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Middle Island. That circular referred to a practice which obtained in the North. You will find it referred to in ancient times. 217. You do not say of your own knowledge whether the regulation did apply/?—I never dreamt of it applying until I received that circular. I suppose I asked whether it really did apply. 218. Some too energetic clerk, I suppose ?—Precisely. 219. Mr. Ormond.] Captain Eussell and Sir John Hall have brought out most that I intended to have questioned Mr. Mantell upon. You refer in the paper put in evidence to Captain Stokes marking off certain reserves. Could you tell the Committee what extent was laid out in reserves ?— No; I could not at tins lapse of time. I heard rumours of his having done so, and that they were on a most gigantic scale. 220. A lot of the same kind as the one you refer to ? —Yes. 221. Do you recollect any instructions given to him?—To Captain Stokes ? 222. Yes. Were there no instructions ?—No instructions. 223. And no authority?—No authority, so far as I know. 224. My recollection is very dim; but I think he did have instructions?—Mr. Ormond may very probably have given them. Mr. Ormond : I have a recollection that he did. 225. Mr. Carroll.] Was Captain Stokes in the Government employ? . Mr. Ormond: He was a captain in the Eoyal Navy. 226. Mr. Carroll.] This reference brought it up, and I thought there must be something important in your mind. In your knowledge, Stokes performed important acts?—l only knew of Topi's reserve. 227. And your instructions were that that reservation should not be recognised ? —Oh, no ! that Topi should have something in lieu of it. 228. Hon. the Chairman.] That is not in Ngaitahu ? —No. 229. lion. Mr. Richmond.] How long were you Minister of Native Affairs?—l really do not know ; it is a matter of history, and you are well acquainted with the history of the times. 230. Was it a question of months or years ?—lt was certainly not a question of years. I was Minister of Native Affairs on three occasions. On all occasions my time was pretty well taken up with the troubles of the North. And on each occasion, I think, I left the Ministry—no, on one occasion the Ministry left me. Hon. the Chairman : I think it would be convenient when questioning simply to put questions the answers to which it is desirable to have on record. 231. Hon. Mr. Richmond.] I should like to know the time Mr. Mantell was Native Minister? — I cannot tell you exactly. I was Minister of Native Affairs in Mr. Fox's Government, in 1861. I was Postmaster-General and Secretary for Crown Lands for a fortnight in Domett's Ministry, in 1862-63; and subsequently a Minister in partibus down here in the same Ministry for six months. Towards the close of the year I was looking after Native affairs for a friend for a month or so. I then joined Mr. Weld's Government as Minister of Native Affairs. I well remember that I bad sufficient to fill my hands. I left that Government in July or August, 1865, on account of the sudden conversion of a colleague to a different opinion from what he held with me a short time previously on the question of the Princes Street Eeserve in Dunedin. I think since then I have escaped any recurrence of the malady. 232. Hon. Mr. Waterhouse.] Were you the party who sent Clarke down to inquire into Native grievances in 1864 ?—I do not think so. I might have sent Mr. Hunter Brown down ; but Ido not remember. 233. Mr. Ormond.] I understood you, in answering an early inquiry of Mr. Carroll's, to say that when you first went down to take up Kemp's work you went down with authority to mark out reserves for the Natives in fulfilment of the Kemp purchase? —I went down to mark out such reserves as I understood it would have been his duty to mark out if he had attended to his instructions ; but I did not understand that my duties extended beyond that. My duties were to mark out the boundaries as closely as I could, so as to define the limits to which those present reserves were to extend. 234. Did you not say just now that your reason for not marking out the reserves was because, although you had definite instructions authorising you to do so, there was another officer above the officer wdio gave the instructions who would not have approved ?—Scarcely. 235. It is on record, and I want to know wdiat you meant ?—What I meant was that, although I might infer from the liberal manner in which Lieut.-Governor Eyre was ready to assent that he would approve, yet I had grounds for believing that Governor Grey would have taken a directly contrary view of it; and the Govcrnor-in-Chief was a more important person for an unfortunate Government officer to look to. 236. Did you not know when you went that these instructions were given with the authority of the Governor-in-Chief —the instructions on which you went and took up Kemp's purchase ?—Which instructions ? 237. Those under which you acted when you went down to take up Kemp's purchase. Did you not know that those instructions came through the Lieutenant-Governor, with the assent of the Governor-in-Chief ? —Of course I knew that the Lieutenant-Governor's acts would come to me with the authority of the Governor-in-Chief. 238. Then, Ido not understand how you could have felt any doubt as to having the concurrence of the Governor-in-Chief in giving effect to those instructions?—l am afraid you have greater faith in the Governor-in-Chief of the period than I had. 239. Hon. Mr. Richmond.] As a matter of fact, do you not believe that there is sufficient documentary evidence in existence to enable a correct judgment to bo come to?—So far as any evidence that I can give, I said so as soon as I heard of the appointment of the Committee.