that feeling by reducing the sixty five to fifty or forty each - giving a portion to Te Ngahuru and the balance to Tahana who at present gets nothing? Circumstanced as we are surely it would be good policy to purchase the intere of leading & influential men, whatever some may say who know nothing of the question, rather than herald our own weakness to the native population who might form a fancy to take advantage of it and so involve Govt. in an expensive war. Since Your departure my rule has been to smooth over matters as best I could, no easy task by the way without some allowance if only £50 a year, to be accounted for when expended - something of this kind would be as well if brought under