[Translation.]

Salutations. The letter from the Superintendent of Canterbury, in reply to a letter written to him in regard to your letter dated 9th September, about a lake of fresh water behind the hills at Port Cooper being drained, has come. The letter from the Superintendent states that he has no desire in draining the lake to spoil the eel-weirs of the Natives, but the chief thing to be feared is the inundation of the whole country. There is no other word.