8.—6.

8

No. 25. The Coaimissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland, to the Under-Secretary for Crown Lands; Sir, — Auckland, 3rd December, 1879. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 761/1, of date 13th November last, and, in reference to the subject-matter thereof, to forward to you the enclosed copy of a resolution of the Waste Lands Board. I have, &c, The Under-Secretary of Crown Lands, D. A. Tole, Wellington. Commissioner of Crown Lands.

Enclosure in No. 25. Extract from Minutes of a Meeting of the Waste Lands Board. It was resolved, — " That, in reference to the reply of the Hon. the Minister of Lands, No. 761, dated 13th November, relative to the stoppage of the survey of the Te Puke Block, the Board regrets that the pressure of parliamentary business appears to have prevented the Hon. the Minister of Lands giving due consideration to its resolution of 30th October last, and respectfully urges upon the Hon. the Minister of Lands its further consideration, inasmuch as a great desire exists for portions of the Te Puke Block to be brought into the market, more especially as the Bay of Plenty District, in which the Te Puke Block is situated, has been kept back for many years, owing to the impossibility of obtaining land in that district." D. A. Tole, Commissioner of Crown Lands.

No. 26. Mr. Fitzgibbon Louche to the Hon. the Minister of Lands. (Telegram.) Tauranga, 4th December, 1879. Referring to application for land of Rangiuru and Pohiko, special settlement, these lands will pass through the Court here within next fortnight. Mr. Young is working hard for Government, as the Lands Bill has now passed. I will be obliged by a definite reply to my application. The Hon. the Minister of Lands. Fitzgibbon Louche.

No. 27 The Hon. the Minister of Lands to Mr. Fitzgibbon Louche, Tauranga. (Telegram.) Wellington, 6th December, 1879. As Land Bill has not yet become law, I cannot enter into any arrangements at present with reference to special settlements. Fitzgibbon Louche, Esq., Tauranga. W Rolleston

No. 28. Petition of G. Norris and 85 other Settlers ; presented by Mr. McDonald, 4th November, 1879. To the Honorable the House of Representatives of New Zealand. The humble petition of the undersigned showeth, — That a number of your petitioners have resided in the Tauranga district of Auckland for the past ten years, and have witnessed the introduction by George Vesey Stewart, Esquire, during the past four years, of two shipments of special settlers to Katikati, in the said district. 2. That your petitioners can testify the said special settlers have introduced a large amount of capital into the colony, they having expended during the foregone twelve months a sum of at least £10,000 on their homesteads alone. 3. That the said settlers have settled on areas of from eighty to five hundred acres. 4. That your petitioners can testify that a very small minority of the settlers so introduced by George Vesey Stewart have not settled on the areas allotted to them, and that the larger portion of such minority have taken up other lands and made homesteads in the district. 5. That your petitioners believe that the capital which has been introduced by the said settlers would not have been brought into the colony but through the instrumentality of George Vesey Stewart, and that the colonial revenue would have thereby proportionately suffered. 6. That your petitioners believe that the lands now occupied by the said special settlers, comprising Nos. 1 and 2 shipments, would, but for the introduction of these settlers, now have been waste lands, instead of being covered by comfortable homesteads, occupied by a thriving population. 7 That the official reports authorized by the Auckland Waste Lands Board show conclusively that both introductions of the said special settlers to Katikati have proved successes