NORTHERN NEWS.

North Otago Times, Volume II, Issue 27, 25 August 1864, Page 3

NORTHERN NEWS.

TAURANGA. SUBMISSION OF THE NATIVES.

The negotiations with the natives at Tauranga have been brought to a successful termination. The "New Zealand Herald" of the Bth inst. gives the following account of the Governor's interview with the natives: —Yesterday, the Queen's ship Harrier came in harbor from Tauranga, with the gratifying intelligence that at a runanga held on Saturday, at which his Excellency the Governor, Lieutenant-General Sir Duncan Cameron, and the Colonial Ministers, the Hon. F. Whitaker, and the Hon. W. Fox, were present, the whole of the rebels belonging to the Tauranga natives made an unconditional surrender of their arms, their king, their lives, and their lands. Their manner of signifying was, as might have been expected, performed according to Maori usage. Four sticks were laid at the feet of the Governor and party, one of which represented their lives, another the Maori King, a third lands, and the fourth their arms. Such, then, was the unconditional surrender of the Tauranga rebels ; to which the Governor replied as follows :— " At present I am not acquainted with the boundaries or extent of your lands, or with the claims of individuals or tribes. What I shall therefore do is this: I shall order that settlements shall at once be assigned to you, as far as

possible, in such localities a_ you may select, which shall be secured by Crown grants to yourselves and your children. I will inform you in what manner the residue of }'our lands will be dealt with—but as it is right in some manner to mark our sense of the honorable manner in which you conducted hostilities, neither robbing nor murdering, but respecting the wounded, I promise you that in the ultimate settlement of your lands the amount taken shall not exceed one-fourth of the whole land. In order that you may without delay again be placed in a position which will enable you to maintain yourselves as soon as your future locations have been decided, seed potatoes and other means of settling on your lands will be given to you. I now speak to yoa, the friendly natives. I thank you warmly for your good conduct under circumstances of great difficulty. I will consider in what manner you shall be rewarded for your fidelity. In the meantime in any arrangements which may be made about the lands of your tribe, your rights will be scrupulously respected."