as long as Kooti is at large so long shall we have constant provision to make against surprise - I believe the wretch is at Waikaremoana and hope it may prove so - I think you will approve all that is being done and if we are successful it will still further strengthen the position of the Govt. in the coming Session - There is a great change in public opinion since the last success and I fancy the opposition have little chance - That little sweep Whitmore gives out that Stafford is going in for a dissolution but I shd. think if that were Stafford's tactics he wd. scarcely make W. his confidant - It appears he made all the mischief he could with Kemp on his way to Wellington with the prisoners. - By chance the little wretch turnedup at Castle Point whilst the Star was wind bound there and went on in the Steamer with Kemp - His story is that Kemp did the whole business behind Opotiki and that Ropata never saw the enemy at all - He tells a story also which he says he got from Kemp that you begged Kemp to go in into the Bush again after Te Kooti and that Kemp told you he was tired of working to keep you in office - a likely story - still it is the style of the little wretch - who gets more malignant the less chance he sees of