E—No. 9 Sec. IV.

At Whitianga, another small Whanauapanui "kainga," where some five-and-twenty men mustered to hear us, a speech of welcome to the Queen was made; and Tipata, their Chief, complained goodhumouredly of having been overlooked at the time of the Kohimarama Conference—or Tiriti (Treaty), as they call it—and also of the Governor having never been to see him. But the staple talk here too was about the trade and gunpowder grievances. On asking Tipata for his answer to the Governor, he said "E whakaae ana ahau (I agree); thank you" (sic). One jocular Native, called Watarawi, who had made some amusing "King" speeches, and clever sarcastic attacks on the Pakeha, guarded us against supposing that all the people were Queenites, lest, on Kingites afterwards turning up amonjst them, we should accuse them of having deceived us on this night. Tipata sent a message to the Governor to come and see them next summer; then Tipata would muster all his Runangas, and " spear" the Governor, on account of the embargo on powder and grog, and then the Governor would see who were Kingites and who Queenites. Omaio.—The talk here was as nearly as possible a repetition of that at the last place. Instead of the usual " King" speeches, we here heard only ridicule of the King as of an absurd personage, who had got nothing to give them, and yet wanted them to go to Waikato, and get shot in fighting the Pakeha for his sake. Te Kaha.—Talk of a very similar character to that at the two last places, hut briefer, the objections fewer and more feebly urged. One man demanded why we came burdening them with a new law so soon after we had given them the first, i. e., the Law of God ? " Why did we not wait till they were perfect in the first ?" This was in singular contrast to the sarcastic song with which we were so often greeted in the Urewera, " Where were you at the beginning?" meaning, as subsequent talking shewed, " Why did you not sooner bring us these things whieh you say will do us so much good?" One man warned us that the Runanga was divided between King and Queen. Another admitted that this, our purely Native Runangas, had mana (authority) only over their own members— an important admission. The Chief Matenga was away, hut from seventy to eighty mustered, some of them from kaingas beyond Te Kaha; they accepted almost too readily ; I mean, in a wholesale way, which suggested the mortifying idea that they didn't really care much about it. They went with much greater zest into traveller's tales (korero tangata haere) —listening eagerly to Mr. Fulloon's account of our reception at different places, and to the true version of the extraordinary tales which gain currency amongst them, such as that the Governor had just gone with five thousand soldiers to take possession of Coromandel; that Prince Alhert was really killed in battle with the French, but that we will not admit it, &c. In the course of the evening's conversation these men repudiated Mr. Baker as their Magistrate, and claimed Mr. H. Clarke, of whom they spoke in high praise. They also repudiate the present district boundary, and claim to be made one district from Tikirau (Cape Runaway) to Whakapaukorero, the Ngatiawa boundary, a little north of the Awa-o-te-Atua at Matata (v. sketch map). I have no doubt that, looking to tribal affinities, the coast from Whakapaukorero to Tikirau should form the boundary of one district which should include the whole of the Ngatiawa, Urewera, V\ hakatohea, Ngaitai, Whanaupanui, and Ngaitawarere. Large as this piece of country is, and difficult to travel, I think it might be efficiently worked by one Commissioner stationed at Ruatoki, and two Magistrates stationed one at Whakatane for the Urewera and Ngatiawa and one at Opotiki for the coast from Ohiwa to Tikirau. The Ngaitai would probably form a discordant element; it might be requisite at first to allow them a separate Runanga ; and, if so, this might, I think, be presided over by the Commissioner in sessions separate from those of the large general Runanga, embracing Te Urewera, Ngatiawa. Whakatohea, Te Whanauapanui, and Ngaitawarere. I think, eventually, when its boundary disputes were once settled, that this little Ngaitai community might be induced to coalesce with the larger in working one general Runanga. The objection to including the Ngatiawa with the Arawa, as is done by the present arrangement, is that old feuds and old jealousies divide those two peoples; they have no ties from past history or present interests ; whereas Ngaitawarere, the Whanauapanui, and Ngatiawa, are linked together by intermarriage and a common ancestry who emigrated in the same canoe. Also that the small bit of Ngatiawa country thus forced into uncongenial union with the Arawa contains the very man of greatest weight and strongest influence with the Natives of the coast from Opape to Tikirau, and also with the Urewera, and that is Wepiha of Whakatane. Whether these are sufficient reasons for altering a boundary once proclaimed is for the consideration of Government. The boundary of Te Kaha Point, splitting a pa into two, and dividing two friendly hapus in order to unite one of them with another tribe (the Ngatiporou) whom they do not acknowledge as friends or kin, does certainly appear to call for revision. Whatever Commissioner or Magistrate is appointed to have charge of the Urewera country should be a stout pedestrian, as the walking is of the most severe description, and it will probably be impossible for years to come to ride over that region of mountain and forest. He should also be allowed a canoe and boat-shed at Waikaremoana, so as to be independent of signal-fires to the opposite shore. It is also exceedingly desirable that the Commissioner should have a good knowledge of the Maori language, of its whakataukis, waiatas, and traditions ; a knowledge of these would often enable him to win over an antagonist on whom reasoning, pur et simple, would fall powerless; without it, I do not think that the Natives would open their minds freely to him about their puzzles, wrongs, and schemes; I think that they would go more and more to the Commissioner's interpreter, who if a man of any ability, would gradually, and almost even in his own despite, slide into that position of counsellor and guide which the Commissioner was sent expressly to fill.

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BAY OF PLENTY.