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said that was right, and afterwards expressed to Mr. Buller how much he was pleased at my not requiring him to give up his, taking it as a great compliment to him. We then dined together, and I rode on to "Wellington, which I reached the following day. I take no credit to myself for obtaining Wi Tako's declaration of allegiance. His conversion ii attributable partly to the very judicious manner in which he has been treated by Dr. Featherston, the (Superintendent of Wellington, during the last two years, and partly to the conviction that the cause of kingism was lost, forced upon him by the reports of Wi Hapi, Noa Te Kauhihi, and others, some of whom had been fighting in Waikato, and some sent there by the Government in order that they might carry back truthful accounts, which they have done. Their reports of the defeat of the king party have convinced Wi Tako, and I trust all the Cook's Straits Natives, that the cause is hopeless. It should not be omitted that Wi Tako is undoubtedly entitled to the credit of having restrained the more impetuous spirits of his party, and but for his influence I have not the least doubt that the Wellington province would long ago have been involved in hostilities. sth. Left Wellington per steamer " Eangatira," for Hawkes Bay, which we reached on Monday night. Tuesday morning went ashore, and called on Mr. M'Lean, the superintendent, found that Kenata, the well known chief, was up the country, and Karaitiana also ; the latter very ill: but Tareha, the most influential of the three, was near town, and he came to Mr. McLean's, where we spent the greater part of the day. It is very much owing to Tareha's influence with the Uriweras (of which tribe was his mother) and other north east Natives, that Hawkes Bay has escaped incursions from that quarter. I had a long and very interesting conversation with him, in which he gave the history of kingism in that district. In substance his account was this : when the fighting began at Waitara they all said Governor Browne was wrong, and were prepared to back up William King. Then peace was made, and the Waitara question was to be decided by law. He referred to the offer of arbitrationinade by myself to the Waikatos in 1862, and said that they were agreed that that was right. When Waikato refused it, they sent a deputation to argue the matter with them. (This was at the Peria meeting.) Old Porokoro insulted them, asking what they meant by offering their advice. Then we determined to leave the king to himself. You go to death your own way, we said to Waikato ; fight with the Governor. We will die in our own place, and our fighting shall be with our superintendent with the tongue only, about small things, such as cattle trespass, grass money, and the like. From that time Ahuriri has had nothing to do with kingism, and we have endeavoured to keep back the tide of war from flowing there. The attempts made by the Government in 1862 to induce the Hawkes Bay Natives to use their influence with Waikato on this subject have been characterized by a member of a subsequent Ministry as pusillanimous, and increasing the contempt of the king party towards the Queen's Government. (See Appendix to Journals of House of Eepresentatives, 1863, E No. 13, p. 18.) It is very satisfactory to learn from Tareha that the action of the Government resulted in practically detaching the powerful tribes of Hawkes Bay from the king movement, and had convinced them at least ot the sincerity of its desire to secure a peaceful adjustment of the Waitara difficulty, which they regarded as the key of the whole position. Tareha afterwards spoke about those who had been to Waikato fighting and returned. What was to be done with them? He advised to leave them to themselves for a time. Patience, he said, was a great thing, and he gave an instance from his own early adventures in illustration. I told him not to be rash ; if these returned people kept out of sight he need not see them. But if they began to do mischief let him tell Mr. McLean and Major Whitmore, and they would know what to do. I was glad to find that confidence was restored here, and that the arrival of the first detachment of the reinforcement, 300 men, had removed the alarm which had existed. The remainder have since gone, snda steamer, the " Ballarat" has also been sent, to enable the settlers on the sea coast to the north to come in to Napier in case of attack. The apprehension of such an event, however, seems to have ceased for the present, and Mr. McLean and Major Whitmore appeared to think that there was now no ground for alarm. » Left the same evening and returned to Auckland. Wiluasi Fox. 14th June, 1864. NOTE of what passed between His Honoe the Supeeintendent or Wellington, (Dr. Featherston) and the friendly Natives on the subject of the sueeendeb op the peisonees, by Mr. Booth, acting Interpreter. May 23rd. 1864. We left Kanana for Kauaeroa and Peterehema. Hori Kingi went in the same canoe with the Superintendent; he seemed to be in very low spirits, especially when we passed Tawhitinui. He said, " My heart is very dark indeed about my children, especially about Te Eeimana ; this is the first time 1 have passed his place without calling. When he had said this he turned away his head, and seemed to be weeping ; in a few minutes he turned to me and said, " Tell Dr. Featherston that our hearts are very dark because of the prisoners ; they arc our nearest relatives j this is why we feel so dark about this matter ; not that we intend not to take these men prisoners ; but listen to my thought. Won't Dr. Featherston agree that we should write a letter to Governor Grey, praying that these prisoners be given up to us; we will take them to-day ;we intend to do so, and send them to town. But if Dr. Featherston will agree to this word of mine our hearts will be light." Dr. Featherston said that he approved of Hori's wish, and that he also would write a letter to Governor Grey, asking him to consent to Hori's wish. Hori then stood up, and called to the men in the other canoes; he gave them a hint about what had just passed between Dr. Featherston and himself, and in a moment every countenance was beaming with pleasure. James Booth. Whanganui, 27th May.

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PAPERS RELATIVE TO NATIVE AFFAIRS.