E—No. 7

G. S. Cooper, Esq.

their kaingas; drays with teams of from tea to twenty bullocks, horse carts, ploughs, and other agricultural implements, post and rail fences and substantial stockyards, are now common amongst them. They are clean and healthy in appearance, and for the most part well mounted, well dressed, and well set up in saddlery. They own immense numbers of horses and several cattle, but there are few sheep-owners amongst them: indeed it has often been a matter of surprise to me that they did not stock their surplus lands with sheep long ago; but the reason has been the dislike of the young men to the monotony of a shepherds life, added to the difficulty of finding the means to defray the current expenses of a station for the first few years. The few Maoriowned sheep in the Province are in the hands of European sheep-fui mers. They show a great desire for improvement, and are auxioui to establish schools for instruction in the English language ; the only difficulty being the want of funds, or rather their disinclination to spend money for such a purpose. Having been accustomed to receive instruction gratis from the Missionaries, they do not like to part with money in exchange for an intangible return. The difficulty may, however, be got over by their setting apart a piece of land as endowment for a school, if they can all be got to agree to it. A school of this description was started by Mr. E. Donaldson, at the Pa Whakaairo, and with fair prospects of success, but it languished for want of funds. Mr. Donaldson is very enthusiastic in the work, and I have some hopes that they may yet agree to devote a piece of'land to the purpose of endowment, if it were only that the experiment should have a fair trial. Crime is almost unknown; murder, robbery, cattle stealing, aggravated assaults on man or beast, &c, are unheard of; petty thefts, and other minor offences are rare; drunkenness has much diminished of late ; adultery is very rare—indeed the tremendous fines imposed by the Runanga on this species of offence have almost put an end to it altogether. And yet, with all this, the Natives have no respect for our law; and for every grievance, real or fancied, from a colonist, they take the remedy into their own hands, by seizing as compensation a horse or some other easily removeable article, which it is always difficult and sometimes impossible to get back from them. As already shown, they never resort to our Courts at all now. The population is diminishing, surely, but not so rapidly as a few years ago. The death» are not so numerous as in 1855, '56, and '57, but the number of children who survive their infancy and the early stages of childhood is insufficient to keep up the supply. The only other districts of which I have any knowledge is Wairarapa and the East Coast. I have not visited Wairarapa for some years, but from all I can learn of that district, and from what I saw last autumn of the Natives on the Coast, I am led to believe that they have been in a much less satisfactory and more excited state than here. They are on indifferent terms with the settlers, and are rampant supporters of the King. Neither are they, as a body, so well off as at Hawke's Bay—indeed those inhabiting the Coast on both sides of Castle Point are in a state of positive destitution, and are chiefly supported by the settlers who live amongst them. I believe the news of the changes in the Government has affected these Natives in a similar manner to those at Hawke's Bay, though possibly the effect may not be so apparent, as I believe they had got into a morose and sullen habit of feeling and thought, from which it will probably take them some time to recover. I have, &c., The Chief Commissioner, G. S. Cooper. Native Land Purchase Department, Auckland. No. 19. BAY OF PLENTY. KEPOET FROM HXXBT T. CLARKE, ESQ., RESIDENT MAGISTRATE. Tauranga, October 18th, 1861. Sir,— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Circular of the 9th August on the 10th inst., requesting me to furnish a general Report on the present state of the Natives in my District, giving full information as to their sentiments towards the Government. In complying with your request, I would remark that it has always been my aim to keep the Government well informed of all that has passed in this District, both with regard to the state of the Native mind, as well as other matters which have transpired; so that my present report will be for the most part a recapitulation of what I have already from time to time had the honor to furnish. Taking the principal place along the coast beginning with Tauranga. The Taurauga tribes, with respect to themselves, are in a more peaceable state now than they have been for years past. Land disputes were of frequent occurrence, which they in some cases endeavoured to settle by an appeal to arms. These quarrels resulted in the loss of many lives, so that when they became weary of fighting and desired peace, they found the question in a more

fl. T. Clarke, Esq.

40

REPORTS ON THE STATE OF THE NATIVES