A.—No. 1

18. On the whole, it appears to Toe very generally agreed that, since the authority of the Crown and of the law was not established throughout the interior of this country while there was an army of above ten thousand men in New Zealand, the attitude of the Colonial authorities towards Tawhiao and his adherents must, and ought to be, in the main, defensive ; that it is at once more politic and more humane to outlive the King movement than to endeavour to suppress it by the strong hand ; that the turbulent Natives should receive every encouragement to live peaceably; but that murderous onslaughts (such as that at Patea), whether on the Europeans or on the friendly Maoris, should be punished with the vigour necessary to prevent a recurrence of unprovoked aggressions. 19. There are many peaceful and civilizing influences at work even among the disaffected tribes. It is well known that the chiefs of clans in the Scotch Highlands, discovered, in a former generation, that it would be to their personal benefit to abolish the tribal tenure of the soil, and to convert their clansmen into tenant-farmers ; in a word, to transform themselves from patriarchal chieftains into feudal landlords. It is equally interesting and encouraging to find that many of the Maori chiefs, including several who were lately hostile to the Government, have begun to follow, unconsciously, this example. They have learned that they cannot effect their object without procuring legal titles for their lands, and placing them under the protection of the courts of law r. This policy has been already adopted in numerous instances; and the fanatical llauhaus, starving and shivering in sullen seclusion, on their hills and morasses, are beginning (it is said) to feel a salutary desire for the comforts and luxuries enjoyed by numbers of their countrymen, who have sold or leased a portion of their lands to the English settlers, and are now well fed, well clothed, and well lodged on the regular incomes thus acquired. In the single Province of Hawke's Bay, yearly rents exceeding in the aggregate twenty-six thousand pounds, paid by pastoral settlers, are divided annually among about two hundred Maori families, the owners of the soil. In a former Despatch, I mentioned that Taipari and other chiefs, derive a; considerable revenue from the fees paid by the miners on the Northern gold: fields ; and it may not be altogether impertinent to add that, in the neighbourhood of Auckland, one or two Maoris have already begun to preserve the game oni their land, and, like Highland Lairds, to let their shootings for the season to English Sportsmen. 20. I regret the length to which this Despatch has unavoidably extended, but I believe that I am carrying out the wishes of Her Majesty's Government by transmitting full and detailed information respecting the condition of the Maoris. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. F. BOWEN. P.S.—Mr. Richmond, the Minister responsible for the control of Native Affairs, has read this Despatch, and all my other Despatches on similar subjects. G. 1\ B.

No. 29, April U, 1868.

Enclosure 1 in No. 49. (General Map of the Mihtaby Settlements in the Waikato.)

Enclosure 2 in No. 49. Speech of His Excellency Sir Gr. F. Bowjssst to the Maoris assembled at tlie Meeting at Ngaruawahia, 20th May, 1808. O mi friends, O chiefs and people of Waikato, my heart is rejoiced at the addresses which you have presented to me, and by the words which you have now spoken, full of loyalty to the Queen and of goodwill to myself as the representative of the Queen. I pray that Heaven may pour its choicest blessings on your homes. This is the word of the Queen : Her desire is, and always has been, that her Maori children should live in peace and harmony with her European children. Her prayer is that, with the blessing of Grod, the Maori and the Pakeha may henceforward become as one people, and pursue the same course. Look, O my friends, at the rivers Waipa and Horotiu beside us ; how, rising from different sources, and with waters of different colours, they meet hero at Ngaruawahia, the old Maori capital, and, mingling in one stream, the stream of the Waikato, flow together in peace onward to the sea. So may it be with the races of the Pakeha and the Maori. The Queen sent her son the Duke of Edinburgh to visit you, and to assure you of her love and protection. You all know the unhappy circumstances which have prevented the Queen's son from 20

77

ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.