Enclosure.

In order to give every facility to the settlement at Mangonui of a body df Canadians, which Dr. Stratford has come out to establish, I have the honor to request that you will take an early opportunity of instructing Mr. Johnson to take charge of the office at Auckland, so as to enable you to proceed without delay to your district at the Bay of Islands.

After arriving at Waimate you will consult Tamati Waka, Pene Taui, and other influential chiefs, in reference to the object of your visit to Mangonui, to which place you will repair with the least possible delay to confer with the chiefs of that district in reference to the lands which they wish to dispose of.

Every care should be taken to distinguish between lands which have been already ceded to private individuals, and those which have never been purchased from the natives. For instance, it may be presumed that lands already purchased do not require to be interfered with on the part of the Government. Your operations will, therefore, be principally directed to the acquisition of fresh tracts of land for the purposes of colonization.

In making preliminary negotiations for the purchase of lands, it will be necessary for you to enquire the extent of land that has already been alienated by the natives, as well as the extent, capabilities, and position of those unalienated lands which they may now wish to dispose of; the price for which (subject to ample reservations for their own present and future wants,) such lands can be obtained by the Crown; and whether the payment for it can be judiciously extended over a period of years, conditionally perhaps, that, in order to satisfy the numerous claimants, the first instalment may be made equal to one-half of the whole purchase-money.

It is of importance that all Reserves made for the natives should be distinctly marked by natural boundaries, such as rivers or other conspicuous features of the country as this will be the means of saving expense in surveying reserves, and of preventing differences, from the unalterable nature of such boundaries.

page 3

Before leaving Auckland, you should supply yourself with the reports and other documents that have passed through the hands of the Commissioners appointed to investigate titles to land in your district, together with every other document you may he able to procure having any reference to the purchase of land in that district.

His Excellency has impressed upon me the necessity of cautioning every officer of this department to use the utmost care and discretion in acquiring lands from the natives, as each officer will be held responsible for any difficulties or disturbances that may arise out of any purchase in which he is engaged.

Of course you will not conclude any definite arrangement with the natives, until you have first reported the nature of them to me, for the information of the Government.

From the prudence you have displayed in former negotiations, and the long and intimate knowledge you have had of the natives of your district, I have every reason to hope that your negotiations will be attended with success.