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Pihopa said, —Welcome ! the Government, come to see me, come to see the Tuhoe who were always troublesome in the past. Come in friendship, come in love ! This course was adopted by our Saviour I have nothing to say on behalf of the Ngatimanawa. They were always friendly to the Government, but Tuhoe has been different. However " Let the past bury itself. Bring us love If it is lovs you are bringing, 0 Premier, come to rule the destinies of this Island, come and give us a bit of your attention. Do not confine it to one race. Welcome, O Premier! If you instruct well your child he may grow up to be a credit to you, but I may point out thai; he may prove as easily spoiled as a spoilt child Welcome to you, Mr Carroll Wi Patene said, —Welcome to the representative of the Government ! Welcome also to the Hon. Mr Carroll, your colleague ! It is well you have come here. It is your duty to come and see the orphans of our race. Come and visit these isolated parts, Ruatahuna and Tuhoe—Tuhoe who have not borne a reputable name in the past. They have been the wild turbulent tribe of this island. Your coming may be the signal for everything to shine over the land. We have a lot to say to you. Welcome, omy friend, to Te Whaiti, at which place you are going to see the majestic hills and mountains They remain, but the people have gone. You are like the snow which clothes the mountain-tops, which creates a freezing sensation. We hope you bring with you the sun that will take away that freezing sensation for a very long time, and that its warm influence will be felt over us. Again I say to you, welcome to Te Whaiti! The Premier: To the tribes of the Native race here assembled, I offer you salutations, words of kindness, and good-feeling. My words, my salutations, and my kind greetings come to you from the whole of New Zealand. I am only expressing the wishes and feelings of over six hundred thousand pakehas when I say they send to you through me a very kind greeting and their goodfellowship. I have travelled a long distance to see you. I have encountered dangers and difficulties, but you are quite right when you say it is proper we should come and see you and meet you face to face. You are the remnant of a great race that formerly inhabited this island. It is well that those from a distance should come to see those who are here, so to speak, out of the world. It is right that we should bring you kind greetings and salutations. When your friends come from a distance to see you, when they come amongst you and let you know what is going on in other parts, it gladdens your hearts. When you feel lonely you go and visit your friends in other parts, and it gladdens the hearts of those you go to see. It is very pleasing to me to hear your welcome, it gladdens my heart, and will gladden the hearts of many others when I tell them of it. lam also very pleased to find the Ngatimanawa, Ngatiwhare, and Tuhoe present here to give me this welcome. It is very pleasant, and I am glad to be reminded that the Ngatimanawa have always been friendly towards the Government. Seeing the representative of the Government here to-day will remind them of that loyalty which they have always displayed towards the Queen and the Government. It must be also pleasing to the Ngatimanawa to find that the troubles of the past are not revived, and to see the Tuhoe with them welcoming the representative of the Government. You will be further pleased to hear from my lips that I have just passed the mountains after having seen the Tuhoe—a large number of them, and their chiefs have assured me, on behalf of Tuhoe, that peace and goodwill shall henceforth exist between you and the Government and between the two races. I have seen Natives from the east, west, north, and south, but when I met the Tuhoe and received from them this assurance, given<in, good faith to the Government, it made my heart rejoice, because I said the mist had been removed, and the light of day, the bright sunshine, was at last dawning upon them. The Ngatimanawa will be pleased, I know, when I tell them that the Tuhoe has decided to live under the British flag, they are going to have one at their settlement to remind them of their promise, and to cement the friendship that is to exist between themselves and the pakehas. The day is not far distant when the short distance between here and Euatoki—the journey to which is fraught with much difficulty and personal risk, and which now takes so long a time to traverse —when you and the Tuhoe will be able to travel it with ease, and exchange visits with each other One of your chiefs just now said we were like the snow , that when the snow appeared there was a freezing sensation, and he hoped we brought with us the sun, as the sun would take away that freezing sensation, and the snow would disappear for a very long season. There will be no freezing to-day The sun shines above us all irrespective of race, colour, or surroundings. As that sun shines so do the Government wish to throw their protection over one and all of you in order that you may enjoy the warmth that belongs to you who belong to a noble race. It is our wish that you may increase and multiply, that you may prosper and live happy and contented. These are not empty words—not words only—it is not mere sentiment, it is the honest truth, spoken to you by one who desires to help you, not like the words spoken by one of your members last night, which were sarcastic. Still, he was very near the mark when he said that in the past the Prime Minister and the Native Minister had been like something kept in a glass case, afraid to meet the people and look at them , and when the Minister did come you saw a man like yourselves who had come to speak to you, only somewhat different in colour lam the Minister for the Native race, not the Minister against the Native race, and there is no loss of dignity I merely wish to speak to you as one friend should speak to another, because I come to see you to insure that our relative positions can be maintained with respect on both sides. It does not take mana from your rangatira because he sits with you and eats with you as one of yourselves. You still respect his mana —his position. I say it is impossible to govern you, it is impossible to help you, unless we know what your troubles are, and how we can best remove them once and for all. When we want to help the pakeha, when the Europeans are in trouble, when there is a cloud upon their minds, they command their rangatiras to send the Minister to come and see them to explain what the Government is doing, and they put their grievances before him. If the Minister did not do so, and try to remove those grievances, they would turn him and his Government out. They would say, " You are no good for us , we will get others." Now, the Native race have representatives in the Big House, in the Parliament House, in Wellington. It is true there are only four Native members in that House, but you have the same, if not a greater, proportion of representatives