To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Straits Guardian.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 14, 11 January 1845, Page 2

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Straits Guardian.

Sir, —ln reply to the call made upon me in the leading article of your paper of the 4th instunt, to give the .settlers that full and accurate information respecting recent events at Taranaki, which I alone can furnish, and to the question of what course I have adopted in respect to them, I have no hesitation in placing at your disposal, for the information of your readers, the accompanying copies of correspondence on the subject. I am willing to admit, in reference to your strictures on the concealment of the proceedings of the New Zealand Company and their Agents, that the position held by the Company in relation to the settlers under its auspices and to the public renders it desirable that the utmost frankness in regard to measures affecting other interests with their own should be displayed. But I distinctly deny that any transactions of that nature have ever been " studiously " concealed from the settlers, or longer than some pending correspondence, some obviously prudential motive, or a want of a channel of communication rendered necessary. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, W, Wakemeld. Principal Agent of the New Zealand Company.

{Copy.-* No. 3>-44.) Wellington* Nov. 1, 191%. Sir, — I have to acknowledge the receipt by the overland mail of your despatch as in the margin, (No. 52-44, Sept. 30, 1844.) With reference to the observation in your report for September that, " if the sura needed " for compensation to natives " does not exceed that mentioned by the Governor, viz. £350 or at most £500, you feel -assured of being able to raise it as well as tha amount wanted for other expenses out of the means at your disposal, except perhaps for some small amount," I have to inform you that I am prepared to sanction and co-operate in any steps you may find necessary, under the extraordinary and pertinacious disallowance of Mr. Spain's award by the Governor, to ensure peaceable possession of the land by the settlers. I must, however, in recording my entire disapproval of making payments to those who were slaves or voluntary absentees at the time of the sale of the land, recommend you to resist, to any extent short of sacrificing the above-named object, any claims, a compliance with which may establish a precedent for similar demands by natives who may think fit, either from the encouragement held out to them by the Governor's proceedings, or any other motive, to return to the New Plymouth block hereafter. In the state of the Company's finances, I shall be unable to honor your drafts for any portion of the payment demauded by the Governor. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, (Signed) W. Wakefield. J. T. Wicksteerf, Esq., N.Z.Co's. Resideut Agent, New Plymouth.

(Copy No. 5-1-44.) Mew Plymouth, Nov. 9, 1844. Sir, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch (No. 32-44) dated the Ist instant, containing instructions relative to the settlement of the Land Question in Taranaki. His Excellency the Governor arrived yesterday evening in the Hazard, which vessel | immediately sailed for Kapiti, to return next week and convey the Governor to Auckland. Immediately after landing, and before I received your despatch (whirh unaccountably i was not not delivered to me till the middle of this day by Mr. Secietary Hamilton, to whom you had entrusted it), his Excellency, with Captain King and Mr. Forsaith, called upon me to enquire what amount of money I could [ put into his hands for the purpose of treating with the natives ; at the same time expressing his own readiness to advance an equal sum. I replied, that until the question of title was so settled as to enable me to collect debts and effect sales, I was not prepared to expend any more of the Company's funds in payment to the natives ; but that if his Excellency could himself make such a settlement, I would repay the amount he advanced, provide 1 it did not much exceed the sum he formerly named — £350 to £500. The Governor thought that on those terms he should probably succeed in his negotiations with the natives, so far as the actual settlers are interested ; but he would not undertake to secure the property of absentee owners. This is the present state of the ques ion ; of its progress, if any is really made, you will be advised by the earliest opportun ty. In the meanwhile, you may rely upon my not entering into any engagement by which the interests of the absentees will be sacrificed, or the "Company deprived of the advantage of Mr. Spain's award, in the event of any proceedings being taken against the Company in England on the plea that the land sold was not fairly purchased in the first instance from the natives. I think that a gieat point will be gained if the actual settlers are secured from molestation by the maoris; and that thereby the whole question will be virtually set at rest. At all events, nothing more will be paid, except in exchange for a substantial benefit. I hope you will think that so far, I have acted in compliance with the spirit of your despatch, though I had not seen it at the time the Governor called upon me. His Excellency, this morning had a long interview with the labouring people, who complain of low wages and want of employment during the few weeks preceeding the harvest — evils, as I took care to assure the Governor, arising solely from the delay in settling the Land Question, which has prevented several capitalists from commencing agricultural opera- , tions. His Excellency promised to send a ' vessel in the course of next month to take about twelve miners with their families toj Auckland, whence they might proceed to the • Barrier Island, and obtain work in the copper mines. The other labourers and artizans, he recommended to remain at New Plymouth,

and promised them present employment in Some pubite work at 2s. 3 day for five days in thfeweefe* ile complained of the number of men be&ad©n his handset -Nelson, Wellington, and this place in -eortsequence of the Company's " failure ;" specially when the low condition of the Treasury compelled him to reduce Government salaries one half. His Excellency might have said, as regards New Plymouth at least, that want of money forced him to suspend payment of their entire salaries ; as even the constables' wages are many weeks in arrear. How the Governor will find the means of dealing with the natives, and paying the labourers it is not easy to comprehend. He has already offered his debentures to almost every gentleman in the place At ten per cent, discount; but nobody will take them. It is not believed that any net revenue will be derived from the tax of one per cent, on property and income, and therefore that security for the redemption of the debentures does not exist. His Excellency intends to visit the Waitera on Monday, and talk to the natives Oil Tuesday. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, . (Signed) J. T. Wicksteeb. Resident Agent for New Plymouth. Col. William W r akc-field, Principal Agent New Zealand Company, Wellington.

(Copy.— No. 33-44.) Wellington, 30th November, 1844. Sir, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches numbered and dated as in the margin. (No. 53-44, 31st Oct. ; 54-44 9th November.) The Report for the month of October, enclosed in No. 53-44, more unsatisfactory in respect to the occupancy of the land by the settlers than any hitherto made by you, in respect to the question of occupancy of the land by the settlers than any hitherto made by you, in consequence of the proceedings of Governor Fitzroy on his first visit to New Plymouth, when he disallowed the Commissioners award, and of his failing to return thither, according to his promise, at the beginning of September, I believe, (instead of October, as recorded by you,) is hardly less favourable than that of the state of the question during his Excellency's last visit, communicated to me in your despatch oF-the 9th instant, No 54-44. Subsequently, your private letters of the 16th and 22nd inslant, written at the close of the Governor's sLiy, have acquainted me that he was about to leave Tarauaki without having effected any arrangement of the disputed claims, or bound the New Zealand Company to any line of conduct regarding them. On the eve of the departure of a vessel direct to England, which will convey these reports to the Directors of the Company, and of an opportunity of communicating with yourseU", I anticipate your official account of the failure of the Governor to adjust the disputes he himself has raised by not ratifying the Commissioner's decision on the Company's claim to the block of land of 60,000 acres, which comprises the settlement, and by his instructions to the Sub-Protector of Aborigines Mr. Mac Lean. A recapitulation of the state of the case, and a few remarks may, in some measure, guide your future conduct in relation to. The proceedings of the Commissioner's Court in June, as recorded by you in your report for that month, made you fully acquainted with the purchase of the land by the Company in February 1840. In the month of October of the following year, Governor Hobson set at rest, as ha thought, the right of pre-emption vested in the Crown and th<; conflicting interests between the Company and other purchasers by the publication in the Government Gazette, dated October 13, 1841, of a letter to me, as Agent of the Company, enclosing a schedule, in which the block of land at New Plymouth is especially included. The decision of the Commissioner, that the whole block claimed was fairly and fully purchased " from the natives," by proving our fulfilment of the condition, subject to which Governor Hobson engaged, on the part of the Crown^ to issue a grant of such land, places us in a position to call upon the local Government to. redeem its pledge. The completion of the scheme of the settlement and the engagements of the Company with the public, as well as the interest of the actual settlers, are dependent on the fulfilment of Governor Hobson's engagement. And as a measure calculated to quiet the minds of the natives, agitated as they have been by the colonisation of their country, the dtJays of the Court of Claims, and the everchanging measures of the present Governor, none could bo more effective or just. The Company's purchase was' made from

all the natives resident in the block, the remnant of a tribe of two thousand souls, which removed ten years ago to the shores of Cook's Straits, in Tear of their northern neighbours. I have lately had authentic accounts of a meeting in Queen Charlotte's Sound, of six hundred of these emigrants, who determined upon returning to the New Plymouth block of land, upon the ground that they have more right to it than the returned slaves from Waikato, whose claims the Governor has allowed. The district south of the Sugar Loaf islands, which the Company also purchased, but the claim to which was not brought by me before the Commissioner, in consequence of its former owners, who have returned to it since the European settlement was established between it and their enemies, will not alone be reinhabited. From the Sugar Loaf Islands to the Waitera, your settlement will bj over-run with its former occupants, induced to return thither more by the recognition by the Governor of their claims to utu than by any patriotic feeling. Already numerous individuals who have received payment from the Company under the Commissioners award for land in this district, are amongst you, and the most urgent for compensation for their claims in your settlement. I may mention Moturoa, who received £200 in March last for his pretended rights here. It is probable that it is unknown to the Government and Mr. Maclean that these men have already received compensation, and since Mr. Spain and Mr. Clarke are no longer parties to the adjustment of the claims in your district, 1 know cf no one there who can recognize similar claimants. Keither the Wesleydii Missionaries, Messrs. "N hitely, Sketfington, and Turton, nor the Sub-Protectors, Maclean and Forsaith, to whom the adjustment of the maori claims seems to be entrusted, can be cognizant of any of the Commissioner's proceedings in other districts that bear on {he question. The encouragement thus held out to the present resident natives of Waikanae, Queen Charlotte's Sound, Port Nicholson, and other parts of the shores of Cook's Straits, to the number of twelve hundred men, to return to the neighbourhood of Mount Egmont will, it appears to me, be productive of ruin to the colonists, and may hereafter convert the New Plymouth block into the battle fi-."ld of the New Zealand tiibes. I know how difficult it might be in your position to dispute the commands of the Governor, who can grant or refuse crowi.-tii.les to the lands in question, anJ the further payment demanded by him is not worth consideration, in comparison with the benefits promised on its disbursements ; but these are important points when considering the future prospect of the return of hundreds of natives, and the virtual o/erthrow of the scheme of the settlement involved in a compliance with the proposed restrictions of it and the spoliation of the absentee land-owners. The prudence of the decision you have come to of making no payments to the natives except for advantages actually obtained is evident ; but it strikes me that any further payment to them would be likely to act as an encouragement for other and larger demands, and to bring about the mischievous consequences to which I have before adverted. My opinion is that any further attempts to remodel the settlement, as projected and founded, and to sacrifice the interests, of the absentee land-owners, should be resisted ; that the Company should abide by the Commissioner's report, which is promised before the end of this year, and that no payment should be made to the natives which may form a precedent for future demands. In pursuing this course, we must trust to time and some future Governor to repair the mischief done by the present one, and to the fear of the Waikato's deterring the natives from returning from the Straits in the unsettled state of the question. The increase of the white population, the future presence of soldiers, under another Governor, may secure the settlers against aggression from the natives, and steady demands for justice to the Company and the purchasers from it, may maintain the settlement in its integrity. The measures attempted to be carried out by the Governor, in which you have naturally thought yourself bound to acquiesce, can, in my opinion, only lead to the disturbance of the settlement for an indefinite period of time, to the sacrifice of the Company's and the absentees property in it, and to the probable resumption ot the entire block by one or other of the native tribes. J am far from wishing to attiibute Any bad motives to Governor Fuzfroy-for the confusion that his measures have introduced into the , Company's settlements, and New Plymouth in particular. It was certainly at the request of the settlers that he attempted to adjust the disputes here when Mr. Spainjiud Mr. Clarke Jan., bad failed to do so, and I had every wish that the Company's officers should co-operate with his Excellency to carry out what was

apparently our common object ; but I cannot blind myself to the prejudices under which he labors, or acknowledge the wisdom or justice of .his proceedings at New Plymouth, | where his unsolicited interference has complicated an arrangement with the natives, to which they would have cheerfully assented but for the insidious report of its injustice made to his Excellency by Mr. Forsaith. I can only hope, that the Governor's return to Auckland, the admirable patience of the colonists, and the wholesome neighbourhood of the Waikato tribes, may combine to restore the settlement to its former promising condition, for which it was mainly indebted to your zealous and judicious exertions. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, (Signed) W. Wakefield. J. T. Wicksteed, Esq., N.Z.Co's. Resident Agent, New Plymouth.

(Copy. — No. 55-44.) New Plymouth, November 23, 1844. Sin, — Since I had the honor of writing to you on the 9th instant, his Excellency the Governor has been employed in negocialions with the natives for the final purchase of a "block" of land, the whole of which the Company is entitled to under Mr. Commissioner Spain's award. The land in question lies between a road cut behind the section owned by Captain Davy on the north side of the Watwaikaiho River, and the southern boundary of the Missionary station near the Sugar Loaves, extending inland to a hue cut beyond the sections occupied by Captain King, Mr. Rursthouse and others. I hope by the next opportunity to send jou a separate map of this block, but in the meanwhile can inform you that it embraces nearly all the occupied land in what may be called tbe Home District, excluding part of that owned by Mr. Smart, and the sections belonging to Messrs. E. Brown, Candish, Broadmore, and J Barrett. < The Governor, having failed in his attempt I to purchase the Mongauraki and Waiongona district from the very troublesome native chief Katatora, proposed to remove the settlers within that district to the "block" above mentioned ; or to carry them to some other part of the Island — Wangaroa, Kafia, or to the country nearer Auckland, making an allowance at the rate of one half, two thirds, and three fourths of their outlay^ respectively during first, second, and third years of tliPir occupation. The sum required to meet this engagement has been computed to amount to £1,345 Us. Bd. the total estimated outlay being £2,402 19s. Id. The setters were to defray the expense of inland removal of their crops, houses, &c. The disinclination to leave the settlement was universal ; but no final decision has yet been given as to the removal within the home block. It is, however, most improbable that more than two or three will accept the Governor's offer, both because the loss on removal of property, and re-construction of buildings would be great and the quantity of land within the block barely sufficient, although increased by the belt round the town and four sections of native reserves, which the Governor has placed at my disposal for the purpose of effecting this arrangement. The chief inducement for removal is the Crown Title and protection of property, which the Governor has unreservedly and repeatedly offered to those within the Hi me District. I enclose copies of a communication received yesterday from the Governor and my reply of this days date ; irora which you will obtain an outline of the plan which his Excellency has determined to pursue. I have as yet no reply to my request for a distinct and written engagement to give a Crown title and protection; but I understand both will be forthcoming. In reply to his Excellency's letter you will perceive, that I expressly repudiate any liability on the part of the Company to an additional payment beyond £500, which was the outside sum the Governor assured me wonld be required, when on his last visit to Taranaki. I have also, during the negociation with the natives, protested against payment to those absent at the time of the sale, and repeatedly against additional "utu" to those who then received so much, and who are now the most troublesome and importunate for more compensation. The Governor will not listen to anything against the claim of absentees; but has often appeared to acquiesce in the justice of my remonstrance against giving mere to those who, according to his Excellency's own opinion, must have already been greatly overpaid ; inasmuch as they were deemed owners of a very large district, instead of a fraction of it. Yet a few minutes afterwards, the Governor will act, as' if there never had been any previous transactions, and tbe whole business is recommenced.

I consider the Company's property, taken as cash by the Government, as on the whole fairly valued. It comprises many articles now utterly useless to the Company, and constantly becoming less valuable from wear and tear. < Although a quantity of land now about to be secured to the Company and settlers is very small, only about 3,800 acres, it comprises most of that to which the natives have attached the highest value, and I have reason to believe that little difficulty will be experienced in acquiring large additions to it. Already several offers are made ; but having found land for the immediate wants of the actual settlers, it is not my intention at present to appear ready to purchase more. In the meanwhile, it is not impossible that the extraordinary and most arbitaiy proceedings of the Governor may be checked by the interference of the Home Government. Nothing, you may be assured, but pressing necessity has induced me to accede so far to the Governor's proposition. The amount of the additional payment now being made in blankets, guns, tobacco, cattle J and is about £300. His Excellency appears to treat his brother Commissioners of Native Reserves, and to deal with that property, in the same slashing manner he adopts towards the Company's officers and the Company's land, I have mentioned his making over to me the four native reserves within the " Home block," and you will observe in the last paragraph but one, of the enclosed copy of his Excellency's letter, that the Tiustees of the native reserve are to obtain land in future by shall purchases from the natives. Thus it would seem that, as regards Taranaki, the whole scheme of na*ive reserves is annihilated : for in future the Trustees, not the Company, are to purchase land, out of non-existent funds. The natives have been signing the deed of sale this day, and the Governor is to take his departure m the Hazard, for Auckland, on Monday next. I had hopeJ to have forwarded you by this mail, a statement of the conclusion of the affair, but this will not be effected before Monday, if then. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant (Sigued) J. T. Wicksteed. Resident Agent for New Plymouth. Col. William Wakefield, Principal Agent New Zealand Company, VVellington.

(Copy.) | New Plymouth, Nox\ 22, 1844. Sir, — Under the present difficult and very critical circumstances of this Settlement, I am obliged to take unusual measures tor the assistance of the settlers here ; and for the tranquility of the colony in general ; measures of winch I must bear the whole responsibility — and I now call on you, as the Resident Agent of the New Zealand Company, to aid and assist me to the utmost of your means. The circumstances to which I principally refer are : — the suspension of payment by the New Zealand Company ; the detective title to land in this neighbourhood ; and the consequent distress prevailing in this settlement. The measures I am about to take, or have already taken, with a view of diminishing the evil effects of such a state of things are the following :—: — 1. To secure the rightful possession of a small block of Jand, about the town, sufficient for the piesent occupation of the settlers, by completing thot small part only of the purchase said to have been made by the New Zealand Company. 2. To remove outlying settlers from distant | locations, to land within the boundaries of I such a block. 3. To remove settlers from Mongoraki, or that neighbourhood, within four months irona this date, unless, within that time, the free consent of the native owners of the lands, on which those settlers are now resident, be obtained for their occupation of them. 4. A valuation of the outlay, or expenditure, on such lands respectively, has been completed, and an allowance will be made by Government, on account of the New Zealand Company, to each settlers so removed, to enable him to establish himself in a nearly equivalent position, on other land given in exchange. 5. Settlers so removed to be allowed to choose unoccupied land withiu the boundaries of the said block ; exchanging acre for acre outside the " town belt," or one acre within the belt for two acres of other land. 6- To enable you to effect such exchanges the more readily, the whole of the town belt, deluding spaces intended for parks, will be plnced at your disposal, for this purpose only. 7. Reserves, hitherto intended for the natives, within the said small block, and not required for their present use or occupation, will likewise be placed at your disposal, for' the above mentioned- purpose alone.

8. To enable you to complete purchases of land outside the boundaii'es of the aforesaid small blcck, the Crown right of preemption will be waived in favour oF the New Zealand Company only, throughout the whole extent of the large block of land already surveyed by the Company, and said to contain about sixty thousand acres. i 9. To enable you to make payments for the several portions of land to be purchased, or of which the purchase is to be completed, the Government will advance funds from time to time, on such satisfactory secu-ity as the New Zealand Company's property mly afford. 10. A survey having been held, by my desire, on the New Zealand Company's boats, stores, cranes, and storehouse, as shewn in the enclosed documents. lam ready to accept these effects, for the purposes of Government, at the valuation annexed in the accompanying report of survey, as an equivalent for so much sterling mouey advanced by Government. More laud may be obtained, by small purchases from the proper owners, lrom time to time ; and, in a similar munne/, land, for tha future benefit of the natives ihemselve-, may he obtained by the trustees of native reserves. By adopting these measures, I believe that the settlement will be beneficially concentrated, and that prosperity will gradually follow. 1 have, &c. &c, Robert Fitzßoy, Governor, • J. T. Wicksteed, Esq., J.P., &c, f Resident Agent of the New Zealand Company for New Plymouth.

(Copy.) New Plymouth, November 23, 1844. Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a communication fro,n your Excellency relative to the present state of this settlement; (No. 22, 1844.) together with avaluation of certain property belonging to tho New Zealand Company, and an estimate of sums proposed to be allowed to outlying settlers ; in the event of their removal to laud iv the neighbourhood of the town. I observe that your Excellency takes upon yourself "the whole responsibility" of the measures which your Excellenry deems advisable " under the present difficult and verycritical circumstances ol this settlement ;" ami it therefore appears unnecessary that 1 should "say more than express my\ejdirtess to '• aid and assist" your Excellency to the utmost of my ability. At the same time, I beg permission to remind your Excellency, that a suni exceeding £500, is al! that I am at present authorized to provide out of the Company's funds, to complete the purchase of the eutire block, containing GO,OOO acres. Any additional outlay for that or any of the purposes mentioned in your Excellency's letter, will, I understand be made solely on your Excellency's authority ; the terms of re-payment to be hereafter arranged between her Majesty's Government and the Directors of the New Zealand Company. The store-house, boats, cranes, &c , will be at the service of Government when required ; and in lieu thereof the Company will take the sum proposed by your Excellency, and receive credit to the amount of £332 17. There are still two or three points, the subjects of conversation which I have been permitted to hold with your Excellency, ou which, as they are not expressly mentioned in. your letter, it would' be satisfactory to the settlers to know your Excellency's determination before the departure of the Hazard. Perhaps, therefore, your Excellency will be kind enough to state when a Crown Grant may probably be expected for the small block, the sale of which is now matter of treaty with the natives ? and whether in the interval that ! may elapse between your Excellency's departure and the issue of the Crown Grants, as well as after it has been issued, the actual settlers will be preserved from molestation by the natives ? Also, whether in the event of your Excellency's inability to station a small body of soldiers in the settlement, an armed constabulary will be established, or a voluntcvr force sanctioned, strictly for the protection of the inhabitants and preservation of the public peace. I have the honor to remain, &c.,. (Signed) J. T. Wicksteed, N. Z. Co.'s Principal Agent for New Plymouth. His Excellency Governor Fitzrby, &c. &c.

(Copy.) Wellington, 13th Dec. 1844. ■ Sir, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt, on the 7th instant, by the overland mail, of 1 :yout depatches as marked in th.c toargfri. Dup. No. 54-44, 9th Nov, Original '%<>. 65-44, 23rd Nov. '- - * The; contents of private letters tecifotfirhy me from England on the same day, •h'tftu'iie?'

ing that the Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the differences between the Colonial Office and the New Zealand Company, had passed resolutions, the result of which will, I trust, render nugatory all Governor Fitzroy's acts at Taranaki, alone prevent me from viewing the proceedings reported in your last communication of Nov. 23, No, 55-44, in the light of a virtual dismemberment of the settlement of New Piymoutb, and of a j cessation of the Company's functions therein. , When in my letter to you of the Ist of November, No. 82-44, I expressed my willingness to sanction and co-operate in any steps you might think right to adopt in the adjustment of the question of title to land, I did not for a moment contemplate your compliance with any plan that could produce such serious results, or affect the Engagements of j the Company, or the interests of the absentee land-owners, because such grave considerations are not entrusted to us by the powers of Attorney we hold from the Company which, it is my opinion, you have exceeded. I was undisturbed, likwise, on these points in con- i sequence of the assurance contained in your despatch of the 9th of November, No. 54-44, that I might " rely upon your not j entering into any engagement by which the interests of the absentees would be sacrificed, or the Company deprived of the benefit of Mr. Spain's award." ] I can only account for the discrepancy between your intentions as above expressed, and your ready compliance with the propositions of the Governor, as well as for that between the determination yo« privately informed me on the 22nd November you had come too, " of only offering payment for land, to be secured by a Crown grant, in the proportion of £500 for the 60,000 acres awarded by Mr. Spain, or £30 or thereabouts for 8,800 acres," and the fact of your placing "at the service of the Government, when required," property of the Company tc the value of £382 17s. Od., as recorded in •your reply to the Governor dated the 23rd of the same month, for a verbal promise of that portion of the block, by supposing that you. were taken at a disadvantage by the deferred period of the Governor's written j paopositions and the hurry of his projected j departure from Taranaki. I cannot admit Uiat Captain Fitzroy's willingness to bear the whole responsibility . of meastfres calculated to disturb the scheme '■ of the settlement, place the lands of the Company and those of the absentee purchasers from it in and near the town at the town at the disposal of some of the resident country land owners, or to involve the Company either in a vast expense .for further purchases of land, already declared its property, or in breaches of engagements innu* znerable to its purchasers in England rendered it " unnecessary that you should say more than express your readiness to aid and assist him in such measures to the utmost of your ability." I can imagine no other reason than the haste, which is apparent in the negociations, for jour omitting to protest in the strongest terms against the ungrounded assumption of the Governor, that the Company's title to land in the neighbourhood was defective, and that that, combined with the .suspension of payment by the Company, was the cause of the distress prevailing in the settlement. I consider it due to the character of the Company to record my unqualified contradiction of»such mis-statements, and to repudiate any tacid admission of their truth. The land in question has been solemnly awarded after a lengthened and patient investigation into its sale and purchase, by a Commissioner appointed under the Queen's sign manual, to be the property of the New Zealand Company, the assumed distress amongst the labouring population is, I am assured by yourself, of trifling amount, and entirely caused by the interference of the Governor with Mr. Spain's award deterring land-owners from employing hands ; and the suspension of payment by the Company has no reference to the settlement of New Plymouth, where none of its servant's salaries are in arear ; where its expenditure on other objects had nearly ceased before a cessation of outlay on its part became a measure of policy calculated to secure justice from the Home and Local Governments, and where an absolute debt to the Company to a considerable amount for sales of land will be sacrificed by the accomplishment of Captain Fitzroy's designs. I must also protest againrt the delusive promises held out to settlers and labourers to abandon the settlement for the neighbourhood of Auckland. Io the. daily expectation of receiving intelligence from the Court of Director to r the effect that, upon the recommendation of Parliamenti.the Governor will be instructed by the Colonial Minister to make grants of land to the Company in conformity with the conditions^ of the agreement of November, 1840, #>th.c extent of Mr, Pennington's awards,

without calling upon the Company to extinguish the native title thereto, 1 will not remark upon the propositions made by the Governor further than to express my earnest disapproval of their adoption by the Company on the general ground that they are subversive of the plan of the settlement, and involve liabilities which neither you nor I have authority to incur on its behalf. I must not omit, however, to notice particularly two clauses, Nos. 4 and 10 of the Governor's project, for the purpose of cautioning you specifically against a compliance with them, and for any breach of engagement by you on the part of the Company, I am prepared to take the whole responsibility by withholding my adoption of them. I allude to the liability exacted in clause No. 4, for a sum of money amounting to £1345 11s. Bd., to meet an engagement entered into by Captain Fitzßoy with some settlers in the Mongauraki district, in allowance of the valuation of the outlay made by them on lands, from which he would now remove them. It must be fully understood by these settlers that the Company does not recognize the arrangement respecting them by the Governor, to whom alone they must look for compensation, and I cannot consent that any additional outlay for the above named object or for any other similar purpose, such aJ> that alludeJ to in the eighth paragraph of your despatch, No. 55-44, be made on the understanding, either expressed or implied, that the terms of repayment are to be "hereafter arranged between her Majesty's Government and the Directors of the Company." With respect to the clause No. 10, in which Captain Fitzßoy informs you that upon a survey held by his desire on the Company's boats, stores, cranes, an 1 storehouses as shewn in enclosed documents (copies of which you have oramitted to forward) and of his readiness to accept those effects for the purposes of Government, at the valuation he had caused to be made, as an equivalent for such sterling money advanced by the Government. I must decidedly object to its adop idii-for other reasons beyond the one already noticed that your previous engagement with -the Governor, which I unwillingly and in spite of my conviction of its inexpediency ratified, only went to pledge the Company to £500 for the entire block er to payments in that proportion on peace meal acquisions. I disapprove of your placing at the disposal of the Government articles of such vital importance to the well being and progress of the settlement, as the boats and the aparatus of their management. If I had ever had any intimation of such an intention on your part I should have done my best to make you aware of my opinion ot its impropriety. The designs of the Local Government towards the Company's settlements, when judged of by the past, can only be considered as hostile to their existence in their present shape. It is sufficient for us to look back at the uniform conduct of the Government to know that no steps will be omitted to disconnect the settlers and the Company, and to take away from the latter any power or influence it may possess. Situated as New Plymouth is, unlike this port or Nelson, where facilities abound for communicating with the anchorage, the Government being in possession of the boats, holds the power of annihilating the settlement by cutting off communication with it by sea. That such a step as laying up the boats on the plea of a deficient revenue, or in violation of a pledge given by Captain Fitzßoy is improbable, no one, who has any knowledge of passing events, can reasonably affirm. The cranes also, which form the subject of a strong injunction from the Directors to your piedecessor, and one of which, it being useless to you, I had designed for Otago, would it is, not unlikely, shortly give attraction to the wharf now in course of construction at Auckland. But these and the other articles are of less importance, as they can be again provided from England, and the loss on them, of which I am ignorant from the omission of the intended enclosure, No. 4, is immaterial in comI parison with the sacrifice of what may be called j the key of the settlement. The surreuder of the boats would also involve a termination of the most useful and prudent arrangement with Mr. Watson, the beach master, by v>hich you had ensured the service of the boat establishment without cost to the Company, and under your own inspection and controul. Should you, therefore, be unable to collect the sum for which you have consented to receive-credit from the Government on account of the Company's property, valued by the Governor, either from,those indebted to the Company for land or by the sale of the goods left at your disposal as security for his debt by Mr. . I must, on receiving a renewed credit from the Directors, provide the amount. Having, thus freely communicated to you my views on the propositions of the Governor, I have only to. express a sanguine hope that the next intelligence from the Directow^iriU remove any

embarrassment that your partial adoption of them may have occasioned, and to offer a recommendation that in the meantime you should in concert with the settlers, maintain inviolate the plan of the settlement as laid down in England, in the hope that the altered position of the Company, as regards the recognition of its rights, may enable the Court of Directors to fulfil all their views respecting its extension and advancement I feel no doubt that the confidence in the Company felt by the New Plymouth community up to the period of the visit of the Governor, and his efforts to unsettle them, has been already fully restored by the late intelligence. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, (Signed) W. WakefieldJ. T. Wicksteed, Esq., N. Z. Co's Resident Agent. New Plymouth.

(Copy, No. 56-44.) Sis., — la my last despatch (No. 55-44, November 23, 1844) I stated, that no reply had then been sent by the Governor to my application for a distinct declaration relative to a Crown Grant for, and protection for settlers within, the " block " recently purchased from the natives. I now enclose a copy of his Excellency's reply, received on the day of his depaature, and which may be deemed satisfactory as regards the Grant; but it remains to be seen how far the Police Magistrate will be empowered to act in the event of encroachments and aggressions by the natives. A copy of the deed of sale, signed by about one hundred natives, has been forwarded to Auckland, since the Governor left Taranaki ; and in the course of a few days an explanatory map, shewing the reserved pas and cultivated grounds, will also be despatched. Probably thtee or four of the Mongauraki settlers may be induced to take land in the Town Belt, but the main body will stay where they are ; and I think there is good reason to expect that they will meet with no serious opposition in future from the natives. Mr. Maclean, the Protector of Aborigines, appears to be exerting himself faithfully and assiduously, to bring about a good understanding between the two races. Previously to his departure, the Governor .lud a meeting with jtwelve Joi this Jprjncipal *,mlers. His Excellency enlarged on the beauty, extent, and fertility of the Taranaki district ; on the excellent character of the settlers ; on the advantage of the colony generally of having such persons so located ; on his own especial regard for the settlement, which, next to Auckland, he was resolved to protect and cherish, not, as had been strangely supposed, to injure and break up; and now that he had seen race of the Roadstead, he declared himself satisfied that its inconveniences had been exaggerated, whilst in some respects, such as facility of calling and leaving, and discharging cargo, it was superior to most harbours. He would keep up the boat I establishment at the lowest possible charge to the settlers. j In addition to the £500 to be received j from the Company, he was prepared to advance £1500 for the purpose of future purchases and the proposed arrangements for removing settlers from the Mongauraki to the Home " block." If the Government in England would not repay that advance, the Company might be compelled to repay it, by withholding a Crown Grant for part of the land they had lately bought at Otago. He had earnestly applied for more troops, and if he could only obtain an increase of half a company, he would station them in New Plymouth. It is unnecessary for me to make any remark on the means proposed for securing repayment of the £1500 to be advanced for Taranaki ; but it may be right to state, that there is but one opinion among the more respectable settlers as to its injustice. There is also much doubt whether the condition of the public finances will enable the Governor to redeem, his pledge at an earlier period. The amount of the property rate for the current year in New Plymouth will be between one and two hundred pounds. No crops, buildings, or lands being included in the returns ; which represent about £15,000 of strictly personal property, at its marketable value. I have the honor to be, &c, (Signed) J. T. Wickstbed, Resident Agent for New Plymouth. Colonel William Wakefield, Principal Agent New Zealand Company, Wellington.

(Copy.) New Plymouth, Nov. 25, 1844. Sib,— Referring the latter part of your letter, dated the 23rd instant, I am ready to

■give you," for your own information, as well as for the satisfaction of the settlers, an assurance that Crown grants will be prepared " for the small block of land, the sale of which is now matter of treaty with the natives," directly I receive a copy of the Deed duly signed, with a schedule of the reserved and excepted portions described by the Company's Surveyor, and certified by the Police Magistrate and Protector of Aborigines for this District. • Respecting the protection of the settlers I have given special directions to the Police Magistrate, to whom I beg to refer you and other gentlemen iv case of need. I have the honor to De, Sir, Your obedient humble servant, (Signed) Robert Fitzßoy, Governor. To J. Tylston Wicksteed, Esq., J.P., Resident Agent of the New Zealand Company for New Plymouth.

(Copy.— No. 35-44.) Wellington, 26th Dec, 1844. Sir, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches as marked in the margin. (Dup. No. 55-43. Original 56-44.) With respect to the contents of that of the 7th instant, No. 56-44, in which you bring down the proceedings of Governor Kitzroy to the time of his departure from New Plymouth, having so lately noticed those proceedings and your compliance with them, it is unnecessary for me to agairf*advert to them. Having, however, lately learned that the Government colonial brig, by which you will receive this letter, has heen despatched from Auckland for the express purpose of removing thither the witnesses in an approaching trial, and numerous individuals either forming the families of men who lately left New Plymouth overland, under promises of advantage held out to them by Captain Fitzßoy, or others of the labouring class under similar promises, the cranes, the abstraction of which I anticipated in my letter of the 13th instant, No. 34-44, I beg to call your attention to the caution I therein conveyed to you on the last named point. I regret to be obliged to disavow any of your measures. I consider that in this and other acts of the Governor, with which you so readily complied, you have been overreached, and I see no remedy for the iujury likely to accrue t& the seitlement, and for tha -heavy demands to which your submission to Captain Fitzßoy would subject the Company, thau to use the powers delegated to me by the Court of Directors of withholding its approval of your late proceedings. A reference to the Power of Attorney under which you hold your appointment, will remind you that you have exceeded your authority in disposing of the property of the Company without my consent, and although I expressed my willingness generally " to sanction and co-operate in «ny steps you might find necessary," I cannot but think' that you have overlooked the above mentioned clause in reference to your cession of the boats and other effects, your intention to dispose of which was unknown to me until after the arrangement was completed. It is true that, in the absence of specific directions from the Company's Principal Agent for the time being, you are empowered to act as you may think best for the Company's interests, but this must be taken as referring only to an occasion when it would be impossible to obtain the Principal Agent's opinion, and in this matter you had an equal opportunity of seeking instructions as upon the other subjects upon which you did communicate with 1 me previously to complying with Captain Fitzßoy's demands. Whether this view of the case, however, be correct or not, I have now to direct and instruct you to desist from the completion of the undertaking you entered into to give up the boats and cranes to the Local Government authorities, or, in case the delivery has taken place, to protest against the removal of any portion of them from the settlement of New Plymouth, upon the ground of my disowning, on the part of the Company, the steps you had adopted respecting them. I have the honor to he, Sir, Your most obedient servant, - (Signed) W. Wakefield. J. T. Wicksteed, Esq., New Zealand Company's Resident Agent for New Plymauth.