Later.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3190, 10 May 1879, Page 2

Later.

Last Night.

The meeting commenced this morning at 9.30. There were a large number of people present; more, I think, than at any previous one, and nearly all males. It was held a short distance from the Ministerialfbamp iS the square in front of Mauahiri's whare. ~ Lunch-caused an adjournment at midday, after Te Whanui's last speech. When your readers learb that there were twenty nine speeches made in the forenoon* :it will readily be understood that only a concise digest of what was said can be giTerii Topia opened the meeting, and- reiterated what Sir George Grey i said at Hikurangi; He told each chief to speak for himself and his own people, arid their own[thoughts.' He was followed by Wahanui, who, in a long' address to the Hauhaus, pluiged into a sea of dreamy religion and genealogical mysticism. He said that, in the days of the past he had been looking for a post to- tie' his canoe to, and he had tied the Tainui canoe to the post he had helped to fix (the King). He did not commence the strife; it commenced at the Treaty of Waitangi, arid where was he then •? It again commenced at Kororarika, and where was he then? War broke out at' Wau^ariui, and where was he then? It, again, broke out at Waitara, and where was he then ? ; Sir George Grey commenced war with the Ngapuhij and where was he .then? - Yet all the blame was cast on him; yet he had all the blame of the; strife cast upon him. Were they not ashamed of bo doing? He only wanted a post ;to tie I his canoe to; he looked for it> and there was none. He continued: I am not complaining that they are seeking to kill me. I had much trouble in looking for the post to tie my canoe to. All the work I did was to tiethe. carioe to the post. There'is a great deal''of talk ( ','. of mak'ng both races one. The thought is good, but who cut the rope at Waitara?, My mother the Queen was our mother; I rV:.d not divide from her but she.did from me. Stbk out', for Sir George. ,Grey. ■■;■; '' "'" l' !':> lV ''':'.';.')'' \"''^ ! Then Tawhiao, Hpri Earaka, arid Te .Ngakaus^pke briefly and were followedby, Major.. Kemp • of- W, anganui, v,whp, in telling the people who he , was, and fro ml what tribe he was descended, recounted ; his connection with the; late , war; Listen; to me, Sir George Grey,! you knew me when I was a young man at Wangan vi I Sir George Grey was the • post to; which myself and people were tied:- If you,' Hauhaus, are wronged, it is right for you to cry V you 'ought not to be silent because you* are .weak.- ; Let;the :aggrieved who have cause, talk with Sir /George Grey; let us leave all this kind of talk, let the past bury the past, and, commence afresh; let all the tribes who .put up the King* now.,make a fresh commencement. Let Sir; George Grey, and Tawhiao talk ; let ,the others keep silent. . r :;> ,:-;:;? 1 Manga (Rewi) then stood up and broke forth in'o a waiata or song, and »aid thai he wished to make the tree grow that'waa planted at Hikurangi. He had opened his hand ''frdnr Grey at; Waitara. 1 ;Tte word spoken at Hikurangi. seem to Kaye gone adnft^ !Hedidhotcallthi^nieeting, He continued —I am going to do as Sir 1 George Grejr does, to repeat what 1 Ke said at Hikurangi; My thought this day is to look over the - words,' and the works that divide, usj \ ■.•y ! :.. .r. ■;■; „;■;■/, y-y:-; J Tumui Tuiti, of Waikato, said, if we! see any faults in Sir George Grey, who is, to tell him of them. Ypu may all go to; Grey if you like, and get good. If, the people did not like his side let them go' away ; all of them could go to Sir .George' Grey if ihey liked, but he would not. ■ ; , Then Timoti Pohipi and Kere, who are of Ngapuhi, arose and uttered Ngapuhi thoughts, and were followed by Naku of Poto. Then Te Ngakau arose and stated that the natives did not' commence the Waitara trouble, but the Government, and they were blamed for it, although it was not their fault. Then Mohei, of Ngapuhi, spoke at some length, well and! forcible arguing for peace among all the tribes. All the tribes nearly helped to set up the King, and representatives pf all j the tribes were now present, and now : waS( the fitting time to make peace. Could they? No. The, King people .had the pakehas among them in their, very midst (alluding to Major Jackson and Mr Mair, who were sitting among the King people in the second ranks) sharpening an axe to out off their necks. It was the men inside their camp who were causing discussion. Some time ago McLean had a large bag of money given to him,: which he threw like corn all over the Island, for the fowls to pick up. At this time Grey was asleep, but he awoke and stopped sowing— btopped it all—and in his opinion it was the right sort of Government for bol'hways. '' ■ '■ ";;,'; ■■ /' \: ' Pukukawhata followed, telling Maku that be was right, but that he should

pay heed to the word of Wahanui and .Ngakau, and Waikato did not make the King alone; at other places there were small fish in the streams, but in the Waikato alone could the Tainwhas be found. He cited them all—the main men instrumental in King making, and the reason why the King was made in Waikato. All the tribes made the King, and not Te Whahanui. There was no need for strife; no white potatoe of Ngatirawkawa was wanted again. The talk at Hikurangi was repeated, and he did not want too many people 10 talk to Ngakau. He said that all the people blamed him for the war in the island, but he wished to be shown how they had been in the wrong, and he would make answer. Paora Tuhaere blamed Ngakau for war. He told him at Ngaruawahia not to hoist the flag, let the past alone, do no harm, go back to Taranaki; they had lost their men and their land, and now they wanted to lose more men and more land. There were still many old chiefs alive who knew how to look after the people. Tawhiao had better come fwith them, and then his words would come true, that he had power over the men of the Island. Come/to the: other;side, to his father Grey, who had the most men and, the most land. They had only less'than' a. quarter of the land, but then they would be able to stand firm. Te Wahanui had been telling them about Government money, and Government food, but the Queen's- , natives; did; 'not! obeg alms from the Government, while the Kiug people were, always.begging and would not stop this begging. Muihi of ,'Botorua: spoke a few words ;•, then> jTe Ngakau advised that Sir .George Grey and the King should join and the peace be kept. Major Te' Wheoro ;in reply stated that neither Sir George Grey or Mr Sheehan were in fault, but the'!main. men in making the King were Heuheu, Kuroa, and Manga; these were the party , who caused the strife. Let the past be buried, through these three men was/V^aikato lost, Manga had buried his past, and he himielf did not want to be killed again —meaning to have to suffer' further spoliation. Eewi said he had nearly signed his name at Hikurangi upon some conditions, but he had not; for he had ideas in his head which he wanted to workout;; ; „/.;. j^i/TOlcS '■

7 Sir George jQreyhere arose and said that Eewi and himself at Waitara after Hikurangi had agreed to plant the fcree. 'His hopes had fiden. 1, that good would hare resulted^ all over the island. The -question was why had the good understanding been departed from, made at jHikuringi and there confirmed. Let the reasons for this departure be , stated;) Let "all ithe objections be thrown out at this meeting, and then he-would know: 'what' answer shoiiWb£ injide tp the ;JB«ttpiK-'-'.'.' l !''! >'r'ik' IV--i.t 'C-:^^-,',: ,JCi ; Te Ngakau complained that, too much blame had been, thrown on him, and he wanted Wahanui's speech to be answered. Te. Wheoro said the answer to Waha--1 nui was from all the tribes. The sou of Mete Kinßi, from Wanganuij said^that Tawhiao claimed the mana over all the land, but his answer was that the Gjbvern: metit had the larger portion so they had better, make a peace with the GroVerJn'me'nt while the terms for such an^understanding were open. "•' The Waikato war spread all over the,island; .the Ngapuhi war. did not, the' Waitara did, not, nor did the Wanganui. That is my answer. \

; , Waibanui said the trouble did not come from him } he did not trouble the land,' but he bad to carry all the burden of blame. He i did, not .divide thp people; he had told them to pui the sword' .down,* and' we have done so and made peace. Where is your peaceP All the tribes came here ? .and . asked us ,to Cgol under the Queen. If their swords: were , now drawn, how could.,, jthe; tribes come here this; day? .1... have; put the sword .down, and have been! saying all the time—make peace. Let us| go on gently; I don't want you Grey toj talk"yet^l want the tribes to talk.; Don't be in a hurry; don't force the talk;: don't be in haste to^go away|;uatid then! we may come to an arrarigement.s ill U iPabri' HeuHu '', Snd Wherekawa and! Manga spoke briefly WEStt^-f^ s'i3,l M%\ Sir George Grey said: I have heard: you Manga. I was pleased with both; your expressions. .Very grave respqnsi-1 bility"rests on me, and I will tryjtO;jluicte! you to a right .conclusion. I will take; Whahanui's advice arid we will break upj now. I will think over what his been said, \ and will come back in an hour or two,! and I will try and guide you and try! to have a settlement of this aifair. The meeting then dispersed for, the mid-day meal. AFTSBNOON MBBTINO.

The meeting was resumed at 2.30 p.m. by Te Ngakau wanting to know in what war he had acted wrongly, and, as he spoke many times daring the afternoon, it will be a more concise plan for me to eummariie his thoughts than to advert to his idiomatic expressions. He, like Wahanui, appeared to consider himself a chief culprit, and wai pleased, he stated, to 'hear that all that participated in thej King movement were .equally ; to- blamed with f himself^ He "-'wanted to as| he j was r told ,to come > back? s tp^ -the; (Jueeri,' how he, was to "go. "'i, IJe could not return by being, called, on. to go. He must know the road that he. had to travel, or howcould;he- return. Howi could, he.j.cpme unless = the road were - ■shown to Kirn,,?' (And here I may say that i I think, to the best of my judgment, that the only question at the present time in their minds is the return tertns.) There was one important defection thisafterhoori;^, 'One j of the Poto people, a large wealthy land; owner, } Hopa Te; Banginga, i wha after stating his reasons for so doing—'that he was tired of strife, stood up m the crowd,; and taking his rug, walked over to our side of the. meeting..., J^gakau wants: evidently to come to terms advantageoug to himself* v MarihV^bf JltotoruaJ- %o6k a large part in the meeting, and spoke very strongly on the Government side. The Arawas, he said, helped to make the King once, but they did not -want one nbw.the people who madei! the King are. nearly. all gone away,, and the Waikatos alone were the people whbwere holding the stump. It was time to make peace, they had only a quarter of their land left> and the Waikatos did not want to lose that other quarter. About'ten men made the King,: and no more,' -he had no rangitira now, but the Waka Arawa let those who were out come in. He had seen the effects of the strife with his own eyes; if they stood in. with the Government they were all right.T Tney would save the other ,quarter.; nlje ; jhad beep accused of taking Government money for his advocacyj 'but it; wa:s 'a; long timtf' since he had seen any Government money, for the services he had ; rendered., There ensued, as I said, a long discussion wtcernjng wbat should be done, but only two

speeches demand attention, that of Grey and Eewi, which will have to be lent by the morning wires.

This day. The political proceedings have fffec* tually severed Manga from the King's party. B