TARANAKI. (Communicated to the Wellington Spectator.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 220, 8 July 1848, Page 3

TARANAKI. (Communicated to the Wellington Spectator.)

It is now nearly three months since the Govcrnor-in-Chicf communicated to the Resident Land Par j chasers in this settleme.it, his intsntion of effecting if possible, an iuiangemcnt with those natives at the southward, who h.ul expressed their intention of coming up, respecting Wai Ura j limiting thoir occupation ol thht district to tlie 1 md between the Tanhva, ! (our northern boundary) and tho north bank of Wiitaia ; and it it nearlj p that time since the departure of the Inspector of Police lor Waikanae, charged with the carrying out of that arrangement. Yet beyond a private account received Irom a gentleman at Wanganui, and vagne statements dwived from native sources, we, the land claimants, deeply i terested in the success or failtuc of the mission, arc kept most completely in the dark Admitting as a -general principle the expediency of offici d lesprve, it is pcifectly unnecessary ami useless to attempt it in an instance like the picsent, where natives (who do not understand it) are the people with whom the treaty is attempted to be effected. In the absence then of official explanation of an kind, it appear", acco ding to the private a°cou it adverted to, that at the time it was written, 587 native men, women, and children, had reached llangatiki from Wnkanac, They had with them 41 canoes, 5 boats, and about GO horses. And tluur future dis* positions at Waitarn and the other districts mentioned below will be as follows : about ',100 intend nettling on the l.md noith of the river Waitara, about 200 al Wa tiira, (whicli will include the south bank,) about 50 Pukelajm n a fives will join their tribes between Waitara and W'aiwakaiho, and the remainder of the 587 memiomd, will reside in different pai is of Tara* naki, tint is outside vnr southern boundaiy as fixed by Mr. Spain. So theic is every piouusc ot a thick sprinkling of native claimants amongst those we have ! already here, throughout tiie en'ire settlement of New Plymouth, as ongimlly maiked out, in disregaid oT the attempt", in the first place by thi\ at to keep them away altogether, and now of theeffoits of the govern- | ment to confine them, within certain Hinit3 in the | settlement bv 'reaty. And the WaiLuiue and Waitara question does not end here, but iuoreiee-* in perplexity. The concession recently made by Governor Grey with the humane desire of slu'lteiing this settlement from the immediate cons quencc of war to the European inhabitants, hais not met with the success anticipated by his Excellency, and really judging from the former indifference shown by these same natives ol Waikanae, we do not see on what ground the hope was founded- It was a veiy nuteiial part of his Excellency* piop&sal, as eonvaveft to them through the Inspector of Police, that on the remov il ol the natives to Waitaia, Waikanae would be finally abandoned by them,— so that if the urgency of the case culled for a sm render of a porlion of i Ins settlement to Wit emu Kingi and the othei absentee ilaimantb to it, Waikanae would at least be secured lo Wellington by purchase fron them | of the native title which his Excellency proposed to tike as valid without inquiiy, but it appears on tlir authority before quoted, that betwesn 2 0 and 300 natives have vi rouged to remain there, thus occupying both districts to the injury of Wellington and Taranaki. So we have here three distinct refusals by the Waikanae natives to be in any way influenced by the government, and nil arising out of ihe original question, of whether they should be permitted to come up at all to this place, — tho migration of 087 of their number against outers, their lefiisal iifiei wards to confine their residence at Waitara within the limits proposed by his Excellency, and the retention of Waikanae by the reminder of the tribe. Meanwhile pending this really difficult question, and the increasing uncertainty of ever possessing their oiiginal lauds, with so considerable a native immigration in viewj some of the settlers on the 10th inst., availed themselves of the Resident Agent's invitation to exchange into the Omata purchase, which it will he remembered was made by the government last October, a.ud since annexed to this settlement which it adjoins. The block consists or about 12,000 acres, a poition of which has been buiveyed, not as was the case with the original settlement in parallelograms, charming enough on paper, but with due tegard to the fcatuieu of the country. The biigantine Star of china, completed her loading on the 3rd instant, and sailed on the ioilowing day lor Sydney, with <)o tons of porulocs, being the first e\poit so that port ol produce raised from the soil in this tcttlement* The vessel was not fortunate during her stay, having aniv< d from Nelson in squally southerly weather on the Both ultimo, and the wind increasing from the same quarter, (along shoie) patted her cable at Motmoa during tho following afternoon* The occurrence may be % paitiy attributed to her eU cine lightness at the time, aiid consequent exposuie to the wind, Captain Dowker, to nuke as much iooin as possible tor cargo, having previously tluoivu ovciboard all his ballast, ; and to the same caus*- may be attri* buted the pat(iu!> of the second cable on the following morning. Notwithstanding the wind, the vessel uueler the Captain' 1 ; excellent management, regained her position at Moturoa, and lecovcred the lust anchor, which was buoyed- The second, owing to the mate's nculigenceol this necessary precaution, was left behind, but will be reco vci eel. Alter a season or unusual fineness, the weiitlicr has become unsettled and uncertain, and was so during the loading of the vessel, it wis however accomplished without the slightest damage lo the cariro, The Star ot China, is, to leturn from byclncy immediately, which will make her third trip to Taranaki direct this year. The iiequent occurrence of arrcar in payment of government salaries and other monies iv tuis settlement, is again the cause ol great inconvenience and disappointment to neat ly all classes. And as respects the n itives, it is to say the least, unlucky, lor the period limited in the deed leu payment ol the second instil! incut on the land at TutaraimaKa, now occupied by Mr. Cutfield, «). P., as a cattle run, is past ; and completion of Mr. Hell's puichasuat fukelapu is postponed lot wanto means lor which an assurance was given. Consideiing the extreme jealousy of the n.i.ivci, and the importance of. a ngid adherence by us to ah ciii>a!>enn nts with them, especially those in reference to laud, the non-aiiival of the government briir is unioilunatc. I'iobiibly the amount in arrcar has been lot warded in that vessel to the Wellington bank. A similar arrangement was made on a former occasion, and in pra'ticc was found very inconvenient It led to the is^ue ol cheques lo large amount on the Wellington bank, lor which ea h was procuied when ])ossi'>l iv the settlement to meet the various claims on the g'MCTiiincnt, a system uhirh at times cettahily allcndeu iauhtios to mediants m their transactions

with WHlinn-ton, but ic'ihlcil chciiVlimi, .'.ml v i ■>• ((HiKi"i<l iulitious uvdil. 'J'lieu 1 l' Mliclj in* rc;i on ulu', as in (!u> oilh'i icUliMiitiil'-, ipeck hhouklnot he hnv,,u(! (Ho Taiaiialci, uml .ii slati-d lnncs. 'J liosiitooiHT Lm nul.i an ivofl vi the Wijitnra on tlic i 2llli ultimo, > oin Ni Kdii, Witli si low Wriikaiiae uitivcs, l^y whom she js ouru'd.- M,iy !■>, 18 IS.