No. 4.
Mr. Interpreter Johnson to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary.

I have the honor to address you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, on the subject of the block marked No. 1, or Mangawhai, in my last report on the negotiations for the purchase of land in the district of Whangarei, and on which I am now engaged by the further directions I received from His Excellency Sir George Grey, and regret to inform you that the extinction of the native claims are fraught with more difficulty, and the price required will be much greater, than I had anticipated at the date of my last report.

Since that time the Ngati Whatua tribe of Auckland have been on a visit to Kaipara, for the purpose of dividing the payment of Hikurangi, and the selling of this district has been entrusted to them by the Kaipara natives, and they have, during my absence in Auckland, divided the block of Two hundred and forty thousand (240,000) acres, alluded to in my last report, in four separate blocks, and have entrusted the disposal of the same to different parties. I have, however, at last succeeded in inducing them to join two of these blocks together for sale, containing about (60,000) Sixty thousand acres, but before closing the purchase in conformity with my original instructions, I beg to submit the amount of payment stipulated, and the description of the land (in which there are no reserves required) for the approval of the Surveyor-General, the sum of One thousand pounds (£1,000) now demanded being so much more than I estimated would be required when I last had the honor of communicating with that officer. I would further add that I have used every exertion to reduce the price, but the claimants are so numerous, 100 of whom are here assembled, belonging to the tribes and chiefs named in the margin, ^* that I do not think the land will be obtained for less money at a future time. The page 57Chief Tirarau claimed One hundred pounds on the sale of the block originally proposed, on account of a battle fought by the Nga Puhi at the Ikaranganui, but as this place is not included in the boundaries of the land as offered at present, and the other claimants and owners of the land denying his right to a man, I have thought it expedient not to entertain this claim, but to let the discussion of it rest on the purchase of the Ikaranganui, one of the two remaining portions of the four partitions of the 240,000 before mentioned, and on which the battle-field, from which the claim arises, is situated. This other block has been entrusted for disposal to Kauwau, Tinana, Keene and others, at Auckland, and is situated immediately behind Mangawhai. Should His Excellency be pleased to direct the completion of this purchase, a further sum of Six hundred pounds will be required, in addition to the Four hundred pounds (£400) which I have here available for this purchase. Upon return of the messenger who conveys this letter, if the Government should approve of the payment of the whole amount or the £400, which I have here, I will at once proceed to complete the purchase by definitely marking the boundaries and obtaining the signatures to the deed of sale on the spot.