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A Compendium of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs in the South Island. Volume Two.

Copy of letter from D. Sinclair, Esq., R.M., to the Hon. Colonial Secretary

Copy of letter from D. Sinclair, Esq., R.M., to the Hon. Colonial Secretary.

Resident Magistrate's Office, Nelson, October 19th, 1847.

Sir,

Referring to my letter to you of date 20th August last, No. 47-115, in which I informed you that I had been instructed by His Honor the Superintendent to proceed to Massacre Bay, and there select for the Natives of that district as much land, in addition to their present cultivations, &c., as I should consider sufficient for their present and future wants, I have now the honour to report to you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, that I left this on the 31st August last, and arrived at the Aorere on the 2nd ultimo, and there commenced the duty required of me.

At each place I visited, I obtained a correct census of the Native population, and then carefully inspected the present reserves, from which, owing to their being in a great measure worthless, as well on account of local position and nature of soil, as on account of the improved habits of cultivation now followed by the Natives, I made what I considered to be proper deductions, to enable me to say with reference to the population and their present and future wants, how much additional land was required in each district.

I was extremely desirous to have laid out the additional land in one block in each place, but I found the family jealousies, which prevailed among the Natives, rendered this impracticable, and, therefore, I directed the required additions to be made up by straightening the edges of some of the existing reserves, and taking the remainder of the required land as close to the present reserves as I could obtain good available land, in every instance endeavouring, as far as in my power, to interfere as little as possible with the New Zealand Company's surveys, and deeming it better to fix upon suitable quantities of good and available land, than to listen to the importunities of the Natives for large blocks, which with their present numbers (and it does not seem to me that they are on the increase, but the contrary), they never will or can cultivate, and the giving of which to them would seriously interfere with any attempt of locating European settlers among them.

At the Aorere, after straightening the edges of existing reserves as shown in Plan No. 1, I have chosen two of the New Zealand Company's sections in that district, viz., Nos. 13 and 34, as sufficient for the people there. I give no plan of those sections, as I imagine it will be sufficient to refer to the New Zealand Company's certified plan in the Surveyor General's Office at Auckland, and in the Crown page 271grant, to show or state that those two sections are specifically reserved for the Natives, Section No. 13 being for the Ngatitama, and Section No. 34, being for the Mitiwai, people now respectively resident at Aorere, leaving them to adjust among themselves the mode in which they will in future occupy the old reserves and straightened edges.

In the valley of the Takaka, I again found the Natives of the same families and with the same jealousies as at the Aorere, and, therefore, I was under the necessity of selecting the additional land in contiguity to that occupied by each family. The selection for this district is marked on the accompanying plan as No. 2, the colouring of the old reserves being tinted pink, the additional reserves and straightened edges in Sections 14, 15, and 16, as marked on the New Zealand Company's plan being coloured yellow, and belonging to the Ngatiraruas are tinted lilac, and the additional block and straightened edges in Sections 11, 12, and 17, of the New Zealand Company's plan, being also coloured yellow. In like manner the pink tint shows to whom the old reserves in the Waitapu Coast belong, viz., to the Ngatiraruas whose chief is Te Aupouri. I next visited Motupipi, and the required land for the people there in addition to that I have selected for them in Takaka valley. I obtain by straightening the edges of the present reserves as appears by "Takaka," Plan No. 3, the additional land so selected being tinted yellow, and the old reserves pink.

The following is a statement of the lands and population of the foregoing districts:—

Abstract of Native Reserves.
Locality. Old Reserves. Straightened Edges. Additional by Block. Total. Remarks.
A. R. P. A. R. P. A. R. P. A. R. P.
Aorere river, North side 23 0 8 9 1 26 150 0 0 182 1 34
" river, South side 23 2 21 7 0 22 150 0 0 180 3 3
" coast 90 0 30 90 0 30 Old reserves, estimated as available lands at 25 acres
Parapara 21 2 22 21 2 22 Old reserves, estimated as worth 19 acres
Tukurua 15 2 14 15 2 14 Old reserve, estimated as worth 7 acres
Pariwakaho 9 2 36 9 2 36
Waikaha coast 59 3 35 59 3 35 Old reserve, estimated as worth 21 acres
Takaka, Ngatirarua 67 0 8 7 0 5 60 0 33 134 1 6 Old reserves, estimated as worth 52 acres
" Ngatitama 29 3 19 38 1 25 150 0 0 218 1 4
Waitapu, Ngatirarua 9 2 28 4 1 34 14 0 22 Old reserve, estimated as worth 8 acres
Motupipi 91 3 22 49 2 39 141 2 21
Tata, Ngatirarua 18 3 5 18 3 5 Old reserve, estimated as worth 9 acres
Totals 461 0 1 116 0 30 510 0 33 1087 0 32