To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. New Plymouth, March 9, 1848.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 276, 22 March 1848, Page 3

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. New Plymouth, March 9, 1848.

Sir, — Your readers, some of them at least, may recollect that only a few months since, comparatively speaking, Captain Grey came to New Plymouth. What a hearty welcome we gave him as he stepped on Taranaki ground for the first time ! He listened to our long list of sufferings and misfortunes, and by promising us a great change for the future, led us to believe we had nearly outlived them. Tribes who had trampled onus were sternly rebuked and threatened ; their claim to the district ridiculed ; and William King and his natives warned not to quit Waikanae for New Plymouth, from whence they would, if necessary, be marched back by toldiers. Captain Grey has, however, since discovered that his threats in each instance were perfectly inoperative. The natives living in the district, with here and there an exception, have been most provokingly consistent, as their behaviour to his Excellency on the Ist instant proved ; and William King has made his arrangements to come to Waitara — though a regiment of soldiers might be there to receive him. And what is the ready course adopted by Captain Grey? The fulfilment of his deliberate threat to the natives, and of his word to us as a Governor? Just the reverse. He now foresees immense advantages to us in increased trade from the residence of William King and his people at Waitara; they are highly civilized, and will exercise the arts of peace, at least so long as inducement offers ; and his Excellency really could not say No to his faithful allies in the South, because they will come with or without it. What can be more miserable than the reasons advanced by the Governor for his change ? Six or seven hundred natives will increase trade, and he trusts to confine them to the North side! And of what is this North side composed ? A portion of the settlement containing a very large extent of surveyed and available land, of which 1500 acres were disposed of to the Company's purchasers in 1840^-1. And why, if natives at present residing here brave the Governor, and William King's mob determine to come up of their own free wills, should the last named be satisfied to live on the North bank only ? Can any one answer this in the affirmative? The recent doings of Captain Grey in New Plymouth in pernicious results, will rival those of his predecessor Captain Fitzroy. But the blame, apparently, does not entirely rest with Captain Grey. It is stated, on authority, that Colonel Wakefield, expressed himself to Captain Grey at Wellington favourable to the removal of the natives from Waihanae to Waitara ; and moreover offered to transfer this settlement to the Government ; which, if true, is one of the most infamous schemes everplanned for our ruin. So, then, New Plymouth is to have its present ungovernable native population augmented by hordes from Waikanae, and other parts of the South j men who successfully, and with perfect ease, prevent the occupation of Waikanae by the colonists of Wellington, of which it is a rural district ! Yes, if the above report be true, that Waikanae may be no longer withheld from the settlers of Wellington, clamorous for the fulfilment of the Company's engagements to them', Colonel Wakefield freely and willingly consents to New Plymouth becoming the abode of all natives who stand in the way of his own favourite settlement. I am, Sir, your's &c, JFui.