PETITION OF MATENE TE WHIWHI AND OTAKI NATIVES.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1865 Session I, G-09

G.—No. 9.

PETITION OF MATENE TE WHIWHI AND OTAKI NATIVES.

PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES, 9th AUGUST, 1865. (Mr. FitzGeralJ.) WELLINGTON. 1865.

G.—No. 9.

Otaki, Akuhata 1, 1865. K.I A WIIITIHERA, K£ A KOUTOU TAHI KO TE BuNANGA, — E lioa e Whitihera na to matou rongonga ki to whakaaro i roto i tau pukapuka, te ara atu o a matou whakaaro i whakapaea atu ai ki a koe. Hei whakapuaki ki te Huinga nui o te Kawanatanga e uiahia maina e koutou. Ki te pononga te kupu kua rongo nei matou, kia uru tahi etahi o matou ki te Eunanga nui e nuthia maina e koutou, ka koa matou. Teua ra kia kaha mai to koutou whakaaro, me ou hoa. Toia atu kia main tahi i nga Ture mo tatou tahi. Tenei ano to matou hiahia kia whakaurua atu etahi o matou. Inaia tata nei i roto auo i nga ra o enei marama ki roto ki te Eunanga nui kia tokowha kia tokowhia ranei. Na, ko nga Kooti vvhakawa ino nga kohuru me nga taonga o matou o nga tangata Maori, kua rite tena ; ko o matou whenua e kapea ana ki waho e te Ture o te Kuini, o te Kawanatanga, te paanga mai otehe ki tena mea, tirotiro kau ana. Tena whakaritea mai he Kooti whakawa mo o matou whenua. Na kua rongo matou kua wahia te Tiriti i Waitangi e te Eunanga nui o Nui Tireni katoa kia hoko noa atu ai matou nga tangata Maori katoa, i o matou whenua ki nga pakeha noa iho, a he aha hold i waiho ai e taua Eunanga nui ano tetahi wahi iti i te wahi o Poneke ma te Kawana auo e hoko; e mea ana matou me wahi katoa kia kotahi te tikanga mo te penei i Nui Tireni. Kua whakaaturia atu e etahi o nga tangata ata noho ki te Kawanatanga te nui o ratou wahi whenua i roto i nga wahi o te hunga tutu, kua oti te panui kia tangohia mona na kahore ano i rangona te whakaaro o te Kawanatanga mo tona peheatanga i ana wahi o te hunga ata noho e rongo ana ki a ia, me te Kuini hold. He oti ano na matou. Na te iwi katoa. [tbakslatioh. ] Otaki, Ist August, 1865. To FitzGehalu, to you together with the General Assembly,— Friend Fitzgerald, because we have been informed in your letter what your thoughts are, therefore do we rest the channel of our thoughts upon you for you to express them to the General Assembly (of the Government), in which you are all acting. If the word which we have heard, namely, that some of us sit in the great Assembly in which you are all acting, is verified, then we shall be glad. Now therefore be your thought strong for the attainment of this end. Draw us thither, so that we all may together frame those laws to which we are all alike amenable. Our thought is still here for some of us to be caused to sit, even now at the present time during the days of the present month. Four or some other number of us. Now courts of adjudication in cases of murder or property of Natives, those have been established amongst us ; but our lands have been excluded by the laws of the Queen and Government, and now, if any difficulty in land matters arise amongst us, we stand aghast (look foolish). But now let us have a Land Court. We have heard that the Treaty of Waitangi has been divided (set aside) by the General Assembly of New Zealand, so as to enable us to sell our lands to Europeans generally ; and why has the same great Assembly excepted a small portion in the Province of Wellington, to be purchased only by the Governor ? We say : Let it be set aside everywhere, and let there be one course of action in this matter throughout the whole of New Zealand. Some of the people who have lived quietly have shown the extent of their lands within the portions claimed by those implicated in the rebellion, to the Government. These portions have been deelared in Proclamation to be confiscate ; but the intention of Government relative to those lands has not been heard by those people who have lived quietly and attended to him, and to the Queen also. That is all of ours. From the whole Tribe. (Here follow fourteen signatures.)

PETITION OF MATENE TE WHIWHI AND OTAKI NATIVES.