No. 83.
His Honour the Superintendent to Mr. Samuel Deighton.
Sir,—
It is impossible that any such conversation as you report can have taken place between Tutere and myself; as I have uniformly refused to part with the reserve to Manihera except on condition of Borlase's land being given to me. Any application of Tutere to occupy and build upon the land must have been met at once by a distinct refusal. What passed between yourself and Tutere of course I do not know, but certainly I never gave permission to Tutere to occupy the reserve, nor held out any hope of selling it to him. On the contrary, I requested you to explain to Tutere that, though the land should not be sold to Europeans, yet I could not, at present, make any arrangement respecting it with Manihera, who had the first claim to it. I have written to Mr. McLean respecting Nepia's claim, and shall communicate his answer as soon as I receive it. Ascertain where Wi Kingi is, whether at Otago or the Kaikouras, and write to him asking when he intends returning to complete the sale of the land at Greytown, his title to which is claimed by Ngatuere and others.