E. -Xo. 2

they have already obtained, and that the settlement of the country may be delayed for a long period. We have now hardly troops to hold that which we have got possession of, and are yet doing that which the Governor fears will bring new enemies on us, and embarrass us in other quarters, without at the Hme time being just and necessary in principle. "We have no means of compelling people of distant tribes to conic in and give up their arms, and we hold out no inducements to them to do so. We tell them they have forfeited all their lands by rebellion, if it can be proved they were engaged in it. We now call on them, without having subdued them, to come in and register their names, as those who have so forfeited their lands, and at the same time to give up their arms, —their only means of defending those lands, or of protecting themselves against their enemies, and we oft'er them no adequate inducement whatever to do this. We issue offers of peace to them, for which they have not yet asked, in a form which the Governor believes must alarm and irritate many who have not yet been hostile to us, whilst others may be encouraged to become bo from deeming this act on our part a sign of weakness. All these difficulties might be avoided by acting on the line of policy approved by the Goneral Assembly, of simply issuing proclamations from time to time regarding those districts wanted for settlement, and giving such proofs of our justice and good intentions in these districts, an viewed together with the stern punishment inflicted on the Waikato Tribes, would probably influence the distant tribes themselves to sue for similar terma. If deemed necessary, a clause could be added to the Proclamation relating to the Waikato district and trihes, stating that the Government had, in its proceedings in relation to them shown its determination promptly and thoroughly to suppress rebellion, as also its willingness, having done so, to treat those misguided people who might return to their allegiance with such lenity as it thought consistent with the safety of the country, and that its earnest desire was, that other persona who had joined in the rebellion might, profiting by this example, return without delay to their allegiance. G. Geet. Auckland, 3rd May, 1864. No. 10. MEMORANDUM by Ministers as to proposed Terms to Eebel Natives. Ministers beg to acknowledge the receipt of His Excellency's Memorandum of the 3rd of May, relative to the terms of the Proclamation which Ministers had advised His Excellency some days previously to issue, and which advice His Excellency had accepted. Ministers beg very respectfully to state that they have received the Memorandum in question with feelings of considerable surprise. The substance of the Proclamation had been under consideration for a length of time ; the draft had formed the subject of protracted discussions on several occasions between liis Excellency and the Colonial Secretary, and Ministers understood and believed that with the exception of a single point they had succeeded in bringing it into strict conformity with His Excellency's views. The Colonial Secretary has reported to his colleagues that on His Excellency putting his approving signature to the draft he said, " I sign it willingly, all but the part about giving up their guns, " and on that point, having consulted Dr. Shortland, the Native Secretary, and found that he concurs " with Ministers and differs from myself, I surrender my own opinion." The Colonial Secretary also stated that on the following day His' Excellency expressed his intention of putting on record his opinion in writing on the single point of giving guns up. Ministers regret that they cannot arrive at the same conclusion as His Excellency on the question aa to the surrender of arms. They have not yet seen any evidence that the Natives are afraid to give up their arms on the ground stated by His Excellency,—fear of other Native Tribes; but it does appear from a report of a recent conversation with " Bewi," the Ngatimaniapoto chief, that they desire to keep their arms to protect themselves against, and not to be at the mercy of, General Cameron. Whether this conversation be real or imaginary, it at least indicates the current of Native thought on the subject of giving up arms. The proposal of His Excellency to require that all Natives who return to reside in districts approved of by the Government, should neither carry nor possess arms without having a license to do so, would clearly rather be in opposition to than in accordance with this Native view, as it iR presumed that it would be deemed out of the question to grant licenses to Natives to carry or pofwoss arms for the avowed object of fighting General Cameron, if they should consider that they had grounds for doing so. With regard to tneother point objected to by His Excellency, Ministers are willing to admit that it might be difficult, in case of inter-tribal wars arising in distant and inaccessible parts of the country, to carry out a pledge that Natives surrendering their arms will be protected in person and property iv the same manner as Kuropeans are protected. The pledge given by His Excellency in September last to the " Arawa" tribe, residing at Maketu and llotorua, has been a source of embarrassment, and has placed the Government in the dilemma of either, on the one hand, breaking a pledge given by the Governor, acting on the faith of which the Natives to whom it was given had involved themselves in hostilities with other tribes : or, on the other hand, of becoming involved in military operations in a distant part of the country, and on a new field, altogether unconnected with the Waikato campaign. With this case befo 'c them Ministers cannot but feel that such a pledge, extended by proclamation to all New Zealand, might prove still more embarrassing, if not impossible to redeem. Ministers consider that it would be injudicious to issue any Proclamation of the character of that under consideration so soon after the recent events at Tauranga. They advise, therefore, that it should stand over, at all events for the present, and if it should hereafter bo deemed advisable to issue such a dueuinent, Ministers will be prepared to first re-consider the points referred to by His Excellency, and to advise, at all events, a modification. Jn taking this course Ministers beg respectfully to point out that liis Excellcny'a proposition only to "issue Proclamations from time to time regarding those

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PAPERS RELATIVE TO NATIVE AFFAIRS.