No. 2.
Despatch from His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief to Lieutenant-Governor Eyre.

Sir,—

In reference to the anxiety which has been manifested by some of the Natives inhabiting the Middle Island to dispose of the tract of country lying between the district purchased from the Ngatitoa Tribe and that purchased by the New Zealand Company, at Otago, I have the honor to acquaint you that I have found it impossible to dispense with the services of the Surveyor-General from this part of the Colony, aud it will therefore be necessary for you to appoint some person for the purpose of extinguishing any title to the tract of country in the Middle Island lying within the limits before alluded to, which may, upon inquiry, be found to be vested in the Native inhabitants thereof.

The mode in which I propose that this arrangement should be concluded, is by reserving to the Natives ample portions for their present and prospective wants; and then, after the boundaries of these reserves have been marked, to purchase from the Natives their right to the whole of the remainder of their claims to land in the Middle Island.

The payment to be made to the Natives should be an annual one, and should be spread over a period of four or five years. An arrangement of this nature will remove all possibility of the occurrence of any future disputes or difficulties regarding Native claims to land in that part of the Middle Island.

The gentleman appointed to perform this service might perhaps be Mr. Kemp, but, if not that gentleman himself, Mr. Kemp must, as the service is one of great importance, be required to perform the duties of interpreter to the Government Commissioner; and as this is a service which will entail considerable expense and inconvenience upon Mr. Kemp, a fair travelling allowance must be made to him for the time that he is employed upon this duty. I should not consider an allowance of one guinea per diem as a more than adequate remuneration for the expenses and difficulties he will be subjected to.

It only remains for me to press upon you the necessity of having the service executed with as little delay as possible.