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taining one hundred and thirty-four thousand six hundred and fifty acres, and known by the name of Owhaoko, be inscribed in a separate folium of the Court Eolls. Map produced, certified to by Mr. Williams, District Inspector of Surveys, Wellington, as a reconnaissance survey; Mr. Thomson, Sur-veyor-General, approving of same, vide telegram produced : — " (Telegram to Mr. Locke.) —The map of the Owhaoko Block sent you, and signed by Mr. Williams, is correct, and in conformity with the rules in force under ' The Native Land Act, 1873.' —J. T. Thomson, Surveyor-Gene-ral, 30th October, 1877." This minute must have been entered after the receipt of the telegram from Mr. Dickey ; and it does not appear that there was any Native Land Court properly held on the date mentioned. No notice of such a Court was gazetted, and it appears in the minutebook immediately after the 15th October, 1877, and before the minutes for the 18th April, 1878. It does not appear that any Natives were present, if the Court sat at all, when this order was made, nor that the Natives who had objected in the first instance to the adjudication on these blocks were ever informed of the various adjournments or sittings. It is also plain that if the order was made it was made on the 31st October, 1877. It is perfectly apparent, from what is entered in the minute-book, page 417, that no order up to and for some time after December, 1876, had been made ; and in the minutes of the Coitrt of the 2nd December, 187G, there is no entry whatever about Owhaoko. Nevertheless, on the 31st October, 1877, Judge Eogan signs the certificate as follows : — Native Land Acts, 1873, 1874.. District of Hawke's Bay.—Owhaoko Block.—At a sitting of the Native Land Court of New Zealand at Porangahau, in the said district, on the 2nd day of December, 1876, before J. Eogan, Esquire, Judge, and Hone Peti, Assessor, it was ordered that a memorial of the ownership of Eenata Kawepo, Ihakara te Earo, Eetimana te Eango, Noa Huke, Hira te Oke, and Karaitiana te Eango, of a parcel of land at Patea, in the District of Wellington, containing one hundred and thirty-four thousand six hundred and fifty (134,650) acres, and known by the name of Owhaoko, be inscribed on a separate folium of the Court Eolls. Witness the hand of J. Eogan, Esq., and the seal of the Court, the 31st day of October, 1877. J. Eogan, Judge. And a letter is addressed by Mr. Woon, Secretary to the Judge, to the Chief Clerk at Auckland, as follows :— Sib, — Native Land Court, Gisborne, 31st October, 1877. I have the honour to forward herewith order of Court and plan relating to the block of land named in the margin (Owhaoko). I have, &c, Edwin Woon, The Chief Clerk, Secretary, Judge Native Land Court. Native Land Court, Auckland. This certificate is clearly wrong and invalid, for on the 2nd December, 1876, there was no adjudication regarding the Owhaoko Block. And here I might stop, for I submit that no legal certificate for Owhaoko (134,650 acres) has ever been issued. On the 31st October the Judge forwarded the notice for the Gazette, which was a re-echo of his certificate ; and on the 7th November the Chief Judge, Mr. Fenton, sent the notice for publication in the Kahiti and Gazette, and this seems to have been published on the 23rd December (Kahiti No. 29). It appears from orders dated the 20th December, 1876, that the Owhaoko Blocks Nos. 1 and 2 were stated to have been adjudicated upon on the, 2nd December, 1876 ; but there is no record in the minute-book of the Court of any such decision. Two notices were gazetted on the 29th January, 1877, stating,— Native Land Acts, 1873, 1874. District of Hawke's Bay. —At a sitting of the Native Land Court of New Zealand, begun and holden at Porangahau, on the 2nd day of December, 1876, before John Eogan, Esquire, Judge, and Hone Peeti, Assessor, in the