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No. 9. The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland, to the Hon. the Attorney-General. Sir, Auckland, 7th October, 1880. At a special meeting of the Land Board held yesterday for the purpose of considering certain modifications suggested by Captain Steele in the proposals of the Land Board for the sale to Messrs. Grant and Poster of a portion of Te Aroha Block, Thames District, it was agreed (Captain Steele, who was in attendance, concurring) that the terms and conditions upon which the Government be recommended to dispose of the land applied for to the gentlemen above named be those embodied in the accompanying copy of the minutes of the proceedings of the Board, instead of those transmitted to you with my letter of the Ist instant. I have, &c, D. A. Tole, The Hon. the Attorney-General, Auckland. Commissioner of Crown Lands.

Enclosure 1 in No. 9. Re Lincolnshire Farmers' proposed Special Settlement, Te Aroha, Thames District. Extract from minutes of a special meeting of the Land Board held on Wednesday, the 6th October, 1880:— It was resolved, That the following tsrms and conditions of sale to Messrs. Grant and Poster of certain proposed special-settlement land for Lincolnshire farmers, in Te Aroha Block, Thames District, be recommended for the approval of the Government, in lieu of those passed by the Land Board at its meeting of the 30th September last: — 1. That, subject to the extinguishment of Mr. T. Eussell's claim to a portion of the said land, the area to be sold for the purposes of the said settlement be 17,600 acres, more or less, in the position delineated on plan attached. . 2.. That the price be that fixed in terms of the Chief Surveyor's valuation, a copy of which is hereto annexed. 3. That the manner of payment be as follows: (a) A deposit payment of ss. per acre to be paid in London within six months after execution of the agreement of purchase; (.) a second payment of ss. per acre within six months after the date of the first said payment; (c) a third payment of 10s. per aero within twelve months after the date of the second said payment; and (t.) the balanco of the purchase-money to be paid within twelve months from the date of the third said payment. 4. That Messrs. Grant and Foster introduce from the United Kingdom or elsewhere (save from the Australian colonies) at least 225 adult immigrants—an adult immigrant to mean a person of either sex, being not less than eighteen years of age; but two persons under eighteen to be reckoned as one adult, 5. That within six months after the arrival of said immigrants forty-five families of settlers be settled on the land proposed to be set apart for the purposes of the said settlement. 6. That Messrs. Grant and Poster shall erect or cause to be erected on the land, forty-five dwelling-houses, to be well and substantially built of timber or other durable material, each of such dwellings to contain at least three rooms. 7. That each settler shall, for a period of three years continuously, reside on the land so selected; but the Board may, if it shall think fit, give permission in writing dispensing with personal residence for any portion of the above-named period. One-fifth of the land so occupied to be brought into cultivation before the expiration of the said period —three years. Cultivation to mean —(1) Breaking up and laying down the land in English or other cultivated grass; or (2) breaking up, and planting or sowing root or other crops therein. (3) In the case of bush land, cultivation to mean burning off and surface-sowing ; and, in the case of swamp land, draining and surface-sowing. That at any time, upon payment in full of the amount of purchase-money, and the fulfilment of all the conditions herein imposed with regard to residence, building, and cultivation, a Crown grant, reserving all precious metals, and containing the usual covenants to lay out roads, &c, do issue to each settler. Resolved, That the Native reserve known as Manawaru, containing 613 acres, be not sold to Messrs. Grant and Poster, as applied for by Captain Steele, but that the said reserve be set apart as a township and for other public purposes. Resolved also, That the attention of the Government be specially drawn to the circumstance that a portion of the land applied for on the eastern bank of the Waihou Eiver is believed to be auriferous.

Enclosure 2 in No. 9. The Chief Surveyor, Auckland, to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland. Survey Office, Auckland, 29th September, 1880. In reply to your memorandum of this day's date, I value the lands at Te Aroha proposed to be given to the Lincolnshire farmers as follows : — I consider them capable of division into three classes, of different values —the price stated for each being a mean of the whole in such class. Acres. Per acre. Surveyed lands, west of the river ...9,231 at £2 0 0 ... .£18,462 east of the river ...4,578 at 2 5 0 ... 10,300 TJnsurveyed lands ... ... 3,700 at 0 5 0 ... 925 17,509 £29,687