No. 13.
Mr. Mantell to Mr. Gisborne.

Sir,—

Some of the Natives belonging to this district having informed me that they are about to leave for Port Levy, and to proceed thence to Wellington in a Maori schooner, I take the opportunity of briefly reporting to you, for the information of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, the present state of my proceedings up to this time.

His Excellency, whilst at Akaroa, became in some measure aware of the difficulties I had to expect in this district; I regret to say they have far exceeded my expectations.

In addition to the repudiation of the sale, I have had to encounter every obstacle which the Natives could possibly throw in my way. I have, however, at last succeeded in pointing out the limits of a reserve ample enough for the whole number of the Natives of the district (from 200 to 300), and it has been approved by all present except one, who addressed a letter to the Lieutenant-Governor at Akaroa. This man, Mitcham, has to-day, after the general consent to my arrangements, stopped the survey by throwing down the poles, and threatens to throw down the rest to-morrow, persisting in denying my right to fix any limit to land for the Natives here. In the event of his thus again resisting the progress of the survey, I shall be obliged to content myself with the survey in its present state, and to return to Akaroa to-morrow, to commence my journey southward, as I feel that a survey by force, even against one man, or concession or intimidation, would be inconsistent with my duty to Her Majesty's Government.

The time will not allow me to enter further into details: I have only to add that I understand that the Natives to whom I intrust this letter are going to Wellington to assert their right to the land between Kaiapoi and Kaikoura, included in the Nelson Block sold by the Ngatitoa. From the account given by this tribe, I am much inclined to doubt the rights of the Ngatitoa to sell the land in question; but I may mention that, at the last payment for the Ngaitahu Block, the sum apportioned by the page 214Commissioner for the Kaiapoi District, was by the Natives allotted to the land between Waimakariri and the Peninsula, and to that from Kaiapoi Pa to the Waipara, purposely to exclude the plain between Waimakariri and Kaiapoi, and to give them some sort of ground for asserting that they had not sold it.