Dr. Featherston to the Superintendent of Wellington.

Sir,—I feel it my duty to bring once more under the notice of the Provincial Government of Wellington the special services rendered to the Province by Mr. Walter Buller, in the acquisition of Native Lands, and to request that you will do me the favour to have this letter, with its enclosure, printed and laid before the Council at its next Session.

What the nature and value of Mr. Buller's services generally were, I have endeavoured to show in the enclosed Statement. But I desire here more particularly to point out that these services extended over a continuous period of six years; that for a large portion of that time they were voluntarily and cheerfully given, without any fee or reward; that during the three years that Mr. Buller's time was wholly devoted to the purchase of the Rangitikei-Manawatu Block he received nothing page 4 from the Provincial Treasury but his General-Government salary and an allowance for forage, barely sufficient to cover his actual travelling expenses; that the work in which he was so engaged was of the most arduous and harassing kind, to say nothing of the personal discomfort it involved; and that, after the travelling allowance had ceased and Mr. Buller had returned to his General-Government post, he was required to attend, at his own expense, and for many weeks together, sittings of the Native-Lands Court, for the purpose of proving the title to the Block.

The final judgment of the Lands Court, after repeated hearings, confirmed the validity of the purchase in every respect, an award of only 6200 acres being made to the non-sellers.

The Province is now in quiet and undisturbed possession of a magnificent estate, and is reaping the full benefit of the Rangitikei-Manawatu purchase.

Under these circumstances I feel quite sure that the Council, if the subject be fairly brought before it, will not refuse to take into favourable consideration claims which have been so frequently and so fully acknowledged.