(Enclosure in No. 10.)

Mr. M'Lean to Mr. Bell.

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, in reference to the Block of Land for which the Nga Motu Natives have signed a deed of conveyance to the Government at the Meeting at which you were present on the 11th instant, and in reply I have to observe that I am not aware of any objection to the land comprised within the Block, with the exceptions which I shall presently notice, being placed at the disposal of the New Zealand Company. At the same time I wish to acquaint you that it will be necessary to submit, for His Excellency the Governor's information and approval, a statement of the arrangement I have entered into with the Natives for the purchase of the land, on the one part, and with yourself, as Resident Agent of the New Zealand Company, on the other, before a final transfer of the Block is made to the Company.

The lands to be excepted, are the Native Reserves mentioned in my previous communication of the 13th ultimo, and which are colored pink on a Map of the Block; also Two Sections contiguous to, and lying inland of the Reserve at Barrett's Lagoon, marked 478 and 479 on the Company's Plan; which latter Sections I do not at present deem it advisable to place at your disposal for selection.

I may also add, that the time which the Natives are allowed page 60 to retain their cultivations interspersed throughout this purchase, is Two Years from the 11th day of October instant.