I.—3a

2

etahi moni hei whakahoki ma ratou ki o ratou hoa Maori kua uru nei o ratou whenua ki roto ki nga whenua c tiakina nei. Ko te pitihana nei me nga korero i korerotia kite aroaro o te Komiti c whakaatu ana i te kino o te raruraru o nga whenua o te Tai Eawhiti hui atu ki nga whenua kua tv nei ko Hon. Timi Kara raua ko Wi Pere nga kai-tiaki, a kaore c tika kia waiho i runga i tona ahua c mau nei, engari me whakamutu i te mea c kino ana mo nga taha katoa, ara, mo nga Maori, mo nga kai-tiaki, mo nga hunga nana nga moni, me te iwi katoa. He whenua nui whakaharahara, nga whenua c whakahaerea nei c nga kai-tiaki, a i runga i nga korero he tino whenua momona, c takoto noa iho ana, me te tupu haere o nga initareti i ia tau i ia tau. Kaore kau he moni a nga kai-tiaki hei whakapai, ahe nui nga moni c pau i te whiriwhiringa kia kitea kowai nga Maori, a ko c whea whenua o nga Maori, c tika ana mana c whakaea aua raruraru. No reira kei te tino kaha te whakaaro ota koutou Komiti, ara : — 1. Me whakatarewa nga mahi a te Kooti Whakamana Take mo nga whenua katoa c ekengia ana c tenei pitihana. 2. Me whakatu tetahi tangata etahi tangata matau ranei hei Komihana, hei uiui i runga i te oati, ma kitea c tika ana kia peratia, nga take katoa 6 tika ana hei whakaatu i nga whenua me nga tangata c ekengia ana c nga moni i namaia kite Kamupane Whakanohonoho Whenua, te rahi o nga moni hei utu, me te kaha o nga paanga c uru ana ki roto ki taua whenua kite whakaea. 3. Me tuku mai c ia c ratou ranei he tino ripoata kite Paremata a tona tuunga c haere ake nei, me te apiti ano i ana kupu tohutohu hei whakaoti rawa i nga mahi o taua Kamupane, hei whakamahi hoki i ona whenua.

PETITION. [TRANSLATION.] To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Bepresentatives of the General Assembly of New Zealand : Greetings. The petition and prayer of the members of the Ngatiporou Tribe residing between Tokomaru and Hick's Bay, on the East Coast, County of Waiapu, humbly showeth, — 1. Our lands that now remain to us for our occupation, including those that are leased to Europeans, are placed under serious disadvantages, whereby our interests are injured, in consequence of old dealings therewith of a certain body called the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company (Limited). 2. In or about the years 1882 and 1883 the agents of the said company visited our district to explain the objects of the said company, calling meetings at various centres in the nature of feasts for the entertainment of the Natives who attended them, to the great delight of the said Natives. We were asked to elect committees to hold in trust such of our lands as had passed the Native Land Court, a committee for each block, on the understanding that such committees should eventually execute conveyances of such lands to the company, whereby benefit would accrue to the original Native owners. The company was to expend money on the improvement of such lands, and do other work in connection therewith. In consequence of the flattering promises and inducements held out by the said company certain of the owners of the said lands signed deeds of trust. But no sum of money whatever was paid to such Natives as signed the said deeds, but a nominal consideration was inserted therein for the purpose, as we were told, of satisfying the law. 3. At the same time the said company entered into negotiations regarding such of our lands as had not then passed the Native Land Court, the owners of which, therefore, were not then ascertained. Some members of our tribe entered into dealings with the said company in respect of such lands and received advances on account of such lands. The greater part of such negotiations were carried on in the Town of Gisborne, the Natives well knowing (and also the said company) that they were not then ascertained owners. The titles to the said lands were afterwards investigated, and on such investigation the majority of the said Native vendors were not included in the title. 4. These dealings and transactions were prohibited by the laws then in force. If the said agreements and deeds are inspected it will be seen that they have not been confirmed by the Trust Commissioner under the Native Lands Frauds Prevention Acts; and agreements affecting uninvestigated lands were made between parties who had no title whatever to such lands, and before the title was determined. 5. From the year 1883 to the present year we have remained in ignorance of the doings of the said company. The said company has not since the date of the said dealings advanced any money to us on account of survey charges, Court expenses, or rates payable on our said lands, or made any improvements or done anything whereby benefit may have accrued to us, but we ourselves have borne all such expenses. 6. In or about the month of December, 1896, certain applications were lodged with the Registrar of the Validation Court at Gisborne by or on behalf of the Hon. James Carroll and Wi Pere for validation of certain transactions affecting some of our said lands. It was then for the first time, from the Gazette containing the applications, that we learnt that our said lands had been mortgaged by the New Zealand Native Land Settlement Company to the Bank of New Zealand, and that the interest of the said bank therein had been assigned to the Estates Company, which, in its turn, had entered into an agreement with Messrs. Carroll and Wi Pere. We learnt then the fulfilment of the promises held forth to us years before by the company that it would deal with our