I enclose a letter from Moses and other Natives of the small tribe of Akitai, living at Pukaki, on a subject which seems to require serious attention. As I have always advised the New Zealanders, in all parts of the country, to sell their surplus lands to the Government, and to accept grants for sufficient reserves for themselves, you will not suspect me of any desire to cause embarrassment to Her Majesty's Colonial Government in bringing under your immediate notice the following case, which I have investigated at the request of my Native friends; and I believe the following to be a correct statement.

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On the 17th day of June, 1853, the Akitai tribe surrendered to the Government a tract of land bordering on Manukau Harbour, called Pukekohe. They have in their possession a copy of the deed of surrender, with a plan annexed to the land given up.

By the terms of that deed a particular reserve, at a place called Te Awa nui o Taikehu, is excepted from the surrender, and in the plan annexed to the deed this is marked off, and the words "Native Reserve, Te Awa nui o Taikehu," are written over the place.

No measurements are given, either in the case of the whole block or of the reserve cut out of it, but the quantity of land intended to be reserved may be estimated by the proportion which it bears to the whole block on the face of the plan.

In the year 1854 Mr. Edwin Fairburn was sent down to survey the block, and lay it out in sections for purchase.

On his return he is stated to have made application for land forming part of the above Native reserve, to what extent I am not aware, and to have bought it for his own use.

Some opposition, I believe, was made to the issue of the Crown grants, but this seems to have been overruled, and the question is now further complicated by Mr. Fairburn's having now re-sold the land to settlers, who have already begun to cultivate it.

You will see that the letter of the Native claimants entirely exonerates the Government from any blame, as they believe that Mr. Fairburn must have given wrong information.

The following is a translation of their letter:—

Greeting This is our word to you, that the Pakehas who are settling upon our reserve, at Pukekohe, at the Awanui o Taikehu, be removed, and placed upon the Queen's portion, because this is a permanent abode for us and for our children, and our burying-place is also there. This place will not be given up to these Pakehas, but rather it is for us and for our children.

Neither you nor Mr. Ligar are to blame for this, but Mr. Fairburn. This petition does not come out of Maori customs, but out of the law of the Queen and of the Government of New Zealand, because you are constituted as a friend to all men, that both English and Native may settle justly now and hereafter.