The Land District of Hawke's Bay comprises that portion of the east coast of the North Island from Cape Turnagain, in latitude 40° 30′, northwards to Lottin Point, about thirty miles beyond the East Cape.

It has a seaboard of 300 miles, with an average depth from the coast of forty-five miles, and embraces an area of 6,063,000 acres. Its western limit is defined by the Ruahine, Kaweka, Ahimanawa, Raukumara, and other high ranges that form the watershed between the rivers flowing through it to the sea, and those that run to the west coast and the Bay of Plenty.