G.—2.

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it being doubtful whether the Waimate Plains could be legally defined as demesne lands of the Crown ; for, though within the boundaries of the confiscation, yet the land had not been proclaimed as free from Native claims and difficulties under section 17 of 'The Waste Lands Administration Act, 1876,' a provision which had been continued in operation by ' The Land Act, 1877.' As confiscated land, the Plains might not be considered to come directly within the provisions of this section : yet none of the blocks of confiscated land hitherto dealt with by the Board had been operated on simply as confiscated latids, nor until they had first passed the Land Purchase Commissioner ; and the money paid in extinction of Native claims over these blocks had in every instance been paid from the fund created by ' The Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870.' This, it was thought, tended to create a doubt whether the Board had legally any right to interfere : especially as section 20 of ' The Waste Lands Administration Act, 1876,' also continued in operation by 'The Land Act, 1877,' gave the Governor power to bring surveys of Native lands under the administration of the colony. It was therefore decided to look upon the action of the Government as an exceptional act; possibly not taken in antagonism to the Board, or in subversion of its powers, but embodying an act of public policy. Taking this view of the matter, the Board decided to take no action on its own motion and responsibility, and the resolution proposed was withdrawn. On the 25th March, the day after the expulsion of the surveyors from the Plains, the Board was convened to an emergency meeting by the Chief Commissioner, acting under instructions conveyed to him from the Colonial Treasurer, Mr. Ballance, in an urgent telegram. On assembling, the members found themselves called upon to make immediate arrangements for the sale of 16,000 acres of the Waimate Plains. Now, again, the question of legality was raised. The Board had been consulted at no stage of the proceedings, up to the point of sale: even the very form of the advertisement notifying the projected sale had been telegraphed from Wellington: and it was considered that the Ministry had moved the Board at this stage, simply because ' The Land Act, 1877,' gave no power to sell land until it had been (a) classified and (6) priced and notified as open for sale, by the Land Board of the district in which it was situated. The Board, after mature deliberation, resolved to look upon the act of the Ministry as one of public policy ; to follow implicitly the directions received from the fiEmistry, as mere instruments for carrying through the technical requirements of the Act; and to take no responsibility in advising the Government, either for or against a course matured without any communication with the Board in its initial or other stages, and now to be carried out in the midst of a Native crisis which had not been caused by any action of the Board, and the control of which was matter of colonial policy. Every act done by the Board was, therefore, in strict conformity with instructions conveyed by the Ministry, and in no single instance jireprio matte. As it had not taken the initiative in ordering the sale, so also the Board remained passive in the subsequent withdrawal of the advertisement, and revoking the notice of sale : this, likewise, being solely the act of the Ministry of the day." Land Office, New Plymouth, C. D. Whitcombe, 16th March, 1880. Commissioner of Crown Lands.

At New Plymouth, Monday, 15th Maech, 1880. Mr. Thomas Humphries, Chief Surveyor, further examined. 989. The Commissioners.] Tou have heard the evidence of the Commissioner of Crown Lands with respect to the Waimate Plains survey ?—Tes. 990. What part did the Survey Office take in it, and how did the survey begin ?—Perhaps I had better go back to 1877. Major Brown, as Civil Commissioner, applied to the Government for twelve surveyors to survey the confiscated land between Opaku and Waingongoro. On the Ist February Major Brown was referred to me by the Surveyor-General as to what surveys he wanted to have made. I put some surveyors on, and we commenced work. We had considerable difficulty at first. Mr. Climie's and Mr. Finnerty's parties were turned back at Whareroa, and their instruments and tools taken away. The matter was afterwards amicably arranged, and the work went on satisfactorily. There was no further hitch in the survey of all the confiscated land up as far as Waingongoro. That was the only obstruction we had in all that work. 991. And that was at the beginning of the survey ?■—Tes. 992. Who were the Natives who took Mr. Climie's instruments ?—They were the Natives belonging to Taiporohenui. 993. Tou are nowr referring to the commencement of the survey on the south side of the Waingongoro?—Tes. In November, 1877, Major Brown, the Civil Commissioner, told me that he was about to survey the W annate Plains, and that he thought the best way to begin, and the one that would lead to least difficulty, would be to cut the traverse lines of the Kaupukunui. Eiver, and he requested me to provide a surveyor for him. Mr. Finnerty was detailed for the work, and was all ready for it; hut I received a telegram from the Civil Commissioner which stopped operations. Unfortunately I cannot find the telegram, but I think it was sent in Mr. Sheehan's time. All I can find is a telegram from myself in reply to Major Brown, saying, " Sorry about Waimate." On the 28th January, 1878, I received a memorandum from the Surveyor-General to the effect that the Minister of Lands had directed that, as soon as the Native difficulty was got over in regard to Waimate Plains, the Government would require the laud to be surveyed in the shortest time possible afterwards. On the 29th of May, 1878, I again received a memorandum from the Surveyor-General to this effect: "I am again reminded by the Hon. the Minister of Lands of the extreme desirability of proceeding vigorously with the survey of the Waimate Plains as soon as the Native difficulty is settled. He informs me that the Hon. Mr. Sheehan will visit the district in about ten-days hence. Possibly after that the surveys may be ordered. Will you, therefore, be preparing for the march of several survey parties on to the ground immediately we get the order ? " 994. Did you understand by those instructions what officer was to direct the operations of the survey ?—I understood then that in all probability I should receive instructions from the Civil Commissioner, and I telegraphed to him asking when he was likely to require the surveyors. I received a telegram