D—No. 10

COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND.

THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND TO THE COLONIAL SECBETAEY. _ Auckland, September 6th, 1861. SIR, I have read with much surprise the statement made by Mr. C. W. Richmond before a select Committee of the House of Representatives on 9th August, and printed in the Report of the Committee, (Pari. Pap. F. No. 3, page 23,) in the following words: " Secret thoughts and feelings, expressed by Mr. Parris in confidence, under the seal of privacy to his spiritual teacher, to his father in God, have been wilfully disclosed,—not to the Governor of the Colony,—not to the official superior of Mr. Parris,—but to' a prominent political opponent of the Government for a party purpose." I do not for a moment suppose that it can be the wish of the House of Representatives that the Reports of its Committees should be made the vehicles of charges which the persons accused are not permitted to disprove; nor that they should involve questions of a religious character which the House has declared itself incompetent to entertain. I shall therefore confine myself to a simple denial of every word contained in the extract from Mr. Richmond's statement quoted above. I deny the statement for these reasons: 1. That "the thoughts and feelings" expressed by Mr. Parris in his letter to me in 1858, were not " secret," but related to matters of public notoriety. 2. That they were not expressed "in confidence" but in an official letter and in a formal manner. 3. That they were not addressed to me by Mr. Parris as to " his spiritual teacher" or "his father in God," having no reference whatever to any question of conscience, or to any case requirine spiritual advice. s _ 4. That they were not " wilfully disclosed to a party leader for a party purpose," but to a few private friends, including Members of both Houses who were then engaged in defending, in a constitutional manner, what we believe to be the rights of the New Zealanders; and for the purpose of proving that much of the trouble at Taranaki has arisen from undue eagerness for the acquisition of the Waitara. It is scarcely necessary to trouble you with these remarks, as Mr. Richmond has stated in the same paragraph with the extract quoted above, that " The true meaning of the expressions of Mr. Parris' letter to the Bishop has been utterly perverted. } " The treachery that Mr. Parris refused to countenance was that of Wiremu Te Korowhiti of Wanganui, and his men." ' It is clearly impossible that Mr. Parris could have expressed " secret thoughts and feelings under the seal of privacy to his spiritual teacher" on such a subject. I have, &c, (Signed) G. A. New Zealand, „„ IT ~ Bishop of New Zealand. Ihe Honorable The Colonial Secretary, &c, &c, &c.