G.— l

8

In 1865 medical officers were appointed at all the principal settlements. Prior to that date no effective arrangements had been made to provide the Natives with medical aid. It will be seen by the foregoing statements that seventeen years had elapsed before medical aid was provided or an officer specially appointed to administer Native affairs in the South, and that nineteen years after the date of the purchase the first systematic attempt was made to establish schools. The amount spent for medical aid from 1867 to the 31st March, 1882, the date up to which a statement of expenditure was prepared for the information of the Native Affairs Committee, was £2,559 18s. Bd., and for education, until the passing of " The Education Act, 1887," inclusive of cost of buildings and Inspector's salary, was £8,586 19s. lOd. The aforesaid items represent the expenditure for these purposes throughout the southern provinces. Under the terms of the deed pertaining to this purchase the Governor is required to set apart additional land for the Natives on the country being surveyed. No action was taken to fulfil this condition until May, 1868, excepting in the case of the Waikouaiti Reserve, increased by an addition of 594 acres, made by Sir George Grey in 1853, on the personal application of the Natives. An appeal of a similar kind, made by the Moeraki Natives in 1849, met with a negative reply. In 1868 the question came before the Native Land Court on an order of reference made under the 83rd section of " The Native Lands Act, 1865." The Court ordered that additional lands should be set apart in extinguishment of all claims or demands under the deed. The following reserves were accordingly made for occupation purposes : In Canterbury 2,830 acres, and in Otago 2,100 acres, computing 4,930 acres in all. The Court also directed that the reservation in the deed under the phrase " mahinga kai" should also be observed, which was fulfilled by setting apart 212 acres for fishery easements in Canterbury, and 112 acres 3 roods 20 perches in Otago. The fishery easements have for the most part been rendered comparatively worthless through the acclimatisation societies' stocking many of the streams and lakes with imported fish. These fish are protected by special legislation, consequently the Natives are debarred from using nets for catching the whitebait in season, nor can they catch eels or other native fish in these streams for fear of transgressing the law. Another source of injury done to their fisheries is the drainage of the country. In olden times, before the advent of the Europeans and the settlement of the country, they were at liberty to go at will in search of food, but now, should they chance to go fishing or bird-catching in any locality where they have no reserve, they are frequently ordered off by the settlers. All this is very harassing to a people who not long since owned the whole of the territory now occupied by another race, and it is not surprising that discontent prevails at the altered condition of affairs and the want of precaution observed at the outset by their civilised guardians, who could alone foresee the consequent result of colonisation on their former customs and habits of life, to have either secured them these privileges, or else provided them with additional lands as compensation for depriving them of some of the most important means of subsistence. Another kind of food they have been deprived of is the root of the ti called " kauru." This was a very nutritious food, and was obtained by baking the roots in a Native oven, in which state it contains a large quantity of saccharine matter. Its preparation in places where the tree abounded gave employment to a large number of persons during the months of December, January, and February, it being used as an article of barter, in exchange for other kinds of food, and also for clothing. The general sentiment of the Maoris in olden times with respect to their territorial possessions is not generally understood :it was not " earth-hunger," but "earth-love." They felt keenly the parting with their rights over the land of their ancestors, when the soil, with all its memories and the dignity conferred by its possession, had passed over to the stranger, and in its place they had acquired only perishable goods, or money, which was speedily dissipated. The Natives in the South Island had not realised in former times that their country was about to be occupied by a civilised race in such numbers as would place them in comparative insignificance, or deprive them of the privileges they formerly enjoyed; hence a reason why the superior intelligence of their guardians should have been exercised to protect them against the consequences that would result from being left comparatively landless, and debarred of their former advantages in a country formerly their own. The following particulars will show what has been done for the Ngaitahu Tribe by way of * fulfilling the original engagement with them that they should have ample reserves for their present and future wants, and that the Governor would set apart additional lands for them on the country being surveyed: The average acreage per individual set apart in Kemp's Purchase in 1848 was under ten acres; but the census taken at the time did not include the whole of the people for whom provision ought to have been made. This was caused by the stupidity and obstinacy of the Natives to furnish the necessary information. This kind of stupidity even prevails at the present time in some localities, great difficulty being experienced in collecting particulars of this kind, through the supposition that it is needed for some ulterior purpose. The awards made by the Native Land Court in 1868, together with the additional area set apart by the Government for Native purposes, brought up the average to nearly twenty acres per individual for the residents at the settlements within the block. Since the Court sat in 1868, 3,024 acres have been set aside for the Kaiapoi Natives as compensation for land appropriated to others, inclusive also of 200 acres given as compensation for the inferior character of some of the former awards. Notwithstanding the increase made at Kaiapoi, the general average adapted to the last census is still under twenty acres per individual. A general average is not, however, reliable as an indication of the sufficiency or non-sufficiency of the quantity needed to provide every one with a fair quantity of land; as, for instance, the acreage at the several settlements apportioned over the resident population ranges from five acres and a half per individual in some places to thirty-seven acres in others. At places also where the average is high per individual there are many persons who are without land.