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A.—l

Enclosure. Memobandum for His Excellency. Premier's Office, Wellington, 23rd October, 1889. The Premier has the honour respectfully to request His Excellency to be good enough to communicate with the Eight Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies with the object of having a search made in the records of the Colonial Office for any information which may be there on the subject of the purchase of the Otakou (Otago) Block from the Maoris in 1844-45. A memorandum from the Native Department, attached, will show the direction in which the search is required to be made. H. A. Atkinson.

Sub-Enclosure. Memoeandum for the Hon. Native Minister. The Joint Committee appointed to consider and report upon the Middle Island Native Land Claims reported to Parliament upon the Otakou case, on the 18th ultimo, as follows : " The Committee, having investigated this case, and considered it by the light of all available information, are of opinion that the whole question is, whether or not the principle of ' tenths ' applies to this purchase. This point cannot be satisfactorily determined until inquiry has been made as to the nature of the instructions from the Governor asked for by the late Major Eichmond, C.8., in his letter of the 12th June, 1844; and, as no record of this can be found in the colony, the Committee have resolved that steps be taken to obtain from the Colonial Office copies of all records on the subject." The late Major Eichmond—in his letter referred to by the Committee—wrote to His Excellency the Governor in the following terms : " By the sixth paragraph of the prospectus for the New Edinburgh Settlement I find that the provision hitherto made for the Natives by the directors of the New Zealand Company is left to the local government. I shall therefore demand, on their behalf, ' one-tenth' of each description of allotment, namely, town, suburban, and rural, and arrange with the principal agent of the company, or the agent for the new settlement, on the mode to be adopted for their selection, should I not receive your Excellency's instructions on this subject previous to the arrival of the latter with the immigrants." It is respectfully suggested that steps may now be taken to apply to the Colonial Office for copies of all records it may be able to furnish on the subject of providing " tenths " of the land in the Otakou Block for the benefit of the Natives. An old volume of outward despatches, written during the period stated in the margin [22nd December, 1843, to 18th October, 1845], which may contain information on the subject, is unfortunately missing from Government House. W. J. Moepeth, Native Office, Wellington, 21st October, 1889. For the Under-Secretary.

No. 29. My Lord,— Government House, Wellington, Bth November, 1889. Your Lordship's Despatch No. 15, of the 17th June, 1889, informing me that Her Majesty's Government had instructed Major-General Edwards to proceed to this colony, among others of the Australasian group, for the purpose of inspecting the forces, was regarded with great satisfaction by my Ministers. On the 25th August I received a telegram from the Governor of South Australia in the following terms : " General Edwards desires me to acquaint your " Ministers that he is proceeding to Western Australia 26th August, at request " Australian Colonies, in consequence of Her Majesty's Government's proposal for " fortification of King George's Sound. Obliged to return to his station Novem- " ber, previously paying visit to Tasmania, and completing Queensland and Thurs- " day Island ; therefore no time for New Zealand this year, but proposes obtaining " sanction of Her Majesty's Government for minute inspection of New Zealand " early in the year. Wire if satisfactory." As some preparations had been made in anticipation of General Edwards's visit, and as the organisation of the New Zealand forces had recently undergone some alteration, my Ministers were very anxious that General Edwards should not entirely omit this colony from his tour of inspection. Being anxious, therefore, to know whether the sanction of Her Majesty's Government to the proposed visit in the early part of next year was likely to be obtained, I transmitted to your Lordship my telegram of the 27th August, and in reply received, with much satisfaction, your Lordship's telegram of the 17th September. General Edwards, in accordance with the instructions of the Secretary of State for War, arrived in this colony on the 15th October, and landed at Auck-

A.-2, 1890, No. 15.

No. 17. ' A.-2, 1889, No. 29.