(No 4)
Mr Monro to Mr. Fenton.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your circular of the 17th instant, requesting a report as to the working of "The Native Lands Act, 1865."

Although always receiving the Act in a favourable light, I as unprepared for the very great success which attended it A large quantity of land has been passed through the Court at its various sittings throughout the Northern Island, and in scarcely a single in tance has a decision been appealed against. The Natives wherever 1 have been have repoatedlv expressed their satisfaction at the mode ot procedure, and appear generally to have the utmost confidence in the Court Questions which a few years ago used to be decided by an appeal to arms they are now content to leave to its peaceful arbitration.

My operations have extended principally over the Districts of Waikato, Coromandel. Hauraki, and the Province of Hawke's Bay In the latter place certificates of title have been issued for upwards of 290,000 acres of land, and the Natives are still sending in applications as fast as they can find money to pay for tbe surveys. I may safely state that at no distant period every acre of land in that province will be held under grant from the Crown. In the majority of cases no restriction on alienability was imposed, the grantee having abundance of other land Where such was found not to be the case, the land was made inalienable Several long-standing land disputes have been settled, which on more than one occasion had nearly led to bloodshed, and the bitter feeding engendered by such disputes is gradually dying out by the removal, through the action of the Court, of the causes which gave rise to it.

Apart from the question of surveys, I cannot say that I have experienced any difficulty in the practical working of the Native Lands Act of 1865, except what may have arisen from clause 23 limiting the number ot grantees to ten persons, but this difficulty has in each instance been easily overcome, and, as one great object is to induce the Natives to individualize their titles as far as possible, I think it would be inadvisable to alter it.

In the districts above referred to the Natives have not as yet made any application for a subdivision of their lands in those cases where a grant has been issued to several, nor have they shown any inclination, as far as I am aware, to possess or cultivate individual farms The lands passed through the Court in tbe Hawke's Bay Province have for the most part been leased in large blocks for sheep and cattle runs, from which the owners derive large yearly incomes. Having thus abundant means of purchasing whatever they require, they do not appear to devote much time to cultivation as a means of subsistence, and only grow what is requisite for their own consumption.

In the Coromandel District the most of the land passed through the Court has been sold to settlers in small blocks, as sites for shops, homesteads, and sawing-statioos The Natives never have cultivated extensively in this district, it being for the most part hilly and densely wooded. In agricultural districts, I think it will be found that they will endeavour to acquire individual farms