G.—la

6

There should be a separate incorporation and a separate committee for each farm, and the manager would consult his committee on all general matters. The land set apart would be sufficient security to the State for the necessary advances. The Maori owners would supply the labour at fair wages. We are of opinion that these farms should be utilised as experimental farms, and the managers should be able to act as agricultural instructors, so that the farms could be utilised as schools of agriculture for the younger Maoris. At first the State should find a proportion of the instructors' salaries, but the farms should bear all other expenses. The expense to the State of such an experiment would be a mere bagatelle compared with the money expended by the Department of Agriculture for the benefit of the farming community generally. We have in our general report, G.-lc, of 1907 referred to what has been done in other countries for agricultural education, and in our opinion there is greater necessity for the Government under- taking this experiment than there is in older countries for the great expenditure incurred in agricultural education and supervision. A supplementary report on this district will be made later, when the Court has dealt with the matters referred to it by us. We have the honour to be Your Excellency's humble and obedient servants, Robert Stout, A. T. Ngata, Commissioners.

APPENDIX.

Rotorua, 16th January, 1908. Memorandum on General Matters affecting the Akawa Tribe for the Information and Consideration of the Native Land Commission, now sitting at Rotorua. We are compelled to bring under the notice of the Native Land Commission, in connection with your inquiry into the position of Native lands in this district, certain matters of a general nature, and of great importance to our tribe. The district, as you are aware, has been endowed by nature with assets that attract people from all parts of the world. The thermal springs, the beautiful lakes and rivers, the historic spots, and the charming scenery have conspired to make of our district the cynosure of every eye. They have conspired further to attract the special attention of those concerned in the development of the natural resources of this part of the Dominion, and to make them available to the public of New Zealand and of the world at large. And in the course of the statement that we desire to make to the Commission it will be seen how special legislation and acts of administration have prejudiced our interests and disregarded the rights we have been taught to regard as sacred and guaranteed by the solemn promises of the Crown and its responsible Advisers. With your indulgence we of Te Arawa will lay before you the grievances and sorrows we have suffered and under which we are labouring. But first we must say that our tribe has ever been the loyal and loving friend of the pakeha. In the troublous times of the Waikato " King " movement, we, by our consistent abstention from and opposition to this movement and labouring ever in the direction of peace, earned for ourselves the distinction of " the Loyal Arawas.". When, in the year 1864, some of the tribes south of the Arawa country attempted to cross our boundary and join the Waikato, we of our own initiative and at our own cost collected a war-party, and, meeting them, forced them to return. For these services we received no recompense, but, secure in the faith that this adhesion to our mother, Queen Victoria, would meet recognition in her own good time, we, her children, waited in patience and fealty until such time should appear. When, therefore, in the year 1880 Judge Penton assisted us to establish a township, and the Government agreed to become our trustee and agent, we were comforted with the conviction that all the benefits predicted, and at the time so alluringly held forth and sure to accrue from a pakeha population in our midst, were the long-awaited compensations arrived at last, we heartily acceded to every proposal submitted for our adoption. In the year 1880 Judge Fenton asked that a township be established in Rotorua, so that travellers visiting our hot springs and other wonders might do so in comfort and be suitably housed and entertained. This was agreed to, and after further negotiations about 3,020 acres were given, surveyed, and divided into sections for this pprpose. The Government undertook to be our agent for the purpose of leasing, and undertook also the collection of the rents. Our prospective prosperity so enlarged our hearts with gratitude that we gave the Pukeroa Reserve of 30 acres, also the Sanatorium grounds, the Kuiiau Reserve, the Arikikapakapa Reserve, and sites for public buildings for both races for ever.