G.—6.

in a partition order of the Native Land Court dated the 10th day of January, 1898, and /or in any of the subdivisions of the said block and by the subsequent proclamation of any subdivision of such land as Crown land obtained a good and valid title to such parcels of the said land or individual interests therein as had been purchased, freed and discharged from all right, title, and interest of the Native vendors: 2. Whether there was anything contained in section 373 of the Native Land Act, 1909 (re-enacted in section 453 of the Native Land Act, 1931), which prevented the Native Land Purchase Board from lawfully purchasing the said land or any interests therein or which rendered any such purchases when made invalid : 3. Whether there were at the time such purchases were made any valid reasons why the Crown should have abstained from purchasing the interests of those owners of the said land who were agreeable to sell, and did sell, their interests to the Crown : 4. Whether the Crown has paid to those Native vendors whose interests it purchased a fair and reasonable price for those interests having regard to the value of the said land at the date of the purchase of such interests : 5. Whether the purchase-money agreed to be paid in respect of those interests purchased by the Crown in the said land has been duly paid to the Native vendors : 6. Whether the Natives now occupying portions of the Orakei No. 1 Reserve Block subdivisions purchased by the Crown as aforesaid have any right or justification for continuing to occupy the said land or any part or parts thereof and for refusing to vacate the said land or any part or parts thereof in order that the Crown may obtain vacant possession of the same : 7. Whether any promises were made or held out by any official or agent of the Crown to the Native vendors of any portion of the Orakei Block that, in consideration of their selling their interests in the Orakei Block elsewhere than in Orakei No. 1 Reserve (the Papakainga Block), the Crown would not purchase the interests of the Natives in the said Orakei No. 1 Reserve (Papakainga Block), and, if any such promises were made or held out by the Crown's officials or agents, whether such promises were made or held out with the authority of the Crown, and whether the Crown was bound thereby either morally or legally : 8. Whether any agreement in writing or otherwise was made between the officials or agents of the Crown and one Wiremu Watene or Wiremu Watene Tautari that the said Wiremu Watene or Wiremu Watene Tautari should be entitled at some future date to re-purchase from the Crown an area of some 6 acres or 7 acres of Orakei No. 2b Block, and, if such an agreement or arrangement were so made, whether the said Wiremu Watene or Wiremu Watene Tautari did, during his lifetime, make application to the Crown for the re-transfer of the said 6 acres or 7 acres accompanied by a tender of the purchase-money or an undertaking to tender such purchase-money on being required so to do : 9. Whether at the time the Crown purchased from the General Trust Board of the Diocese of Auckland the land described as Lots 1, 2, and 3 on Plan No. 1330P, deposited in the office of the Chief Surveyor, North Auckland District, being the land referred to in subsection 5 of section 7 of the Reserves and other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act, 1925, there existed any circumstances or any valid reason why the Crown should have abstained from purchasing the said land or any part thereof (apart from any doubts as to the power and authority of the Diocesan Board to sell the land and apart also from any legally enforceable objection to such purchase) : 10. Whether the price paid by the Crown to the General Trust Board of the Diocese of Auckland for the said land was a fair and reasonable price for the said land having regard to the value of the land at the date of its purchase : 11. Whether the General Trust Board of the Diocese of Auckland has applied the proceeds of the sale of the said land as provided by the said section 7 of the Reserves and other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act, 1925 : 12. Whether the Natives now occupying the said land or any part thereof have any justification not in the nature of legal right for continuing to occupy the said land or any part thereof and for refusing to vacate the said land or any part thereof in order that the Crown may obtain vacant possession of the same :

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