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76. The office of Assessor seems to meet the requirements of the present transition state of the natives ; great care, however, must be exercised in all the appointments : and in order to represent and combine, as much as possible, the two parties, it would be advisable to select the intelligent sons of the ruling chiefs, for this distinction. 77. It is necessary to attach a small salary to the office, a sum of about £10 per annum appears to be sufficient. JURORS. 78. The Board would not recommend natives being placed on Juries at present. 79. The Sheriff should, if he finds any intelligent natives in the neighbourhood, place a few cf them on the Jury List, from time to time, who, should be called alphabetically the same as the Europeans. In this way, they might be gradually taught to act in this capacity, ana be shewn that they were taking part in the carrying out of the laws. 80. In this way they would be called to act without reference to the particular subject to be tried, or at times of great excitement such as when a native had been killed by a European. PROHIBITION OF SALE OF SPIRITS. 81. The Board is of opinion from the evidence taken on the subject, that the law prohibiting the sale of spirits, though evaded to a very great extent, still operates as a check to the evil it is intended to prevent. Although it may not be found possible so to enforce the prohibition as that no case of infringement or evasion shall occur, yet the Board is of opinion that much of the evil at present existing may be suppressed by increased vigilance on the part of the Magistrate and Police, and would by no means recommend the repeal of the law, believing ihat it would be followed by a great increase of drunkenness among the natives, from which the most serious consequences might be apprehended affecting both races. 82. The majority of the natives, and especially the more intelligent and well disposed among them, regard the importation of spirits into the country as a great evil. Several of the tribes have petitioned the Government to prohibit it altogether. Many of the observant and reflecting men among them have expressed a conviction that spirits have already endangered the peaceful relations which have for so long a time subsisted between the two races, and that they may yet prove the means of causing the most serious disturbances. 83. From the evidence collected by the Board, it would appear that the law in question is regarded by the natives generally, as a salutary and beneficial one; that they recognise in its enactment the benevolent exercise on the part of the Government of a parental authority interposed to protect them from a dangerous enemy. 1 here are doubtless many individuals among them who wish the restriction removed, but the Board is of opinion that were all the tribes in the Island called upon to give a deliberate expression of their wishes on the subject, very few, if any, would be found in favor of repealing a law intended to prevent the spread of intemperance among them. 84. The Board does not overlook the evil or the moral effect attending the existance of a law which is evaded or disregarded, but it considers that in the present case, a far greater evil would be incurred, by throwing open spirits to the natives than by retaining the prohibiting law, even under existing circumstances. While the law remains it affords a standing evidence to the native race that their well being is the subject of careful solicitude on the part of the Government which endeavours, as far as possible, to protect them and to counteract those evil influences to which their contact with Europeans necessarily exposes them. The repeal of the law would be looked upon by themselves not merely as a discountenance of the veto, but as a positive encouragement and invitation to drink, and as their abandonment by the Government to the ruin and degradation which intemperance may be expected to bring upon its victims, 85. The Board would recommend that the best efforts of the Government should be directed to prevent the evasion of the prohibitory law and to enforce its penalties, and would suggest that it is desirable to make it more stringent in certain cases. At present a heavier penalty may be inflicted upon the trader who sells a bottle of spirits to a native, than upon the one who sells a hogshead, the former being liable to a fine for selling without a license, while the latter escapes with a penalty of £10, which he can afford to pay out of his profit on the transaction. To remedy this, the penalty for selling more than a bottle, should be increased to a sum not exceeding £'50. A second breach of the law should be punished with imprisonment. 86. Every encouragement should be given to the chiefs and influential men in the different tribes to co-operate with the Government in the endeavour to suppress an evil which threatens to