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1914. NEW ZEALAND

EAST COAST NATIVE TRUST LANDS (REPORT, BALANCE-SHEET, AND STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS IN RESPECT OF).

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly in pursuance of Section 13 of the East Coast Native Trust Lands Act, 1902.

REPORT BY THE EAST COAST COMMISSIONER. Sir,— Gisborne, 23rd September, 1914. I have the honour to submit the following report of the Trust, together with the balancesheet, statement of receipts and payments, and statements of the accounts of the several blocks as at the 31st March, 1914. The net surplus of assets over liabilities now stands at £260,106 15s. 9d., as against £246,563 2s. last year, and the value of the freeholds at £306,183 10s., as against £297,120. Rents received during the year amount to £6,679 16s. 2d., as against £4,513 lis. for the previous year, and rents paid, out to beneficiaries amount to £2,805 9s. 6d., as against £2,335 9s. lOd. Purchase-moneys received amount to £996 3s. 3d., as against £6,348 1.65. ; and £1,062 is. 7d. has been paid over to beneficiaries, as against £6,203 15s. During the year a further area of 4,730 acres in the Mangatu Nos. 5 and 6 Blocks has been sold. There are inquiries for the purchase of the freehold of other sections in-these blocks, but would-be buyers require better road access than is at present available. Sales of wool, live-stock, frozen meat, and other farm-produce for the year amount to £15,200 6s. 6d., as against £9,411 15s. 7d., and purchases of live-stock amounted to £4,021 14s. 3d., as against £4,141 os. 6d. for the previous year. The value of live-stock on farms at the 31st March, 1914, stood at £19,369 13s. 6d., as against £16,176 19s. 6d. The farm profits made during the year were £5,361 16s. 7d., as against £3,895 Bs. lid. The sum of £428 Bs. was set aside for payment to the beneficiaries in the Paremata Farm, as was done last year. Portion of the profits made on Te Kopua Faim will be available for distribution amongst the beneficiaries in that block as soon as they get their list of owners and relative interests ascertained. Hitherto thay have not been able to come to an agreement in the matter. Early in 1913 the District Health Officer visited the Tangotete and Te Kuri Blocks, on which the Muriwai Pa is situated, and condemned nearly all the buildings in the pa as being more or less insanitary. He ordered some to be repaired and others to he pulled down. The Natives resident in the pa weie unable, for financial considerations, to comply with the Health Officer's requisitions, and at the request of by far the greater number of them I erected several cottages on sites in the pa approved by the Public Health Department, and I assisted them to repair and improve some of the existing buildings. And at their request I undertook the cultivation and improvement of some of their lands, most of which are low-lying and much in need of systematic drainage. These works could only be undertaken so far as funds would permit, and these I advanced against rents, purchase-moneys, and farm profits coming to the Natives in respect of their interests in the Trust estate. The work has greatly improved the sanitary conditions and also the monetary value of the lands dealt with. Formerly the pa was always more or less affected with typhoid, but for the past year no cases of infectious disease have occurred there, and systematic ploughing of the land has helped to remedy the water-logged condition in which it was for many years. The cultivation that I have undertaken in and about the pa necessitated the temporary giving-up by some of the Natives of their cultivation patches which they had formerly used, but ample areas for cultivation have been set aside for them in the Pakowhai Block, which adjoins the pa. Tn carrying out these works no Native has been dispossessed against his will of any land that he has been in the habit of occupying, but a small minority who have not in any way been interfered with resent the improvements being made. 1 have, &c, T. A. Coleman, East Coast Commissioner. The Hon. the Minister of Native Affairs, Wellington,

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