25

&.—2

314. Then it was after being excluded by the Compensation Court that they determined to come hack, and after the Compensation Court sitting that the Government made the proposal to locate them there. When you made that proposal to them, had nothing been done to lay off the land awarded by the Compensation Court? —Nothing whatever. 315. Was any definite acreage fixed at that time, as a quantity that should be set aside for the Chatham Island people? —There was. 316. Had you any idea at that time of the amount they would require to settle upon ? —Nothing was done finally: the question was whether the Government would agree to an allowance of 50 acres each being granted. I had a conversation with Ministers as to that; but they thought 50 acres too much. 31.7. According to the arrangement you then made, what is the quantityyou think ought to be set aside for these people in order to fulfil the promises originally made when they settled down upon the land ? —I do not think that anything less than 50 acres each would be a reasonable allowance. 318. Major Brown : Previous to the commencement of the survey of the Waimate Plains, I had seen Captain Skeet regarding the boundaries betweed the Mimi and Urenui Eivers, and Captain Skeet carried on the survey until the Waimate survey was begun. When it became necessary to concentrate all the surveyors upon the Plains, Mr. Humphries removed Mr. Skeet to the Waimate Plains. Subsequently —I think it was at the time Mr. Parris mentioned —when Mr. Sheehan, on the application of Mrs. Ngaere, promised to send another surveyor to survey that block, he said be would telegraph to Mr. Tole, surveyor, at Auckland, and, if at liberty, he should come down at once. After the surveys of tlie Waimate Plains were stopped, I did not like to meddle with this block or deal with what was really part of the same question, while either was in abeyance. Another question arose. Mr. Sheehan admitted the claim of Mrs. Brown, to 500 acres of land belonging to her mother, sold in Wellington Brovince, and said it ought to bo reserved for her; and he asked me if I could find some solution of the difficulty of where the claim of 500 acres was to be made. He said, " Mrs. Brown and her sister have claims between the Mimi and Urenui, and they can be put there." I may say that Mrs. Brown told me that she had arranged the matter satisfactorily with Mr. Sheehan; but I said to her, " Can you show me that in writing ? Mr. Sheehan might die, or go out of office, and you had better get the understanding in writing." [Copies of the following documents were handed in : " To Major Brown. —You will remember our conversation about what should be done for Mrs. Brown in the Urenui country. I would carry out the arrangement as soon as it is possible, and have the matter ripe for confirmation by Parliament next session.—J. Siieehah-, sth November, 1878." " The arrangement referred to is that, as compensation for claims derived from their mother, and about which Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Ngaere petitioned the House of Bepresentatives, they are to receive 500 acres between the Eivers Urenui and Mimi. —Chaeles Beown, C.C., 20th November, 1878."] As regards Judge Eenton's decision excluding those who were absent in 1840, he somewhat modified that view at the last sitting of the Court, about two years ago, when certain succession claims came before i him, which he admitted ; but I pointed out at the time that the claimants were not here in 1840, and that his original rule would exclude them, when he said that it appeared to him that the rule did not work fairly. I gathered from him that perhaps he had been too stringent in the original rule. He admitted these people to succeed, whom he would have excluded formerly if they claimed as original claimants; and I carefully drew his attention to the discrepancy. I wished to object to their being admitted, but called attention to the fact that the line he admitted did not agree with the previous one. He admitted this, but said that it was necessary to modify the original rule so far. Afterwards, on the 14th February, Mr. Sheehan telegraphed to me to authorize a survey of the land referred to ; but he did not place at my disposal the surveyor, Mr. Tole, and I was unable to do what I had intended. I was asked by the friendly Native chief Pamariki to carry out the survey. I w ras satisfied, by a personal interviewr with Mr. Humphries, Chief Surveyor, that it was only the want of a surveyor that prevented my carrying it out. 319. The Commissioners .- What the Commission is to understand is that there is a promise of 500 acres between Mimi and Urenui to be divided between Mrs. Ngaere and Mrs. Brown. 320. Major Brown: I may say that Mrs. Brown said she was wasting her means, and I authorized her to go on the ground, and told her that that should form part of her award, if she liked to consider it so. I said, "If you will occupy where your ancestral claims are, I will see you get it as part of the 500 acres;" and she built a house there and settled upon it with cattle and stock, but was afterwards driven off, at the time of the ploughing, by Te Whiti's supporters, because she would not join them. 321. Mrs. Ngaere .- Te Whiti's followers drove us off because we refused to join them. 322. Heni te Bau-o-te-rangi (Mrs. Brown) said: When I returned to live here, after leaving New South Wales, where I had been living with my husband, I found that all the land which I claimed in right of my mother, Te Eau-o-te-rangi, had been confiscated. It is about three years since I came back here. I came from Sydney to petition the Government tbat some land might be given to me as my mother's representative. The land was situated at Mataihuka, in the district of Wellington. I applied for that piece of land which belonged to my mother, but when I came I found it included in a Government purchase, and I petitioned the House to give me land elsewhere for it. [Witness handed in a report by the Public Petitions Committee of the House of Bepresentatives, dated 3rd September, 1877, in which the Committee recommended that her case should he referred to the Government for their favourable consideration.] Afterwards I saw Mr. Sheehan. It was upon that petition I got 500 acres promised to me. I wish to impress upon the Commission tbat the 500 acres have nothing to do wdth the claims of my mother. Tho 500 acres were for a piece of laud taken, away by tho Government, including the purchase in the Wellington district. 323. The Commissioners: With regard to those promises made for the settlement of the Chatham Islands people, they will be carried out, as well as the awards made by the Compensation Court. However, it is still very difficult to fix the exact position of the awards, and it will require a good deal of time and attention; but the matter will not be dropped. 324. Te Waka said: I have a question I wish to put to the Commission. Why was the land at Urenui sold by Te Bakatau and Eangipito, as Te Eakatau had his share, consisting of 200 acres o£ land, as well as his award ? 4-G-. 2.