WANGANUI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 438, 14 January 1857, Page 5

WANGANUI.

The following extract of a letter by the Rev. R. Taylor, dated 10th December, (published in the ' Wanganui Chronicle' of the 18th), will not be uninteresting to our readers:—

" I have just returned from a successful visit to the Ngatiruanui. I went accompanied by a dozen horsemen, among whom were John Williams (Hipango) and George King (Te Anana), and several other influential chiefs, to try and make peace between the tribes who have been so long at war with each other at New Plymouth, and thus endangered the safety of that settlement.

"On the 4th we reached Whareroa early in the morning, where we found the Ngatiruanui had assembled in great numbers to meet us. According to the native custom each of our party placed a sprig of the katoa-kawa in his cap as a token of mourning for the dead. We then entered the marae of the pa in procession, where the tribe was drawn up in form to receive us, the women standing in front crowned with funeral chaplats of the same plant. We had no sooner arranged ourselves opposite than they commenced the tangi, assuming all the gestures of the most profound grief, wringing their hands and shedding floods of tears. When this indispensable custom was satisfied, the ladies retired to the rear, and we to the seats which had been prepared for us. Te Eei Anataua then came forward ; he is the head chief of the place, and the father of Piripi, who fell in the fight. He loudly bid us welcome, and said that we had come to the Eva Taniwha, meaning the place where the war originated. He knew we had come to reprovehim, "but," said he, "let me be smitten by the good man, and not by the evil." He was ready to attend to our council: all the time he was speaking the women kept up a kind of suppressed cry. Many speeches were made on both sides; a bountiful feast was produced, each chief of the Ngatiruanui came and saluted our party with the hongi. The speeches were afterwards resumed, and it was late before they terminated. In conclusion, it was unanimously agreed to leave the making of peace with Greorge King and myself, and to abide by the terms we might decide upon." The Natives. —In our last number, under the head of "Local Intelligence," we published an account of a Maori meeting at. Taupo; at which it was decided that no more land should be sold to Europeans outside of certain limits, therein described. We received this intelligence from a quai'ter on which entire reliance may be placed. At the same time, referring to previous experience of native resolutions, we do not despair of effecting purchases of the land so 'tapued,' if the means at the disposal of Government are judiciously and liberally used. Laud which the natives have sworn to retain, they have subsequently sold. An accidental quarrel, a bit of private pique, influences them, as well as Europeans. A man says,' hang me if Ido this,' he does it a day, or a week after. ' When I said I would die a bachelor, I never thought I should live to be married'—such was the declaration of Shakespeare's Benedict, and it has been uttered by Benedicts matrimonial and political, savage and civilized, from Shakespeare's day to this. We do not therefore place any great reliance on these native determinations not to sell land. For their pigs there is no active market; their potatoes are a diug—for their corn and fish the demand is small. They want money, and they can only get it by selling land, and land they will sell to such men as Mr. Me-

Lean, who knows how to deal with the savages.—' Chronicle,' Dec. 25. The quarterly returns of the customs of the Port are about being furnished. At a casual glance we find that £ 102.3 J6s. sd. has been paid within the Quarter ending yesterday for Import Duties. And that the value of exports for the same period is very little short of £2000. In a subsequent number we shall publish a table of Imports and Exports.—lbid.