I have the honor to inform you that I proceeded to Whangarei, in compliance with the directions contained in your letter of the 7th ultimo, and to report the result of my negotiations for the information of His Excellency the Governor.

Having first ascertained the nature of the native claims in that district to be clearly defined (the Parawhau, or original tribe of Whangarei, occupying and claiming the southern bank, and the Ngapuhi the northern bank of the Whangarei, but both parties being connected with, and, in a great measure, controlled by Tirarau, the chief of the Wairoa River in Kaipara) I lost no time in repairing thither to gain his consent to the object, of my mission, which I obtained in general terms over any tract of country for which I could make arrangements with the more immediate owners, excepting alone a block between the Whangarei and the Wairoa, which Tirarau and Manihera, the resident owners, have determined to retain for themselves, on the ground that this alone remained, they having sold the rest of their land to Mr. Busby, of the Bay of Islands, which lands, they stated, were at the disposal of the Government.

Although at that time I was not aware whether this block (marked No. 1 in the annexed plan) included a site for the Highlanders, but, bearing in mind His Excellency's directions to acquire as much land as possible, I negotiated with part of the owners and obtained their consent to the sale of a block called after a river running through the centre of it—the Mangawhai—abutting on Mr. Busby's claim on the North, and the surplus of Mr. W. S. Grahame's claim on; the Otamatea on the West, thus having a frontage to the East and West Coasts on two sides and the River of Whangarei on the North, which, including the above mentioned claims, will not fall short of 200,000 acres. To have proceeded too hastily with the purchase of such a large tract of country might have led to difficulty afterwards, I therefore wrote to the remaining claimants, whom I had not seen, who reside at the Otamatea, requesting them to hold a meeting preparatory to my going to them at a future time; and I also requested a party of the Highlanders who had arrived to explore this tract of country and ascertain whether it met their wants, while I myself, in the meantime, proceeded with the negotiations for the block marked No. 2 on the annexed plan, which the Highlanders had expressed their wish to obtain as a settlement, failing my ability to acquire a more desirable location.