c.—No. i.

27

PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE

By Mr. Sharp : At the time No. 1 was made, a tracing of it was sent to Wellington, of which I have a tracing made by Trent, received from Hunter, Census enumerator, Buller District. This was made in November, 1867, from entry in Survey Office day-book. The tracing agrees with map No. I.* I am a member of tlie Executive Council, and I know that the Proclamation of 1808 was made from this map. The object in fixing that line was to exclude the Wangapeka Gold Fields. It had been the wish of every Government so to exclude it. It was called a "poor man's diggings," and it was always wished to exclude it. In November, 1867, a copy of this map No. 1 was sent to Wellington, where it is now. No one ever looked particularly into the question of the position of Mount Owen. I don't think any one in New Zealand could say where it is. It was the wish of the people of Wangapeka it should be excluded. By Mr. lloss : I take it the experience of the Members of the Council representing the district, is the experience of the diggers inhabiting the district. Mr. Mackay: lam Native Commissioner. I accompanied Mr. Haast on the expedition. The mountain shown on map No. 2 is the mountain Mr. Haast named Owen. I was not present when Mr. Haast named the hill; it was pointed out to me by my cousin, Mr. James Mackay, who was out with Mr. Haast on the day he named it. It could not possibly be any other mountain ;no other conspicuousmountain could be seen from that particular portion of the Buller Kiver —I mean the part between the junction of the Mangles and the junction of the Owen with the Buller. That is the part Mr. Haast alludes to from which, he saw the mountain he named the Owen. The mountain I speak of perfectly agrees with his description, as having three serrated peaks. It was quite impossible to see a mountain to the east of the Owen from the spot where Haast was travelling; I am positive it would not have been to the north, or towards the sources of the Eiver Owen. I don't know when, ho named the Owen ; I should imagine it was on the following day, I believe he gave it that name. Ho was camped opposite the junction of the Owen and Buller on the morning I met him. I did not know at the time which he called the Owen. It is merely a mountain stream, not a river which would attract any particular attention. Seeing it on the map is all the acquaintance I have with it. We did not point out the river to him on the journey. There can be no question as to the mountain named on the map being the mountain he named " Mount Owen." By Mr. Moss -. I am sure there is no other more conspicuous mountain visible from the portion of the Buller where Haast was when he named Mount Owen, By Mr. Adams: Mount Travers is laid down on the map No. 2. It was named by my cousin. Mount Travers is correctly laid down on this map, and Mount Murchison also. Mount Francis is not laid down correctly on Stanford's map ; it is on the wrong side of the river, and near the position of Mount Owen on Haast's. By Mr. Kingdon: lam speaking of ten years ago. It is quite possible for my memory to carry me back to the time. By Mr. Moss : I did not say Mr. Haast told me he named Mount Owen. I said my cousin told me he had named it, and showed it to me. I have seen Map No. 1, but never had my attention called particularly to it. By Mr. Kingdon: I should say Mount Owen could not be seen from the Nelson Plains. Mr. Daniell: Stanford's map was made before I was Commissioner. I know nothing about it. Mr. O. Elliott: There were great demands for a map of the Province, and I was anxious to get one published. Mr. Fell was in Nelson at the time, and was returning to England, and I got from the office copies of such plans as I could obtain, as skeleton plans, which I intrusted to Fell, with instructions to give them to Stanford, to whom 1 had written on the subject. I remember that the plan given to Mr. Fell was very much of a skeleton plan. Afterwards, by permission of the Waste Lands Commissioner:—l think Mr. Richmond —I got tracings made, filling up the skeleton made, and transmitted them by subsequent mails. I think they got the whole of the materials from me —I am sure, in fact,, they did. I had no means of testing the correctness of all I got from the Survey Office. My attention, was called to some errors in that portion of the country immediately on its arriving. Ido not remember who called my attention. It was, I think, some one connected with the Laud Office. There was one material error connected with one of the rivers. Not having any personal acquaintance with the country, it has passed my memory which river it was. It was some river on the South-east side of the Buller. I think other errors on the chart have been pointed out to me at different times, my name having been attached to the chart. The important fact 1 may state is, that the map is not a copy from, any complete map in the office, but that it was sent home piecemeal, and put together in London. Mr. Liglitband: I was a Warden on the West Coast in 1865. I was furnished with Stanford's map for the use of the office. It was the only map furnished me. It was sent me by the Provincial Government. That map was the only reference with respect to making corrections in the boundaries of gold fields, and for general information of the miners. Mr. Kynnerslcy had also Stanford's map ; no other that I remember seeing. Mine was the Grey District. I only determined applications for prospecting claims with reference to the boundary between the two Provinces—Canterbury and Nelson. lam not aware of any boundary shown on this map, except that between the Provinces. It was the only map supplied by the Provincial Government. Mr. Dreyer : I have been resident about four years on the West Coast. I was well acquainted with, the Wardens' offices. I was often in C. C. Kynnersley's office. Stanford's map was used by him. I never saw any other map of the Province, but of other portions of the West Coast surveyed by other surveyors down there. These plans were partly of the Grey District and of Coal Creek. I was there when Kynnerslcy drew the boundaries. He acted on the line shown in the map (one of Mr. Martin's) as the boundary of the gold field. He read over the Proclamation in my presence, and exhibited that line on the map as the boundary. Kynnersley did not say that the land in dispute was within the gold field, but he took the line marked, red on the map produced by Mr. Kingdon. This was about sixteen months ago, latter part of July or commencement of August. The Proclamation is dated July, *No. 1 is the Superintendent* map.