E—Nβ. 4.

OF THE NATIVE INSURRECTION.

being considered a landed proprietor, another is his love of gain. The principal difficulties which have to be contended with in acquiring land (rum the natives arise out of the necessity of insisting oa proof of such merely asserted claims, and of excluding those who fail to substantiate them from participation in (he money paid for the land. I know of instances in wliich the most frivolous pretences have been used to justify such demands. I have found natives, after attempting to substantiate an asserted claim to land, and failing to do so for want of a good title, evince great disappointment at their defeat. On one occasion a native actually came to me and wilh the greatest EiMnes;, asked whether (since he had failed in his first attempt) he rould not bring forward a claim lo an island in the south seas from which his ancestors had come 600 years ago. The idea wai absurd. I aske I him whether he really meant what lie said. He replied that he did. I told him he niiiiht as well have preferred a claim to a portion of the Moon. His reply was that he was descended from Hawea ote Marama. Finding, however, that it was useless to prefer a fictitious claim, he gave the question up. I allude to this circumstance to show that too much attention to merely asserted claims may entail considerable inconvenience, danger, and expense to the country. I do not wish to throw doubts upon any just claims of theiis, and am fully aware that every acre of land in this island, not acquired by the Crown, is their property. In the case of this purchase, the river oa wliich the land is situated is a place to which the natives have been much attached, and which many of thi-m were latterly indisposed to alienate. But 1 quite deny the assertion which has been made here ihis day that ihere are 80 persons at Waiters who have claims to this block of land. If there were 80 claimants there besides those at Waikanae, Port Nicholson, and Queen Charlotte's Sound, they never made their claims known, and the ancestors of many of them were never knowa to have claims there. Had there been 80 claimants, I believe the invitation given to the chiefs soon after the Governor's visit to Taranaki, to put in such claims, would have been sufficient to bring them forward. That invitation was dated March 18th, 1859, and was to the following effect: — Nga JMotu, Maehe 18, 185$. E HOA MA, E NGA TANQATA O WaiTARA, TENA KOUTOU, — He kupu atu tenei ki a koutou. Kia wakamaramatia c koutou o koutou pihi, whenua c takoto i roto i te walii kua oii nei i a te Teira te tuku mai ki a te Kawana. Kua mohin ano koutou ma tena tangata ano te tikanga mo tana pihi waihoki kia Te Teira te tikarga mo tana pihi; ekore c ahei kia rere noa te tangata ki runga ki ona walii arai ai i tona tikanga. no te nriea, kei a ia ano te whakaaro mo tona ake ano, he kupu atu tenei ki a koutou, kei rere kau koutou ki runga ki to Te Teira raua ko te Retimana walii, no te tnea kua wakaaetia a raua wabi kia hokona i te aroaro o te iwi, i te tino awatea, a meake ka whakaolia nga ritenga ki a ia mo tona, ekore l.oki matou c tohe ki to elahi atu tangata, no te mea kei a ia ano tona wakaaro mo tnna pihi. Ko tenei kei pouri kau koutou ki a ia, no te mea he tikanga wakamarama hoki tona. (Signed) Nα Te Wakauini. Kia Wiremu Kingi Witi, ki a Wiremu Nga Waka, Pdtukakariki, ki nga tangata katoa o Waitara. Nga Motu, March ISth, 1859. Friends—Chiefs of Waitara, — Salutations. This is a word of mine to you. That you siiould make clear your portions of lan lying within the block which has been ceded by Te Teira to the Governor, ' You know that every man has a right (of doing as he pleasts) with his portion, and no man may interfere to prevent his exercise of this tight as respect* his portions, for the thought respecting his own is wilh himself. This is a word of mine to you lest you should, without ground, interfere wilh Te Teira and Te Reiimana's portion, as they have consented to sell their portions in the presence of the people and in open daylight; and the arrangements with him respecting his (land) will shortly be ci mpletecl. We do not pres3 for what belongs to others, because the thought respecting his own piece is wilh each. Now do not you be displeased with him without a cause, for his arrangement will tend to make matters clear. (Signed) Donald McLean. To Wiremu Kingi Whiti, Wiremu Ngra Waka, Patukakariki, and to all the men of Waitara. This invitation was given to the natives to bring forward any claims which they might possess; but none was ever asserte I, except thu general claim of an anii-Kuid-selling-league, wliich grasped at the mana of the whole of the extensive territory between Waitaha and Mokuu, although this same land had been ceded to the Government. The rights of Retimnna and others were fully recognised. It was admitted that the land was theirs, and that their title rould not be disputed. Indeed it must have been evident to any impartial person who witnessed the proceedings, that the parties selling the land were confident in the justice of heir cause and were determined to carry out the sale —notwithstanding the anti-land-selling-leagu and the King movement. The whole of the purchase previously made at Taranaki had been effected on the same principle as the present one, namely : that of acquiring the land from the different clans and subdivisions of those clans which came in from time to time to offer it. I never, dur.ng my residence there, heard of any of the pretended claims that have eincs sprung in'o existence in ii*e imagination (not of the naives- themselves, who are most interested and whose imaginations are ily worked on,) but of persoDs who hare a false sympathy instead of a true one with the natives,

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