No. 15.
The Chief Commissioner to Mr. Commissioner Kemp.
Auckland, 26th June, 1856.
Sir,—
I have the honor to request that you will furnish me with information upon the following point:—Mr. Johnson, in the purchase of the Tokatoka Block, at Kaipara, made an arrangement with the consent of the selling party, that a sum of Twenty pounds should be paid to the Chief Parore for his claim upon that block, which amount it is evident from his report to me on the subject, Mr. Johnson intended to have deducted from the final payment of Two hundred pounds (£200) for the Tokatoka Block.
It appears that this final payment was made by you in Auckland on the 13th February, 1855, but there is nothing to show that the sum of Twenty pounds (£20) paid to Parore, was refunded by the recipient of the final payment. Parore has given a separate receipt for Twenty pounds (£20) on the 10th September, 1855, and Paraone and the other parties to whom you made the payment on the 13th February, 1855, give a receipt in full for Two hundred pounds (£200). The point, therefore, on which I now request information from you is whether the Twenty pounds (£20) was deducted by or repaid to you out of the final Two hundred pounds (£200) for Tokatoka, whether that sum was paid in full to the Natives, or whether it should be entered in my accounts as a separate payment over and above the amount originally fixed as the price of the block.
I have, &c.,
Donald McLean,
Chief Commissioner.
H. T. Kemp, Esq., J. P.