Enclosure 11 in No. 1.
Copy of a Letter from Mr. Buller to Mr Rolleston.

Sir,—

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 27th instant (No. 648), enclosing copy of a letter from the Reverend Richard Taylor of Wanganui, and requesting me to report thereon.

In reply, I beg to state that, so far as I am aware, only one of Hoani Wiremu Hipango's sons has signed the Manawatu deed of cession.

In obtaining the consent of the various tribes concerned in the Rangitikei land dispute to the final extinguishment of their Native Title, my proceedings were ruled by Maori custom in such matters, rather than by the distinctions of our own law, and I usually left it for the tribe to determine whether any lad who came forward to sign the deed was old enough to take part in the tribal surrender.

In this case the Native guardians of Hoani Hipango's sons brought the lad forward to sign the deed; and had I been at the time aware of Mr. Taylor's alleged relation to him, I could not under the circumstances have recognized his right to interfere.