a.—6

1929. NEW ZEALAND.

NATIVE LAND AMENDMENT AND NATIVE LAND CLAIMS ADJUSTMENT ACT, 1919. REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ON PETITION No. 90 OF 1918, OF MERE TE TWINGARO AND OTHERS, RELATIVE TO MANGAPOIKE 2b BLOCK.

Presented to Parliament in pursuance of the Provisions of Section 34 of the Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment Act, 1919.

Native Department, Wellington, 26th September, 1929. Petition No. 90 of 1918. —Mangapoike 2b Block. Pursuant to section 34 of the Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment Act, 1919, I transmit herewith the report of the Native Land Court upon the allegations in the above petition. In view of that report I have no recommendation to make. R. N. Jones, Chief Judge. The Hon. the Native Minister, Wellington.

Native Land Court and Tairawhiti District Maori Land Board Office, Wairoa, 7th February, 1929. Mangapoike 2b.—Petition No. 90 of 1918, of Mere te Iwingaro and others, praying for Redefinition of the Relative Interests of the Owners of this Block. I have the honour to report that, pursuant to your reference of the 12th October, 1928, under section 34 of the Native Land Amendment and Native Land Claims Adjustment Act, 1919, this matter came before the Court for inquiry on the sth instant. Judge Brown had previously inquired into the subject-matter of the petition on the 16th February, 1920, and although he then intended to report to you he apparently omitted to do so. The title to Mangapoike No. 2 Block was a memorial of ownership dated the 30th October, 1884, in favour of 540 owners. In 1894 the block came before the Court for partition, and by a judgment delivered on the 15th October, 1894, Mangapoike No. 2b was awarded to " the descendants of Kapiti and those who have acquired rights on that land." A list of twenty names was later on handed in to the Court by Tamati Hake, and on the 22nd October, 1894, a partition order was made in their favour. The shares were fixed as equal. The partition was appealed against, but was affirmed by the Appellate Court. The present petitioners object to the award of full shares to the following persons : Hera Wharekaraihe, Hakopa Tipuna, Herita Taunoa, Honatana Matawhaiti, Katerina te Naihe, Mihaere te Tihi, Makuini te Waiohiharore, Miriama te Okiekie, Pera Tamahikawai, Petera Ingoa, Rapana, te Tuku, Tiripa Karatau, Wi Honatapu, and Petera Pako, on the ground that they are not descended from the ancestor Kapiti, and also on the ground that they have no occupation. At the inquiry before Judge Brown in 1920 Rutene Tuhi appeared for the petitioners. He then stated, " The fourteen persons I object to are also descendants of Tutekapiti—some of them are," but maintained that Tutekapiti was not the same person as Kapiti, the ancestor to whose descendants the land was awarded. Mangapoike No. 2b was the subject of a decree of the Validation Court dated the Bth July, 1896, and became vested in the East Coast Commissioner.