No. 34.
W. N. Searancke, Esq., Government Surveyor, to the Chief Commissioner.

I have the honor to submit for the information of His Excellency the Governor the following report on a piece of land in the Pukekohe Block, claimed by Mohi and Ihaka on behalf of their tribe, as a portion of the Native Reserve set apart at the time of the sale of the block to the Crown, but which has been conveyed by the Crown to Europeans.

The Pukekohe Block was purchased by the Surveyor-General in June, 1853. A reserve for the aboriginal owners, including their old settlements, plantations, and burial-places, was agreed to, and a memorandum (copy of which is hereunto annexed) of the boundaries drawn up.

The memorandum of boundaries of the reserve, I am of opinion, has not been adhered to in the survey made by Mr. E. Fairburn, the officer employed in laying out the sections in this block; a large part of the reserve, about 850 acres, having been alienated by the Crown to himself and Mr. T. Russell.

The error appears to have arisen from the surveyor being unaccompanied by any of the Natives interested in the reserve.

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The Native Chiefs Mohi and Ihaka, after the survey was completed, came to Auckland to see the Surveyor-General, who (Mohi states) acknowledged the justice of their complaint respecting the portion of the reserve surveyed, and promised that it should be rectified. This has not been done.

As this land has been alienated by the Crown, it will be necessary, in order that its obligations may be fully carried out, at once to come to an understanding with the aboriginal owners. This I did not consider myself authorized to conclude. Mohi strongly urged that the land in dispute should be given up to him as a part of the reserve, as originally agreed to; that he did not wish to sell it, on account of the numerous burial-places on it.

Ultimately he requested that I would defer any further negotiations until Ihaka, who is very ill, would be sufficiently recovered to take part in it.