No. 7.
Memorandum from the Lieutenant-Governor to Mr. Mantell, on his Mission to Banks Peninsula.

Write to Mr. Mantell in reference to his present mission to Banks Peninsula, and give him the following instructions for his guidance:—

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Mr. Mantell is aware that in all the negotiations for the tract of country recently acquired in the Middle Island, that portion of Banks Peninsula sold to the French was unintentionally left out of consideration, because the Natives admitted that they had made a sale to the French, and because the extent and position of the land thus sold was not defined; for the same reasons, no reserves were set apart for the Natives, on the occasion of Mr. Mantell's last visit, within the limits of the Peninsula.

At the same time, however, the late purchase included the whole of the Native right and title between the Ngatitoa boundary and the Otago Block, excepting as regarded their own reserves and the block sold to the French. Now, therefore, that the Government are sending down a surveyor to mark off the 30,000 acres which have been awarded to the French Company, it will also be necessary to set apart, under Mr. Mantell's directions, such reserves within the limits of the Peninsula as may be necessary for the present or future wants of the Natives. In making those reserves Mr. Mantell will be guided by the instructions given to him when sent down to set apart the reserves required for the Natives in the late purchases in the Middle Island.

There will then be three classes of land in the Peninsula, viz., the block assigned to the French, the Native Reserves, and the residue of the Peninsula, which would come under the terms and conditions of the deed of sale; but as it is possible that the Natives may have supposed that they had disposed of a larger block of land to the French than is awarded them, and that on their coming to take possession of it some additional payments might be made to them, I think it will be only right to consider the extra quantity of land which will be acquired in the Peninsula by the limitation of the French claim in the light of a Native Reserve which, not being required by the Natives themselves, may be given up for the purpose of colonization upon a moderate compensation being given to the Native owners. This compensation it will be Mr. Mantell's duty to determine and award upon a full inquiry into the merits of the case upon the spot, and he will be furnished with funds by the Agent of the New Zealand Company for the purpose.

It will of course be necessary that the Natives should be made to comprehend clearly what portion of land has been allotted to the French Company, what are their own reserves, and that to all the residue the title is vested in the Queen by the purchases made.