E—No. Iβ

FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO NATIVE AFFAIRS.

No. 1. HIS LORDSHIP THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND TO MR. TANCRED. Auckland, 28th April, 1860. Sir,— After reading in the New Zealand Gazette of the 23rd April, tlie Resolution of the Provincial Couucil of Hawke's Bay, passed on the 30th March, 1860, 1 feel it to be my duty most respectfully to record my deliberate protest against the statements contained therein. Because Martial Law was proclaimed at Taranaki before a single Native was known to have ] taken up arms against the Government, and when no offence had been given by the Natives beyond ! an unarmed obstruction of the work of the Surveyors. Because the persons described in the Resolution as " disaffected Aborigines" were the faithful; and efficient allies of the Government in the War at Port Nicholson, and were always considered as ( among the most loyal, peaceable, and industrious of the New Zealand tribes, till they became i entangled in the land questions raised by the English settlers at Taranaki. Because in entire opposition to the Resolution in question, I claim on behalf of the New Zealanders 1. An investigation of all questions, relating to their title to land, before a regular Tribunal with the usual safeguards against partiality or error, viz., Evidence on Oath ; Arguments of Counsel and a Right of Appeal. 2. That Military force shall not be employed till the civil power shall have been tried, and shall have been found insufficient to carry out the judgment of the Court. 3. That inasmuch as this Colony was avowedly formed, not for the acquisition of territory for the English race, but for the protection of the New Zealanders, this primary object shall not be , sacrificed to the aggrandizement of the English Provinces. Because the willing and prompt surrender by the New Zealand tribes of millions of acres of' land, including all the best harbours, for very trifling payments, deserves the respect and gratitude , of the whole Colony, and especially of the Province of Hawke's Bay, where the extinction of the Native title h«s been unusually rapid ; and where the greater part of the land was offered to Government for sale in 1842, and declined for want of funds. Because finally, I am so far from concurring in the hope " that such policy will for the future be everywhere alike steadily and zealously adhered to," that I believe that the repetition of any similar policy would be as unwise as it would be unjust, and would lead to the most disastrous ' consequences to the English Colony and to the Native race. I have, &c, (Signed) G. A. New Zealand. To the Honorable, Henry John Tancred, Acting for the Colonial Secretary. No. 2. MEMORANDUM BY MR. RICHMOND. Auckland, 26th May, 1860. His Excellency's Responsible Ministers recommend that the letter recently addressed to the acting Colonial Secretary, Mr. Tancred. by the Bishop of New Zealand, in which His Lordship records his deliberate protest against the statements contained in a Resolution of the Provincial Council of Hawke'e Bay, be forwarded to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, together with the Resoluiion which called forth the protest. Ministers make this recommendation, because the Bishop's letter is the only tangible manifestation of His Lordship's opposiiion to the course taken by His Excellency in reference to the purchase of Teira's block at Waitara —an opposition which is nevertheless open and active in the Colony, and likely to be influential wherever the facts of the case are imperfectly known. For the Bishop of New Zealand may claim to be regarded, in matters affecting the relations of the settlers and Natives, as a disinterested witness—a character which will (rightly or wrongly) be generally denied io colonists. It should, however, be remembered that the philanthropist notwithstanding the high ground he takes, which gives him perhaps an undue advantage in public opinion over those who are discharging the ordinary duties of life, is often found to be liable, even beyond other men, to the disturbing influences of prejudice and passion. The abolitionists of North

Resolution of Provincial Council of Hawke's Bay, 3uth March, 1860— •■The Province of Taranaki at present under Martini Law, owing to the meddiing of disaffected aborigines."

Ib. "Disaffected aborigines."

lb. •■ A policy which this Council sincerely believer to be both xuited to and 'beneficial for tht entire interests of the Province of Hawke'e Bay."

Ib. " It further begs to be allowed io express the hope that such policy will for the future be everywhere alike steadily and zealously adhered to."

Nativi Affairs.

1