E—No. 1

MEMORANDUM BY THE NATIVE MINISTER FROM HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR. Xo. 1. The Native Minister wishes to call His Excellency's attention to the following remarks upon what has recently occurred at the Awamutu. A narrative of that occurrence has already been laid before the Governor. The school at the Awamutu was founded at His Excellency's suggestion, and has been most anxiously watched and supported by the Government since its first establishment. The objects whicl) it was hoped might be attained by means of this school were : — (1.) The exhibition before the eyes of the Waikato Natives of the advantages to be derived from the British Government. That it might be clearly seen, especially by the young men, who are the most dangerous class in the Native community, that the Queen's Government was able to give physical comfort and civilization in exchange for the barbarous independence which is cherished by them in spite of the misery and lawlessness which it involves. (2.) The training of a class of men, upon whose fidelity and ability the Government could rely, and out of whose ranks Native officers could hereafter be selected. (3.) The increase of the power of the Civil Commissioner, who, as head of a large establishment, carrying on extensive dealings with the neighbouring Natives, would necessarily aoqakw m influence, which he might use to the great advantage of the Queen's service. (4.) The organization of a body of disciplined young men, accustomed to obey, who might be used as a police force, and furnish the Government with an instrument for accomplishing that muchwished for object, the establishment of law and order in Native districts. To attain these objects neither expense nor trouble was spared by the Government. Their prosecution was confided to a man who, to a real interest in the Native people, united peculiar abilities for the task: willingly relinquishing the advantages " ' ich private fortune gave him in a country where wealth is so easily accumulated, and content, a Ma ter <>f Arts of Cambridge University, to live in the bush almost without society and without books, for the sake of laying the foundation with a few poor Native boys of a school that should replace the indolence and dirt of the pa, by the industry,discipline, and comfort of a civilized home. The boys who came to the school were fed and clothed in the most liberal manner, they were provided with separate sleeping places and with many other conveniences which were for the first time known in Native Schools; no limit was placed on the discretion of the Civil Commissioner in this matter; and even those Native Chiefs who suppressed the school were loud in their praises of the mode in which it had been conducted. Besides the ordinary instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, and English, each boy worked for six hours daily at some industrial pursuit under European superintendence. At the time when the school was suppressed, the following1 trades were in full operation—farming, printing, carpentering, shoemaking, tailoring, and blacksmith's work. The last three trades were carried on for the benefit of the neighbourhood. At the breaking up of the establishment, there were orders for fifty pairs of boots, at which the shoemaker and three Native boys were working, all of which would have been paid for by European and Native neighbours; both the tailor and blacksmith had as much work as could be got through. The Awamutu establishment was a ready market for the surplus produce of Kihikihi and Rangiawliia Natives. Twenty-two Native boys were under instruction, and several applications for admission had been refused until the new buildings which were being erected had increased the accommodation. The extent to which discipline and esprit de corps had been established amongst them may be estimated by the fact that, from the day of the outrage until the school was finally broken up, a period of four weeks, not a single boy had deserted the school, and that all, with the exception of one Ngatimaniapoto boy, expressed their desire to. go to Auckland or to any other place to which the school might bo removed. The design of the Native Minister in enumerating these facts is to show that the experiment in itself gave every promise of success, and that the frustration of the hopes of the Government, and the destruction of all that has been spent both in money and thought, have arisen not from within but from without. It is to the cause which has destroyed the establishment at the Awamutu that the Native Minister wishes to call the serious attention of His Excellency. The Waikato Natives were from the very first alive to the danger to the Maori King movement which might arise from a Government Officer being stationed in ihc midst of them. As soon as ;>n officer arrived an attempt was made to expel him by force, and this was not then persevered iu only because Tamehana and the more moderate King Natives suggested a safer course, viz., to keep back all cases from the Magistrate's Court and so reduce him to a nonentity. This course was at first completely successful, and for a time nothing more was heard of any desire to get rid of Mr. Gorst.

PAPERS RELATIVE TO NATIVE AFFAIRS. NATIVE DISTURBANCES AT TE AWAMUTU.