A.—B,

4

accept adequate reserves, to which, at least, as one who had never borne arms against the Crown, he was indisputably entitled. He inquired on the 3rd April, 1879, of Mr. Mackay, the Government Agent, whether that gentleman was authorized by the Government to offer him a part of the land, and agree for them to take the other part. "It seems to me," he added, "from the way that the " surveys are being conducted, that you wish to take the whole of the blanket and " leave me naked." 16. To this overture no reply was returned, and Te Whiti appears to have come to the conclusion that the attention of the Government would only seriously be attracted by a demonstration which could not be ignored or trifled with. 17. On the 25th May, 1879, a small number of unarmed Maoris commenced ploughing a piece of land belonging to a Mr. Courtney. " This land," we are told by Sir George Grey, then Premier, "is part of No. 5 Oakuru Block, given by the " Crown to military settlers after the war. It belonged, however, to friendly " Natives as well as to rebels. The former, by a signed agreement in 1866, under- " took to accept as compensation 1,250 acres of land within the block and 3,600 " elsewhere, no portion of which has yet been given to them ; the " land being ploughed had been acquired from Natives Avhose land could not have " been lawfully confiscated, under a promise of compensation which has remained " for thirteen years unfulfilled." Other fields, belonging to other settlers, were also ploughed: of these another member of the Government, Colonel Whitmore, C.M.G., asserted that "the land " ploughed was in each case land bought, not confiscated, and had, moreover, for " fifteen years remained without being paid for;" but, although this may have been true as regarded the cases he had more especially in view, he certainly must have been incorrectly informed as to its general application. 18. Similar proceedings to those at Mr. Courtney's took place at a Mr. Livingstone's, and on one or two other estates, the Maoris not contenting themselves with turning one or two furrows, but returning obstinately, though quietly, day after day, until the whole field had been ploughed up. 19. These proceedings were certainly conducted with Te Whiti's knowledge and approval, and probably by his direct order, though this has never been proved, and has by some been doubted. 20. The Government of Sir George Grey found itself placed in a situation of great difficulty by these proceedings. The settlers were naturally much excited and exasperated, and had made up their minds, though I believe mistakenly, that these acts of deliberate trespass were intended by the Maoris to provoke a fresh Native war. Mr. Courtney, the day after the ploughing began, telegraphed to Sir George Grey, that, "if the Government "did not remove the Natives at once" he would "shoot their horses and the " Natives also." Others expressed themselves in a similar sense; and one gentleman went so far as to discuss, in a telegram to the Premier, a plan for the division, among those engaged in the war about to begin, of the lands to be confiscated under it. The County of Patea passed resolutions demanding of the Government that on the outbreak of hostilities all friendly Maoris might be immediately deprived of their reserves, and sent out of the county, and that it might be declared " free of friendly Maoris," which, I suppose, means a request that the presence of any Maori whatever within it may be forbidden in time to come. 21. On the other hand, the Maoris, whatever the motives which originally prompted them, had clearly gone far beyond any action required to set up a formal claim on their part to the land, and it was manifestly necessary to put a stop to proceedings which so seriously imperilled the peace of the district. In these circumstances the Government of Sir George Grey acted, I think, not injudiciously. It cannot be a matter of surprise or of blame that they should have hesitated to comply with the demand urgently made for the general arming of the whole white population of the district and their enrolment as a military force, steps which must almost inevitably have led to collision between the races ; or that the threats made of shooting those engaged in trespass should be quietly rebuked : but after three or four weeks' delay, during which efforts were made to ascertain the object of the demonstration, and hopes no doubt entertained that it would be voluntarily

Telegram, Mackay and Blake to Sheehan, 4th April, 1879.

Second Report, p. xsx.

Telegram, G-rey to Sheehan, June 10, 1879.

Telegram, Whitmore to Noake, June 10,1879.

Various telegrams.

Brown to Sheehan, 2nd October, 1879.

Telegram, County to Grey, June 23.