Nelson, 27th Jany., 1855. My dear McLean, I take advantage of Capt.Drury' s going to Wellington to send by him copies of Reports I have received from Mr.Brunner and Mr. Jenkins. You will see when they had about half finished their work that they were stopped by the news of your having paid another instalment of £2000 to the Ngatitoa's before any sum had been given to them, the Resident Natives, which exasperated them so much that they would not let any more Reserves be marked off or any thing further be done --- they say it is a breach of faith on your part and declare they will not let the land go and many other threats of the like nature, another reason I have for sending you these Reports is that I fear Puaha has been playing false as you will see by them that he has visited several places about a month or two since particularly Tory Channel, Maharapahu, the large Reserve at the Wairau, etc. etc. and told the Natives to hold on by all means to their land at those places till they are paid that he did not sell those localities and they will therefore have to make their own bargain. You will thus have it in your power to confront him with these saying and doings of his before you come over. I have had a large body (about 200) of Natives here from the Pelorus, Q.C.Sound, etc. who were in a great taking about the second payment you have given, they threatened to remove the pegs Mr.Brunner had put in to mark out their Reserves and all sorts of mischief of this kind. I gave them a good lecture for coming before I sent for them, told them to wait patiently till you arrived when they should be sent for and then they would hear what you had to say and in the mean time to rely that they would have justice done them after which I gave them a good feed, which cost upwards of £30 and they went off in better humour --- to give you some idea of their expectations they say they will be satisfied with nothing less than £3000 for the Pelorus and Kaituna. What a dreadful calamity Wellington has been visited with it is very sad and I fear will damage the Colony generally but Wellington in particular. We have suffered comparatively little, several chimneys are down and one brick house which was built only brick thick is considerably damaged --- the repeated Earthquakes terrified the Ladies very much and all I fancy felt more or less alarmed. Drop me a line and say the probable time you will be over as I am deluged with enquiries on the subject and can give no definite answer. Givemy kindest regards to my old friend Strang who I hope has not suffered from the Earthquake And Believe me, My dear McLean, Very sincerely yours, M. Richmond.