No. 18.
Extract from a letter from the Superintendent of Nelson, to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington.

Sir,—

During the quarter the Board of Native Trust have made some alterations in the Reserves at Motueka, and adopted measures which I feel persuaded, will be attended with benefit to the Natives, the detail of which His Excellency will find by referring to the accompanying report from that body. In addition to what is there stated, we have been able to bring under the management of the Trust, two of the allotments on reserve No. 157, which the Natives had let to the settlers who, in future, will pay rent to the Board instead of to the Natives. The Europeans formerly in occupation of the other portions of this section have, with the consent of the Natives, given up their leases and evacuated the premises, and thus the Native reserves are brought under one uniform system. I beg to call His Excellency's attention to the claim advanced by the Resident Agent of the New Zealand Company against the Trust, and the remark the Board made upon it. So seriously will this interfere with the operations of the Board of Trust, whose measures are now only beginning to be felt and appreciated by the Natives, that I am convinced the Directors of the Company who have always evinced so great a desire for the civilization of the race, would not press an old outstanding debt like this, were they aware that the income derived from the Estate, is at present so small, that the repayment must absorb many years' revenue, and thus render nugatory the exertions of the Board, and retard the improvement of the race on whose behalf they are made. I would likewise direct the Lieutenant-Governor's notice to the concluding paragraph of the report, in which the Board urge the necessity of on instrument to legalize their proceedings and define their power.