E -No. 9 Sec. III.

papers, the statements which have reached me from various private sources, or the evidence of my own eyes and ears when in other districts, contain any amount of truth, this lawlessness is not peculiar to the Upper Waikato district. The great mischief of all is not that the Natives choose to be governed by a King instead of by us, but that they are not in any real sense governed at all. As long as individual Maoris can do that which is right in their own eyes, and break the laws of God and man with impunity, so long will peace and prosperity in Native districts be an impossibility. The great remedy then for the evils of the land is Government: but I mean vigorous Government—I mean authority which is able to protect life and property by enforcing obedience to the law. We do not want additional laws—there is the very madness of law-making infesting the country; we do not want Magistrates—they exist in abundance. It is the last link between the sovereign and the subject, it is the police which is defective. If there existed a power which could take up and punish offenders against the 6th and 8th of the Ten Commandments, the sores of the land would be healed. Who will dare to organize and use such a power ? The Ruuangas dare not; the Maori King dares not; the European Magistrate dares not; the paid Assessors and constables dare not. Is there any one who dares ? I kuow as well as anybody that this question is beset with difficulty and danger, but there can be no peace in the Colony till it has been fairly met and fully solved. It is not possible, at the close of a Report which has been designed throughout as a bare statement of facts, to discuss a question which must involve many general arguments and opinions; even if I felt competent to offer arguments and opinions on such a subject. As a subordinate officer of Government my part is fulfilled when the true Native question has been pointed out. It is, however, within my province to point out how far the organization already existing under the Maori King is available for the purpose of establishing law and order. I confess that when first sent into the district, ignorant of almost all the facts which have been above detailed, I entertained the hope and expectation that a reconciliation and alliance might be effected between the English Government and the leaders of the King party, and that all the King's officers might be employed in the organization and government of the district. It appears to me now that the fulfilment of this hope was from the first impossible, for two reasons:— (1.) Because the King subsists entirely upon the feeling of opposition to our Government. It is possible that the King Movement originally may have been a movement for law and order; it has altogether lost that character now. Nothing keeps the alliance together but a feeling of common danger, and as soon as this feeling has passed, which must happen before we regain the confidence of the Natives, the influence of the King and his Runanga will melt away. (2.) Because the King and his Council have not the slightest power to enforce obedience to the law. As a scheme for creating a Government, the King Movement has failed long ago. But though alliance with the King is impossible, and if possible useless, still the removal of the King would bring us very little on our way towards the end of Native difficulties. The King's system is an obstacle to good government, so far as it fills the place of a better; but were the former extinct the latter would still have to he constructed. J. E. Gorst. Otawhao, June 5th, 1862.

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UPPER WAIKATO.