The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Otago, to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.

Sir,—

I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of 3rd November ultimo, No. 381, announcing the receipt of the original deed of purchase of the Murihiku Block, and conveyance of Section No. 401, Port Chalmers, and enclosing a memorandum of the Attorney-General's approval of the deed.

The peculiar circumstances under which I had the honor (18th August, 1853) to report the conclusion of that purchase obliged me to defer the acknowledgment that in its preparation I received great assistance from H. C. Hertslet, Esq., J.P., a gentleman whose knowledge of the Native language is perhaps not exceeded in this Province.

The section at Port Chalmers having been purchased to complete the Native Reserve there, I take this opportunity of suggesting the advisability of certified plans of those reserves, according to those enclosed in my letter of 18th April, 1853, being transmitted to this office as a record of the approval of the Governor-in-Chief.

Enclosure in No. 6.
Memorandum by Mr. Mantell.

Native Reserves, Otago.—I recommend the renovation of the former appointment of Commissioners and the issue of a new Commission, consisting of Alfred Chetham Strode, David Scott, and the Reverend John Albert Fenton, M.A. The Commissioners are likely to be soon called upon to exercise their powers, and the gentlemen named above are, I believe, too anxious for the welfare of the Maoris to neglect their interests.

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If the town reserves at Dunedin and Port Chalmers have not already been granted, it were well to issue grants to the above-named Commissioners, in order that they may, by leasing them at once, obtain the funds so much required for Native purposes in the South.

As since this reserve was made some Emigration Barracks have been erected upon it by the Provincial Government, I recommend that the Superintendent be informed of the decision of the Government with respect to a grant of this land, and that, if granted, the Commissioners be instructed to give a lease of the portion so occupied to the Superintendent at the current rate.

A similar recommendation to the Commissioners may also be made with respect to part of the water frontage of the Port Chalmers Reserve, as I understand that His Honor wishes to acquire the use of the stream flowing through it (the only one at the port) for some public purpose.