No. 4.
Mr. Mantell to the Superintendent of Nelson.
Sir,—
I have the honor to forward to your Honor copies of a letter from Mr. James Mackay, Assistant Native Secretary, and of a Memorandum by Mr. Bell, relating to an arrangement for the purchase from the Governors of Nelson College of some sections at Motupipi, granted to them apparently in ignorance of engagements previously entered into with the resident Natives for the delivery to the latter of the sections in question.
The sections granted are those numbered 5, 6, and 160, at Motupipi, containing 423 acres, valued by Mr. Mackay at £2 per acre. Regarding the engagements with the Natives as contracts affecting the Crown lands of the Province of Nelson at the time the proceeds of such lands were made Provincial Reserves, the Government consider that the cost of repurchasing the above-named sections in order to fulfil those engagements properly falls upon the land revenue of the Province. The Government propose to pay the Governors of the College the sum agreed upon, and charge it against the Nelson Land Fund; the money so paid to be reinvested in the purchase of other portions of Crown lands in the Province of Nelson.
Your Honor would oblige the Government by furnishing them with your views upon the proposal.