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Fragment of a Song. My affection lingers o'er you, from me now separate, Vainly aspiring, onward, upward, as a soaring bird; You vanished in brightness, leaving me disconsolate ; On you were all my sad, sad thoughts centred, e!e !i! a ! Sufficient. From the Matatua Council, Merito Hetaraka, Chairman. (Who wrote and forwarded the same.) Whakatane, 27 Hune, 1906. Ko tenei pukapuka, he mihi na te Kaunihera o Matatua ki a Te Hetana : — Nga kupu mihi: Haere atu ra eTe Hetana, te matua ote pani me te rawakore, kua niahuetia au mahi tika, mahi pai, mahi ora mo te tangata mo te whenua hoki i muri i a koe, a ka waiho tenei ahua hai mea whakamamae, whakapouri hoki i roto i te ngakau, mo runga i tou tangohanga c aitua. E kore nei hoki c taea te mohio i tenei wa te pai, te tika me te ora o te tangata me te whenua i muri i a koe, no reira ka puiitia nei i roto i te ngakau o au mahi pai katoa ki runga ki tou iwi Maori, hai whakamaharatanga ma matau tae atu ki o matau uri, a nga ra etu mai nei i mua ite aroaro. Haere c koro, haere kite Po, waiho ko tou honore hai mea c whakamoemititia ai cte ao katoa ki runga ki tou ingoa. Haere c koro, haere atu, tenei te tv nei tenei o Kaunihera i runga i te taumata i poua nei c koe hai okiokinga mo to iwi Maori. _A na reira tenei oou Kaunihera ka mihi nei ki a koe, kite tangata naana i here tenei mahi ki runga ki to iwi Maori, i watea ai etahi tikanga kino c peehi nei i runga i te iwi Maori i nga ra kua pahure ake nei. Mihi kite pouaru me tana whanau : E whae tena koe, me tou whare katoa, ara whanau, c noho mama i roto ite pouritanga me te mamae nui ki to tatau matua kua tangohia nei ia cte mate, waiho iho ko te pouri me te mamae ki a tatau i enei rangi. Heoi nga mihi. He Waiata. Toku aroha ra c koro ki a koe c wawae ake ana c, c, Te aroha, te parau kite hao noa atu he manu haere ia c, c, Ka riro purotu koe ka waiho manuka hau, ka apo aku mahara c, c, i, a. Heoi ano. Na te Kaunihera o Matatua. Merito Hetaraka, Tiamana, te kai-tuhi me te kai-tuku. RUATAHUNA NATIVES. Friend,— Ruatahuna, 4th July, 1906. Greetings to you and your Ministerial colleagues, who are administering important matters affecting the colony. Ended are the loving greetings to you. Only now do Tuhoe convey their message of sympathy on the death of our Premier :— Go, 0 Premier ! go by the path by which your ancestors went to Po (the place of departed spirits), the man who brought the Queen's word to the light of day —that is, the Treaty of Waitangi. Many were the Governors before you, and that word of the Queen's —namely, " Show aroha (love) to my Maori people " —was not realised ; it was not till your day that that word —namely, the establishment of the Tuhoe Rohe Potae—was given effect to. Go then, 0 Premier ! 0 Kopu ! the star that ushered in the dawn, that stayed the dark, causing the light to be outspread. With you, maybe, will the prosperity of the Maori cease. Great indeed is the love for you. Impossible will it be for human beings to follow you, there being no path by which those who wear primitive garments (made of mauku) may go. The proverb hath it, " Nga mate i Kawerau me tangi atu i Whakatane." (" The deaths at Kawerau mourn for them from Whakatane.")* That is all. From your loving and sincere friends, Te Wharekotua, Te Whenuanui, And others —in fact, from all the chiefs of Tuhoe. The Hon. Mr. Carroll, Minister for Native Affairs. Xi a Timi Kara, Minita mo nga mea Maori. Ruatahuna, 4 Hurae, 1906. E hoa, tena koe, me o hoa Minita c whakahaere mama i nga mahi nunui ote Koroni, heoi te mihi aroha ki a koutou, katahi ano a Tuhoe ka tuku mihi atu ki to tatou Pirimia :— Haere ra cte Pirimia, haere ite ara oou tupuna i heke ai kite Po, te tangata nana i huti ake te kupu ate Kuini kite ao marama, ara, te Tiriti o Waitangi, he nui hoki nga Kawana o mua atu i a koe. kaore i taea taua kupu ate Kuini, ara, kia aroha ki toku iwi Maori. Na, no te ra i a koe nei katahi ka rite taua kupu ara ko te Rohe Potae o Tuhoe. Haere rate Pirimia, Kopu, te whetu takiri ote ata,

* This saying is applied when persons are too busy or disinclined (prevented from going) to attend funeral obsequies at a distant place."—" Maori Esehatology," E. Best, page 220, Vol. xxxviii, " Transactions, New Zealand Institute." No doubt an allusion to their inability to attend the Premier's funeral.