No. 181.—Petition of Keita Waere.

The petitioner (Mrs. Wyllie) prays that her name may be inserted in the list of names for the ownership of Waimate, at Poverty Bay, so that she may derive some benefit from the rents of her land.

I am directed to report as follows:—

It appears to the Committee that with regard to the petition a question of some difficulty is raised. In order to satisfy the claims of loyal Natives in the Poverty Bay District to confiscated territory, a block of land known as the Waimata Reserve, and containing 4,214 acres, was restored by Proclamation under the provisions of "The East Coast Act, 1868." In this Proclamation the names of twenty-three persons are recited, and the question which the petitioner seems desirous of raising is, whether these twenty-three persons have an exclusive right to the benefits derived from the reserve, or whether they are to be merely regarded as trustees for a larger number of Natives entitled to participate in the rents and profits derivable from it. From the evidence of Mr. Locke it seems certain that the persons whose names are set forth in the Proclamation were selected as the representatives of a large number of people, and that they ought therefore to be regarded as trustees. But the Committee do not think it desirable, even if they were competent to do so, that they should express an opinion as to whether the legal position of those people is what the Committee believe it ought to be. The Committee commend the subject-matter of the petition to the consideration of the Government.