11

G.—l3

I believe over one thousand Natives will be in attendance at Cambridge for the sitting of the Court, and it will be manifestly impossible to keep them there two months, and equally impossible again to collect them.

If I appear unduly to press the matter, I would beg you to excuse me, on the ground of the magnitude of the interests involved. I have, &c, The Hon. the Native Minister. Martin Chapman

No. 28. Sir,— Wellington, sth February, 1881. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 29th ultimo on behalf of certain Native owners of the block of land called Patetere, in which you raise certain questions as to the sufficiency of the notice issued by the Government in the Gazette of the 6th November last affecting that block of land, and request me to state, " Whether, on the claims of the Crown to the lands in the above block being settled in the Native Land Court, the Government will forthwith issue a notification to the effect that the Crown has ceased to have any interest in the remainder of the block." In reply, I have to state that, as the Government is advised, the notification already issued is sufficient for the purpose of your clients, and that there is no necessity for the Crown to issue any notification as to the ceasing of its interest, as the order of the Native Land Court will virtually settle the question. With regard to the request contained in the latter part of your letter, I have to state that, while it would not appear that there is prima facie any reason why your request should not be acceded to, the Crown cannot now pledge itself as to what further action it may deem it advisable to take after the Court has issued its order. I have, &c, Martin Chapman, Esq., Solicitor, Wellington. W Eolleston.

No. 29. (Telegram.) [Translation.] The Hon. Native Minister, Wellington. Cambridge, sth February, 1881. We have heard that the agreement entered into by the Government, by which the Proclamation over Patetere was to be annulled, has not been confirmed (will not have full authority) This is to ask you whether that report is true or false, because we have faithfully agreed that a portion of our lands should be ceded to you. Tieme Erana, Te Eei Paehua, (for all Ngatiraukawa.)

No. 30. (Telegram.) To Eei Paehua and Others. 7th February, 1881. Tour telegram has been received. The Government will not go back from that which they said they would do in the notice which appears in the Gazette of the 25th November last. W Eolleston

No. 31. Sir, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 9th February, 1881. Adverting to my letter of the 7th ultimo, in which I had the honor to inform you that your letter of the Bth of December last, with the accompanying memorial, signed by Messrs. McGowan, McCulloch, and Kilgour, on behalf of a public meeting held at Grahamstown on the 15th November last, had been laid before the Governor, I have now to inform you that His Excellency has referred the memorial to his Eesponsible Advisers, by whose advice he has directed that the following reply should be sent through you to the memorialists : It is the declared policy of the present Ministry to withdraw, as far as possible, from the purchase by the Government of lands owned by aboriginal natives; and, in pursuance of that policy, they consider it inexpedient to proceed with the negotiations which had been commenced for the purchase of the Patetere and many other blocks of such Native land. A notice was accordingly published early in November last, in the Gazette and in several newspapers, that application would be made to the Native Land Court to assign to the Crown an area of land proportionate to the advances of money which have been made by the Government, and that, on this being done, it would be open to the Natives to dispose of the remainder of the blocks, in the manner authorized by law, to any person whom they may choose. This notice was given more than two months ago, and there can be no ground for assuming that the general public is unaware of the period at which the Patetere Block will be free from existing restrictions. His Excellency's advisers have no doubt that, in adopting the course above indicated, they have acted in the true interests of the whole of the Queen's subjects in New Zealand. I. have, &c, Sir George Grey, K.C.8., M.H.E., Kawau, Auckland. Thomas Dick.

No. 32. (Telegram.) [Translation.] To the Minister of Native Affairs, Wellington. Cambridge, 15th February, 1881. Your telegram with reference to Patetere has been received. It is well. Let us know quickly, as we have been put to much inconvenience owing to the arrangements not being carried out. Eeply* Parete te Kirituku