PAPERS RELATIVE TO SURRENDER

F.—No. 1

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among the Urewera tribes for the number of men killed by him ; he is also remarkable for the number of weapons carried about his person. After the preliminaries of dancing, &c, the chiefs arose and welcomed Kopata as the man who serves the Government, and bade us to go on our errand; the substance of most of their speeches was, that they could not see the crimes of Te Kooti, if the killing of women and children was a crime they could not see it, as it was an ancient custom of their people. If it is for the killing of the pakeha, Te Kooti should not be called a man of crime, as it is the duty of every Maori to fight the foreigner, to withold the island which was slipping into their hands. They said, we are very sad for our land, and will die ere we will yield to the pakeha ; but your friend, the white skin, is welcome as a friend amongst us. Many of the chiefs spoke very boldly, and said they felt no fear, as singly they would withstand our march if coming as enemies. After all had spoken, Eopata arose and addressed them in very strong terms ; great attention waa paid to his words. We shall wait here until a fresh messenger arrives from Maungapowhatu, by which we shall know whether to expect any fighting or not; if opposed by Ngatihuri, Tamaikowha tells us we may be certain that Te Kooti is among them. The three men late of Te Kooti's party we take with us, and all others, not of the TJrewera, we shall take from any place we find them in. At Tamaikowha's request I shook hands with the whole of his people, many of whom had never before seen a European ; in reply to my salutations they greeted me as their brave enemy. lith February. —We have received another letter from Maungapowhatu, immediately on receipt of it an ultimatum was sent by us to determine what steps to take with Ngatihuri.

[Translation of Lettee eeceited.] " Tauaki, 14th February, 1871. "To Ma joe Ropata,— " Friend, salutations to you. We have heard of your good word to the man who has come from where you are, and we are pleased with what you say. We wish to tell you that if you come with your two hundred, we will run away, and so will miss seeing you ; for we have said that Te Kooti is not here, yet you persist in coming with hundreds of men. If only you and Erueti come, then we will remain at our places. Do not believe statements made by people that Te Kooti is here; do not believe them, Should you give heed to what is said in this letter, act according to the arrangements made by Te Whenuanui and Paerau. Sufficient. " Puee, " Keeeeu, " Puehu, " Tawhiro, " In fact from all of us."

Judging from the tone of this letter it was evident that a feeling of jealousy exists among the several chiefs, and that they question the authority of Whenuanui and Paerau, who arranged matters for them. We are getting very short of food, the Urewera being very niggardly with their supply. Our men are desirous of bringing on hostilities, and are complaining sadly ofrongopai (peace) having been made, saying that it causes long marches and empty stomachs. 15th February. —We waited until mid-day, expecting another letter from Maungapowhatu; failing its arrival at that hour, we marched and began to ascend the range leading in the direction of Tauaki, and on gaining the top we were met by the expected messenger, who informed us that the Urewera, from Ruatahuna and other places, had assembled at Maungapowhatu under command of Kereru, Te Puehu, Renata and Tawhara, and that some few had run away. Ropata was very much annoyed at the distrustful nature of the Urewera, and he proposed we should remain and consume the whole of their winter food. Tamaikowha was extremely enraged at the inattention shown to his words, and threatens to turn Queen's Native. 16th February. —We are now in possession of Pa Tauaki, Maungapowhatu. Ngatihuri did not oppose us as they threatened. We find the pa very much dilapidated in comparison to what it was during our last visit twelve months ago ; only a few old persons were living here, tho greater number having gone with their chiefs in the direction of Ruatahuna, to a place called Te Kakari, to which place we have sent another message, making a last effort to induce the chiefs to come and meet us. We find living here refugees from almost every other tribe. We cannot get information as to Te Kooti's whereabouts, either the people are very ignorant or very close keepers of a secret; we think the latter. Heri Kakitu, sent by us to Ruatoki, has not yet made his appearance; we are afraid he has met with some mischief, or has been sent back by Whakatane. 17th February. —While at Tauaki this morning, a signal gun was fired from Te Kakari, the kainga situated at the head of Ruatahuna, and to which Ngatihuri had retreated; this was a preconcerted signal, denoting that Renata te Poho Korua and his tribe would meet us in peace. AVe at once marched, and although in a direct line across the gorge it is only about three miles distant, it occupied us from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. to reach the place ; we were then met with the usual welcome —" Welcome, welcome, welcome ; the guest of Te Whenuanui, welcome." The chiefs then rose and addressed us in welcome ; among them were Renata Poho Korua, Kawhena, Ihaka te Ahiraiti, AViremu te Maki, Ngaraki (brother of Kereru), Paraki Tipihau, Hetaraka te Haupapa and others. Renata Poho Korua, on the conclusion of Ropata's speech, said Te Kooti is not here, seek him, and when you get him spare him as you spare us, and if you are able to bring peace among us do so, and on the conclusion of his speech he threw down his weapons as a token of peace. This is the first time that this tribe has ever consented to consult or communicate with Government people. They said we were not to listen to the words of Te Whenuanui, as he had not power over them, and said if we wished to go to Ruatahuna. by his authority they would conduct us, but would not remain ; they are cautious of the action of the Government; they relied upon us ; they had heard of our good deeds; if we could bring peace among them, we were to do so. From these people we learn that Henere Kakitu was stopped from proceeding further than Ruatoki.