F.—No. 7

4

REPORT ON PETITION OF

WI Tako. 15th July, 1870.

3. Can you explain to the Committee who are the Europeans who wish to continue the war, in order that they may continue to draw money from the Government?— Booth and McDonnell caused Titokowaru's raid. 4. What profit could accrue to Mr. Booth from a continuance of the war ?—He went with an armed party to arrest the parties who had stolen the horses. He ought to have sat quietly in his Court House, and waited till the offenders were brought to him. I have heard that no summons was issued. 5. Is there any other European who has caused a continuance of war for his own gain ?— I cannot say that I know of any European. I think that Booth incited Titokowaru to commence the war, in order that he might retain his position as Magistrate at Patea. 6. Did not Mr. Booth, at the risk of his life, go, in the month of July, 1868, to the village of Tauroa, the chief of the Pakakohi hapu of the Ngatiruanui Tribe, and bring him down to Wellington, to have an interview with the Governor, in the hope of confirming him in his allegiance to the Government ? —I do not know of his going at the risk of his life to Tauroa's village; but I do know that Mr. Booth brought him down to Wellington about the time specified. I had an interview with Tauroa, and he told me that he was a prisoner. 6. Was Tauroa under a guard, and did you yourself see anything to prove that he was a prisoner ? —No; he was not under a guard; but Tauroa told me that he was a prisoner. The Petitioner then of his own accord made the following statement to the Committee :— The law is defective. When a Maori commits an offence against another Maori, no notice is taken of it ; and therefore I say, that although the Government tells us that we, Maoris, are under the same law as the Europeans, we, the Maoris, receive no benefit from the law. The Europeans keep the body of the law, and give us the ghost of it. I compare the present state of the law to a man looking into a mirror. The European is in front of the mirror, and can see what is reflected in it; the Maori is behind it groping in the dark. Therefore, when a Maori commits an offence he is blamed for it and told that he is no good, and that he should he obedient to the law of which he knows nothing. Another thing I want to know is this, why are these Maori members allowed seats in the House of Representatives ? I have never heard them say a word. I suppose they sit there as specimens of carved images. Wi Tako Ngatata.

Monday, 18th July, 1870. Mr. Booth, R.M., in attendance, and having perused the statement of Wi Tako Ngatata, he deposed as follows : — With reference to the words used by Wi Tako, viz., " I think that Booth incited Titokowaru to commence the war, in order that he might retain his position as Magistrate at Patea," I beg to state, that in the year 1867 I was Resident Magistrate of the Upper Wanganui District, and resided at Pipiriki. In January of that year I received instructions from Mr. Richmond, then Minister for Native Affairs, to take charge of the tract extending from the right bank of the Waitotara River to the Kaupokonui River, north of the Waingongoro, and this tract was subsequently, by a Proclamation in the Gazette, included in the Upper Wanganui District. I received no additional salary for this large addition to my duties. I was not Magistrate of Patea, but I retained my old title of Magistrate of the Upper Wanganui District. I was compelled subsequently to reside at Patea, where Government built a house for me; but the fact whether there was war or peace at Patea did not affect in any way my salary as Resident Magistrate of the Upper Wanganui District. With regard to the w rorcls used by Wi Tako, " the Europeans who were settled on the confiscated land on the banks of the Waihi River, took some horses belonging to the people of Titokowaru's hapu/' I beg to state that no Europeans did as stated by Wi Tako. I was at the time constantly on the banks of the Waihi, —in fact I was encamped there, it being the head-quarters of the Volunteer Force under command of Colonel Lepper, which was located there. The Committee must remember that I went to Patea in January, 1867; that the Natives at that time were living in the bush; .that I induced the Pakakohi and the Tangahoe hapus to return to their homes; and subsequently, on the 30th November, 1867, I held a meeting at Ngutu-o-te-Manu, the head-quarters of the Ngaruahinc hapu, at which Titokowaru made over his double-barrelled fowling-piece to me, laying it down on the ground, and jumping on it.— Vide letter of the above date printed in the Appendix Journals, 1868. After this Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell and I took Titokowaru with us to Wanganui, as detailed by Wi Tako, and peace prevailed in the Patea District from January, 1867, to April, 1868. I beg to refer to my official letters under date April 14th, 25th, May sth and 15th, 1868, printed as above. In April, 1868, the people of Titokowaru's hapu, that is to say, the Ngaruahinc hapu, began plundering and burglariously entering the homesteads of the European settlers on the confiscated lands, carrying off horses and other property. On complaint being made,. I endeavoured to recover the property, and to arrest the thieves. In the first instance I went with Captain Ross and two orderlies, all unarmed, •though warned by friendly Natives not to go at all to Ngutu-o-te-manu. A meeting was held—the Natives were in an excited state. I charged them with having violated the conditions entered into on the November previous, and challenged them to' bring toward any charge of theft, even of a single potato, against the European settlers. Toi, who was the second chief under Titokowaru, admitted the truth of my assertion, and added, " I have the horses, guns,

Mr. Booth,

18th July, 1870.