Or.— 4

14

asked that the case of my father having sold this land should be investigated. The day the case was to be heard my father and Mr. Wyllie came-to me at Makaraka and asked me to withdraw the charge, because, he said, " If you press the charge I shall be in great trouble ; this is a very serious charge, and I should get a long term of imprisonment : but the rule is with Europeans to bring cases of this sort forward after the death of the person who sold ; " to which Mr. Wyllie assented. In 1863^ I went to\ the Bishop and asked that this land might be returned to me ; he agreed on condition that I'would reftwid him the money he had paid for it. I then went to Tutere and Matenga Kerekere; we mustrv r!d a hundred horses and cattle, which we intended to drive to Napier to sell in order to obtain mo,icy to pay back to the Bishop; in the meantime the Hauhau disturbance occurred. After Waerengaahika fell I sold my sheep and obtained £200; Tutere had £50. We then went to take this money to the Bishop, who was living at Waikahua, at the entrance to Turanganui Eiver ; we met the Bishop descending from his house ; there were three of us—Tutere,. Himiona, and myself. We told him we had brought £250 to pay him back for Pouparae, he replied, " That arrangement is ended, I cannot now accept the money; " and the Bishop now owns the land. At the time Mr. Atkinson asked that the Muhunga should be given to the Government, I saw that Waitawaki was included in the map of Te Muhunga Block. I said to Mr. Atkinson, "This piece ought not to be included." Mr. Atkinson said, "It is better to allow it to remain in the map, and let the piece be conveyed back to you by the Government, which will avoid trouble." Mr. Atkinson at that time went away to Wellington, when the House was in session; there was a change of Ministry, and he never came back here again. I afterwards saw that this piece was occupied by military settlers. I went to Sir Donald McLean and pointed this out; he said possibly it was through a mistake that it had been given to the soldiers, but that he would look among Mr. Atkinson's papers to see if he could find anything referring to it; ho afterwards informed me that search had teen made and that nothing could be found, and advised me to send a petition to Parliament. Sir Donald McLean directed one of the Natives in the office (Mitai) to draft a petition for me, which was done. I objected to petition: I wanted Sir Donald McLean to settle it himself. When the petition was under consideration-in the House of Eepresentatives I was questioned by Mr. Ormond, who asked me whether I was not a Hauhau. I have never known the result of that petition; I received a letter saying, " Leave it in accordance with Mr. Ormond's arrangement." I wrote asking what that arrangement was, but I received no answer. I have suffered in this case through Mr. Atkinson. The orchard is included in Waitawaki, and, with regard to the orchard, Sir Donald McLean promised that I should have a Crown grant for it. I have never received a grant for it. I ask, with regard to these lands at Te Muhunga, that the Government will give me land there if available; if not, I would ask that they find me land elsewhere, or else allow me a monetary consideration The people who lost the land under the arrangement were loyal Natives; the Hauhaus had very little land there. By Mr. Locke : I know of Mr. Atkinson being here as Government Agent, and also Mr. Graham being here. I heard when I arrived here that there was a deed of cession signed, handing over the land to the Queen for protection. lam not certain that I signed that deed, but I think I did. Mr. Graham was acting as Native agent. I know of a Commission sitting here. Judges Eogan and Monro were the Commissioners. It was in 1869. They sat to investigate all the lands in Turanga, and acted in the matter of the lands that were handed over to the Government. Patutahi, Te Muhunga, and Te Aral were set apart for the Government by that Commission. Five thousand acres in each block were to be given, and any excess found after survey was to be handed back. The Commissioners' Court investigated other blocks in the district. Only those Hauhaus who had returned to allegiance were admitted in the blocks investigated. These Natives did not acquire more land by this arrangement than they would otherwise have been entitled to through the grants having been issued as joint tenants. I cannot say how many Hauhaus were excluded from those lands. After the deed of cession was abandoned, the Hauhaus were included in grants for lands to which they were entitled ; but the lands are far back, and many of them have been sold to the Government.. These people were asked by the-Government Land Purchase Agents to sell, and the Natives consented to do so. Court adjourned at 4.30 p.m.

Tuesday, 31st October, 1882. Commissioner's Court opened at 2 p.m. Present and place the same. Wi Pete's case resumed. By Mr. Locke : I know the deed of cession included more than a million acres of land. I know that the Government diJ not acquire quite sixty thousand acres of that million acres ceded. About 140,000 or 150,000 acres of the one million passed under the Joint Tenancy Act. I admit that 800,000 acres returned to the Natives outside of the land passed under joint tenancy. I admit that I stated that I only have fifty acres now. I had, after the Commission, fifty acres of Makauri; which block contained twenty-nine acres of good land. I say it was through the action of the Government that we have not more land; as when our lands were before the Courts the officers of the Government advised us to collect our relatives from different parts, and insert their names in the orders in order that we could better hold the land, but it was afterwards discovered that we had been made joint tenants in the grants, and consequently were only entitled to equal shares. Another reason that we blame the Government is on account oijiie Crown grants ; they were drawn up.by the Government, and we were made joint tenants. Harl we known it at the time the inquiry was made, we should have objected to our cases being heard at all. The Government at first asked us to hand over the land under the deed of cession, to be protected by them. Afterwards they stated that the land had been ceded by us absolutely to the Queen. We were asked to hand over 150,000 acres, which we.did. Afterwards we found that more land had been taken. The Government do not own more than 10,000 acres of flat land in Turanga. All the balance of the flat land went back to the Natives. I admit that the Natives consented to cede 15,000 acres to the