A—No. Ba,

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PAPERS RELATIVE TO

Wairoa or Turanga District, are said to be at Maraetai. From the rough sketch enclosed, it will bo seen that Papuni is not very distant from Waioeka. , The only people met by Rakuraku at Tawhaua were a small hapu called Na Maihi. Ho intended going on to Maungapohatu, but was stopped at Te Kumete by Ngaitikahu, who would not permit him to go any further. He states that, with the exception of the Ruatahuna and Whaiti people, who are supplied from Whakatane, Te Awa-o-te-Atua, and Rotorua, the Uriwera are wretchedly in want of clothing, and that a disease has appeared among them lately of which many of them have died. Ngaitana have cultivated a good deal this season at Maraetai. The fact of them having planted both there and at Waimana is, I think, very significant. Armed Natives have been seen repeatedly about the Opotiki Gorge. Five were seen distinctly on the 6th instant, and that night a substantial slab and plaster hut belonging to a settler called Stephenson was burnt. A. blockhouse would ere this have been erected within, a few hundred yards of Stephenson's, but the officer commanding was not permitted to furnish a covering party ; and the contractor does not appear inclined to commence work without protection. Like Moore and Begg, in the Waioeka Valley, Stephenson was the most advanced settler up the Opotiki Valley; but, unlike them, he had received warning, and had moved in for safety, or no doubt he would have shared the same fate. Major St. John has decided upon placing an officer in charge of the Waioeka Blockhouse for the present, and has put a sufficient number of men on pay to guard the magazine. I have, &c, The Under Secretary, W. G. Maie, Native Department, Resident Magistrate.

No. M. Copy of a Letter from the Hon. J. C. Richmond to Mr. 11. T. Clarke. (No. 35-1.) Native Secretary's Office, Sir,— Wellington, 17th January, 1868. Referring to your several Reports received yesterday by the " Egmont," in which you request instructions how to act in case of aggression by parties from the Uriwera and other tribes upon the settlements at Opotiki and Tauranga, the Government have confidence in your coolness and discretion, and will not trammel you with particular directions. Colonel Harrington and Major St. John have authority in case of need to call out the whole Militia force of the districts, and you will be justified in summoning the Arawa to assist, on the terms terms previously allowed of 3s. per diem, without rations, &c. I need hardly say that the Government will greatly regret if it should be necessary at this time to make any sort of hostile demonstration, as the political effect of such a demonstration on the country at large must be mischievous. They are inclined to hope that the armed movements to which you. refer are not likely to include more than a small party of turbulent men, unsupported by the opinion and sympathy of the King party or the Hauhaus at large. It is to bo desired that the aggression should be clearly on the side of the rebels. I have, &c, The Civil Commissioner, Tauranga. J. C. Richmond.

No. 45. Copy of a Letter from Mr. 11. T. Cl&kice to the Uxdeb Secretary, Native Department. (No. 29.) Civil Commissioner's Office, Sir,— Tauranga, 30th January, 18G8. I have the honor to transmit, for the information of the Government, a copy of a Report I have just received from Mr. Resident Magistrate Mair, at Opotiki. I have received, by private letters, further information down to the 28th instant. From Opotiki I learn, as far as can be made out, the rebels, to the number of about 100 men, came out on the beach between Waiotahi and Ohiwha; that after destroying the monument erected to Wi Popata (the murdered mailman), and the whares in Walker's Redoubt, they returned up the banks of the Waiotahi River. From a private letter from Mr. Mair, written at the last moment before the vessel sailed, ho states, that he had received information that the hostile Natives had returned again to To Waimana, and did not intend making any further movement until reinforcements from Waikare and Ruatahuna, had jointed them. At Opotiki they appear to have been ignorant of the real object of the rebel expedition to Ohiwha and "Waiotahi, but I think there is little doubt the intention was to cut off the fourteen Military Settlers said to be erecting a blockhouse in that locality. {Vide Report of yesterday, 20th January.) With the few men now at the disposal of the Commanding Officer at Opotiki, trammelled as they are with women and children, I fear the result of a combined attack by the rebels, if they are as strong as represented, will bo disastrous. With our land communication cut off, it would be almost impossible to convey them assistance in sufficient time to do any good. A small body of the Arawa could be sent, if the G-overnment so order, but I think it would bo unwise to send too large a force away, in the present uncertain state of things. The general opinion has obtained, that there is no combination nor any connection between the Uriwera tribes and those immediately under King Matutaera. I regret that I cannot join in that opinion, as we have ample evidence that a constant communication is kept up, and that the Uriwera roceive their orders from head-quarters. It was said that the king had nothing to do with the disturbances which took place in Tauranga last year. I have since been informed by one of the surrendered