from completing my arrangements with them. As the Mission Station is close to the pa, I asked the Missionary, Mr. Creed, whether he would prefer that it should be included in, or left out of, the Native Reserve; he begged me, if possible to include it in the Reserve. On Monday the 4th we commenced by running a line across the neck of " Island Point," —and then, with the Natives, proceeded to mark off that part of the river frontage uncolored in the accompanying plan: this done, I led the Natives to the spot where our Friday's conference ended, and asked them if they were, or were not, prepared to consent to my boundary there. They replied that their wisfrto expel the Europeans was unchanged. I then told them, that, as I could not be a party to what appeared to me so unjust, I should leave the question of the extent of land to be at this place cut out of the Reserve to be decided by His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor; and that I would now point out the extreme limits of the Reserve: these had been sketched on the maps by Mr. Wills, and after I had carefully explained them, we set out for Green Point (Te Awakaihaia) with Kaputi and Rawiri te Mamaru, whom the Natives deputed to attend us. Here we marked distinctly and firmly the beginning and direction of the boundary line. The next morning we went inland and laid out the inner line. Solomon Pohio and the rest pretended to be much excited at the direction of this; but as I was aware that their dissatisfaction was merely feigned; and well knew that the slightest concession would only increase their demands, I adhered to the line I had proposed. On the next day, Wednesday, 6th December, Mr. John Jones made his selection of 2560 (Two thousand five hundred and sixty) acres in three blocks. Having approved of his selections, they were marked and certified to by Mr. Wills on Mr. Jones' plan, which I signed and returned to him. A copy of this I enclose. On the morning of the 7th I explained to the Natives the reserve map, and delivered it to Haereroa; and the same afternoon reached Purakaunui by sea and took the census. The Waikowaiti Natives throughout my negotiations with them shewed a sullen determination to