WHEREAS in a certain deed of conveyance, dated the twenty-third day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, whereby the Native owners thereof conveyed and surrendered to Her Majesty all that block of land generally known as the Ahuaturanga Block, situate in the Upper Manawatu District and the Provincial District of Wellington, one of the boundary lines of the said block, being the western boundary, is described as follows: “From Te Rua Puha the line strikes inland in a southerly direction to Waikuku,” the first-named place being on the Oroua River, and the second-named place on or near the Taonui River:

And whereas the Native owners aforesaid have always complained, and do still complain, that the aforesaid boundary line is wrongly described, and that the boundary line should follow the course of the Taonui River from or near the place hereinabove secondly named to the source of the said river, and thence run to the place hereinabove first named, and that it never was their intention to convey to Her Majesty the land comprised between the aforesaid Taonui River and the boundary line described in the aforesaid deed, and which land, generally known as the Taonui Block, comprises an area of about three thousand acres, more or less:

And whereas, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, the then Native Minister, the late Sir Donald McLean, by letter, promised the Natives aforesaid in manner following:

And the said Minister, about the same time, recommended to the then Superintendent of Wellington the adoption of the boundary line lastly herein described, so as to avoid all future disputes in reference to the Ahuaturanga purchase, and the then Superintendent assented thereto:

And whereas it is expedient that the aforesaid promise should be fulfilled, which may best be done by a grant to the Natives of the aforesaid three thousand acres, except as hereinafter mentioned, comprised within the disputed boundaries: