NEW ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OE STATE.

65

A.—No. I.

But all who know the Maoris best, agree in urging that it would be fatal to press them too eagerly to the immediate acceptance of formal terms. Breliminaries of peace have been arranged, and friendly communications have been opened with Tawhiao, and the chiefs who surround and control him. It is believed that the Colonial Government must proceed with the most cautious prudence, give time for the extension of the civilizing influences of trade and personal intercourse, and, in the words of Mr. McLean, " avoid undue haste and pressure, which, with a race like " the New Zealanders, would have the effect of impeding rather than promoting " satisfactory relations." I have elsewhere,* at the request of the Colonial Ministers, drawn attention to their opinion on the influence which the withdrawal at this juncture of the moral support of the 2-18 th Eegiment may exercise on the present hopeful prospect of a peaceful settlement of Native affairs. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. G. E. BOWEN. -

No. 36. Copy of a DESEATCH from Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Eight Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. (No. 6.) Government House, Auckland, My Lord, — New Zealand, 10th January, 1870. I have the honor to forward herewith the usual monthly Memorandum, furnished by the Minister for Defence and Native Affairs. It will be seen that he has not much of importance to add to the contents of the Memorandum transmitted by the last mail with my Despatch No. 159, of the 20th December ultimo. Mr. McLean has recently visited some of the northern chiefs, and has made the necessary arrangements for my proposed conferences with them and their clans in the course of the next three months. 2. According to the latest news received at Auckland up to this date, it appears that Te Kooti and his band are the only Maoris now in active hostility, and that the advance against them of the Native Contingent, under the loyal chiefs Te Kepa (Major Kemp) and Topia, has been impeded by heavy floods in the Wanganui Eiver, and by very tempestuous weather in the mountains of the central interior. 3. I am informed that tho adherents of the so-called Maori King are gradually abandoning the sullen and hostile isolation which they have maintained for so long a period, and that considerable numbers of them have recently visited in a friendly manner, and for the first time during many years, the neighbouring English settlements. 1. I proceed to-morrow, accompanied by Mr. McLean, to the gold fields and Native district at the head of the Gulf of Hauraki, where the Eiver Thamesf flows into the sea. Nearly the whole of the peninsula terminating at Cape Colville is believed to be auriferous, and a population of little under twenty thousand (20,000) Europeans has been attracted thither since the Ist August, 1807, on which day this gold field was proclaimed. During the same period, as I observe from the official returns, (i.e., from August 1, 1867, to December 31, 1869,) the total quantity of gold exported from the Thames District amounted to one hundred and ninety thousand five hundred and ten ounces (190,510 oz.), valued at five hundred and seventy-five thousand nine hundred and seventy-six pounds (£575,976), besides gold to the value of nearly one hundred thousand (£100,000) held by the several banks and mining companies, and not yet passed through the Custom House at Auckland. $ Two flourishing towns, named Shortland and Graharnstown, and containing together a population of nearly ten thousand (10,000) souls, have already sprung up. The Maori owners of the soil (a few chiefs of the Ngatimaru clan,) receive one pound (£1) for each miner's

* See Oovernor of New Zealand to Secretary of State, No. 159, of 20th December, 1869, and Mr. McLean's Memo., enclosed therein, (enclosure 2.) fSo named by Captain Cook. The Natives call it IVailio. X It will be understood, of course, that these figures apply to the Thames Gold Eicld alone, and do not include the gold exported from Otago and other parts of tho South Island. 17