F—No. 2 (Appendix.)

FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE PETITION OF A. B. 188 AH AM.

No. 1. Auckland, 31st Augast, 1861. Sic,— I do myself the honor of enclosing a printed copy of the Report of the Committee of Private Grievances on the Petition of Augustus Brown Abraham, with remarks upon certain paragraphs which appear to require explanation from me. I have, &c., Feed. A. Caebington. The Hon. Wm. Fox, Colonial Secretary

Enclosure in No. 1. Note 1. •'The 21th Clause of the Petition." (Page 4. Par. No. 3.) I most unequivocally state that I did threaten to memoralize the Colonial Government and the Imperial Parliament. The threat was not regarded as absurd at the time I made it—for the Colonial Government and Parliament did not know the injustice the Bill inflicted on Waitara claimants. Is it absurd to suppose that were a town laid out on the contemplated site at Waitara, that people would be deterred from investing in buildings and other improvements upon land which an honorable and equitable tribunal would compel them to surrender to the rightful owners ? Note 2. "Mr. Harrington will, I have no doubt, confirm my statement on this subject (Page 4. Par. 6.) I do. Note 3. "Every one, therefore, who accepted." (Page 6. Par. 4.) Before I agreed to accept " the supplementary or compensation land orders" offered by the New Zealand Company, in their circular of the 6th October, 1849, I called at the New Zealand House, and was there informed that by accepting the said proffered compensation I should in no way invalidate my claim to the land I had formerly selected and taken possession of at Waitara. On the contrary, I was assured that I might retain my holding until the land was acquired from the Natives. At subsequent peiiods, I was also assured by the Chairman of the said Company that every effort on their part would be made to obtain the Waitara land for the purpose of handing it over to the several claimants, Note 4. " There is only one other point." {Page 6. Par. 7.) My letter,, addressed to Mr. Abraham on the 31st January, 1861, I believe to 'be strictly correct. The amended Bill of 1.158, as it was first framed, gave to New Plymouth land claimants one acre of town land, or acres of suburban land or 50 acres of rural land for every 50 acres which they formerly selected. The only means I have at hand to prove this statement is that, in my letter addressed to the Hon. C. W. Richmond on the 2nd August, 1858, I state that "I am willing to abide by the conditions of clause 8 of the amended Act, substituting for 12J acres of suburban land 37J acres, for 50 acres of rural land, 75 acres." It was the amended Act ofl 858 from which I quoted the quantity of acres proposed to be given and not from the Scrip Act of 1856. Note 5. " Mr. Carrington admits that it was " after asking Mr. Richmond to give him a copy of the Bill as it now stood." {Page 6. Par. 7.) The quotation—"After asking Mr. Richmond to give him a copy of the Bill as it now stood" —would lead Members to believe that, when I asked Mr. Richmond to give me a copy of the Bill, it was worded precisely as it now is. This is not the fact. And, first, I would