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Enclosure No. 4 Copy of a Despatch from Governor Sir George Grey to the Duke op Newcastle. My Lord Duke, — Government House, Wellington, 13th August, 1853. I have the honor to transmit, for your Grace's information, the copy of a report from Mr. Commissioner McLean, from which it will be found that the principal chief's and people of the Ngatitoa tribe, as also several of the most influential chiefs of the Ngatirarua, Ngatitama, Rangitane, and Ngatiawa tribes, have ceded to the Government the whole of the hitherto unceded portions of the northern and central parts of the Middle Island of New Zealand. 2. A considerable portion of this territory they had always hitherto declined to sell; but the chiefs of the tribes alluded to having assembled to see me before I left Wellington, and having stated their desire in every way in their power to meet my wishes before my departure, I pressed upon them the advisability of their allowing me to adjust these outstanding questions regarding a tract of land a great portion of which the European population were so anxious to see pass under the power of the Crown. 3. After considering the subject for two or three days, from a desire to meet my views, for which I must always feel most grateful to them, they gave way and concluded the arrangement which is detailed in the enclosed communication from the Commissioner, and the result of which will be to secure for the Provinces of Nelson and Canterbury the immediate and unrestricted use of the natural advantages of tho important lands, harbours, and mines comprised within the entire limits of those provinces, the whole of the waste lands in which being now thrown open to the energy, enterprise, and industry of all races. It may safely be assumed that a large amount of prosperity must speedily accrue to provinces which now offer such great advantages to incoming settlers, whilst the local elected authorities in those provinces, who are charged with the introduction of a new constitution, will find their task materially lightened by entering upon the administration of their affairs, without having immediately to deal with difficult questions connected with the public lands, and by having at the same time before them the prospect of deriving a considerable revenue from the large tracts of country which will in those provinces be now open for disposal. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, &e. G Grey.

Enclosure No. 5 The Land Commissioner to tho Civil Secretary Sir,— Wellington, 11th August, 1853. I have the honor to transmit to you the original deed of sale executed by the principal chiefs and people of the Ngatitoa tribe yesterday, for the whole of their claims to the Middle Island, excepting Rangitoto or D'Urville's Island, and such other places as may be actually required by the Natives, within the limits of the purchase, as reserves, for their own use and occupation. This purchase may be estimated to comprise about one-fourth of the whole of the Middle Island, and includes, besides the Arahura or West Coast, those portions of the Province of Nelson hitherto the most difficult to acquire from the Natives, owing to the numerous conflicting interests of different tribes inhabiting the bays and outlets at Queen Charlotte Sound, Cloudy Bay, the Pelorus, Wakapuaka, and other places. In addition to the Ngatitoa chiefs, who are acknowledged by the Natives generally to have the principal claim to those districts, several other influential chiefs from the Ngatirarua, Ngatitama, Rangitane, and Ngatiawa tribes were present, and took part with the Ngatitoa at several conferences held with His Excellency Sir George Grey respecting the sale of the country for which His Excellency has authorized a payment of £5,000 should be made to extinguish the whole of the claims of the different tribes concerned. Of this sum the Natives have been paid a first instalment of £2,000 yesterday, and the remaining £3,000 is to be paid in six annual instalments of £500, falling due in the months of December or January in each year. It is proposed by the chiefs and sanctioned by His Excellency, under whose immediate directions these arrangements have been carried out, that a general meeting of the different tribes interested in the sale should be held, if possible, in January next, at Nelson, when the proportions of the sums to be paid and the boundaries of the reserves to be set apart for the respective tribes should be decided upon. In addition to the lands so reserved, His Excellency instructed that certain chiefs, whose names are furnished in the accompanying list, shall receive grants of 200 acres of land each in such parts of the purchase as His Excellency may appoint, and that those chiefs, fifteen in number, more particularly interested in the sale of the Pelorus or Hoieri, a district they had great reluctance in ceding, shall be entitled, with unlimited right of selection in any Crown lands within the six provinces of New Zealand, to 50 acres of scrip each. I am not prepared to state the peculiar advantages to the Nelson and Canterbury Provinces of having such an extensive tract of country placed at their disposal, possessing as it does the most valuable bays and harbours in the Middle Island, besides considerable tracts of grazing country and districts abounding in mineral wealth, which can now be explored without interruption from the Natives ; but I may add that nothing but an anxious desire on the part of His Excellency to secure these advantages to the European inhabitants, and an equal desire on the part of the Natives to meet His Excellency's wishes, and take advantage of his presence before his departure for England, would have induced them to have ceded the more available and valuable parts of those districts, not even if thev were hereafter offered a much higher remuneration, which would of course increase with their