AGAINST MR. C. W. RICHMOND.

15

F—No. 3

claimant to any piece of land, before a purchase is made has been found to operate most injuriously in this Province on account of the conflicting interests of the claimants, and that the sufferers by this system are invariably the men who are most advanced in civilization, and who possess the largest share in the common property. Your memorialists are therefore of opinion that such of the Natives as are willing to dispose of their proportion of any common land to the Government should be permitted to do so whether such Natives form a majority or only a large minority of the claimants, and that the Government should compel an equitable division of such common land among the respective claimants on the Petition of a certain proportion of them. That in the opinion of your Memorialists, no danger of a war between the Government and the Natives need be apprehended from the prosecution of a vigorous policy, inasmuch as a large proportion of the Natives themselves would cordially support it, and the remainder would from the smallness of their number, be incapable of offering any effectual resistance." Extract from Mr. Parris' letter to the Bishop of New Zealand, August 26th, 1858. " Lest I should be charged with partiality for Natives of that denomination, as some are wont to do, because I refuse to support or countenance dishonorable and treacherous treatment of Wm. King jlnd his people, to exterminate them from the Waitara in accordance with Mr. Turton's peremptory plan for the acquirement of that delightful and much coveted district." Extract of letter from Mr. Parris to Private Secretary, December 21st, 1860. " When Ihaia, Nikorima and their party were besieged in the Karaka Pa at Waitara, and were in a most miserable plight, Mr. Whiteley suggested to me that I should try to arrange terms of peace on the following basis, namely, that the beseiged should be allowed to vacate the Pa, and that the besiegers should then destroy it. I availed myself ef the suggestion, and obtained the consent of Ihaia and Wiremu Kingi, the former to leave the pa, and the latter to destroy it, and not follow them any further ; and shortly after, in the middle of the night, Ihaia's party took a loud farewell of their pa, but their places were immediately occupied by his Wanganui and Mokau allies. They thus tried to take advantage of arrangements which I had attempted to make for their preservation, and but for my opportune arrival, and discovery of the ambush, would probably have succeeded. " I was much blamed by the newspapers of the Province for communicating this intelligence, but no man with one spark of honor could, under the circumstances, have acted otherwise. "My letter to the Bishop of New Zealand alluded to these attacks of the local press, and those of many of the settlers, who were desirous of acquiring land by any means, and who viewed the frustration of the ambush as inimical to land purchases. Extract from Mr. Augustus B. Abraham's Petition, clauses 27, 28, and 29. 27. That, whilst the said Act was in progress through the Legislative Council, Mr. Fred. A. Carrington, who in his own behalf, and as agent for Messrs. Tunno, Dunne, and others, claimed to be entitled to the greater portion of the block now known as Teira's Block, remonstrated with the Hon. C. W. Richmond thereon, and threatened to memorialize the Colonial Government and the Imperial Parliament if the same were persisted in, when the Hon. C. W. Richmond represented to him. that the Waitara land would not be acquired by the authorities, in order to be handed over to the land claimants on account of the great expense necessary for the purpose, and he urged the injury that would thus accrue to the settlement founded by the said Mr. Carrington and its settlers if he persisted in his opposition, and the said F. A. Carrington, entirely influenced by such representations, was induced to accept the increased terms of compensation then expressly agreed on between them, namely 37 \ acres Suburban land instead of 12 acres, and 75 Rural acres instead of 50 acres, and the said C. W. Richmond then represented, that efforts should be made to acquire the Waitara land, and that a Town should be laiid out thereat, where the one acre of Town land to be given as compensation at the option of the claimants might be selected. 28. That the said Mr. Richmond obtained from the said Mr. Carrington an official letter, whereby he recorded his consent to such arrangement, which he still has in his possession or power, and under such circumstances the Act was proceeded with and passed, but although the necessity for written consent on the part of land claimants was then recognised, no communication whatever was held with Petitioner on the subject although known to be in Melbourne, and he has only recently been informed of such arrangement with the said Mr. Carrington. 29. That since the passing of such Act, the Government of the Colony has proceeded to acquire land at the Waitara for the benefit of the Province. Extract from Mr. C. W. Richmond's speech before the House of Representatives , 16th August, 1859. We have, none of us, at any time pressed upon His Excellency the acquisition of land iii Taranaki. Letter from Wiremu Kingi, Wetini, and other Ngatiawa Chiefs, to Governor Fitzroy, dated Taranaki, June Bth, 1844. Friend Governor, —" Salutations ! Great is our love to you. This is our speech to you, listen

Dr. Featherston 6 Aug., 1861,