No. 15.
J. W. Hamilton, Esq., to the Private Secretary.

Sir,—

Referring to your letter of the 16th August last, and my reply thereto, I have the honor to request that you will acquaint His Excellency the Governor that I have not succeeded in finding a competent Interpreter through whom to conduct the negotiations for the surrender of their lands by the Maoris of Akaroa and Kaiapoi.

No application, in reply to a public advertisement for an Interpreter, has been made to me, nor do I entertain a very strong hope of obtaining the services of a competent Native scholar.

Should I hear of such a person, I propose to make no arrangements for entering upon negotiations with the Maoris before the next arrival of the Zingari steamer; so that should His Excellency determine to detach an Officer from the Native Land Purchase Department by that opportunity, no proceedings of mine will have been undertaken by which embarrassment could be created for such officer.

I do not feel myself equal to the task of entering, unassisted, upon negotiations requiring so thorough a knowledge of the Maori language as those connected with the transfer of lands even. page 14though, as in the present instance, the terms have been mainly agreed upon by an officer of experience.