A.—No. 1

86

DESPATCHES FROM THE GOVERNOR OF

Poihipi Tukaikangi said : "Welcome, 0 Governor, to Taupo ! We have been long desiring to see you. For many years past we have been in great trouble. We were nearly destroyed; still a few of us have always remained firm to the Queen, and like the Horomatangi (sea-god) that dwelt of yore in Lake Taupo, and in former days swallowed the evil monsters of the deep, we have now destroyed our enemies; but our joy at welcoming you to Taupo recompenses us for the past troubles. Taupo is yours, the lake and all the lands around, and all the people. Take them all. You come as the sign of peace. Welcome ! for you are our father. We desire to commemorate your arrival amongst us by naming some place after you. We should like that the town to be founded here should be called after you. We feel now as if new life were given us, when we see the Governor in our midst. We know that we are not forgotten. The people now here represent the feeling of the whole tribe. Welcome! Welcome! (Then followed a song of welcome, in the chorus of which all joined.) Beweti Te Kttmb said : Welcome, 0 Governor, to Taupo! Come and instruct us in all the laws, thoughts, and works of the Europeans. Taupo is yours, the lake, the people, and the land ; yours to carry out the works of the Europeans —to make roads and other works, and to have schools to teach our children English. There have been Hauhaus amongst us, but all are yours now. Whatever your plans may be respecting this country, we are waiting to carry them out. (Another song of welcome followed.) Paoba Baotiirt said : Welcome, O Governor, to Taupo ! We have been long wishing to see you. We have often heard of you by name, but we thought we should never see your face here. Welcome to Taupo! (Another song of welcome.) I never saw a Governor before. We are but a remnant of what we once were. Welcome! His Excellency then spoke nearly as follows: —O my friends, chiefs and people of Ngatituwharetoa, salutations to you all! You in particular, O Poihipi Tukairangi, I salute, for you have ever been loyal to the Queen and a firm friend to the English, nor is this the first time that you have welcomed me. When I first arrived in New Zealand, four years ago, you wrote me a letter of welcome. That letter, together with other letters from loyal Maori chiefs, was sent to the Queen's Ministers in England, and it was afterwards printed, with other documents respecting this country, for the information of the great Parliament of the Empire at London ; so the name of Poihipi Tukairangi is now spread far and wide. The English naval officer, Lieutenant Meade, who came to Taupo in 1805, and was so hospitably entertained by you here, has also written a book, in which your loyalty, and the beauty of your lakes and mountains, are celebrated. In the wars and troubles of the last few years, Poihipi has stood firm to the Queen, even as the rocky isle of Motu Taiko, now before us, stands firm as ever amid the winds and waves of the great lake. When evil t;mes came on, and the sky was dark and lowering, the friends of law and order took refuge with him, even as canoes caught by a storm take refuge under the lee of Motu Taiko. Now the storm is passing away; the sun shines forth again ; and the tribes lately disaffected are returning to their allegiance, and are following his good example. In a word, the influence of Poihipi (as he himself said just now) has driven away the demons of war and murder which were devastating this fair land, even as the sea-god Horomatangi, celebrated in the old Maori legends, destroyed the taniwhas (sea monsters) which once infested the shores of the Lake of Taupo. And now, my friends, I rejoice that you are industrious in peace as you have been brave in war. You were the first to join the Government in making the roads through your district, those roads which confer such great benefits on all alike —on the Maoris and on the Pakehas, I trust you will also join the Government in founding schools, as your countrymen have already done at Pakowhai, Maketu, and elsewhere. Thus your children will grow up in good nurture, well-educated, and able to cultivate the arts of peace, and live in friendship and harmony with the English. Then the two nations, the white skin and the brown, which inhabit this Island, will grow up into one people, with common laws and institutions. 0, my friends, I pray that God, the Giver of all good, may pour His choicest gifts upon you all. (The Governor's speech was greeted with loud cheers by the Natives.) The name Tapuaeharuru signifies " resounding footsteps," and has reference to the hollow sound of the earth from the volcanic action which extends throughout the zone reaching from the great burning mountain of Tongariro, south of Taupo, to Whakari, or White Island, also an active volcano, in the Bay of Plenty, a distance of 120 miles. Hot springs and geysers abound throughout this region, one of the most interesting and wonderful in the whole world. Good descriptions of it will be found in Hochstetter's " New Zealand," and in " A Bide through New Zealand," by Lieutenant the Hon. PI. Meade, B.N. Hitherto these grand natural phenomena have remained almost unknown; but now that tranquillity has been established, and that access to them will soon be rendered safe and easy by the completion of the roads, good inns will doubtless be erected, and New Zealand will become for the Australasian group of colonies what Switzerland and the German baths are for Europe. The valuable medicinal qualities of these hot lakes and springs are well known to the Maoris, who resort to them from all parts of the Island for the cure of various diseases. At the Jcoreros which the Governor held with the Natives in the interior, the chief requests were, first, for Queen's flags, i.e. union jacks, to be hoisted at their pas, instead of the old Hauhau or rebel flags, which have been everywhere destroyed by themselves; secondly, that the Colonial Government should employ them in making roads through their own territories. It may here be mentioned that hundreds of Maoris lately in rebellion.are now so employed In short the policy pursued for the pacification of the Highlands of New Zealand is (as Sir G. F. Bowen has often pointed out in his published Despatches) the same with that adopted in the last century for the pacification of the Highlands of Scotland. The true weapons of conquest have been in both cases the spade and the pickaxe. The third request of the Natives everywhere was that the Government should assist them in founding and endowing schools where their children might learn the language and arts of the English. As has been above observed, liberal provision has been made by the Colonial Parliament for this vital object. The Taupo Natives preferred an especial request to the Governor that a European town should be founded on the shores of the Great Lake, and named " Bowen," and that a steamer should be placed on the lake. The Government will carry out all the above-mentioned requests, which are themselves proofs of the great change which has lately taken place in the sentiments of the Maoris.