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No. 15.
The Chief Commissioner to Mr. Commissioner Johnson.
I have the honor to enclose herewith, for your information and guidance, the copy of a letter addressed to" this Office by the Honorable the Colonial Secretary, in reply to yours of the 20th of November last, having reference to the purchase of a block of land at Whangarei, comprising about Eighteen thousand acres, for the sum of Fifteen hundred pounds.
You will be gratified to learn that your recommendation has been approved of, and the purchase required to be completed with as little delay as possible.
In addition to the instructions laid down in the Colonial Secretary's letter of this day's date, I have only to add that the sum of Fifteen hundred pounds has been drawn and placed to your credit in the Union Bank of Australia; and in reference to its transmission to Whangarei, it has been considered advisable to wait for advice from yourself, since we have every reason to believe that your official duties have called you up to the district of Mahurangi.
I have, &c.,
Donald McLean.
J. G. Johnson, Esq.,District Commissioner,
Whangarei.
Enclosure.
The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to the Chief Commissioner.
Sir,—
In reference to the letter dated 20th November last, from Mr. District Commissioner Johnson, reporting the offer of a block of land at Whangarei-by the Natives to the Government of 18,000 acres for the sum of One thousand five hundred pounds (£1,500), and on the condition that the Chief Tirarau have the first selection of One thousand acres' at Ten shillings per acre (the selection to be of a figure conformable to that prescribed by law), I am directed by His Excellency the officer administering the Government to convey to you his approval of the immediate purchase of this land on the terms specified.
The only way of fulfilling the condition regarding the selection referred to, which should be made before the block is opened to the public, is to treat the existing regulations as not applicable to the Native seller, and to allow him at once to make a selection in the manner prescribed by the 15th clause of Sir G. Grey's Land Regulations and to grant; the land at Ten shillings' per acre.
His Excellency desires me to request you to make the necessary communication to Mr. Johnson, as soon as possible, for his information and guidance.
I have, &c,
Andrew Sinclair,
Colonial Secretary.