No. 84.
Mr. C. B. Izard to the Hon. J. C. Richmond.

Sir,—

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a letter from Mr. Rolleston, dated the 28th instant, enclosing, by your directions, a copy of a letter dated the 27th instant, from Mr. Macandrew to yourself, stating that it is proposed, on behalf of the Provincial Government of Otago, to set aside for Native purposes a piece of land situated at Pelichet Bay, in the City of Dunedin, of equal area to the Princes Street Reserve; and further, that the Provincial Government will expend not less than £1,000 upon the enclosing of the said land and the erection thereon of a suitable lodging-house or Native hostelry, to be constructed of brick.

The letter of Mr. Macandrew does not say whether or not this proposal is made on the supposition that all claim to the Princes Street Reserve shall be abandoned by the Native, owners thereof, but I page 157assume that I may infer such to be his intention. On. this assumption I beg to point out to you the advisability of further particularity in the terms of the proposal. It is not stated in what part of Pelichet Bay the land proposed to be appropriated is situated, and whether or not it has a water frontage, nor is any tracing of the land in question furnished. There is, moreover, no statement or estimate of the value of the land in question, and I fail to discover in Mr. Macandrew's letter any trace of a proposition as to the disposal of the back-rents, with regard to which, as I am informed, a proposed enactment is now in the hands of the Legislative Council.

I also beg to call your attention to the fact that the Princes Street Reserve is claimed by a particular tribe of Natives as having been expressly set apart for them, while the proposal in Mr. Macandrew's letter is to set aside the land in pelichet Bay for Native purposes generally. Such an alteration as this in the purposes for which the land is proposed to be set aside, I need scarcely point out, can be no equivalent to the Natives, who are, as I suppose, asked to give up their claim to the Princes Street Reserve, belonging to them.

The proposal of Mr. Macandrew, if agreed to, would, I presume, require the sanction of the Provincial Council of Otago, and I should therefore be glad to know whether any guarantee can be given that the proposal, if accepted, will be carried out.

On the receipt of further information on the points I have mentioned, I will at once communicate with John Topi and his tribe, and take their opinion on the eligibility of the terms offered.