■E— No. 3. SECTION I.

Ngaruawahia. On their way they spent some hours with me at Otawhao. They had both visited Kihikihi, and had a long talk with Bewi about his proceedings, during which they strongly expressed their disapprobation of the violent conduct of Ngatimaniapoto. Eewi urged them to assent to Ms proposal that Maungatawhiri should be handed over to him to do what he liked with, but they stoutly refused and came away with the belief that Eewi had given up all thought of doing anything in that quarter In this I afterwards found that they were mistaken. Te Paea told Eewi that the land and premises at Te Awamutu and Te Tomo, as well as the church at the former place, had been entrusted to her, to be safely kept against all intruders until more peaceable times, when they would be re-occupied by the Pakeha. This annoyed Eewi very much, as he and his people had set their hearts on taking possession of the place for themselves. Eewi, however, promised to respect Te Paea's pledge, but he could not bind Beihana, who is, I believe, the head of that portion of Ngatimaniapoto; and. I think it still not unlikely that the threat of either occupying or destroying the school premises may yet bo carried out. There is no doubt that Te Paea exerted herself to the utmost in endeavouring to restrain the turbulence of Eewi and his people, and I believe her efforts have not been altogether unsuccessful, although the whole of the Potatau family are greatly disgusted at the turn affairs have taken, and particularly at the open defiance of the authority of Matutaera evinced by men who, according to Maori custom, ought to have been his most obedient supporters. I may take this opportunity of stating that several of the immediate relatives of Matutaera, including Tc Paea and Patara, admitted to me, without reserve, that their cherished hopes had been grievously disappointed, and that their so-called king had no power to restrain men who were doing evil in his name. It appears to be impossible that the king party should hold together much longer. Te Paea told me that her residence in Waikato was in great measure against her will; that it was a " noho herehere ;" that Potatau, her father, had told her to remain at Mangere as long as she lived, and that in consequence of her obedience to his commands she was not even present at his death. She had been almost forced to stay amongst them by the unsettled state of the people, and if she found she could no longer do any good amongst them, and that they continued to disregard her father's dying words to them —" Live in peace with the Pakeha"—she had made up her mind to leave Waikato and return to Mangere. On Sunday night (April 26th) Hohaia Ngahiwi came back from Kihikihi, and told me that he had had an interview with Eewi and others of the chiefs, and found that they had not given up their desire to have Te la handed over to them. They had resolved to go down to Ngaruawahia to urge three things, viz., —first, that they should have charge of Maungatawhiri; secondly, that Matutaera should go to Hangatiki to reside (which would place him completely under the power of Ngatiinaniapoto); and thirdly, that all half-caste children in the district should be seized. (The last of these proposals, I am sorry to say, was partly carried out without asking for anybody's consent, for a few hours before I left the Awamutu, two poor girls- -one about seventeen or eighteen, and the other about ten years old—were carried off from the house of one of the men employed at the school. The elder of the two girls was carried off by main force from the house of a settler at Mangere last year, and had come to the Awamutu in the hope of escaping to Auckland. Hohaia also told me that although Eewi assented to Te Paea's proposal that he (Hohaia) should be her representative in taking care of the Awamutu, their idea of taking possession of it did not appear to be abandoned, as they talked of coming to plough up the fields next week. On the following morning (April 27), having taken every precaution in my power for the safety of the school premises, I left the place and started for Auckland in company with Mr. Pulloon, and two of the men who had been employed at the school. We spent the night at Ngaruawahia. Matutaera was absent visiting the lower part of the river. We had much conversation with Te Paea, Patara, and Neri, all of whom sorrowfully admitted the failure of the movement, from which they had hoped great things. In the course of conversation, Patara said that he was the originator of the idea of sending the Kohekohe timber back to the la; but that he never expected that any violence would have been used. The notion that the buildings were intended for a barrack for soldiers had been generally believed, and that was the reason why the people were afraid of it. Patara also made a proposal which I think it my duty to report, although of course I gave him no ground whatever to think that it would be assented to. His proposal was to this effect: that he and some of the Waikato chiefs should go to Taranaki, and ask the Governor to agree to the following things : — (1.) That the Governor should purchase Tataraimaka from the settlers, and leave it unoccupied for a fixed period, say three or four years. (2.) That Waitara should also remain unoccupied for the same period. (3.) That all Government Officers and other Europeans should be removed from Native districts for the same length of time. (4.) That during this final period of probation the Maoris should be entirely left to themselves ; and if at the end of the time they should remain unwilling to submit to the law, the Governor should declare a " paeroa," or general war, which would settle the question for ever. Patara's idea in making the above proposals seemed to be, that before the expiration of the time fixed, the Natives throughout the country would be thoroughly miserable, for want of the comforts and help they have hitherto enjoyed, that they would be glad to submit to anything in order to recover them. I do not think it my duty to offer any remarks upon Patara's scheme. On the following morning Te Paea accompanied me down the river. At Kahumatuku Hona expressed great anxiety lest the proceedings of Ngatimaniapoto should lead to war, and begged me to ask the Governor to set apart a place where he and all who did not wish to fight might sit quietly until the war should end. He suggested the land belonging to Ngatitipa, in the lower Waikato, as a good place for this purpose. Some of the Ngatiapakura would also be glad to avail themselves of an asylum in the event of war. At Matuterata we found Matutaera, who appeared to be greatly vexed at the proceedings of Maniapoto. He had not heard of their later doings until we arrived. He was particularly offended with their conduct in driving away the ministers and schools, with their talk about the la, and with their wish to take him up to Hangatiki. After we left, Te Paea told me that Matutaera meant to make one effort more to bring Ngatimaniapoto back to their senses, and if he did not succeed, then " heoi ano" (enough.) Ngatihaua were summoned by their own chiefs to assemble this week at Pake-rimu to consider what should be done with Eewi and his followers. Matutaera's object in returning quickly up the river was to endeavour to stop Mr. Morgaa and Mr.

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DESPATCHES FROM GOVERNOR SIR G. GREY