17

A.—3b

to show them how they catch sharks; I believe they catch them by the tail. I shall therefore have to stop talking to you; but kindly tell those who are not present here now, but whom you are likely to see during the day or later on, that all the party are very pleased with what they have seen, and if any of you chiefs or Arikis should at any-time visit New Zealand, and should come on to Wellington, I hope you will ask for Mr. Mills. That is all I intend to say to you now. Colonel Gudgeon (addressing the Natives) : I may say that the purpose of Mr. Mills's remarks is to incite the Natives to a better cultivation of their lands, particularly in the direction of planting cocoanuts, and to developing the resources of the island to a much greater extent than at present. John: Hon. Mr. Mills, Minister of the Government of New Zealand, Colonel Gudgeon, and members of Parliament who have arrived here to-day, salutations to you all. We are very pleased, indeed, to meet you this day. We had already been informed that you intended to come and visit us, and now on this day God has brought you here to meet us, and I trust that God may protect you and guide you in your future movements, because you have become as parents to us and we are your children. We have something to say to you. We have heard our Magistrate here tell us that you have said that if anything be placed before you you will be pleased to hear it. We are yery desirous that you should help us. You are aware of our deficiencies, and know in what respects we are lacking. There is one thing we want, and that is some monetary assistance—a subsidy to the Council of this island. Now, one thing is the improvement of our wharf. We want to raise it and improve it generally, so that it may be of more use to this island. Now, we have not the means of doing this, so we therefore bring this matter before your notice. If you are not able to accede to our wishes we will not take it in ill part. There is another matter chat we wish to bring before you : in connection with the fruit trade of this island. We want the Government to appoint a good man in Auckland to receive the fruit for us, and not to make exorbitant charges, for we are an ignorant people, and require guidance in matters of this kind. All we can do now is to send the fruit from here to Auckland. We do not know what is done with it there, or how it is disposed of. We do not know what charges are incurred, or what trouble or losses there are in connection with it. Therefore we ask the Government to assist us in this matter, and we shall thank God that you have been able to do so. That is all I have to say. Hon. Mr. Mills : I have listened very attentively to what our friend has told us, and I shall make representations to the Government on my return to New Zealand. What has been said about the fruit trade seems to be very reasonable, and it will be for the Government to consider what is best to be done, not only in Auckland, but in all the ports of New Zealand. There may be avenues of trade further south which may be opened out and developed in such a way as to take a great deal more produce than we import at the present time. With regard to the monetary assistance, that part of your request has been heard by Colonel Gudgeon, who submits proposals to the Government with regard to the revenue of these islands, and if the revenue is insufficient to meet the general requirements of the islands, then Colonel Gudgeon will submit other proposals to the Government for their consideration. You will readily understand that a very large outlay was incurred by the Government in having the " Countess of Banfurly " built, in order to have a steamer moving among your islands, and so institute a better system of collecting the fruit from the various islands and delivering it at a seaport in New Zealand, and the Parliament of the colony raised no objection to granting that large sum. But if the revenue of the islands is insufficient to meet the present requirements, I have no doubt that Parliament will vote what they consider necessary to help you, provided that there is a probability of further revenue being acquired each year. Since I have been connected with the administration of these islands I have made inquiries from those people who know a great deal in reference to the trade, and they all tell me that there is a weak spot somewhere in the islands —that is, you do not take all the care you should take with your fruit before it is shipped. You require to be more careful, —not to put it into baskets, then strap it on to horses, and have some one riding on top of it to the shipping-places. I can assure you that the successful trader in New Zealand is the man who carefully watches his own produce, and sees that it is delivered in thoroughly good order. So if you are all careful in seeing that your fruit is placed on board the ship in good order, I will speak to the agents of the company, and ask them to be more careful, if they can, with the fruit that you deliver to them. Mr. Large : What they really mean, sir, is this : that some person should be appointed in New Zealand who will receive their fruit and forward it on to other parts of the colony at once, and who will make a reasonable charge for his services, because hitherto the large amount of fruit that has been sent from here has brought in no remuneration whatever, in consequence of the exorbitant charges made in Auckland and elsewhere. Hon. Mr. Mills : In making inquiries, before I left the colony, in reference to the importation of fruit into New Zealand, I found that the trade was very irregular, and that sometimes large parcels came in from Fiji and these islands within a few days of each other, and the consequence was that sometimes every man lost a great deal owing to the large quantity of fruit suddenly coming into the market. I will confer with Mr. Kirk, who is to supervise these matters on our journey round, and then I will submit some proposition to Cabinet, and see if we can arrange for a man in Auckland who will act as receiver for the whole of the island fruit. I cannot say that it will be done at once, because these things are matters of trade and business, and we shall require to make a careful inquiry first, in order that we may find out what should be done for the best. Mr. T. Mackenzie : Are the charges in Auckland exorbitant ? Hon. Mr. Mills : I have made inquiries as to the charges, and as far as I can learn they are not excessive. That is what I have gathered from the people I have talked to. I have not been able to ascertain where the bulk of all the island goods is consigned to, but 1 shall make iuquiries on my return to Auckland. One thing lam certain of, and that is that if we all work in unison we shall in time get very great improvements made, both for these islands and for the colony. 3—A. 3b.