ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OP STATE.

103

A.—No. U.

Enclosure 6 in No. 44. Te Hoia and Teibe to Governor Sir Geoege Gret, K.C.B. To Governor Geet,— Otaki, 29th June, 1867. We send you herewith our Petition to Her Majesty the Queen. Will you please to have the same forwarded. Signed in the presence of— Te Hoia, Matene te WniEOiu, and the rest of the Ngatihuia Hapu Akapita te Tewe, (26 in all). Matena te Kehotuka.

Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure 6 in No. 44. Petition from Te Hoia and Teibe to Her Majesty the Queen. To Hee Majestt the Queen of England,— Here do we, Your Majesty's loving subjects, cry to you out of the midst of the injustice inflicted upon us. We had all heard, before the Treaty of Waitangi, that you, the Queen, would take care of us and our lands. We now write to you because of a block of land belonging to us, situate at Bangitikei, in the Province of Wellington. We, the Ngatiraukawa, took that land by force of arms, prior to the declaration of the Queen's sovereignty over New Zealand, and we have kept possession of it up to the present time. In the year 1862, the General Assembly and the Governor established a Court to adjudicate upon Native Lands, and the Government of the Province of Wellington being desirous of purchasing our land, urged the General Assembly to exclude our lands from the operation of the Native Lands Act, in order that it might be purchased by the Government of Wellington. To this the General Assembly straightway assented. Give heed: Only the lands of us, the Ngatiraukawa, have been excluded from the Lands Court. We sent a Petition to the General Assembly, praying that that Act might be disannulled, in order that our claims might be taken through the Court. We have also been to Governor Grey, and shown him our trouble, requesting that our claims to the land be investigated ; we have also been to the Colonial Ministers, and requested to have our title investigated, but they paid no heed. In December, 1866, the Land Purchase Commissioner, the Superintendent of Wellington, handed over the purchase-money to certain persons who own land adjoining ours. He gave money also to tribes dwelling at a distance, who had no grounds of claim to our land. We have all seen the speech of the Superintendent of Wellington, made in opening the Provincial Council on the 26th April, 1867, in which he stated that he had purchased the whole of our lands, that is the Bangitikei-Manawatu block. He, upon a former occasion, had made use of these words, " the whole of your lands have gone to the Queen of England." Still we were aware this law was not made by the Queen, but was made at their own instance by the Assembly at Wellington. Now therefore, we, your Majesty's subjects, who have always given support to your laws, ever since the arrival of the first Governor, pray you to send an investigator of sound judgment, to inquire into the particulars of this act of injustice. The name of the sub-tribe of Ngatiraukawa to which we belong, is Ngatihuia. We did not take of Dr. Featherston's money. Manahi Ngatihuia, Te Hemara te Tewe, Bupuka Tahiainoa, Boniwahio Pura, Matiu Maniapoto, Bano Paretako, Pita te Bahumia, Aperahama te Buru, Benehira te Bangitioro, Hemi Kupa Ngapohoi, Tamati Takahiparu, Tame Hawea, Bangimatou, Winara Poaha, Tauhi, Aperahama te Keu, Te Tauha, Matai, Paraone te Manuha, Heneri Ngahoti, Peni te Aunui, Kopi te Karaka, Namana te Arero, Haharaia te Wera, Witnesses to signatures — Ururoa. Matene te Whiwhi, Akapita te Tewe, Matina te Kikotuha. Otaki, 29th June, 1867. ______^_ Enclosure 7 in No. 44. Letter from Mr. Pucket to Mr. Bolleston. Mr. Bolleston, — With reference to the account of the interview between His Excellency the Governor and Parakaia te Pouepa, appended hereto, I beg to state that when it first came under my notice I was under the impression that it must have been some other interview, and not the one at which I interpreted; nor was it until I saw the words, " The Governor then turned to Puckey" (the interpreter), that it became apparent to me it must be an account of the meeting at which I was present, though such an account as must give anyone not there an exceedingly wrong impresssion of what took place. 10th July, 1867. E. W. Pucket. Enclosure 8 in No. 44. Memorandum by Mr. J. C. Bichmond. Mt knowledge of Maori is not sufficient to enable me to speak with precision, but my impression of the whole meeting is totally different from Parakaia's report.