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difficulty would occur if they were content to live again in peace upon it as they did when they came up from the South. Ihaia, Hemi, Mahau, Paranihi, Poharama, Poricapa, and the others said " E tika ana, ka nui te marama," (it is right, the Governor's words are very clear). Hemi came forward and declared, If the sale had been declared wrong by an investigation, I should have gone from it without a complaint. Let us now clearly understand what the Governor means by restoring the land, does the Governor mean to give judgment in favor of William King (Whakatu te tika ki a Wiremu Kingi). Or does he restore it to the Maori ownership before the purchase. The Governor repeated that he gave judgment in favor of neither party as to the question of title. What he knew was that a number of people had been upon the land, and the invariable rule was, in buying land, that people resident upon it should not be turned off; Let the land return to its position before the purchase, and let all who lived there once return there in peace, or not, as they pleased. A long discussion then ensued, the chiefs successively addressing Kepa, in order that he might declare to the Mataitawa people that the Governor did not give the land to the King but to the Ngatiawa tribe. Ihaia came forward and said : We agree to your words, they are just. We will receive the law from your mouth. We fought for the Governor when he told us to fight, and we yield when the Governor tells us to yield. Your word shall be law to us. Nor do we complain, for we love our tribe, the Governor's law for us is that we be reunited. I have nothing to do with Teira's land. William King is my near relation. If we are reunited I shall no longer live with Teira, let Horiana come back to me. We shall all be too glad on our side to be reconciled; but as for me, I live in the shadow of death. I will never consent to join the King, and they will never cease to urge me. They will then think of the old feuds, and my sins, and the axe will fall upon my head, therefore, Governor, though your word shall be law to me about the land and the reunion I say to you when the day comes take me to some other land, where I may live with the Europeans whose friend I have been, remove us that day to a place where the sun shines and where I may be at peace. Mahau rose and extending his hand said, I also say remove me from the land of trouble when the day comes that the King shall strive in vain for me to join him. Look at my head, there is blood upon it, not your's, but the blood of my own race, which I spilt fighting for you. But I still say, the Governor's word shall be law to me. Only I will never join the King. Take me where you please, only let your hand be upon me wherever I go. Listen. I was not a Queen's man in the days of Katatore, but I vowed fidelity to the Governor afterwards, and I will never go over to the King. Your love to the tribe is just, and I consent to it; but when the King finds that I will not join him, the blood that is upon my head will be remembered ; and then I shall come to you and say give me a canoe that I may escape. The Governor said I will not desert those who have served the Government, I will protect you from harm 1 Come to me when any danger threatens and I will take care of you. I cannot go on with the purchase of this block, but I will not suffer evil to fall upon you. Another long discussion then ensued among the Chiefs on the subject of letters received from Waikato, and on the question whether any general rising would take place upon the punishment of those engaged in the recent murders ; The Native Minister reminded the Chiefs of all that had taken place during the meeting with the Mataitawa people on the 6th May, and of Mahau's appeal to them to choose life while it was before them. The Governor said, There must be no misunderstanding as to his intentions, retribution would surely overtake the murderers ; those who assisted the men who had been engaged in the crime would be treated as murderers themselves. We offered the Ngatiawa tribe to return to the Waitara in peace ; if they rose against him when he went to punish the murderers he would occupy the whole of the Waitara, he intended now to withdraw the detachments therefrom. But if the Mataitawa people, rejecting the offer to return to the land in peace, attacked Mahau and Teira or took part with the Southern people in the Tataraimaka quarrel, they would see what measures he would take for the safety of those who desired to live in quiet. Mahau and the other chiefs said We are now saved, and they charged Kepa to carry these words to Mataitawa. The interview then terminated.

No. 7. MINUTE BY HIS EXCELLENCY IN REFERENCE TO ABANDONMENT OF THE WAITARA. The Governor lias been, in so far as he could, acting upon the advice given to him by his responsible advisers in their memorandum of the sth instant. Two or three points in it may hereafter require further discussion, such as the conditions which the Governor should impose on William King's people, and the terms of the proclamation he should issue to the Taranaki and Ngatiruanui tribes. In the mean time, from intelligence the Governor has this morning received, (which will be at once communicated to them by Lieutenant Bates) he ventures to state to ministers, that it is his decided opinion that the Government should forthwith announce, in terms which the natives cannot misunderstand, That from facts recently coma to their knowledge, they will not proceed further in the purchase of the land at the Waitara. That the government does not claim that block of land, or assert any right of property in it. At the same time, the Governor would recommend that Te Teira should be treated with such liberality as the government may think he deserves. It being remembered that three years since the government notified publicly that "Te Teira's title has been carefully ' investigated, and found to be good. It is not disputed by any one," and at the same time they took from Te Teira a conveyance for this land, and his acknowledgement that he had received £600 in

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PAPEES RELATIVE TO