C—No. 1

stances, the transmission of the money has been in consequence delayed until further advices are received from you on the subject. I have, &c, H. T. Kemp, Acting Chief Commissioner. J. G. Johnson, Esq., District Commissioner, Whangarei.

No. 41. HE CHIEF COMMISSIONER TO MR. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON. Land Commissioner's Office, Auckland, 18th March, 1856. Sir,—• I am directed by His Excellency the Governor, to request that you will furnish to this office, with the least possible delay, a statement of the laws that have been purchased by you from the Natives in your district, shewing the estimated number of acres in each purchase, the price paid, and whether in one or more instalments. You will also be good enough to send in an account, shewing the disbursements made by you up to the end of this month, either for the purchase, or for contingent expenses incurred in connection therewith, the balance in your hands, and whether there are any existing liabilities in the shape of promises to the Natives to purchase certain lands from them, which have not yet been fulfilled ; and if so, by whom such promises were made. You will also furnish, without delay, any Deeds or other documents connected with the transfer of land in your district, in order that they may be recovered in the Colonial Secretary's Office. In transmitting these documents, His Excellency further directs that you should furnish a general report of the state of the Natives in your district, their willingness or otherwise to dispose of land, stating the quantity and quality of such land, and the average price per acre, at which you think it can be obtained, with all such other information in reference to the feeling of the Natives towards the British Government as your local experience and general knowledge of your district may suggest. I have, he, Donald McLean, Chief Commissioner. J. G. Johnson, Esq., J.P., District Commissioner.

CIRCCLAE. To furnish a Report of Land purchases in his District.

No. 42. MR. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON TO THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER. District Commissioner's Office, Motupapa, Whangarei, 3rd April, 1856. Sir — In compliance with your letter of the 18th ultimo, I do myself the honor to furnish the information requested by His Excellency the Governor, relative to the state of the Land Purchases, and of the Natives generally, in this district. By the enclosed statement No. 1, the estimated extent of the lands which I have acquired for the Government, is two hundred and thirty thousand acres, at a cost of Nine thousand nine hundred and ten pounds (£9,910) ; of this quantity, about ninety five thousand acres have not yet been opened for sale, but the preliminary surveys of most of the blocks are now nearly completed by the General Government, and several blocks are in the course of being cut up for disposal by the Waste Lands' Board. I have also to transmit the two returns required, shewing all the disbursements which have been made by me, together with the contingent expenses incurred for the service of the Department in connection with Land Purchases. I would here remark that any payments I may make on account of contingent expenses, are only temporarily advanced by me out of funds in my hands for the purchase of land, and that the accounts under these two heads are kept distinct and separate. There are no liabilities existing in this district in the shape of promises to the Natives to purchase certain lands from them, as I have almost invariably acted upon the principle of first submitting every purchase for the approval of the Governor before making any promises or payments, and the Natives understand well that such is the case, and although they may wish to sell the lands about which I was iiegociiiting previous to the instructions issued on that head by His Excellency, they do not con;' i>r the Government bound to carry them out. All the deeds and documents connected with the transfer of lands which I have purchased, are lodged in your office at Auckland for transmission for final record in th# Colonial Secretary's Office.

R. 56-49. General.' Report on the State of Land Purchases in his District. V. Letter No. 4L

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RELATIVE TO LAUD PURCHASES.