a.—s

8

No. 5. J. Booth, Esq., E.M., Gisborne, to the Under-Seobetaky, Native Department. Sns, — Resident Magistrate's Office, Gisborne, 26th June, 1891. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Circular-letter No. 1, of the Bth May, 1891. - I regret the delay in furnishing my report, which delay has been caused by my absence at Wairoa and at Awanui, and since my return from the latter place a few days ago I have been very busy making up arrears of work here. I am pleased to be able to report that the condition of the Natives throughout this district is satisfactory. Their drinking habits have been almost entirely given up. As a rule they are industrious, and they can now obtain constant work all the year round —in winter, bush-felling and clearing; in summer, shearing and preparing grass-seed. In addition to this many of them are owners of sheep, and the majority of them are very comfortably off. The Natives in my district number, according to the last census, 5,926 —namely, County of Waiapu, 2,213 ; County of Cook, 1,328 ; Eesident Magistrate's District of Wairoa, 2,385. The number of sheep owned by Natives in the whole district is 60,000 ; cattle, about 4,000; pigs, about 7,500. The produce in the Wairoa portion of the district for last year was : Wheat, 5,560 bushels ; oats, 4,300 bushels; maize, 6,500 bushels; whale-oil, 10 tuns; bales of wool, 225. In the East Coast portion of the district there have been in crop during the year : Potatoes, 700 acres ; maize and other crops, about 1,000 acres. There are eight Native schools in the district, all in good working order, and well attended. Applications are in for three more schools on the coast. It is very desirable that schools should be established in the Urewera country, but up to this time no application has been made by the Natives, who do not seem to appreciate the benefit of an English education. Resident Magistrate's Courts have been held by me at Wairoa every alternate month, at Tologa Bay once a quarter, and at Awanui once a quarter. The following cases in which Natives were interested have been disposed of: —Gisborne: Criminal cases 44, convictions 34; civil — Native defendants 71, Native plaintiffs 6, Native plaintiffs and defendants 11. Tologa Bay : Criminal, nil ; civil—Native defendants 8, Native plaintiff 1, Native plaintiffs and defendants 3. Awanui: Criminal, 26 (none serious); civil—Native defendants 34, Native plaintiffs 3, Native plaintiff's and defendants 23. Wairoa: Criminal, 14 ; civil —Native defendants 37, Native plaintiffs 5, Native plaintiffs and defendants 17. The general health of the Natives throughout the district has been good. Excepting a few cases of typhoid fever, generally amongst the children, there has been no epidemic disease. I have, &c, T. W. Lewis, Esq., Under-Secretary, J. Booth, Wellington. Resident Magistrate.

No. 0. Captain Pbeece, R.M., Napier, to the Undue-Secbetaby, Native Department. guj,— Resident Magistrate's Office, Napier, 2nd June, 1891. In accordance with the instructions contained in your circular of the Bth ultimo, I have the honour to forward the following report of the state of the Natives in the district under my charge : — Napieb. The Natives continue planting wheat and oats largely. They have had good crops this season, but I have not been able, owing to pressure of work, to get any details of the amount grown at the different settlements. During the late strike in August last Natives were employed in discharging and loading vessels and other work. A number of Natives have also been employed at the different stations during the shearing-season. This work attracts a number of young Natives from the Urewera country, who now come down regularly every season.. The Natives of this district own 89,105 sheep ; a large proportion of these are in the Inland Patea district. The number of bales of wool produced this year were 1,350. The Patea Natives employ Europeans largely, and I understand pay them well. I have only had one or two cases of disputed wages. The Native Land Court has been sitting for some time past at Waipawa adjudicating on the Waikopiro Block, which is being reheard. There is a large amount of work on hand in this district for the Court; the Manawakaitoi and Eakautatahi Blocks, original cases, have yet to be heard, besides a number of subdivisions and applications for smaller blocks. I consider that it would take at least two years' continuous sitting to get through the work for which applications are made, or rehearings pending. The number of cases heard in the Resident Magistrate's Court at Napier, Hastings, Waipawa, Ormondville, Danevirke, and Woodville, in which Maoris were concerned, were as follows: Civil cases—European plaintiffs and Maori defendants, 116 ; amount sued for, £1,340 os. 4d.; amount recovered, £915 18s. sd. Maori plaintiffs and European defendants, 5 ; amount sued for, £144 15s. 6d.; amount recovered, £94 16s. Maori plaintiffs and Maori defendants, 4 ; amount sued for, £110 14s. 6d.; amount recovered, £46165. Criminal cases : Breach of by-laws, convicted, 1; drunkenness, convicted, 15; railway by-laws, convicted, 1; Shipping and Seamen's Act, dismissed, 1 ; Justice of