E.—No. 2.

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PAPERS RELATIVE TO

had been in occupation for twelve years ; had villages, cultivations, houses, and other buildings on it, —their homes for years. Teira now states that William King and these people occupied this land under a valid tribal arrangement, which would appear from his statement to be of such a nature that no person could sell the land without William King and these people being consenting parties to the sale. Teira also now admits that there are other legitimate claimants to various portions of this block of land. Teira further states, that he had never intended to sell the sites of the native villages, although these were what the Government especially wanted; to form a town site on the river. Finally, Teira alleges that it was arranged that he was to have a reserve of two hundred acres for native purposes kept on the block of land, and that this reserve has not yet been settled. 19. From these most important facts never having been made public, the Governor has no right to assume that his predecessor knew them, or that if he had known them, he would have gone on with a land purchase of such a nature. It is to be observed that the Governor has himself been in New Zealand for eighteen months, and did not know these facts until they were ascertained by personal inquiry at Taranaki ; it seems therefore excessively improbable that his predecessor could have known them : even the present Native Minister was not acquainted with them until a few days since. The Governor thinks, therefore, that there is no reason, arising from delicacy, or the respect he would always wish to pay to the views of his predecessor, why he should persist in a course, in the propriety of which he does not concur, and which he would not follow out against his reason, if he had in error entered upon it himself. 20. If we had not peaceably entered into possession of the European lands at Omata and Tataraimaka, it would have been difficult to have abandoned the intention of purchasing the lands at the Waitara, however objectionable in many respects it might have been to make that purchase, because it might have been said (however unjustly) that the abandonment of our intentions to make such a purchase, was a sort of bribe to the natives to induce them to allow us peaceably to occupy our own territories. Now that we have taken peaceable possession of the Omata and Tataraimaka blocks, this objection to abandoning the intended purchase of lands at the Waitara no longer exists. 21. The Governor's view therefore is, for the reasons here stated, and contained in other papers he has laid before the Ministers, that this Government should not go on with the purchase of the block of the land at the Waitara; but that the following notice should be at once issued. " His Excellency the Governor directs it to be notified that from facts now come to light, and not " before known to him, he does not think that the purchase of the block of land at the Waitara is " either a desirable one, or such as the Government should make. That His Excellency therefore abandons "the intention of making this purchase, and forfeits the deposit of £100 which the Government has "paid on this land." 22. The country is in such a state that the Governor by no means feels confident that this act will quiet the minds of many of the native population. On the contrary, he thinks it may now be impossible to avoid some collision with them ; but he believes it would at once win many over to the side of the Government; that it is a proper act; and that if a contest must come, that the closest scrutiny instituted into the conduct of the Government, either in England or in this colony, would result in an admission that every possible precaution had been taken to avoid such a contest, and to prevent the horrors of war falling on this colony, and that it was therefore clear that war with the natives was an evident and unavoidable necessity, which the European race must meet with that resolution, fortitude and energy, which they have never failed to exhibit in a cause of undoubted justice. G. Grey. New Plymouth, Taranaki, April 22nd, 18G3.

Enclosure 9 in Despatch No. 1. STATEMENT op captain bulkeley. We marched for the Waitara on Monday, sth March, 1863. On arriving on the land sold by the Native Te Teira, we halted on the highest ground on the block, and were met by a native from William King's pa, " Stephen " by name, who got water and peaches for the men. After a few hours we moved to where the permanent camp was formed. Next morning I saw some natives carrying timber from the fences round the cultivation up the road into Town, and reported the circumstance. At about 8 o'clock a.m. the " Niger's" men were landed, and we turned out to destroy a small pa :it was empty when we arrived at it. I believe the greater portion of the pas at the mouth of the river were burnt out that night, as the sailors were returning to their ship. The following Sunday, " Stephen" told me that either on Wednesday or Friday night apa would be erected on the land Te Teira had sold ; I told this to Mr. Parris that afternoon. I rode into Town the next day, and saw where the ditches for the new pa had been commenced. When I returned, I brought out a white Ensign, which Captain Cracroft gave me. I got leave from