E,—No. 2,

found that the first affray, in which Bawiri, the native assessor, one of the most respected natives of the Fuketapu tribe, and six others (were killed), by Katatore, partly arose from Eawiri attempting to cut the boundary of a piece of land which he had offered for sale to Mr. Gh Cooper, the Land Commissioner of the laranata district. It appears that Katatore had, long ago, stated his intention of retaining this land, and had threatened to oppose anyone who should offer to sell it ; Eawiri, however, on account of some quarrel with Katatore, proposed selling the land, and was desired by Mr. Cooper to cut the boundary. J v " Eawiri proceeded accordingly, with 22 others, on the morning of the third of August last and had succeeded m cutting some part of the boundary line, when Katatore and party rushed down from his pa, and, after warning Eawiri twice, without effect, to desist, fired and killed him and six others • lour were severely wounded, and four slightly wounded." "I fear that further bloodshed may be expected , and as unfortunately it has arisen about a land question Katatore will have all the sympathy of those who are opposed to the sale of land The relations and friends of the deceased Chief Eawiri, who are principally resident within the settlement and for°thTdS,f^p n5e!^ "' " bei"g " foV0Ur '"'tlK' Sa'° °f land ' ar° determi-dt0 1— --nge 2. Unfortunately it happened that this feud during its course was aggravated by unwise acts and violent language on the part of some of our people; a course which could only render the Maoris more apprehensive of evil to themselves, and more determined to stand aloof from us. Seo Colonel Nugent s Despatch, dated 20th September, 1855—(Parliamentary Paper, July 1860, p. 143). 8. In a letter written a few days after that date, Mr. Eiemenschneider (a minister of the Lutheran Church, resident in the midst of the Taranaki tribes), reported to the Native Secretary the state of feeling among the natives of his district. He stated that " any intervention by military force i,the feud would be generally viewed as the first step in a general and grand movement on the part of the Government to dispossess the natives by physical force of their inherited soil; which if once permitted by the latter to be successfully entered upon by the former, would most certainly be proceeded with and be earned out through the whole length and breadth of the island, until every inch of land would have passed away from the native owners into the hands of the Europeans, and the aboriginal inhabitants of the country themselves would have been totally exterminated *' '.' £ hu? fu% (he ad.ds) the whole case has repeatedly been argued before me, during the last aboutt Taranak, district, and there can be no doubt that they are in earnest " T'lc .mo!* sober a, lld <luie% disposed amongst them declare, in a manner not to bo mistaken that they will rise, because they feel convinced that it will be necessary for the defence and preservation of theirs" possessions, against a system of violence and oppression threatening them and 4. From that time until July, 1859, the deadly feud was going on. In the course of this time in the month ot January, 1858, Katatore himself was waylaid and murdered. This was a murder of ™enge,and one which we : might have punished, without seeming to be fighting for a piece of land Kbr £v 1S-T" 1 rf f™? l'T bterferi^. "*»*& - proclamation m the following moS' JB-ebruarjr, 1858. That proclamation warned the natives against assembling with arms within the boundaries of b certain district The proclamation was accompanied by an official connnent in the M^ri Messenger which, alter explaining the reasons of our non-interference, proceeded thus —« WhUo mdulguig this hope we are startled by the news of another and more frightful murder. Blood is spilt on land which the Queen has granted. This cannot be allowed to pass in silence. The Governor has therefore spoken his word He still says, ' I shall not interfere. Both parlies are doing wrong fcutit Endi hTetile'S- "wT Si k? T™* dther ' ffl ** k4 ««* SB of the fighting in my present" °" "■*** *° W>m° within these Wite. I will not permit 5- Tlie effect of this state of things on the natives may be gathered from the letter of Eitatona Te aw it. ji\.j)pcn(iiXj IN o. 4.) KvJil 7T T'\T °f ±hef u C01ltinued trmM™ were most disastrous to the native interests. The ISgat uroa tribe had been one of the most industrious and thriving in New Zealand " In 1854 Williim Kings tribe possessed 150 horses, 300 head of cattle, 40 carts, 35 ploughs 20 pairs ofNarrows' S winnowmg machines, and 10 wooden houses." (Dr. Thompson, New Zealand; volt p 224 )/ u 1858 K * llnTth^T T K° f P r°8perity ''a; 1 ■ paSSI d aWa>'; fra"mentH °f thrashing machine.s were seen 5 *+»^ hostile encainpment, cultivations Dmr^SSft^ 8 t0 PaSS that thr°Ugh five year8 °f d0adl-V Strife 'the Quecn'8 sovereignty was Thc|° WM. nothing to show that it was a reality ; a power able and willin- to protect life or nro perty. In saying this, I have no intention to cast blame upon any one. It would be«4 ill u e to mile of our present troubles to find in then means for assailing the characters of public men In focTaU such considerations wonld lead us away from the point to which alone I am look n' winch t not the comparative merit, of our public men in our eyes/but the way in which our Administeation 'taken as a whole, must have presented itself in the view of the natii ee." nitration, taKen as All that I wish to be noticed and remembered is the fact itself. These were the very cases which in the beginning of our colonization, had been specified by the .Secretaries of State a l^le* t which the SIS Llus Uno IT J b0U"d. t0 WheU thG tim° ™ th0 Government dW no? mteitoie. Let us not therefore criminate men who endeavoured to do the best under very difficult c rcumstauces ; who did not interfere only because they did not judge it possible to interfere witSt Zd d nf t I Df0V CqU, lef ed, m • f 0, 01'^8 Which WM a great calamity for both races. At a yrate we did not act. If so, let us honestly admit that to have been the case. "Let us not so on tacitlv assuming, or even broadly asserting, that we have throughout fully performed oar pi Let £s ayow^

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