No. 6.
C. H. Brown, Esq., to the Hon. Native Minister.

Sir,—

I have the honour to inform you that on Friday, the 12th instant, and on this day, I submitted to meetings of the Natives of this place, of Rapaki, of Wairewa, and of Port Levy, your plan for the further sub-division of the Kaiapoi Native reserves. A great deal of rather violent speech-page 107making followed. Ultimately it was decided that they would not consent to any further sub-division of the reserve, on the following grounds:—

(1).	That they had no money to pay for it.
(2).	That the Government up to the present time had consented to none of, their claims for land. These claims are commented upon in my letter No. 13; of these, No. 1 appears most likely to have some foundation.
(3).	That they deny the right of the surviving Mceraki claimants to so much land, over and above the nine farms, viz:—Nos. 18, 61, 71, 76, 77, 78, 80, 103, and 107, which they assert to have been already allotted and set aside for the Moeraki men.
(4).	That pink Block No. 2, set apart for Matiaha Tiramorehu and Te One Topi Patuki, corners the bush allottments Nos. 25 to 29 inclusive; and pink Block No. 3, set apart for Moeraki claimants generally, corners bush allottments Nos. 1 to 8 inclusive; whereas the bush allottees were told, and record of the same was made in writing and kept at Kaiapoi, that they would have both the timber and the stumps on such allottments. Now the timber is only partly used, the stamps scarcely touched, and they are dependent on such stumps for firewood. I have myself visited these spots, and seen some bush and great numbers of stumps still standing.

I told them that no one would force them to a further sub-divison of their own shares, that land would certainly be kept for the Moeraki men, and that I would transmit to you their representations about the timbered land.

I propose now, unless I should receive orders or instructions from you of a different nature, to go on to Arowhenua and Moeraki overland; and at Moeraki to show to the Natives your intentions with regard to them as instructed in your letter No. 214, of May 1st. I venture to submit that either the boundaries of the land allotted to Moeraki claimants should be altered so as not to interfere with the bush allotments, or that the present allottees should have a very long term to clear off the timber and stumps.

There is certainly an error in the sentence on page 3 of letter 214, of date 1st May, "Their (i.e., the Kaiapoi Natives), reversionary interest in the uncleared bush land not having been interfered with," no fewer than 13 bush Sections having been interfered with.

Should you decide upon altering in any point your allotment of land for Moeraki men, it will be very desirable, to avoid further complications, that I should be informed before arriving at or, at any rate before leaving Moeraki.