X— Ho. 1.

THE GOVERNOR'S DESPATCH times my ears have heard indistinctly that those tribes have been acting treacherously, and the opinio* respecting them cannot be concealed. This Island is filled with the evils of the Maoris." (162). Again, Wiremu Kingi himself said to the Waikato Chiefs and Wi Tako who visited him t© enquire about the purchase: " The pakeha wants our land, but this war is about your Maori Kin:/. Do not listen to the pakeha. but bring your flag to Waitara. Go back and clear them out: senjl them all back to England." (163). 114. The Rev, J. A. Wilson furnishes further evidence on the same subject, from three Chiefs who spoke with him during a visit of two months to Waikato. Wiremu Nera Te Awaitaia, one of the highest Chiefs of New Zealand, said to him : "You must understand this: the war is not a struggle of the Maori with the Pakeha; it is not a war with the Missionary; it is not a war with the Magistrate; it is a war of the King with the Queen" (164). Te Waru, another high Waikato Chief, said: "Friend, all this fighting and plundering would not have occurred had we not made a King. This is the root of the strife. It is Waikato who fight the cause of Taranaki : the men of the soil keep at a distance, they are but slaves: we fight their battles, we are the strength of this war" (165). Wetini Taiporutu said : "The war was not merely a contention for the land at Ne*v Plymouth, but for the Chieftainship of New Zealand. Wherever the King's flag went they (the war party) would follow. If the Governor sent troops to any part of this island they would meet them." (166). 115. And lastly : Karaka Tomo te Whakapo, from Rangiaohia, said : " You are right, those are our mottoes. Let there be no evil of any kind, no war among the Pakeha, and no war among the Maories. But let us build our Pa, let us complete it. Let it be quite finished. Ido not consider it completed yet. Leave the other things, the war at Taranaki for the Evil Spirit to carry on. Twice he has turned upon us, ahd twice we have forgiven. Let us abide by our three mottoes and wait to See if he will be strong and persevere. Our Pa stands broken : listen William, Takerei, Wetini, listen, I consider that our pa for our wives and chiltlren is not yet complete, let us finish it, dig the trenches, throw up the breast-work and bind the fences. Look at his (the Pakeha's work in other lands, never too late, never behind time (alluding to the prompt movements and careful preparations of the Europeans)—therefore I say quickly build our pa."—Tapihana replied: " What pa is that you are building? we have built our pa, and it is broken down and stained with blood. The wealth we had collected into our bag is scattered, it is thrown out into the fern, who shall gather it up again? (alluding to the men who had fallen at Taranaki.) (167)." 116. Your Grace will determine, with the preceding evidence before you, whether I was right on the 22nd March, 1860, four days after the first shot was fired in this war, in saying, " It is now clear to me that Wiremu Kingi has been encouraged in his opposition by an assurance of formidable support, and that the question of the purchase of an insignificant piece of land is merged in the far greater one of nationality." (168). VII. LASTLY, THE PRESENT ASPECT OF THE SUBJECT. 117. The evidence which I have submitted to Your Grace will, I feel confident, be deemed •sufficient by Her Majesty's Government upon the following points:— Ist. That there is reason to doubt whether any " Seignorial Right," distinct from the right of property, in a Chief of a Tribe to assent to or forbid the sale of land by the separate hapus or subdivisions of the tribe, had any existence at all among the Natives of these Islands prior to ihe Treaty of Waitangi. 2nd. That while the proprietary rights of Chiefs, Families, and People were guaranteed by the Treaty, no right in tho Chiefs distinct from a right of property was thought of in the original interpretation of the Treaty. 3rd. That no such right has been admitted to exist in any Chief of the Ngatiawa tribe at Taranaki, throughout successive acts and decisions of every Governor of New Zealand. 4th. That Governor Hobson in 1842 recognised the Waikato title by conquest, and (through the then Chief Protector of Aborigines) took a cession of their rights. sth. That Governor Fitzßoy in 1844 admitted separate rights of ownership in the families of the Ngatiawa tribe, and expressly promised to purchase such rights whenever they should be offered for sale on reasonable terms. 6th. That Governor Sir George Grey in 1847 refused to admit any Seignorial or even Tribal Title in the Ngatiawa, and determined to resume the land at Taranaki for the Crown after ample reserves should have been made for the resident and absentee Native claimants, and after a reasonable price per acre for the residue should have been offered to them. 7th. That the right of the respective hapus and subdivisions of the Ngatiawa to cede their proprietary rights to Her Majesty, has been repeatedly and expressly recognised in the acquisition of various blocks of land at Taranaki during a period of more than sixteen years, and has been the basis of every cession of territory there to Her Majesty since 1844. Bth. That the acceptance by me of the land offered for sale by two hapus or sections of the Ngatiawa, representing the Ngatituaho and Ngatihinga as well as a portion of the Puketapu branches of that tribe, whose act was confirmed and ratified by a large number of absentee owners at other places, was in accordance with the precedents upon which the acquisition of land from the Ngatiawa at Taranaki had invariably proceeded. 9th, That the proprietary rights of any owner who may not have assented to this sale, have been

f .Ittft. oh's bbspaxcu. 4th Dec, 1860.

(162) Hetaraka, App. D. 2. (163) Wi Kingi, App. D. I.

16+) W. Nera, App. E. 9. (165) T« Warn, App. E. 9.

(166) Wetini, App. E. 0.

(167) #ar«Va, App. £_ .

(Ill) JWjjii/cA, >■ '. Ai»|>. B. ..