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1909. NEW ZEALAND

NATIVE LANDS AND NATIVE-LAND TENURE: INTERIM REPORT OF NATIVE LAND COMMISSION, ON NATIVE LANDS IN THE COUNTY OF COOK.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Native Land Commission, Wellington, 21st December. 1908. To His Excellency the Governor. May it please Youe Excellency,— We have the honour to submit a further report on Native lands in the County of Cook, Poverty Bay District. We stated in our first report dealing with this county (dated 18th February, 1908, and printed as Parliamentary Paper G-.-iii, 1908) that there was an area of 71,715 acres to be further considered and reported on. We have since obtained information as to 18,608 acres 1 rood 13 perches of this total, which with our recommendations will be found in the accompanying Schedules 1 and 2, and have set forth in Schedule 3 some of the lands not dealt with or as to which no further information is required, amounting to 39,165 acres 3 roods 17 perches. Summary of Schedules. -r T A. B. P. Lianas leased or under negotiations for lease ... ... ... 12 477 3 16 Lands recommended to be reserved for Maori occupation ... ... 6*130 137 Lands not dealt with... ... ... ... ... ... 39 165 3 17 Total ••• ••• ••• ••• ... ... 57,774 0 30 We have also the honour to submit a further report on the two blocks of land to which we made reference in our first report on this county namely, Mangatu and Whangara. We were led to make further inquiries through two petitions received by us. One was from a number of the owners of Whangara, and another from a number of the owners of Mangatu. After due notice we°met in Grisborne, and saw a number of the owners there. The division of the Mangatu Block regarding which the owners made complaints was Mangatu No. 4. It contains 6,000 acres. It is managed by the trustees—namely, the Commissioner of Crown Lands for Hawke's Bay, the Hon. Wiremu Pere, M.L.C., and Mr. Henry Cheetham Jackson. The petition made the following complaints :— (1.) That the trusteeship is of no benefit— (a) To us, the people ; (b) To the land; (c) To the Dominion. (2.) The mortgage weighs heavily (on us). (3.) The land is not utilised to earn revenue so that the mortgage may be paid off. (4.) They (the trustees) are further mortgaging to pay off the original mortgage and to pay the interest.

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