A.—No. 5,

The Bishop's letter was then read, after which Captain Luce addressed the meeting. Mr. Fulloon :" I have very little to say —what can I say ? You have heard the Governor's words ; they are not new, they are old —even from the beginning. My advice to you is, follow the Governor's advice. Some time since, Waikato said, the only way to save the Maori people and New Zealand was by means of the King. You know what the Governor said. Mark the result —Waikato has been driven out, and their country taken from them : the people of Waikato now arc white men. There is Tauranga, that has gone through the King. The Maoris there set up a new thing—a mad and foolish fanaticism, by adopting which, they said that the Pakehas would be driven into the sea, and New Zealand recovered to the Natives. Behold the fruits that it has brought forward—Wanganui has gone —Ngatiruanui has gone ! The whole country has been taken ; the people have been driven out, and are now living in the mountains ! A great many of them have been killed, although they did sing out,. ' E Kuoa ! Pai Marire ! Hau Ilau !' Your great prophet, Te Ua, or Horopapera, as you call him, is now sueing for peace (kua tangi ia). The head of this thing has been broken, and yet you receive it with open arms. You all have said that you will be neutral; remain so. I will remember it; mind that you do not depart from it. If you should do so, you will surely get the worst of it. Adhere to those words of yours, for I am watching you." Hotene Turi (Ngatiporou, addressing the meeting) : " These are my words to you,Eongowhakaota. You knew that that band of Ilau Haus had murdered Mr. Volkner, and yet you received them ; you also heard that they were going to Waiapu, but you did not let them come on; you warned them not to do so : it was you who told them to return ! Why did you not let them come on ? for they were coining to kill us. If they had come, I would have punished them. When I heard that they were coming to us, we gathered together, and we went to Waikawa (Open Bay), and there we waited for one week : there were 500 of us. Henare (Potae) had 200 at Anara waiting for them. Why did you not wait until we had been killed, before you listened to their god ? If they had succeeded in killing us, then you might have believed in it. You should not have jumped at it at once, before you knew whether it was a true god or not. It was you that saved them. You should have let them come on to us, and we would have settled them [The speaker was here interrupted, and told that the reason that they sent the Hau Haus back was that they might proceed by the road that had been used as a war-path, by the road that the Ngatiporou had used when they went to fight the Pakehas. They would not allow them to go through Turanga, as it was a neutral place, and had not been crossed by war parties]. They came for the purpose of attacking us, and you should have allowed them to come on. It was you that saved them." Eaharui Eukupo (Hau Hau, a convert) : " It was the Bishop's fault that the Hau Haus had been received by the Eongowhakaoto. He (the Bishop) said to them that the Pai Marire should be received by them. They (the Natives) wanted to prevent them from coming amongst them to Turanga ; they would have done so, but for the Bishop. Then, when they did come, he ran away. It was true that some of them had taken to it. When the Hau Haus came here from Te Wairoa, we would not allow them to come amongst us ; wo sent them back by the way they came. We wanted to do the same to those that came from Opotiki, but the Bishop would not let us. The Governor advises us to live peaceably at home : it is well, and yet he is fighting against some of the Maoris. As long as there was war in New Zealand, the Natives would sympathise with their countrymen. When the bow of the canoe is split, it is repaired at once, or else it will split along the whole length of the canoe. So with New Zealand :as long as there is war, the Natives will always be agitated by it. If a person lias a little sore, ever so small, the whole body will feel it. My word to the Governor is, to make peace with the whole of the Natives, and cease his fighting. - Although he has been victorious, he will meet with a reverse if he continues. His sword is sharp, but it shall not prevail against God's. God will bo angry if he does not make peace; if he does not hasten to make peace, the Lord will punish him. Let him not think of his victories. All the islands and the whole world is dwelling in light, but New Zealand is the only place dwelling in darkness : a great fog hangs over this island. This is my word : the Governor shall drive this fog away, and cause light to shine on this land. You have heard our desire of remaining here quietly : we will do so. We never sought the King, neither did we go to the war. It has been said that Waikato has been driven away, and their country taken away from them, and that Wanganui has also been taken. That is true enough, but the statement that Te Ua is in the mountains is false :TeUa is not yet defeated. Let the Governor make peace at once." Mr. Fulloon: " The Governor has always been anxious to make peace; do you persuade the Natives to make peace." Kerehona, (?) of tho Waerengahika College, then got up and explained the Bishop's conduct in reference to the Hau Haus. He said that it was the Eunanga that proposed that the Hau Haus should be allowed to come to Waerengahika, in hopes of being able to do something to rescue the Eev. Mr. Grace. It was not as Eaharuhi said, that it was the Bishop that proposed they should be allowed to come ; it was the chiefs of Tauranga. Archdeacon Williams then addressed the meeting, and entered into the details of the Hau ITau's visit, and the action of the Eunangas, and how they altogether deserted the Bishop and received them with open arms, and joined them in their foolish work. (Eaharuhi and two or three others admitted that the Archdeacon's statement was correct). Wi Pere (of AVaerengahika) : " Welcome, Pakeha ! Welcome, Captain of the man-of-war! Hearken. lam alone, and what lam going to say is for myself. I cannot speak for anybody, because the whole of my tribe has gone into the bush after that foolish and false God. lam alone ; at least there are those three men with me. lam anxious to join the Government side, but not just now. I will not be hasty ; lam desirous of saving some of my friends and relatives. After you have gone, I shall go to work and try and recover my people. Should Ibe able to get one a day, I shall be satisfied. This is a good work. Although my people have left me, my love is great for them —they are my relations ; but for all that, I won't go over to their side ; I will remain where I am, and in the event of anything taking place or threatening them, will I come over at once and join your side. When I am seen amongst you, then know that something is near. I will not declare myself now; for if I did, I

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DESPATCHES FROM THE GOVERNOR OF NEW