PAPERS ON TARANAKI LAND QUESTION, FROM 1839 TO 1«59.

peace made by the Puketapu family, and his war flag still flew from the pa. Several of the Ninia people who had been adherents of Rawiri, and had fought side by side with Ihaia, now conceived he infamous project of destroying by the same blow, Katatore, who had slain their relatives, and Ihaia, who had rescued them from imminent danger. They induced Ihaia to join with them in a conspiracy for the assassination of Katatore, and alter the perpetration of the deed rose in arms against him. Ihaia, betrayed by his associates, maintained himself in his pa at Ikamoana for some lime, but at length retreated to the home of his people at Waitara, where he was immediately besieged in the Karaka pa by the followers of Katatore, by his associates in the murder, by Wiremu Kingi, and many of the Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes. The number of his opponents may be rudely estimated at 500 men, and the immediate supporters of Ihaia at about 100. Ihaia, in his hour of danger, besought the aid of his allies in Waikato and Upper Whanganui, and many bodies from those distant places have reached Waitara. Some of these people have merely endeavoured to effect a peace between the contenting parties, in the interest of Ihaia, but Wiremu te Korowhiti, a Whanganui chief, is now involved in the feud by the death of a relative who was shot by Ihaia's opponents. Iliaia has been recommended by his allies from Whanganui and Waikato to secure himself by a retreat to either of those countries, but he has refused to abandon his land. Emissaries from Potatau have likewise assailed him with importunities, but he has refused to listen to them, and says he will still rely on the justice of the Government, and is supported by the sympathy of the sealers. A short time since, when the position of Ihaia seemed desperate, and when his principal opponent, Wiremu Kingi, had evinced a determination to slaughter, without regard to sex or age, the inmates of the Karaka pa, a memorial was addressed to His Excellency the Governor, praying him to rescue these unfortunate people. That memorial was responded to by the offer to remove Ihaia with his followers to the Chatham Islands, which was at once refused, for Ihaia could at any lime have secured his safety by retreat to Waikato or Whanganui. It cannot be a matter of wonder to your Honourable House that your Memorialists and the settlers have always evinced a deep interest for the welfare of those natives, who by their efforts to sell land, have been plunged into a harassing war, and have been refused the assistance of the Government. Every act of the Government has hitherto been prejudicial to them, and, had they not been upheld by the sympathy of the settlers, they would in all probability have long since succumbed to the power and the arts of their opponents ; and the two botlies, united by the common feeling of lace, and embittered by the mutual lossis they had sustained, would have sought satisfaction by despoiling the settlers. Ihaia, the chief now besieged in the Karaka Pa, has always had most intimate relations with the settlers, and his friendly honest character has even gained him a foremost place in their esteem. His claims to land at Waitara are considerable, and, at a time when other Natives looked with no friendly eye on the progress of the colonists, he made the most strenuous exertions to locate settlers at Waitara ; but he failed to secure the co-operation of Sir George Grey's and subsequent Governments. If at any time Ihaia had evinced hostility to the wishes of the Government, he has always been actuated by a sincere desire to serve what he thought to be the cause of the settlers. So careful has he been to avoid injuring the settlers, that during the lale contest at Ikamoana, when his adversaries posted themselves on a settler's farm, and surprised him and his followers ;.s they passed along the road, he received their fire and refused to return it until he had retreated out of gunshot of the farm, and thereby lost one of his followers. Your Memorialists have no wish to palliate the crime of which Ihaia has been guilty, but when they consider the circumstances which preceded the lawless act, and that it only took place after the Government had for years abandoned all conttol over the Natives, they cannot but express their opinion that the crime is in some measure shared by the more civilised race which compelled a rude people to return to their barbarous customs." » # # E. L. Humphries, Speaker. New Plymouth, 19th May, 1858.

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