G.—2.

must live between Tangahoe and Patea." He said, " How is it, then, that you say you belong to them, and that they are your people ? " I replied, " Yes, they are my people, and I belong to them ; but they should be left to live on the land between Tangahoe and Patea." I said that I alone should be left on the land between Patea and Wbenuakura ; one part of the people between Tangahoe and Patea, and the other between Whenuakura and Waitotara. He said, "If you agree that they should have the land between Patea and Whenuakura for the whole tribe, then I will reserve it from the sea back to the mountain." He also said, "I will reserve a piece of land for Grovernment purposes, extending one and a half miles back from the coast, the distance from one river to the other being about three miles." He said that shortly this land would be sold, and that Grovernment should have a portion of the proceeds, the other portion to be returned to the Natives. He also said that, in case of any disturbance after that time, the Native portion of the proceeds should be forfeited and held back until peace was proclaimed. That finishes this part of what I have to say respecting what Mr. Richmond said to us. He then spoke to us about the railway line, and pointed out a portion that he would keep as a railway reserve. I said, " Very well; if the railway is to go through there, let it be my line." But he said, "No; it must be in the hands of the Government." Our talk stopped at what he said, namely, that he should have the control of these things. It did not rest with what I had claimed, that it should be in my hands. This ends what was said in the year 1867. From 1867 I lived quietly amongst the Europeans. In 1868 the second war began, and we were all implicated in that trouble. On the 13th June, 1869, I was taken prisoner and removed to Wellington, where I remained three months before being tried. When my trial came on I waited to see what would be done about the land. I then gave the reasons for all the troubles from the time Titokowaru first began up to the end. After I had spoken I remained waiting to hear what would be said about the land ; what would be done with the land. I was told, " Taurua, you and your people have done wrong in rebelling against the Queen." I answered, "I have not done wrong; I have not carried arms against the Queen, but against you, and you now say it is done against the Queen." I waited, expecting to be told that the land would be all taken for my wrong-doings ; but no, all the blame was put on to me and not on the land. That finishes this part for the present. We were taken then to Otago. Mr. Justice Johnston presided at my trial. We were brought back from Otago to Wellington in 1872, and in 1873 Sir D. McLean sent us all back here: those who belonged to Patea, and those who belonged to Waitotara. In speaking of what took place in 1867 I omitted to state that in that year the following blocks on this side of the Whenuakura were made reserves : Taiporohenui, Mokoia, Manutahi, Taumaha, and Hukatere. And on the other side of the Whenuakura these two blocks were reserved, Oika and Putahi. The land between Patea and Whenuakura was not reserved at that time. In 1873 we arrived at Wanganui, after Sir Donald McLean had released us. It was then that Sir Donald McLean confirmed his promises of the reserves : namely, 10,000 acres at Taiporohenui, 6,000 acres at Mokoia, 2,800 at Manutahi, 173 at Taumaha, and 300 at Hukatere. Sir Donald McLean told me I was to have 2,000 acres at Otauto, 10 acres at Waioture, and 5 acres at Matangirei. I said to Sir Donald McLean, " I will not go back to this land you have given me at Patea, but I will go back to the land between Whenuakura and Waitotara." I said, " Remove your hand which presses upon me like a yoke, and let me go back to the land between Patea, Whenuakura, and Waitotara." After this I came back and lived at Hukatere, which belonged to the Grovernment. Then I went to Wellington, where the Parliament was sitting, to ask that the land should be given to me between Patea and Whenuakura; from Mr. Richmond's line back to the mountains. After this I repeatedly went to Wellington, when I saw that European houses were being built on that land, and that their grass was growing there; and I continued to go to Wellington until the death of Sir Donald McLean. I then heard that it was Mr. Worgan who had sold this land, and I found this man out and spoke to him. I asked him if he was a Commissioner, and he said, "Yes." I asked him if he was the person who bought land from Patea northward, and he said he was. I also heard that he was selling a piece of land between Patea and Whenuakura. I said to him, "If you go along the road and find a cow with a brand on it, do not sell that cow, or else you maybe sent to prison." What I meant by this was that the land between Patea and Whenuakura had all been branded for me ; and I have repeatedly put forward my claim to this land, from the time when I came back from Otago until the present moment when I stand before this Commission. 525. The Commissioners.'] Did you make any claim on this subject to Mr. Sheehan when he was Native Minister ? —Yes, I spoke to Mr. Sheehan and Major Brown when they were here. As fast as one Commissioner succeeded another I repeated the same thing to him, and kept on with it, and will keep on until there are no more Commissioners left. I spoke to Mr. Sheehan about 70 acres at Hukatere, Section 94, adjoining the Otauto Reserve. I must refer to something which I overlooked. In the year 1874 Sir Donald McLean and Mr. Parris came here. We went up the river together in a canoe, and talked over this land which I have just mentioned. It was then that they spoke about reserving Waioture. Now that Sir Donald McLean is dead, you can ask Mr. Parris as to the truth of what I state. I will now go back to the year 1867, when I met Mr. W. S. Atkinson, who was with Mr. Richmond. I patted Mr. Richmond on the back, and said, " This is the man who speaks deception." He said, " What have I done, that you should say that ?" and I replied, " You told me that there would be no people settled between Patea and Whenuakura." Mr. Richmond then said, " Come into the house, and we will talk it over." He then said to me, " Well, Taurua, in what have I deceived you ?" I said, " You told me there would be no people settled on this portion of the land." Mr. Atkinson then said, "It is my doing. I placed Awatea and Erueti Te Pewa on that land." I then said to Mr. Atkinson, "What right had you to put those people on the land ?" Mr. Atkinson said, "It rests with'me to settle this, as lam your parent." But I said, "No ; you must settle these people on the land taken by Mr. Richmond ; namely, the portion extending one and a half miles from the coast." I speak about the land from the end of Mr. Richmond's boundary, which was one and a half miles from the coast right back to the mountain. I now request you to give me back that land. 526. The conversation with Mr. Atkinson which you speak of was in 1867, was it not ?—Yes. 527. The Commissioners : We have listened to what you have had to say; but there is one thing to which you have omitted to refer; namely, the reserve of 1,000 acres which was agreed to be made to Komene, and Komene must now speak his word, before we can bring the two things together to consider them.

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