THE WAIKATO COMMITTEE.

F—No. 3

[Translation.] Kawhia, October 16, 1858. Friend, the Governor,— Salutations to you, in the grace of God which protects us all. Enough of my words ■of regard for you. Hearken! This is another word, do you listen:—l have taken away half of the property of those Pakehas who are living, without payment, on the King's land —half is to be for the Pakehas, and half for the King ; if the Pakehas do not divide the property, they shall be sent back on to the Queen's land. Enough of that word. Here is another word :—Two Maori women of Kawhia have died from the effects of spirits. Father ! that is bad drink ; it causes men's death. Friend ! Let the payment of the rum brought here in vessels be divided, half to the Queen and half to the King. If it is not divided, we will send it back to the Government. If you are dark at this, write to me, or if you are light write to me. Enough. From your loving friend, Te Tapihana, Teacher at Kawhia. Hk> His Excellency the Governor, Auckland.

Appendix .A I Tapihana's Letter, i 16 Oct., 1858. j f

A—No. 8. SJXTRACffS FROM A MEMORANDUM BY MR. RICHMOND, SATED AUCKLAND, 29TH SEPT., 1858. 1. — General Principles of Nettive Pcdicy. 3. The Policy of the British Government in relation to the Aborigines of these Islands, might, <on the first settlement of the country, have assumed either of two shapes. It might have addressed itself to the maintenance of the Natives as a separate race under distinct institutions and a Government wholly or in great measure independent of the ordinary Colonial Government.; or., on ;the other hand, it might have been directed to promote the eventual absorption of the Maories into the European population. 4. Under tlie former policy it might naturally have been sought rather to maintain than to .obliterate such Native customs as were not-repugnant to humanity; and it would have been essential to set up, and rigidly to guard, a territorial division between the Races. The neglect of this latter precaution has for ever rendered such a policy impossible in New Zealand. All the principal Maritime Ports of the Oolony are in the hands of the Settlers, who, year by year, extending themselves towards the interior from twenty different centres, come in contact with the Natives at fresh points ; so that there no longer remains any other alternative than the extinction of the Maori Race, or its union under one Government with the European Settlers. However difficult, therefore, the latter enterprise, the mode in which the country has been colonized leaves no choice but to attempt it. 5. There are some who, considering what a chasm intervenes between Civilization and Barbarism, and how impassable the boundaries of Race have generally proved, are of opinion that the fusion of the two peoples is a moral and natural impossibility. These persons refer to the Statistics of Population, which, according to the most accurate Estimates hitherto made, show a decrease in the numbers of the Natives at the rate of about twenty per cent, in every period of fourteen years. They point to the relative paucity of Maori females, and -to the abnormal mortality -of the Race, especially amongst the children, as facts which make certain its extinction within a short period; Such considerations induce to the abandonment of the work of civilization as hopeless, and favour the adoption of a merely temporising policy. The Race, it is said, is irredeemably savage. It is also moribund. All that it is wise, or safe, to attempt, is to pacify and amuse them until they die out, until the inscrutable physical law at work amongst them shall relieve the country from the incubus of a barbarous population ; or at least, shall render it practicable to reduce them to the condition, for which nature has intended them, of hewers of wood and drawers of water. An exclusive reliance on the personal influence with the Natives of particular individuals, and on the effect of gifts and flattery upon the more powerful or more turbulent Chiefs, would be natural features of such a policy ; which by its demoralizing influence would realize the expectations of its advocates, and render the annihilation of the Maori Race both certain and speedy. 6. To the present Advisers of the Crown in New Zealand such a Policy appears false, cowardly, and immoral. In common with the whole intelligence of the community whose opinions they represent, they believe it to be at once the interest and the duty of 4he Colonists to preserve and civilize the Native people. Though not blind to the indications of physical decay which the Race' exhibits, nor to the great difficulties in the way of a Policy of Fusion, they do not permit themselves ;to despair. And they believe that the tr«e course—a course which, however small the prospect of success, the British Government would still in honor and conscience be bound to pursue—is to take all possible measures for bringing the Aborigines as speedilj as may be under British Institutions. 7. In order to the correct apprehension of the position of the Native question, it ought to be fully understood that the British Government in New Zealand has no reliable means but those of moral persuasion for the government of the Aborigines. It is powerless to prevent the commission fey Natives against Natives of the most glaring crimes. Within the last twelve-month blood has

Mr. Richmond's Memorandum, 29 Sept., 1858.

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