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C—No. 1

may be properly settled for, in the terms we all agreed to at our meeting at te Waipukurau and Te Aute, that is, the gathering of all the people and the Chiefs who agree that the land should go to Mr. McLean. Friend, the foregoing conversation took place at our meeting at Te Aute on the 17th April. This is a further word of Mr. McLean, that lam holding or thinking of. If you consent that the payment should be over four years, let the first year be £1800, that the people who own the land may be satisfied. These are Mr. McLean's words, that he cannot make large or increase the payment for these lands, as the matter rests entirely with the Governor; to these wotds I full consent, as he, Mr. McLean is situated like myself, the land is not entirely mine, it is the property of this man and that man, mine is merely handing it over to Mr. McLean. Do not consider the payment should be the same for this land, as for these other lands, as these lands of yours have been enslaved by Waikato and the Rauparaha but this land has never been enslaved; now for the first time it has, by turning it over to Mr. McLean, therefore the people all agree that the land is wholly in Mr. McLean's hands, that is Heretaonga. This is all our word to you; this letter is from Hineipaketia, Hori Nia Nia, Kiranime te Nahu, Paora te Ropitia, Tuhua and Seventy others. This is from your loving friend, who has agreed to give Mr, McLean the land for you, that you, the Governor, may have the land and send me Europeans for my land, as soon as possible, at the sametime with the payment, that we may soon have respectable European gentlemen. lam annoyed with the low Europeans of this place; let the people for this place come direct frcm England, new Europeans, to live on our lands at " Tawitikuri;" let it be a large, large, large, very large town for me. Friend the Governor, listen to the years for the payments; I say let it be in four years, and the first payment be £1800; the 2nd. year, £1000; 3rd. year, £1000; 4th. year, £1000: then it will be what I wish. From me, from the fish of the sea, Te Hapuktj. Of Heretaonga te Kuriperehi, or good place. To Governor Grey, Auckland.

Enclosure No 2 in No. 6. ROBERT TAEK, ESQ., SURVEYOR, TO THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER. Ahuriri, 7th June, 1851. Sir — According to your request I send you a brief report upon the three blocks of land lately agreed to be purchased by you from the Natives of Ahuriri and others. The first lying nearest Wellington and called Hapuku's Block, contains nearly 300,000 acres, and is bounded as follows. On the East by the .'ca, along which it extends from Matalmia the Northernmost Point, to Parimahu the Southernmost Point, a distance estimated at 17 miles in a straight line partly cliff and sandy beach. There is no harbour but there is a sufficient shelter at Tuingara for vessels; several small ones having anchored there and landed and received goods, as also wool from a Station belonging to Messrs, Northwood and Tiffen close by, on the South from Parimahu to a Stream called in the Ruatauiwha plain ; the boundary runs in nearly a straight line, a distance of about 23 miles following the line passing over low hills covered principally with fern ; on the west, along the said stream called flowing Northwards to the Tukituki river across to the Waipawa River and from thence up a small stream calltd to the Northern boundary, the whole distance being about 21 miles, and in nearly a straight line—the Streams well defined. This boundary passes through rich grass land and embraces a small portion of the Ruataniwha plain (some 40 miles long by 10 miles wide), a plain which for beauty of position, fertility of soil, mildness of climate and abundance of wood and water, stands unrivalled in New Zealand; and on the North and North-East partly by the edge of a swamp and stream as far as Pa Tangata on the Tukituki River, and partly by that river ; from thence, upwards, along the Ngakoutavva Stream to a range of hills, along said range for a short distance, and t'.ien Eastwards to the sea at Matahuia; the whole distance being from 36 to 38 miles. litis block is nearly square and is a most valuable one ; beautifully diversified by hill and plain ; the soil is generally very rich and is nearly all covered with excellent grass. The Tukituki River (which is navigable for canoes in the winter time as far as the Western boundary) runs through the richest parts, and there are minor streams ; the road from Port Nicholson via Wairarapa will likewise pass through it, and every where roads can be made at a moderate expense; there is abundance of good timber (Matai, Kahikatea, Totara, &c ), and although the largest portion is included in the Native reserves, this will be no detriment, as the Natives are willing to sell the wood at a moderate rate. There is also a fine site for a town near Waipukurau, and close to a range of low hills, composed of a shelly limestone adapted far building purposes.

Reporting on three block* of land, Hapuku's, Aim riii, and Mohaka.

RELATIVE TO LAND PURCHASES.

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