PAPERS CONNECTED WITH THE TARANAKI

" I appears to me that these resident natives, at the time of the purchase, were under fear of their opponents, the Waikato, and that they readily embraced the opportunity of selling their land, for tho purpose of getting Europeans to reside amongst them to protect them from their enemies; and, from the manner in which the purchase was effected, I am convinced that they entered into the transaction with a perfect knowledge of what they were about. " Richard Barrett, who had been many years in the country, having a native wife and family, and understanding their language and customs, was left amongst them between two and three months, explaining the whole transaction to them, and giving them ample time for deliberation. The result of which was that they accepted the offered payment, and signed the deed. "It affords me great satisfaction to be able to say, that Barrett's testimony in this and other cases where I have had occasion to examine him, corroborated as it has substantially been by native testimony, has led me to the conclusion that he has told the plain honest truth as to what took place in all the transactions between him and the natives when employed by the New Zealand Company ; and he has not hesitated to do this when his testimony has gone, in other cases, as much against hia employers as it has done, in the present instance, in their favour. " I shall report in favour of a Crown grant being made to the Company of a block of land delineated on the plan before me, between the Sugar Loaves and the Tauiwa, containing sixty thousand (00,000) acres, excepting the pahs, cultivations, and burying-grounds of the natives (as arranged between his Excellency the Governor and the principal agent of the New Zealand Company), the reserves for the natives, equal to one-tenth of the 60,000 acres, the Wesleyan reserve, and the reserve for Mr. Barrett, his wife and family, both which are also marked upon the plan ; and further excepting any portion of land within the blocks to which private individuals have already or may hereafter prove before the Commissioners a title prior to the purchase by the New Zealand Company. " I will now address a few words of advice to my friends the natives. You effected one of the principal objects of your sale ; you have been at peace with your former enemies ever since the Europeans arrived amongst you ; you have enjoyed the advantages of the introduction of civilization ; you have been able to sell your produce, and to obtain in exchange many articles of clothing and food hitherto scarcely known to you. The introduction of English money and labour amongst you has not only increased the value of the lands still reserved for you, but has taught you the way to cultivate those lands, to produce better food than you had been accustomed to grow, and thus to engage your attention in industry, instead of making and carrying on war against your neighbouring tribes ; and during this healthful state of peace and quiet, you have also had leisure to be taught the way to worship our Almighty God, and to lead a life here to ensure your happiness hereafter. " These blessings that I have described will be very much increased now that this land question is settled. There is ample land left for you and your children besides what I have awarded to the Europeans, and you will find your condition daily improved. " The Governor will afford you all every protection and assistance in his power, consistent with justice and equity; but, when he does this, he expects and insists that you will be fair and just to the Europeans. You must not, therefore, interfere with them, or obstruct them in the cultivation of their land; for if you do, after this, you will be liable to bo punished. " Aud I will now say to my own countrymen, that you must be equally guarded in not interfering with the native pahs, cultivations, burying-grounds and reserves, and, above all, you must on all occasions treat them with kindness and the utmost forbearance, recollecting that we have come to their country by our own choice, and that it is our first duty to improve them to every extent in our power, and that they are justly entitled to our utmost patience in teaching them the duties of civilized life, which we have learned from our youth upwards. " Having thus travelled out of the strict line of my duty in informing you of what my report will be, conceiving that it would conduce to the good of the settlement, I need scarcely add that, until my report is confirmed by the Governor, no Crown grant can issue; and that, therefore, nothiug that I have saidto-day can for one moment justify any force in taking possession of land, or in any other act towards the aborigines than could have been legally justified before my arrival in this place. " It affords me the utmost satisfaction to leave this settlement with the land claims settled, so faras my power as Commissioner extends." The court then broke up.

No. 9. EXTRACT FROM CHIEF PROTECTOR CLARKE'S GENERAL REPORT TO GOVERNMENT, DATED 31si JULY, 1844. The New Plymouth or Taranaki district has been a good deal agitated in consequence of the disputed title of the New Zealand Company. In several instances settlers have been located upon spots cultivated by the Natives, upon the plea that the Company had purchased these places ; to avenge these insults, the Natives have commenced clearing and cutting down timber upon other sections claimed by Europeans, with which in all probability they would not have interfered had they not been so greatly exasperated by the unjust occupation of their original cultivations. _ Both parties have been a good "deal annoyed, and I am afraid that a strong feeling of dislike is growing up between the two races.

10