C.—No. 4a.

consideration, I believe Wanganui would be in many respects more convenient. Every intending purchaser of confiscated land could certainly go to Wanganui to transact his business, as there is no Bank at Patea; and many persons who would go to Wanganui from Wellington and other parts of the Colony by sea, would consider it a hardship to have to make another journey by land before they could ascertain what land was at the disposal of the Government. In addition to this, were the Commissioner stationed at Carlyle, though he might ride to the extreme boundary of his district in one day instead of two, he could not so readily correspond with the Secretary for Crown Lands, and, for some time at least, the duties of his office would not necessitate any journey further than Waihi, which is only sixty miles from Wanganui. It must also be remembered that the form of the district, —that of a strip of country very narrow in proportion to its length, —reduces the advantage of working from its centre to a minimum. As it has already been decided that a Survey Office in connection with the Government Buildings shall be erected at Carlyle (Patea), and as the future organization of the Survey Department is now under consideration, I need not further allude to these matters, as this report is intended to call attention to the general management and position of the confiscated lands in the Patea District, and to suggest a certain course of action, but does not enter into details, as these had better be considered separately. I have, &c, EOBEET PHARAZYN, Commissioner of Confiscated Lands. The Secretary for Crown Lands, Wellington.

No. 3. Mr. E. Piiarazyn to the Hon. the Defence Minister. Sie, — Confiscated Lands Office, Wellington, sth July, 1870. I have the honor to report that, though Major Kemp signed the deed by which he and his tribe gave up all their rights to any land in the West Coast District, yet he now claims the whole of the land between the Wairoa Stream and the Waitotara Eivcr, from the sea to a stream running a short distance within the bush and parallel to its margin. In the block of land claimed by Major Kemp is included a considerable portion of the Eailway Beserve and land alienated to the military settlors. Major Kemp gave me a long history of the transaction, (through Mr. Young, of the Native Office, who kindly interpreted for me,) from which I gather that Major Kemp regards his signature to the document above noted as being only a mode of acknowledging the receipt of a sum of money in payment of services rendered, and not as a conveyance of his property to the Government. Major Kemp has promised to send me a condensed account of the transaction in writing, but it appears to me that the fact of his making the claim is of much more importance than his reasons for so doing. I have, &c, EOBERT PnAEAZYN, The Hon. the Defence Minister. Commissioner of Confiscated Lands.

No. 4. Mr. E. Pharazyn to the Secretary for Crown Lands. Sie, — Confiscated Lands Office, Wellington, 12th September, 1870. Referring to my letter of 7th June, 1870, in which I recommended that Messrs. Wray and Williams should be employed to execute a trigonometrical survey of the West Coast District by contract, I have the honor to inform you that the proposals I then made have not been carried, owing, as I understand, to the Government having no funds at its disposal for the purpose. As, however, a sum of money has lately been voted by the General Assembly for the management of the confiscated lands, that difficulty is removed, and 1 venture to suggest that the trigonometrical survey of that part of the West Coast between the Waitotara and Patea Eivers should be at once proceeded with, either by contract, or by a regularly organized survey staff being formed and placed under my control. If this latter course is adopted, which I think would be, on the whole, the least expensive and most convenient, I recommend that Mr, G. W. Williams should be appointed Chief Surveyor, at a salary of £300 a year, and that I be empowered to expend the funds required for the work, the money being placed to my credit by way of an official advance to be accounted for. I have, &c, EOBERT PITARAZYN, The Secretary for Crown Lands, Wellington. Commissioner of Confiscated Lands.

No. 5. Memorandum for the information of the Hon. the Premiee. Q-eneral Management of the West Coast Lands, The Hon. Mr. McLean thinks it unadvisable to spend money in surveys till Native claims are settled, and these he considers will require peculiar management; and in the meantime Mr. Carrington has teen appointed Chief Surveyor, partly under the Minister for Public Works and partly under myself. 2

5

SETTLEMENT OF CONFISCATED LANDS.