No. 7.
W. N. Searancke, Esq., Government Surveyor, to the Chief Commissioner.

In obedience to the instructions contained in your letter of the 27th ultimo, respecting the disputed boundary of the Ramarama Block, I have the honor to report that, when the Ramarama Block was purchased, Mr. Interpreter Meurant was sent, and, in company with the Native resident at Pokeno and Ihumatao, traversed the boundary, marking trees at intervals of about a mile. The boundary line as cut by Mr. Ormsby, and afterwards extended by Mr. Montgomery, is in accordance page 350 with these marks. Previously, however, to their cutting this line Mr. District Commissioner Jonnson was sent by the Surveyor-General (1853) to arrange a dispute at the north extremity of this boundary; the arrangement then made by Mr. District Commissioner Johnson with the Natives appears to be very indefinite, they, the Natives, asserting that the extension of the boundary 3° East extended only to the range, then carried along the range till it reached the boundary as first arranged, and not by any means influencing that portion of the block south of the Kumi Kumi.

Mr. Johnson, on the other hand, appears to have assumed that the 3° extension to the East for which he paid the Natives Ten pounds (£10), extended the whole length of the boundary from Taurangaihi to Mangatawhiri Creek, as he does not mention any names on this boundary as amended, or made any defined marks and as his boundary (if allowed by the Natives to be extended the whole length) would include their settlement and plantations, and upwards of three thousand (3,000) acres of land, I am compelled to come to the conclusion that he must have misunderstood the Natives, the more so that they show the boundary marks of Mr. District Commissioner Johnson's extension East to its junction with the original boundary at the Kumi Kumi. I therefore proposed that the boundary should be taken and amended as per accompanying sketch, so as to prevent any future disputes on the subject. They acceded to this, demanding the sum of Three hundred pounds (£300), which was afterwards reduced to Two hundred pounds (£200); and this sum I have the honor to recommend should be paid to them. The extent of the land gained is about fourteen hundred (1400) acres, including the frontage to the road (Mangatawhiri) for nearly eight miles, explained in accompanying sketch.