In compliance with your directions to me at the Kawan I proceeded to ascertain the nature and extent of the Native claims to the Mahurangi and Matakana District, the limits into which their reserves could be confined, and the relative extent of those reserves compared with the rest of the block.

Its Native History.

The country between Auckland and Whangarei was originally inhabited by a tribe called the Ngatirongo, a branch of the Kawerau, of whom Parihoro and Hemara are the remnants, who had from time immemorial waged fierce disputes with the Thames Natives relative to the right of fishing in the rivers of this district, which right was at last finally given up to the Ngatipaoas by the Ngatirongo, and such was the relative position of these tribes when the Bay of Islanders' invasion commenced. The Ngatirongo were exterminated with the exception of two or three small parties or families, who either fled before Hongi Hika, in common with the rest of the Natives, or, taking advantage of relationship with the Bay of Islanders, amalgamated themselves with the conquerors. Among the former is the present claimant Reweti, and to the latter belongs Hemara, who took refuge with Pomare, and Parihoro, who took refuge at Whangarei. At length the Bay of Islanders in their turn were driven back by the Waikato and Thames Natives, and, the Mahurangi tribe having been exterminated, the Thames Natives, who, as before stated, had acquired the right to the bays and rivers (there being none to contend with them), now took the land also, and on the arrival of Her Majesty's Government at Auckland, they sold their claims to the whole block.

The accompanying plan will show the extent of the claims of the Ngatirongo compared with the rest of the block, in which two distinct parties and interests exist. Hemara and party, who merely wish a large reserve to live on, and Parihoro, who urges extravagant claims on a large portion of the block.

Hemara's Statement as to his Father's Signature to Deed of Sale being Fictitious.

Hemara has proved to me that his father's name was inserted by Pomare in the deed executed by that chief, after his father's decease, and that the document is not genuine, and that he had remonstrated at the time with His late Excellency Governor Hobson, who guaranteed him certain reserves and sacred places, which statements are also corrobrated by evidence.

He has with his party, numbering about 100 individuals, no other place to reside on, and the whole of the Natives in the country are convinced of his right to what he claims, which I have prevailed upon him to curtail to the extent delineated on the plan, consisting of timber land, no part of which can be said to be available for the location of European farmers.

Chief Parihoro's Claims.

Parihoro does not appear to be so strongly supported in his pretensions by the Natives in general, as the feeling among them is that he should relinquish his claims to all the land originally sold by Ngati Paoa as far as the Arai, and receive a small payment for the same, in addition to his reserve where he now resides, which would be just and reasonable.