TO NATIVE AFFAIRS.

5

E—No. 3b

We think that an expenditure of not less than £600 per annum, to provide salaries, &c., would be required to maintain any efficient system of local Government in the Mongonui district. This would of course include the pay of Native Assessors. Whatever arrangements may he decided on should be permanent. Harm rather than good will result from the introduction of changes of a temporary or uncertain character. The Government should also be prepared to extend the system to other districts as they become ready for its introduction. Donald McLean, Native Secretary. Thqs. H. Smith, ______________ Assistant Native Secretary.

No. 6. MEMORANDUM. I beg permission to observe that His Excellency's proposal does not, as it seems to me, allude to the first principle which (in my humble judgment) must necessarily be decided before such a plan as is in contemplation can be carried out. The recent suggestions of His Excellency on the subject of a Council of Native Chiefs to advise him, did not touch that principle so nearly as the present proposal which His Excellency expressly intends to lead to the establishment of a well-ordered plan of Government within the tribes themselves. It was clearly shewn before the late Select Committee of the House of Representatives on Waikato affairs, that two antagonistic opinions existed as to the basis on which institutions of Civil Government for the Natives should be built up : and that those opinions had been prominently brought under the consideration of the Government by the grave questions which sprung out of the King Movement. On the one hand it had been suggested that in the appointment of Native Wardens or Magistrates, the principle of election by the Natives themselves through the recognised action of their Runangas, should be admitted. On the other hand it was urged that the distinct organization of Runangas would probably cause social mischief to the Natives and endanger the peace of the Colony. The Committee were of opinion that the Runanga was the only mode by which improved institutions could be introduced among the Natives for their voluntary acceptance; and the House of Representatives, while approving of the appointment of Chiefs in each district set apart under the " Native Districts Regulation Act, 1858," proposed (in order to give effect to that Act) that the Natives should meet in their Runangas, and offered the necessary power for convening them. I respectfully submit that we must still begin at the beginning, and determine upon which of the two opinions above referred to, any attempt to build up a plan of Government for the Natives shall proceed. The object (of having recognised organs of communication between the Government and the tribes in each district) is admitted by every one as desirable ; the question is, how shall it be effectuated ? If His Excellency means to introduce the principle of nominating Deputies or Superintendents himself on behalf of the Crown, I fear there would be little prospect of its working beneficially as a plan of Government even for a tribe so loyal as the Rarawas. If on the other hand it is proposed to concede the principal of election, it would be necessary to say whether it should take effect through the Runanga, as suggested by the House of Representatives ; and the Government ought to be prepared to extend the same privilege to other tribes or districts, if the people came in to the plan. There are many other points deserving separate consideration, but I do not refer to them now, because I think we are met at the threshold of the matter by a principle which requires to be settled first, and then details would not be difficult. F. Dillon Bell, Land Claims Commissioner, Auckland, 28th February, 1861.

No. 7. • * Resident Magistrate's Office, Mongonui, March ..Oih, 1861. I have felt groat pleasure in reading the various suggestions submitted to me by His Excellency, for the better Government of the Natives of the Rarawa tribe. Without pretending to any sentimentality of feeling towards the natives of this country, I do consider it a high Christian duty, of which I fear we have been far too negligent, to do all in our power to raise this people in the scale of civilization, before the unswerving hand of time shall have swept them beyond our reach. It has been painfully impressed upon me of late, how little time we have left us; disease, bad and insufficient food, irregular clothing, improper houses, and great poverty, will soon leave us without a people to experiment upon. (I write of my own district.) With reference to His Excellency's Memorandum of the 26th February, 1861, suggesting a systena ef Government for the Rarawa tribes, I have the honor to state, first, in all my reports to the,