I.—No. 2,

4

PETITION OF PAOEA TUHAEEE.

Grey informed us we had better see the said George Clarke, senior; and your petitioner wrote a letter to the said George Clarke, senior, and was informed by the said George Clarke, senior, in reply, that he knew nothing of the matter. That at the conference of the Native chiefs held at Kohimaramara, near the said city of Auckland, on the 10th day of July, 1860, His Excellency Thomas Gore Browne, who succeeded the said Sir George Grey as Governor of the said Colony, stated in the eleventh paragraph of his address to the chiefs there assembled:—" Your lands have remained in your possession or have been bought by the Government at your desire." And in the twelfth paragraph of the said address : "It is your adoption by Her Majesty as her subjects which makes it impossible that the Maori people should be unjustly dispossessed of their lands or property." " Every Maori is a member of the British nation; he is protected by the same law as his English fellow-subject." That your petitioner, in his reply to the said address of the said Thomas Gore Browne stated that he had found something wrong in the eleventh paragraph of the said address, which your petitioner stated read thus: " Your lands have remained in your possession, or have been bought by the Government at your own desire:" andyour petitioner then continued as follows:—"My words now are in disapproval of those expressions of the Governor. Listen all of you ! The Government has got possession of Taurarua, and I have not yet seen the payment. The land is occupied by Bishops, and Judges, and great people, but lam not paid for it. I applied to the first Governor for redress, and to the second, the third, and fourth, without obtaining it. Matapipi has also been taken from me. I did not receive any payment for it. lam continually urging payment for those pieces of land. Had these lands belonged to some people, they would have made it a greater cause for war than that which originated the present one" (namely the Taranaki War, that was at that time being carried on). " I content myself with constantly asking for satisfaction. Now, listen all of you ! If the matter is not arranged on this occasion, and if life is spared to me for two or three years, I shall go to England to the Queen about it." That nothing was stated by the representatives of the Government in answer to the claim then made by your petitioner. That Sir George Grey returned to the Colony as Governor in place of the said Thomas Gore Browne, and your petitioner knowing that it Avas in the time of the said Sir George Grey that your petitioner's land had been taken away, waited upon the said Sir George Grey, accompanied by Tc Kcene Tangaroa. The said Sir George Grey asked your petitioner what he had to say. Your petitioner replied, " I have come to converse about Taurarua, the land you heard of at the time of your first arrival in the Colony as Governor." Sir George Grey replied, "That is correct, Paul; but what is to be done in the matter?" Your petitioner replied, " I want payment for that piece of land." Sir George Grey said, " Paul, don't demand too heavy a payment. How much do you require ?" Your petitioner replied, " Four thousand pounds." Sir George Grey said, "That is far too much. You had better compromise it." Your petitioner replied, "Now, according to your idea, how much should it be ?" Sir George Grey said, "One thousand pounds.'" Your petitioner replied, " The reason I ask four thousand pounds is that my land was taken away for no reason, and without my consent." Sir George Grey said, " Agree to take the one thousand pounds." Your petitioner replied, " Will the one thousand pounds be paid at once ?" Sir George Grey said he would speak to his Council, and he asked your petitioner to return on the following day. That your petitioner and the said Te Keene Tangaroa attended on the following day upon the said Sir George Grey, and your petitioner was then informed that in the opinion of the said Sir George Grey it would be better to decide your petitioner's claim to compensation for the said land by arbitration. That your petitioner replied, " O ! my friends, this is a new idea of yours ! It was never mentioned yesterday, when you said I should receive the one thousand pounds on this day, and thus made me agree to that sum." Sir George Grey replied that he considered the best course to adopt would be to hold an inquiry, so that the whole matter could be investigated. Your petitioner assented to this proposal, and the investigation took place in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. That the arbitrators appointed by the Government were John Jermyn Symonds, the Resident Magistrate of Onehunga, and Major Charles Heaphy; and the arbitrators appointed by your petitioner were Te Hemara Tauhia and Aihepeua Kaihau, two Native Assessors. That the said Te Hemara Tawhia and Aihepena Kaihau considered the evidence adduced by your petitioner and the chiefs who pointed out the boundaries of the lands sold to the Government in the time of Governor Hobson, conclusive proof that Taurarua aforesaid had not been included in the lands then sold; but the said John Jermyn Symonds and Charles Heaphy considered the sentence in the deed, " that the boundary of the land is at Orakei," a proof that the lands had been sold, but at the same time the said John Jermyn Symonds and Charles Heaphy stated that the descriptions of the lands in the said deed, and the boundaries of the same, were very vague, and did not clearly define the said lands and boundaries. That the said arbitrators consequently could not agree, and no decision was given respecting any claim to Taurarua aforesaid. That your petitioner not being able to obtain any satisfaction in respect of his said claim, wrote to the said Sir George Grey informing him that your petitioner intended to fence in Taurarua aforesaid ; but to that letter your petitioner received no reply. That on the arrival of His Excellency Sir George Ferguson Bowen, as Governor of this