a—B

After receipt of this despatch Sir George Grey published notices, dated 10th August, 1847, laying down three modes of procedure as open to claimants, viz.:— 1. To abide by terms of Lord Grey's despatch. 2. To take compensation under Ordinance 7, No. 22. 3. To avail themselves of new conditions then published, viz.:— Claimants under ten-shillings Proclamation to have absolute grants on payment of remaining fees. Under the penny Proclamation to have grants for land up to 600 acres, on payment of ss. per acre. If above 500, same power of purchase to that amount; 'surplus to vest in the Crown. This only within twenty miles of Auckland. Lands undisputed by Natives alone to. be affected by this arrangement. 106. A Mr. Matson was on the 12th December, 1846, appointed Commissioner under the Land Claims Ordinance, 1846, and heard all the claims that came before him, but here again the results of all Sir George Grey's actions and of the hearing of the claims by the Commissioner are summarized in the Domett report, from which I quote as follows : The effect of these arrangements may be thus briefly stated: — Ten-shilling Claims.—The greatest part of claims under the first Proclamation may be considered as disposed of. For out of sixty-two original claims, — 49 have been settled by issue of grants by Sir George Grey under the above terms. 9 were disallowed for non-payment of fees on certificate of waiver of pre-emption, which therefore could never have been issued; the land affected is about 280 acres in the aggregate. 2, of patches, not an acre together, were disallowed, on account of plans not having been sent in. The only dispute existing about these claims is as to the right of reserving lines of road through the lands. Penny-an-acre Claims. —The preserving and exterminating processes had the following effects respectively on these claims : There were 189 original claims, affecting about 90,000 acres. 53 have been settled by issue of grants by Sir George Grey, under the 55.-per-acre payment. 21 have been resigned, on receipt of compensation, or debentures, or money. 80 were disallowed, for non-compliance with the requisitions of 15th June, 1846, for sending in plans and surveys. 28 were disallowed, because certificates that the Fitzroy Proclamation had been" complied with were refused by the Attorney-General. The particulars of non-compliance are not given in any case in the Attorney-General's reports of the fact. 7 were disallowed or abandoned. Reasons not given. It will thus be seen that the cause of the disallowance of the greater part of these claims was the failure to send in plans of the lands claimed by the 15th September, 1846. Numbers were sent in on the last day; those offered afterwards were invariably refused. Some of the lands comprised in disallowed claims have been resumed and resold by Government, and some are included in the reserves for the Pensioner Settlements. 107. The Domett Committee apparently considered, inter alia, that the disallowance of claims by reason merely of the failure of claimants to send in by the date fixed in that behalf plans of the land claimed had resulted in injustice to the claimants, and made recommendations on the subject. The Land Claims Settlement Act, 1856 (previously referred to in paragraph 51 et seq.), was passed consequent upon the report of the Committee, and section 9 of the Act empowered the Commissioner to be appointed not only to hear and determine certain " old land claims " as previously mentioned in this memorandum, but also all claims whatsoever to land or compensation arising out of dealings with the aboriginal inhabitants of the Colony prior to the establishment of British Sovereignty, or since that period with the sanction of the Government, or under the Proclamations issued by Governor Fitzroy dated respectively the 26th March, 1844, and the 10th October, 1844. Section 29, which is the first of the sections under the heading " Pre-emptive Waiver Claims," enacted that " for all lands to be granted under direction of the Commissioners in satisfaction of claims arising under the said Proclamation of the tenth of October, one thousand eight hundred and forty-four, and in respect of which claims no grants or compensation shall have been received by the claimant,

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