Land Sales.

The sales of land by the Natives within these five years have not been so extensive as, during corresponding periods under the old system. The settlers purchase only the better quality of soil, and will have nothing to do with a great deal of an inferior description, which the Government were compelled to take over when they acquired large tracts of country. The money paid to the Natives for this smaller quantity has, however, been in excess of what they have been accustomed to receive. page 48By the Registrars of Deeds returns it appears that for 470,000 acres they have realized £162,844, an average of 6s. 6d. per acre; but a great deal of this money must have gone towards the expense of surveying the other 2,000,000 acres which have been passed through the Court.

In Hawke's Bay about 220,000 acres were sold for £87,012—about 8s. an acre; in Wellington, 21,356 acres, £9,976—about 9s. 4d. an acre; and in Auckland, 228,559 acres, £65,856—about 5s. 9d. an acre. The number of acres sold in Hawke's Bay is only an estimate based on the sales of the last fifteen months, as the registration returns from this province do not give the acreage of land sold prior to the 30th September, 1869, and none of these figures are offered as strictly accurate, for the returns are complicated by occasional variety of transactions for the same piece of land, and it is impossible to unravel them, but they are sufficiently correct for a general summary.

In the Province of Hawke's Bay I assume that there is not much Native land of good quality that is now for sale at anything like a reasonable price; but the Government have recently purchased 250,000 acres of land at the Seventy-Mile Bush for about £18,000—1s. 5d. an acre, and there have been, out of this, considerable reserves set apart for the sellers, which will be very valuable when the railway passes through the block. But in Auckland the market is glutted with Native land, and if the restrictions placed by the King over those districts where the aukati is enforced were removed there would be soon large quantities of very valuable land passed through the Court and open for sale. Of course all the country lands of this province have been depreciated in value by the action of the Court. Even so long ago as 1867, Mr. Fenton, in his letter of the 11th July to the Native Minister, writes: "Two years ago no one would have foreseen the price to which land has fallen in the Province of Auckland. Thus, Waata Kukutai's tribe have in vain been offering 40,000 acres, in one block, of the finest land in the Waikato, at 5s. per acre cash, or 6s. 6d. deferred payments extending over five years. A block in the North, called Waitaroto, cost 9d. an acre for survey, 1d. an acre for other expenses, and was offered for sale at 1s. per acre;" and prices have diminished since then, and yet only 230,000 acres out of 1,300,000 for which certificates have been ordered have been sold by the Natives. Very recently a block of 7,000 acres at the Bay of Islands, near Kirikiri, belonging to Mangonui, was sold for £300—about 8d. an acre; and large blocks, of several thousand acres, in Waikato and Kaipara have been parted with at prices varying from 1s. 6d. to 5s. per acre. 108,279 acres have been leased in the Province of Wellington for £4,465, and 434,167 acres for £8,970 per annum in the Province of Auckland. It is impossible to ascertain what rents are paid to the Natives in Hawke's Bay, as much of the land returned as leased has since been sold, and some of the lands still rented under former agreements have not been passed through the Court. £26,000 besides "accounts current" have been raised on mortgage, chiefly in Hawke's Bay and Auckland. I append lists of lands now in the hands of different land agents, with the prices that are asked, but, as a rule, these rates would be considerably reduced if a purchaser commenced negotiations.

In conclusion, I hope that it will be borne in mind that I do not submit this as a complete report of the various subjects on which I have touched. My inquiries have been made chiefly in the North, and I have not been able to visit several important districts, and it would have taken months to have gathered from all sources the facts and opinions that would have fully demonstrated the operation of the Acts, and their effect upon the Native mind, in all parts of the Island; but this incompleteness is not of so much importance, as the reports of the Judges, of the Commissioner of Native Reserves, and of those appointed under the Native Lauds Frauds Prevention Act, the memoranda of Sir William Martin and Dr. Shortland, the opinions of the Native representatives, and of the deputations from several tribes who will be present during the session, will supplement the information that I have furnished if it is the intention of the Government to remit the subject for the consideration of the Legislature.