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An analysis of the balance of the area subject to special recommendation shows, — Subject to timber agreements validated by Parliament rendered available Acres. : for profitable'settlement .. .. .. .. .. 135,000 Subject to Tutira*and Waimarama leases, validated by Parliament .. 24,773 Recommended to'be incorporated and made available for sale or lease . . 115,483 275,256 This area should be added to the total of lands recommended for European settlement. Altogether the area available for general settlement under our recommendations will be 1,121,516 acres, and for Maori occupation 919,361 acres. The area of Native lands in the North Island that we could have inquired into had there been time we estimate at 980,190 acres. We estimate that 400,000 acres of this area is in Hawke's Bay, Wairarapa, Manawatu, and the west coast, and consists for the most part of lands either in the occupation of the Maoris or of so poor a quality (like the Owhaoko and Oruamatua-Kaimanawa Blocks) that, although accessible, settlement has not been attracted to them. The rest of the lands not dealt with are in the Auckland Province —by far the largest area being in East Taupo County, which we have not touched at all, and consisting of uninviting pumice land, without the magnificent timber which has made the West Taupo lands so valuable. Although the Urewera district was expressly excluded from the operation of " The Native Land Settlement Act, 1907," the legislation of 1908 (the Maori Land Laws Amendment Act) will, in our opinion, expedite the settlement of lands in this district, and open up nearly 180,000 acres which the Urewera Natives are offering for sale and lease. We regret that time has not allowed us to visit the Natives of the Provincial District of Taranaki. We had requests from the Taranaki Natives to visit them, but up to the present we have not been able to do so. This we much regret, as they feel that they have grievances, and they no doubt will feel that they have not been treated like their compatriots in the other provincial districts if the Commission does not visit them. General Remarks. We have the honour to submit for Your Excellency's consideration remarks of a general nature on certain aspects of the Native-land problem. 1. Administration. We are of the opinion that the legislation now on the statute-book, though it urgently requires consolidation and slight amendment to harmonize conflicting details, is sufficient to settle the Native lands in the North Island. The Legislature has armed the various Departments of State and the Government with ample powers : what is required is prompt and efficient administration. The bulk of the lands dealt with in our various reports consisted of large .communal blocks, the titles to which were imperfect —were at least insufficiently advanced to enable the owners to deal with them satisfactorily. Where the lands had been subdivided by the Native Land Court into individual and family holdings, and into small blocks of high average value, we were satisfied to exclude them from our recommendations, if the owners so asked, and expressed a wish to effect the alienation themselves. For this class of land it is necessary that the partition orders of the Native Land Court should be completed with as little delay as possible by surveys, so that the titles may find their way on to the Land Transfer register. Where the lands are vested in the Maori Land Boards for administration the necessity for extensive surveys for settlement purposes is greater still, being required not only for the purpose of completing the Board's title, but also for subdivision into suitable areas for sale and lease. It seems to us that, unless the State renders liberal assistance in advancing the cost of these preliminaries and in providing experts, the settlement of the large area covered by our recommendations will be seriously delayed and the purpose of the Legislature defeated.