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value, as the whole of their possessions had been alienated before the advent of capital and labour; consequently greater care should have been observed for the protection of their welfare at a time when it would have been easier of accomplishment, by setting apart not only a sufficiency of land for their use and occupation, but also for the purpose of raising an independent fund to be devoted to objects connected with their general welfare, advancement, and improvement. Reserves of this kind would have afforded the means of promoting the objects that were held out to them as an inducement for parting with their lands, as well as provided the Government with independent funds for the purpose. Owing to the non-appointment of an official protector for the Natives in the south, as was promised them at the cession of their land, these people have suffered a serious loss, for, had any person been clothed with the necessary authority to look after their welfare in the early days, a great deal of the irreparable neglect they have suffered from the non-fulfilment of the promises made them at the cession of their lands would probably not have occurred. Eepresentations were made in 1856 by Mr. Mantell to the Imperial Government touching the non-fulfilment of the promises he had been the medium of making to the Ngaitahu Tribe at the cession of their territory to the Crown. These promises Mr. Mantell pointed out had never been fulfilled, and asked for the intervention of the Imperial Government in favour of the Natives, since the Colonial Government had failed to realise the promises he had been authorised to make. The Secretary of State however declined to intermeddle with the matter without previous reference to the New Zealand Government, and Mr. Mantell, finding that no reparation could be obtained for the Natives, resigned the whole of the offices held by him in the colony. Attention was again drawn to the question by Sir William Fox when Colonial Secretary, in. a memorandum written by him in November, 1864, on the condition of the Ngaitahu Tribe and the pledges given to them on the extinction of their title to lands in the southern provinces, from which the following extracts are made : "Till the month of November, 1863, the Imperial Government reserved to itself the management and control of Native affairs, and the whole responsibility for their administration. At that date the colony accepted such responsibility in the terms of the Duke of Newcastle's despatch of April, 1863, and took upon itself the obligations of the Imperial Government towards the Natives. The Colonial Secretary, who took office at that period, lost no time in despatching to the Middle Island an experienced and able officer of the Native Department, Mr. Henry Clarke, with special instructions to inquire into the condition of the Natives in the Otago Province, and to ascertain what pledges had been made to them on the sale of their land to the Government many years ago, and how far these pledges had been fulfilled. The Colonial Secretary had previously had his attention directed to the subject, but had never been able to get specific information upon it. So soon, however, as the Colonial Secretary assumed this function of administering Native affairs he felt that he was bound to take immediate steps towards redeeming the unfulfilled pledges given on behalf of the Imperial Government so many years before, and which had been allowed to remain so long a dead letter." After detailing the steps that would have been taken had his Ministry not then resigned, and expressing a hope that action would be taken at an early date to redeem the unfulfilled pledges of the Imperial Government referred to, the Colonial Secretary points out that the first duty of the Commissioner to be appointed should be " to devise and recommend the specific plans by means of which the Government should advance the civilisation and social progress of the Ngaitahu in the manner in which the representative of the Imperial Government contracted with them that it should be done when they bought and took possession of that portion of the Middle Island which now forms the Provinces of Otago and Canterbury. Considering the great length of time during which faith has failed to be kept with the Natives, they are entitled to a very large amount of arrears, and the Government should propose to the Assembly no niggard vote for the purpose. Since the pledges were given a whole generation has gone to seed without receiving the benefit of that culture which was promised. No reparation can be made now for this neglect, but it should be remembered when action is taken, and it should prevent any murmur at the appropriation of what might under other circumstances appear too large an appropriation of the public money to a small remnant of a tribe which once owned three-fourths of the Middle Island. A question for the Legislature arises in connection with the subject in a financial point of view. The Commissioner who extinguished the Native title on the part of the Imperial Government to greater part of the districts referred to has stated that the pledges given were the main consideration for the sale of the land. It seems only just that the recipients of the land should bear the burden of the fulfilment of the pledges for which it was sold, and that, either by legislation or otherwise, the cost of carrying out the plans referred to ought to be made a charge on the provinces which have been formed out of Ngaitahu territory." In 1865 Mr. Hunter Browne was appointed to administer Native affairs in the southern provinces, but, although various recommendations were made by him as to the best mode of carrying out the non-fulfilled pledges of the Government, nothing of any importance was effected. The first systematic attempt to establish schools in the southern provinces was made in 1867. Prior to that the Natives were chiefly indebted to the early missionaries and to private efforts for the education received. In 1870 there were only three schools in operation in the Middle Island : one at Otago Heads, established in January, 1869 ; one at Euapuke, opened in 1868 ; and another at Eiverton, in Southland. There had been a school at Kaiapoi, but it was burnt down in the summer of 1870, and the want of sufficient funds had prevented it from being rebuilt. It was established there, in the first place, in 1863, by the Christchurch Maori Mission, but was not opened before 1866 owing to want of funds. It was meant and understood at the time that the promises were made to the Natives re the establishment of schools and hospitals that special provisions would be made with all reasonable diligence for the establishment of these institutions, and not that they would have to wait until the requirements of the European community rendered them necessary.