E—No. 1

GOVERNORS OF NEW ZEALAND. x. letter from wiremu kingi whiti and other ngatiawa chiefs to governor mtzroy, dated taranaki, june 8, 1844. Friend Governor, Salutations ! Great is our love to you ; this is our speech to you. Listen to us respecting this land, respecting Waitara ; our hearts are dark by reason of Mr. Spain's words* Indeed, the Europeans are wrong in striving for this land, which was never sold by its owners, the men of Ngatiawa. Now, when the Ngatiawa tribe went to Kapiti, they left some men behind on our lands, who w-:re surprised by the Waikatos, and some of them led away captive; who, having arrived at Waikato were afterwards returned by the Waikatos to Waitara to dwell there. Others came back from Kapiti. We love the land of our ancestors ; we did not receive any of the goods of Colonel Wakefield ;it was wrong to buy the land which belonged to other men. There are many Chiefs to whom this land belongs who are now at Waikanae and Arapaoa. It was love for the lands of our forefathers that brought us back to those lands. Friend Governor, our thoughts are that those lands were never settled by the Waikatos; and when we embraced Christianity, we learnt the rules of the Gospel, and to dwell in peace. This also is the determination of our people. Waitara shall not be given up; the men to whom it belongs will hold it for themselves. There was not a single man of the Ngatiawa tribe who received the payment of Col Wakefield. These are the only men who took the payment —the men of Ngamotu and Puketapu, and they bad no right in Waitara. The Ngatiawas are constantly returning to their land, on account of their attachment to the land of our birth, the land which we have cultivated and which our ancestors marked out by boundaries and delivered to us. Friend Governor, do you not love your land—England—the land of your fathers 1 as we also love our land at Waitara. Friend, let your thoughts be good towards us. We desire not to strive with the Europeans, but, at the same time, we do not wish to have our land settled by them ; rather let them be returned to the places which have been paid for by them, lest a root of quarrel remain between us and the Europeans. Friend Governor, be kind to the Natives; the places that have been justly purchased by the Europeans, let them have them, that jour judgment may be just. This is not from us only, but from ail the Ngatiawa, though the greater part are absent. From Hakopa, Tipene, Te Wataraui, Tutarahaina, Paturoi, Te Wareraka, Tamati Tiraurau, Hirini, Mangonui. By us, by all the men at Waikanae and Warekauri, i Written by me, ' William King Witi. [Not before published ]

governors' dcci- ' SIONS. Wiremu Kingi, 8 June, \ 844.

xi. — extracts from reports from mr. protfctor mclean to the chief protector of aborigines in 1844. Taranaki, August 5, 1844. I have the honour to acquaint you that, in pursuance of your instructions of the 16th July, I proceeded on my journey to Taranaki on the IBlh, calling at the station of the Rev. J. Whiteley, Wesleyan Missionary at Kawhia, who accompanied me to New Plymouth, at which place I arrived or. the '_>Bth. On the 29th, that gentleman went with me to visit the Natives at their different residences in the neighbourhood of Ngamotu, where we found a considerable degree of excitement and bad feeling existed among them, arising principally from portions of their lands having been occupied by the Europeans without the consent of the real owners, who were in captivity at the time the purchase was effected by the New Zealand Company from a small party of Natives, whose claims, I am given to believe, were but to a limited portion of the lands nowclaimed by the Company. I then took an opportunity of informing them that His Excellency was coming to remain at this settlement for a few days, and that he would hear their causes of complaint. They then assured me that, whatever their former resolutions might have been, they would be peaceable and not disturb the settlers till they saw His Excellency and made their case known o him. I am happy to inform you that His Excellency's arrival here and his late interview with the Natives, hag produced a most salutary effect in quelling their excited and angry feelings ; and I ara in hopes that an amicable arrangement will be entered into with regard to their lands. When I have had further intercourse with the Natives, and am more acquainted with the different portions of land they dispute, I will be enabled to report to you more fully upon the matters to which you directed my attention in your instructions. Donald McLean* [Not before published, j Taranaki, August 26, 1844. I proceeded on the 12th instant to the Taniwha and Waitara, the Northern boundaries of the New Zealand Company's.claims to land in ihis district. Having visited the Natives at their different pahs, and having afterwards had several of them collected together at the Waitara Hiver, I made inquiries of them as to whether the lands there had been sold to the Company. They informed me that they had never consented to a sale of any portion of their lands in that neighbouihood ; and further stated that the few Natives who assumed the right of sale to lands were not the owners thereof, but merely adduced a claim thereto from having had two of their relatives killed and buried there during some engagement with their rival tribes, the Waikatos.

Protector McLean, Aug. 5, 1844.

Protector McLean, -Aug. 26, 1844