A.—No. 4.

10

REPORTS ON THE STATE OE THE NATIVES AT

During the whole struggle in Tauranga the Natives behaved with a chivalry hardlyto be expected from an uncivilized people. Our wounded who fell into their hands were treated with humanity and consideration. It will now be necessary for me to touch upon the question of confiscation in the Tauranga District. In August, 18G4, His Excellency Sir George Grey met the surrendered Natives at Tauranga. A short time before the Governor made known the terms upon which he would accept their submission, I, with the concurrence of His Excellency's Ministers, endeavoured to induce the Natives to cede a specific block of land, and although at first sight the proposition met with favor, it was obliged to be abandoned on account of difficulties likely to arise amongst themselves. They gave up all their lands in the Tauranga District, estimated to contain over 200,000 acres, trusting to the generosity of the Governor to make such provision for them as he might think fit. The Governor told the surrendered rebels that on account of their good treatment of the English wounded who fell into their hands he would only take one-fourth of their lands, as an atonement for their rebellion, and return to them the remainder. Had the question been definitely settled, the boundaries of the confiscated land fixed at once, much misunderstanding and mischief, I respectfully submit, might have been prevented. But the matter was allowed to rest. Complications began to arise,—■ 1. Erom the action taken by Europeans, who, anxious to acquire land, began to treat with these surrendered Natives, and paid deposits upon certain blocks which it was well known at the time must come within the confiscated line. 2. Erom unsurrendered rebels who altogether repudiated the arrangement made by the Governor with the Tauranga Natives. They frequently declared that they had never made peace, and that they would never give up any land for their rebellion. However, it became absolutely necessary that the question should bo set at rest. Accordingly, in March, 1866, His Excellency Sir George Grey again visited Tauranga. A meeting of Tauranga Natives was called. It soon became ajiparent that a great change had come over their views since the meeting of August, 186-1, and it was not until His Excellency threatened to use coercive measures that they yielded; to their credit be it stated that the chiefs of the tribe have held to the arrangement and have assisted the Government in carrying it out. Fifty thousand acres were to be taken from between a line to be fixed by myself on the east near "Waimapu, and the Wairoa liiver on the west; that if the quantity could not be obtained on the east side of the Wairoa, the remainder was to be taken out between the Wairoa and Te Puna. During these arrangements I was absent in Auckland attending the trials of the Natives charged with the murders of Mr. Volkner and James Eulloon, a circumstance I have frequently much regretted, as the precise nature of the arrangements made by the Governor have been questioned. The surveys were ordered to proceed; the unsurrendered rebels, true to the declaration they had so often made, would not allow the surveyors to prosecute their labors. The Pirirakau, a hapu of unsurrendered rebels living on the west side of the Wairoa, visited a surveyor's camp and took the survey instruments. An attempt was made by Mr. Civil Commissioner Mackay and myself to come to some amicable arrangement, but all our overtures were treated with contempt, and threats used against the surveyors if they attempted to carry out the surveys. It was deemed necessary to call upon the military to provide protection for the surveyors to complete their work. That protection was accorded; no further interruption took place, and the boundary of the confiscated land to the west of the Wairoa was fixed. In the latter part of 1566 the unsurrendered rebels of the Tauranga District were joined by a band of the Ngatiporou tribe, headed by Te Kewene and Popata, notorious even among the Hauhaus for their reckless lawlessness. They had given out that all surveys were to be stopped by order of the King. Early in January, 1867, Mr. Graham, a surveyor at work on the eastern side of the confiscated block, received a hasty warning that the Pirirakau and their Ngatiporou allies were at hand for the purpose of destroying his party; he had not retired from his camp more than half-an-hour before it was surrounded, and everything, including six weeks' provisions, was carried off. The old chief Hakaraia, one of the few who escaped from Te Eanga, a man of an implacable and obstinate disposition, approved of this act of outrage, and thought this a fitting time to raise the cry of war, with the hope of getting an opportunity of satisfying his revenge for the loss of his relatives who fell in the fight at Te Eanga. His influence was great with his party, who affected to believe that he was favored with revelations from Heaven. He was called by the Hauhaus the " Shepherd of the flock." By the old chief's authority an aukati was established, and an unfortunate Military Settler named Campbell, who was proceeding to occupy his land, was murdered. Military operations were commenced and the rebels were driven from the district. There is no doubt on my mind that active hostilities were intended to be carried on by the disaffected Natives, during the months of April and May ; such was the information I had received from many Native sources, and as a confirmation of the correctness of this information it was discovered that the disaffected Natives had planted very large crops of potatoes, sufficient it was estimated to maintain a large body of men for several months ; ten times more than the Tauranga disaftected Natives would require for their own use. The Ngatiporou Hauhaus commenced their depredations two months too soon for which they have since been taken to task. Had military operations been delayed two months longer there is little doubt but the struggle would have been severe. The disaffected Natives have returned to their different settlements from whence they were driven, but they refuse to submit, although repeatedly invited to do so. They state that they owe their allegiance to the Maori King, and that they will obey his orders only. But unfortunately for the European Settlers, these returned rebels are not content to remain quiet. They commit all sorts of depredations upon the settlers. For instance, last week, several valuable horses were stolen, also sheep and cattle, and such is their boldness, that they come within the precincts of this township, and take by night horses out of the settlers' paddocks. These are not mere assertions, but facts, admitted

11. T. Clarice, Esq,