A.—No. 1

84

DESPATCHES EEOM THE GOVERNOR OE NEW ZEALAND.

Equally barbarous and unprovoked was their conduct at Whakatane and at Mohaka, the Natives of which latter place had just set free, unharmed, prisoners of the Hauhau party. 2. " I find it also said that the disturbances on the West Coast arose from an arbitrary seizure of " two Natives as pledges or hostages for the return of two horses which were retaken by the Natives " after having been captured by General Chute." All the evidence bearing on the above statement has been laid unreservedly before the Legislature, and printed in the Appendix to the Journals, 1868, A. No. 8, copies of which have been duly forwarded to the Colonial Office. Till within a very short time of the renewal of hostilities, the Patea country had been in military occupation ever since the campaign of General Cameron, in 1865. About the time when the forces were withdrawn, Titokowaru and his hapu made their first visit to the European camp since the war in 1860, and formally reconciled themselves to the Government. For some time previous to their coming in, and at intervals down to the renewal of hostilities, obstructions were offered to the survey of the land, and its occupation by the Military Settlers. In July, 1867, Lieut. - Colonel McDonnell, bv a night march, surprised one party of Natives who were opposing the surveyors, and obtained a temporary acquiescence. The large reserves made for the surrendered Natives were marked out, and their boundaries well known to and accepted by them, yet they from time to time opposed individual settlers occupying lands clearly outside those boundaries. The majority of the settlers were, however, left to occupy quietly. But after the Imperial forces had been altogether removed, and the Colonial force had been drawn back to the Patea township, the increase of threats, opposition, and thefts, was conspicuous, and assumed the appearance of a system. Houses were entered, and moveables stolen, and horses carried off. The Eesidcut Magistrate, Mr. Booth, courageously resisted these brigandages. He visited the settlements of the disaffected men suspected of the thefts, and endeavoured to obtain restoration of the property, and afterwards issued warrants totake the marauders. In a letter of the sth May, 1868 (see App. 68, A. No. 8, p. 7), Mr. Booth reports the following speech, by Toi, one of the men concerned : —" We have the horses you have " come in search of. I have them, and I do not intend to give them up. One, a mare, was mine " originally ; the others are the property of Europeans. I intend to take the horses and other property "of Europeans wherever I can." This is the only occasion on record on which any claim was put forward to the ownership of the horses. There is no suggestion here that they had been looted. The Government had exerted itself to protect the Natives against looting, and had published notices warning all persons against the practice, and pointing out its illegality under any circumstances. It was to protect the Natives especially against such practices that Mr. Booth was first put in charge of the district, immediately on the cessation of active warfare. On the 15th May, Mr. Booth reported that Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell had gone to Ngutu-o-te-Manu with a warrant for the apprehension of Toi, Hauwhenua, and others implicated in these horse robberies. "On the afternoon of Tuesday the force returned to Waihi, bringing one Native, named Tauke, as a hostage, but not bringing any of the actual thieves or stolen property." Next day a messenger was sent to the same place, who returned with two mares and a foal. Not satisfied with this, Mr. Booth himself went the same afternoon to the pa with an armed party, and found two more of the stolen animals. He then says, "We made a prisoner of a man named Ihaka, against whom an information had been laid that he had broken into a settler's house at Waingongoro, and had also stolen a horse. Two other men were also taken prisoners. These men, with the two horses, were brought into Waihi. Tauke (the hostage) was released." The next day, after examination, the three prisoners were released; but Ihaka was remanded for a week for further evidence. Ihaka in the meantime escaped, owing to the carelessness of the guard. A few days afterwards the murders were committed, which, according to Maori custom, commenced open war, and Ihaka was one of the murderers. Tims the evidence of official records, so far as it throws any light on the subject, does nothing to support the assertion that the taking of the hostages, irregular as it must be admitted to have been, had any direct bearing on the West Coast outbreak. There was another larger and more generally operative incitement to rebellion in the hope of recovering land and status, which grew up gradually after the withdrawal of General Cameron's army of occupation. Gr. S. COOPEE, Under Secretary. For His Excellency's information. J. C. Eichmoitd. 21st May, 1869.