No. 4.
The Chief Commissioner to Mr. Commissioner Johnson.

The increasing demand for land by the European inhabitants of this Province renders it necessary that measures should be at once adopted to acquire additional tracts of country from the Natives.

• 1st. Your residence for so many years in the Northern portion of this Island, and the knowledge you possess of the different tribes inhabiting it, suggest that you are peculiarly qualified to undertake negotiations for the purchase of land in the Northern part of the Auckland Province.
• 2nd. The District, therefore, which I propose for the present to assign to you for carrying on these duties, comprises the whole of the country lying North of the portage between the Waitemata and Kaipara. I have every confidence that you will use your utmost exertion to acquire from the Natives the whole of their lands within this District, which are not essential for their own welfare, and that are more immediately required for the purposes of colonization.
• 3rd. Having thus conveyed to you in general terms the urgent necessity for acquiring land, you must use your own discretion as to the particular tracts of country wnich you should first endeavour to purchase; but it is important, before entering on fresh negotiations, that you should pay the instalments due to the Natives for the purchases you have been conducting at Whangarei; for this purpose, a sum of Two hundred and twenty pounds (£220) is placed at your disposal.
• 4th. It is essential that you should take an early opportunity to visit the Kaipara District, to arrange a dispute between the Ngapuhi and Uriohau tribes, respecting some land claimed by Mr. O'Brien, as the dispute is likely, if not speedily adjusted, to interfere with the important trade carried on in that river.

• 5th. I need not point out to you the necessity of encouraging the Natives to act with greater fidelity in their land transactions than they have been recently in the habit of doing; and I trust that by a careful, steady, and systematic arrangement of their claims, with a clear understanding respecting the external boundaries of the lands they dispose of, and the blocks they retain for their own use, that many of the impositions they have been practising will be abandoned.

  Wherever practicable, it would be' most advisable that the reserves for the Natives should be situated within natural boundaries, such as rivers, creeks, hills, ranges, or other conspicuous features of the country.

• 6th. The Natives should be advised of the advantages of re-purchasing properties for themselves out of the Crown Lands, under the Regulations of the 4th March, 1853, as nothing will more effectually improve their condition, than substituting their present precarious and unsatisfactory tenure for a permanent holding under the Crown, which also extends to them an interest in the political institutions of the Colony from being qualified to vote at elections.
• 7th. When you have established yourself in some central position in your District, I shall write you more fully as to any change in the system which should in future be adopted for acquiring land from the Natives, and I shall be glad to hear frequently from you, and to receive any suggestions on this subject which your local experience may enable you to give.
• 8th. In any treaty with the Natives for the cession of their lands, it is most desirable that they should fully comprehend its nature, and the boundaries should be inserted with the greatest possible care, and in general they should be read aloud three times in the presence of the Natives, whose assent should be unanimously given before appending their signatures to the transfer. Two copies of the description of deeds that I have been in the habit of using are herewith enclosed for your guidance; and, as far as the circumstances are applicable to your District, this form of deed should be adopted, but you are not to insert any clause for additional percentage being paid to the Natives until definite instructions are issued to you on this subject.

In order to facilitate the arrangements for the acquisition of land from the Natives, it is my intention to submit for the consideration of His Excellency the Officer Administering the Government a statement of the necessary expenditure and department that may be required for this purpose, but as the local requirements of each District must be in many instances dissimilar, and subject to contingencies which cannot be at present anticipated, you will be kind enough to give the earliest information of what you consider are the particular requirements of this department in the Northern District.