Wallingford Decr. 22nd/64 My dear McLean, I am in receipt of your note by the mail but have scarcely anything to write you of in reply. I shouldn't write at all this time but that I dont like the loss of Weber, who I feel sure you will find it very difficult to replace. I have heard from more than one source that the sole cause of his desire to leave the service is - the not having the control of the department of which he is the nominal head. It really appears to me that he is quite right in giving up, if all the survey works and arrangements are not passed thro' his hands whilst he is responsible for it as Chief Surveyor. What I feel sure of is - That if he goes - his successor whoever he may be, if he is worth anything will take precisely the same course as weber does, if placed in the same position Another view of the subject consequent on Weber's retirement is that Mr. Fitzgerald will naturally feel aggrieved if the Office when vacant be not offered to him and you may calculate pretty confidently that he will go into the ranks of the opposition in the Council next session. I have now given you my view of this matter and you must take your own course in reference to it. I have heard that Mr. Stewart will not be likely now to leave Wellington where he is getting a large salary and is head of his department and if that be the case you will find it very difficult indeed to replace Weber. Probably you will be at the Wairoa by this time I hope the same success may attend your land purchasing efforts orts as on your last visit. By the bye, you will have to be more attentive to Rhodes if you wish to keep him in his Executive capacity - he thinks he is not consulted sufficiently - it was in Reference to public works I understood him that he more particularly wished to be more consulted - for instance he complained of the passage made over the Waitangi in reference to which he was not asked for his opinion. It will be very easy to satisfy Rhodes but he is not J. A. S. and will want to be asked about things. Of course this is all between ourselves. I merely tell you what eked out when I saw him the other day. I have no news, except by the bye that the Wairarapa natives are some of them inclined to be troublesome - one of them a lame fellow I forget his name (Nairo I think it is) has written up to these people urging a rising on the pakeha. A dispute about the road from Castle Point to Wairarapa is the immediate cause of this. Porangahau Henare has gone down to dissuade them from their intention and to warn them they will get no support from here. My natives are very angry at Featherstone's treatment of their claim at Manawatu - they will give him trouble yet in reference to that purchase if he do not silence them - Always yrs. sincerely, J. D. Ormond I found all well at home