3

A.—6

O mother, the Queen, there are no expressions of disaffection towards you by the Maori -tribes, including the tribes of the King ; but they revere, only revere your Majesty ; and the search after you, O Queen, has induced us to send this petition to England by the hands of the persons appointed by our Committee, who will see your very countenance and hear your words. O mother, the Queen, do not suppose that the sufferings under which we labour are light. Many wrongs are felt by various tribes, but the following are some which have come under our own notice : — (1.) The fighting between the Maoris and the New Zealand Company in the year 1811-42, was brought about by land disputes, and Mr. Wakefield fell in the strife. (2.) The war against Te Rangihaeata in the year 1842-43 : a land dispute also was the origin ; and some of Rangihaeata's people were wrongly executed, their deaths being opposed to the English law, and contrary to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. (3.) The war against Heke and Kawiti in 1844-45, caused by land sales and the withholding of the anchorage money* at Bay of Islands, was contrary to the second article of the Treaty of Waitangi. (4.) The fighting between the chiefs Te Hapuku and Te Moananui in 1848-49, brought about by land-purchasing on behalf of the Government. (5.) The war against Wiremu Kingi on account of the block of land named Waitara, at Taranaki. (6.) The w rar against the Waikatos in 1863, extending to the year 1870. (7.) The fight among the Ngatitautahi tribe in 1879, four Natives killed, the strife being occasioned by the land purchases of Government, a portion of £700,000 having been scattered over our lauds by Government agents in 1875. (8.) The capture of two hundred innocent men of Te Whiti in 1879-81. (9.) The incarceration of Te Whiti and his people in 1881-82, who were guiltless of any crime. The following, O Queen, are references to New Zealand Ordinances put forth and said to be against the principles contained in the Treaty of Waitangi:—(l.) The making of unauthorized laws relating to Maori lands—namely, the Land Acts of 1862, 1865, 1873, 1880—which Acts were not assented to by the Native Chiefs in all parts of the Island. Nor is there any basis in the Treaty of Waitangi for these laws, which continuously bring upon our lands and upon our persons great wrongs. (2.) The Immigration and Public Works Act, and the borrowing of £700,000, expended here and there to confuse the Maoris and their titles to land. O mother, the Queen, these other things, and many of the laws that are being carried into effect, are, according to Maori ideas, very unjust, creating disorder amongst us, giving us heartpangs and sadness of spirit to your Maori children, who are ever looking towards you, most gracious Queen; and it is averred by men of wisdom that these matters which weigh so heavily upon us are in opposition to the great and excellent principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. May you be in health, O mother, the Queen ! May the Almighty bring down upon you, upon your family, and upon the whole of your people, the exalted goodness of Heaven, even up to the termination of your sojourn in this world, and in your inheritance in the home of sacred rest! May you live, is the prayer of your children in the Island of New Zealand. Parore te Awha. Mangonui Rewa. Hare Hongi Hika. Hirini Taiwhanga. Maihi Paraone Kawiti. Wiremu Puhi te Hihi. Kingi Hori Kira. Hakena Parore. For the Native people of New Zealand.

Enclosure 2. Maori Chiefs in London. Yesterday afternoon, a deputation of Maori Chiefs, accompanied by numerous friends of the Aborignes' Protection Society, waited upon the Earl of Kimberley (Secretary of State for the Colonies), at the Colonial Office, for the purpose of seeking redress of grievances under which Native tribes, it is alleged, suffer in New Zealand. The Maori Chiefs, three in number, were attired in English dress. They appeared intelligent men, one of them having his face much tattooed. Their names were Wiremu Puhi te Hihi, Hirini Taiwhanga, and Hakene Parore. There were present, Sir T. Fowell Buxton, Mr. W. H. James, M.P., Mr. T. Frv, M.P., Sir Wilfred Lawson, M.P., Sir D. Wedderburn, M.P., Mr. W. Eathbone, M.P., Mr. A. McArthur, M.P., Mr. Alderman Fowler, M.P., Mr. Brogden, M.P., Mr. Cropper, M.P., Mr. Thomasson, M.P., the Bishop of Nelson, the Rev. T. Grace (late of New Zealand), Mr. Froome Talfourd, Mr. C. Hancock, Mr. W. Wilson, Mr. G. W. Rusden, Mr. Da Costa, Mr. F. W. Chesson (Secretary of the Aborignes'' Protection Society). Mr. F. W. Chesson read a letter from Bishop Abraham (the late Bishop of Wellington), in which he stated that in 1852, Sir John Packington, being the Colonial Minister, framed a Constitution for New Zealand, absolutely ignoring the 60,000 Natives, who then outnumbered the English, and who were by the Treaty of Waitangi proclaimed to be as much subjects of the Queen as the English. No Native could vote unless he chanced to have a Crown grant, which only a very few had, and this was a direct violation of the treaty. It was not till about the year 1865, that four or five Natives were admitted into the Houses of Parliament.

* The anchorage money referred to here was paid by Government officials to Hone Heke and party for two successive years, but when an application was made for payment by Heke the officials failed to recognize the Maoris, and stated that the moneys ever afterwards would be paid to the Custom-house authorities, although it had been arranged, it is averred, at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, that Heke's party should be the recipients of the money in question.