P.—N». 3,

20

REPORTS FROM OFFICERS

In 18-11, the Chief Justice resigned the office of Trustee, as he found the duties incompatible with his official position, for, in the event of the Trustees being engaged in any lawsuit, he would be both judge and party in the suit at the same time; and Mr. Halswell was subsequently appointed to the sole charge of the reserves at Wellington, as agent of the Trust vested in the Bishop and his co-Trustee; and Mr. Thompson, the Police Magistrate, was appointed to fill a similar office in Nelson. In 1842, Mr. Thompson, in his capacity as Agent of Native reserves, selected 100 sections of one acre each in the town of Nelson, and 100 suburban sections of 50 acres each in the Moutere and Motueka districts, and acted as local manager of the property until June, 1843, when he perished in the Wairau massacre. After the death of Mr. Thompson, the Bishop appointed Mr. M'Donald his agent. In February, 1844, the Bishop resigned the office of Trustee, and in the same year " The Native Trust Ordinance " was passed by the Legislative Council for appointing a Board of Trustees for the management of property to be set apart for the education and advancement of the Native race. The Trustees named by the Act were His Excellency the Governor, the Lord Bishop of New Zealand, William Spain, Esq., so long as he held the office of Commissioner of Land Claims, and the Chief Protector of Aborigines. This Act was not brought into operation, although it received the Eoyal confirmation, in consequence of the terms of the last clause not being fully complied with, namely, that the confirmation of the Ordinance should be notified in the Gazette before it came into operation. The establishment of Trustees for Native reserves, as originally contemplated, not being carried out, the Government appointed Boards of Management, and in June, 1848, Messrs. Poynter, Carkeek, and Tinline were appointed a Board of Management of the Native reserves for the district of Nelson. The Board retained the management of the property till the middle of the year 1853, when the sole management devolved upon Major Eichmond, who was then Crown Lands Commissioner, and who was ultimately succeeded, in the year 1857, by Messrs. Domett, Poynter, and Brunner, by appointment dated Ist December, 1856, as Commissioners under " The Native Eeserves Act of 1856." In September, 1862, an Act was passed by the General Assembly, known as "The Native Eeserves Amendment Act, 1862." This Act provides that, on and after a certain date to be fixed by the Governor by proclamation, all the powers and authorities which by " The Native Eeserves Act, 1856," were vested in Commissioners, shall vest in and may be exercised by the Governor. It also provides that the Governor may delegate the whole or any of the powers competent to Commissioners, to any person or persons, for any period subject to such regulations, restrictions, or stipulations as may be specified in the Order of Delegation. In conformity, therefore, with the provisions of the aforesaid Act, a proclamation was issued on the 4th August, 1863, fixing the Ist September, 1863, as the date for the Act to come into operation. The first delegation of management of the Native reserves in the northern portion of the Middle Island, under the Act of 1862, was made to Mr. James Mackay, junr., on the 9th November, 1863, and on his removal to Auckland in 186^< ; the 9,p™"ir,+'rient was conferred Mr. Alexander Mackay, the present Native Commissioner for the South Island. The following is a list of the town sections originally selected as Native reserves by Mr. Thompson in 1842, viz.:—Nos. 5, 20, 21, 46, 47, 50, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 93, 144, 148, 152, 159, 162, 177, 191, 194, 198, 203, 205, 227, 229, 231, 233, 241, 244, 248, 253, 256, 261, 263, 265, 266, 267, 269, 283, 284, 294, 303, 305, 307, 344, 367, 382, 387, 406, 416, 417, 443, 521, 522, 529, 537, 551, 561, 575, 582, 583, 598, 608, 625, 626, 650, 706, 710, 718, 722, 768, 777, 778, 784, 797, 798, 828, 831, 855, 858, 860, 897, 905, 911, 926, 939, 941, 943, 945, 951, 953, 954, 956, 1051, 1084,1088, 1091,1092, 1096, 1099. Owing to the impossibility of carrying out the original scheme of the Nelson settlement, and the consequent necessity for some equitable compromise, the inhabitants applied to the New Zealand Company to modify the arrangements, so as to allow the landowners the option of acquiring fresh land and promoting concentration by means of re-selection under certain conditions. In furtherance of this object, but not in the precise mode suggested by them, the Company proposed a new set of regulations in October, 1845. These, however, were received with great dissatisfaction, and were consequently withdrawn. The settlers continued to press for a remodelling of the original scheme, and the directors therefore made another attempt to carry out such an alteration. Negotiations ensued between a commmittee of the resident land purchasers on the one hand, and the Company's agents on the other; and certain resolutions were come to by the Nelson Committee, at a meeting of land purchasers and agents, held in Nelson, on the 30th of June, 1847, which were subsequently concurred in by the Company, subject to certain modifications. The following extract from the aforesaid resolutions has reference to Native reserves :— " One subject arising out of our proposed plan, but not coming strictly, perhaps, within the scope of our own duties, we yet consider it our duty to make a few remarks upon. We allude to the Native reserves. " With respect to the rural sections, it is understood that the Governor, in making the large reserves he has for the Natives at the Wairau, has released the Company from laying out and choosing