Auckland 6th December 1862 My dear Mr. McLean I have received your letter of the 29th ultmo. and send you a copy of the Receipt signed by Tareha. The receipt was in your own handwriting and is correctly charged against Tareha - Again the Fifty pounds which he acknowledges to have received, but which you see no account of, was paid to Tareha (according to the receipt) on account of Arapowanui and is not therefore entered against him - I hope that this explanation will be satisfactory and convince Mr. Tareha of a treacherous memory - I am much obliged to you for the order for wine you sent me from J. Gill - I am sending it down to him by the Victoria - it is the last of the first shipment, but I have another now due - There is nothing new here, the office is in the same state of confusion and disorganisation that it has been for some time past - I hope that your shearing will go off well and successfully, and that there will be good wool returns - I hear your name mentioned as the future Superintendent of Hawkes Bay, but perhaps it is only Auckland gossip - The steamer for the Waikato has arrived and the General made an experimental trip in her yesterday. With 95 men on board she drew 3 feet 1 inch of water, so she is not likely to make much way up the Waikato - Coromandel has not yet emerged out of its infany and neither Hay nor Branckenbury are as yet amassing rapid fortunes. Believe me, My dear Mr. McLean Yours truly George Friend