No. 53.
Mr. Commissioner Johnson to the Chief Commissioner.

With reference to your letter of the 15th March last, requesting, by the direction of His Excellency the Governor, that I would use my best endeavours to effect a complete settlement of the claims of the Natives to the Kaiawa Block, I have the honor to inform you that the principal obstacle to the final settlement of this question has been overcome—the representatives (represented by Hata Kingi, whose claims I reported upon in my letter, dated 22nd March, 1858) having withdrawn their opposition to Tirarau, in compliance with my solicitations to that effect.

Another party, also living in Parua Bay, named the Ngati Tu—whose cause William Edward Pohe advocated—have signified their willingness to be satisfied, whether Tirarau divides the payment of the land with them or not.

A third party, however, including the Chief Edward William Pohe himself, still clamour that a share of the money in the possession of Tirarau be paid to them. The claims of this last party are, in my opinion, very vague and uncertain, arising from the hereditary right advanced by an old man. page 86named Hine Waru, derived through somo undefined ancestry belonging to the former—but now extinct—tribe of Ngati Tahuhu, who inhabited this district at one time, but which appears to apply equally to almost every spot of land in this part of the country.

If it was a matter to be determined by me; I would be inclined to regard a claim of this nature as not valid; but the point never having been, to my knowledge, defined by the Government as to what, in their opinion, constitutes a valid claim on the part of a Native to laud—or, if it has been determined, no instructions have ever been given on the subject for my guidance, and the usages of the aborigines themselves being so completely at variance in parallel cases that no rule of action can be formed from them,—the only course appears to be, either to satisfy every claim brought, forward with a payment, or procure its withdrawal on the part of the claimants; which latter method, in the present instance, seems to be the only way to obtain the object desired, as any attempt to induce Tirarau to divide the money in opposition to his pre-arranged plans would be quite unavailing.

Having thus fully laid before you the present aspect af this complicated case, you will, no doubt, be enabled to judge whether the Native Title can be proclaimed to have been extinguished at once, and the land thrown open to the settlement of the Nova Scotian immigrants, or whether it will be necessary to await the relinquishment of this outstanding claim—or, in my opinion, pretended claim—on the part of the Natives.