RAGLAN. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) December 27th, 1862.

With reference to the principal subject inattor of my last communication, I have to record that a very iemarkable denoument has taken plape; and it is this, that one of the calves, for the illegal possession of which S. Wilson was prosecuted, and sought to be proved a thief, was really and truly not belonging to Mr. J. Graham's cow at all, for yesterday the identical cow was teen wilh a calf a jew days old tucking her I Thus what it took the court here two loug and nuxious days to decide, might, had the cow herself bean produced at the time (which is not a month ago yet) been dismissed m a groundless accusation. The quidnuncs of Raglan •poke very blatantly of young Wilson's guilt, and about their companion Benjamin Mackay harinj been tampered with by them, and refusing to accuse them, because be was » "chummy" of the Wilsons, but what has just happened has proved that Ben was very wise to refuse to swear that the said cow was the mother of the calf which the Wilsons and he had taken off the run, seeing that the cow was at that very time within a month of her giving birth to another calf, and that the calf prosecuted for was only two or three months old. Thecow in the other case was sent to Auckland six weeks ago, and cannot now be produced Before the first trial took place, and when Mr. Wallis spoke about Mr. Wilaon having taken one of his calves, the latter said that the cow was <A«)i heavy in calf. Mr. Wilson, who it would seem, is a good judge of these things, said at the same time that Mr. Graham's cow would calve about the 24th December, and this is just what turned out to be the case. Yesterday and to-day the whole settlement holds holiday ; boat and horse racing and other games being engaged in by both Maori and Pakeha. The ' Abeona', ■ohooner noted as flag ship, and h«r crew contributed not a little to the hilarity of the day, and to the success of the aquatic sports. Last night, the fust case in the history of Raglan, of locking up, took place— an unfortunate drunkard having been committed to the tenancy of an empty store on the beach, and five Maoris camped outside to make sure of him. He slept sound all night, and awoke his jailors outside in the morning by calling for "» ball," "to «aye l»is life," as be said. Raglan has lately had a visit from Lieutenant Bates, interpreter to the 65th regiment. His mission was understood to be to enlist Maoris for a corps of armed police, which it i« in contemplation to form, to garrison Mangatawhiri, and other out posts. No doubt the • Maoris would rather be guarded by their own brothers and cousins, than by the invaders ; and so would they prefer having a king of their own color ; and the lawless of them would like to be left without any kind of "government whatever, save the freedom of their own wilt But the versatile Maori is beginning to be tired of the king movement, and the land league will soon become a burden to them. During the twenty or thirty years of colonization that have elapied in New Zealand, the Maori may be said to have gone rapidly through several "ages, or periods of civilization. To correspond with the " iron," the "brasi," the " silver," and the ',' golden ages" of 'the anoients, we have phases, somewhat similar in the progress in civilization of the Maori. In hit desire lor money, which Solomon says, "auswereth all things," he hu tried all manner of sphemes, , And the several gortrnments of the, day- have promoted his cravings, mdfi'or less lavishly. 1 ( There A-was the mill and machinery mania, the ship owning. mania, the school mania, the religion mania, and many other schemes of money making, either locator, general.' , These things have pakied away. The mills are" like that of which «B«n BoltV lohoolfeUow told him, "Men to decay ;"

ithe/sWpsare in general, where, they bay? survived the storm, laid up for' want of 'sails or of repairs } njitiye children now no' longer go to school ; and »dulfc, natives hoW no longer "look up to their missionary as a source of 'good, The Ruuanga mania is also fasfc.passing away, And sodii the king mania, and the Una league mania, your correspondent .ventures to prediot, will be put on the shelf, of history, to become dusty, motheaten, despised; and neglected. The Maori is'beginning to open his eyes on this subject, and he' will soon see that his " dog-in the-nunger" policy' don't pay — that its disadvantages are vastly more than its advantages, — and by the time that the new aot for the legalization t of .the long wanted system of direct purchase comes into force, he will be ready to carry it shoulder high into the heart of their country, to have their "swords beat into plough shares, and their spears into pruning hooks," and to cease hurting and annoying within her Majesty's dominions. A wise and foreseeing government can discern the state of the native mind, as well as can your correspondent; for they have lately sent two blacksmiths into these parts. One is stationed on the Wailtato river, near Kohunga,' and guts £75 a-year ; the other is settled at Raglan, and gets £50 a-year as retaining fees. They are not required to do any work for these subsidies, but get paid betides for what they do. As they are thus made, m a measure, independent of work, it will be necessary that the subsidizen see to it that these men do not take advantage of their position of monopoly and make exorbitant charges. This is already complained of at Raglan, and the government has as much right to fix these blacksmiths 1 charges, as they have to fix the charges at any ferry which they subsidise. A great want is felt in this settlement, which must be commonly felt in other out-settlements. It is the want of a Savings Bank. Such an institution would promote economy amongst the Maori and p&keha, both young and old. Of course, where communities are small and disorganised, such things cannot easily be founded in erery little settlement. It would be very acceptable, and I think it would be 'very easy for the Government to organise post office banks, the same as has been done with great success a year or two ago in the British islands. The money order system has indeed been partially introduced into New Zealand, but it certainly ought not to be restricted to the cities and other populous places where there are banks enough already. Surely these money order offices are not intended chiefly for producing a revenue If they are intended to be a real benefit to the community, more (.'specially to that portion of it which stands most in need of such a- benefit being placed within their reach, the system ought to bo extended to every post-office in the colony ; for the smaller the population the less likelihood is there of there soon being any other mode accessible to the public for the transmission and safe custody of money. The money order system might be extended at once without any appeal to the legislature of ttie colony, and I think the Post office Act gives sufficient powers to the Governor, in Council, to establish' Post-office Savings Banks also. Your correspondent begs respectfully to call the attention of the outlying readers of the Daily Southern Cross to these remarks of his, and will rejoice if they should lead to such a general expression of opinion amongst out settlers as vviH induce the Post-office department to take both these subjects into serious consideration. The Commissions charged upon tiansactione, would cause the revenue to rejoice rather than to mourn. The Government road goes on in a satisfactory manner, so far as the work done is concerned, but taking the cost into account, the results are really contemptible. Some months ago, I remarked that a better style of getting the work done ought to be be adopted, than by employing Maoris and paying them upon days' wages direct out of the Treasury, without the intervention of a contractor ; but the same stylo of paying the natives for doing little or nothing still continues, and instead of making the natives moie reasonablo in their conduct or in anyway eliciting gra ti Uule, they appear to be getting more impudent and ridiculous here every day. If the Government had let out the vi ovks, or would even now let out the remaining works to proper contiactors, they would save enough of money to establish a soup kitchen and maintain at the public expense these able bodied paupers and . their wives ami families, also admitting all visitors to open house. This would put the relations between the Government and the friendly natives iv their proper light, and by calling things by their proper names, without any such blinding periphrasis of roadmaking in a friendly way, would suiely soon make the Maoris ashamed of themselves. Ot course these remarks do not loflect, in any w«.y upon the local authorities here ; the}' have no doubt their instructions and c»rry them >out. But tl;o system is bad, and the public, whose money is being foolediiway, have a right to know all about it. I have just learned that the fern and bush cutting along the leuiainder of the line to the Waitetumi, is to be let out to Maoris. This substitution of piece for days' woik is a step in the right diiection, and will be a benefit both to the Maoris, who will lie able to work early or late just as they please, and to the public who aro supporting these " poor distressed operatives," for they will get a nearer approach to value for their money. The bridges along the whole line have also been put out to tender, and several settlers have offered to contiact. So that theie is every probability of this road being completed as far as the Waitetuna liver, befoie the close of the present summer. Then w ill come the tug of opposition, if any is to be mndc, and then piobably the inland natives will have agreed to the continuance of the roadmaking on to the Wai pa, — making a virtue of necessity. All the money aheady paid has been taken out of the Colonial Treasury, the Provincial Government having never been asked for any of the £500 voted in last session of the Council, for this road, These affairs are well enough known in the little community of Raglan, aud yonr correspondent thinks them sufficiently important to be known to the New Zealand public, through the columns of the Daily Southern Cnoss. A more direct process of pacification is going on in the model schools on the Waikato, as whole tons of material go up the river from Waiuku to aid in bringing up industrially, and not merely theoretically, the young Maoris of the interior. That system, being a straightforward one, and not a blind, as the Raglan road making is, will be moie likely to succeed in its object, and to elicit the gratitude of the recipients. The Raglan native* are like Jeshurun of old, they are " waxing fat and kicking," but as there are no pricks for them to kick against, they will continue to kick either till they break theii traces, or till they are put upon low diet, or put to work to keep down their full habits of body. It is, however, probably as well that your correspondent should refrain here from giving instances of their kicking : every body in Raglan could fiu uish them, and people elsewhere would net be much edified or amused unless they knew the persons concerned. Waata, a native assessor, died about ten days ago. He was an intelligent young man and had some knowledge of the English tongue. He died of fever and starvation induced by the ancient superstitions of his benighted race. Witch craft, as in the case of the death of Nero's son heio, six years ago, which resulted in the strangulation by the tribe of two unfortunate old people, was not the phase of spiritual influence which claimed poor Waata for the land of departed shades. The modus opcrandi was described to me by a devout beliover to be that a very strong spirit of a very remote ancrstor, after long striving with Waata's spirit, succeeded in disembodying it and carrying it off for a companion. The Maori does not contemplate death as the "one event" which " happeneth unto all," but as something requiring to be caused in some manner, more or less especial, mysterious and miraculous. Every death must have an active agent in some human being or some departed spirit, by means of tapu, witchcraft, or other spiritual influence. It is very questionable whether the ancient faith of the Maori acknowledged either god, angel, or devil. Having seen in the Daily Southern Olios* of the 16th instant, a loading article referring to the New Zcalamler'x articles of the 13th, your correspondent procured that paper, and was very much astonished at the self-complacency therein displayed. It is said by your contemporary that a public school has been established in every settlement of the province. Now, there is no school in this settlement, although we all pay towards the support of schools in other settlements, more populous than our own ; and it is adding insult to injury to toll us that we have a school at Raglan. It seems certainly very anomalous that the poor should be robbed to «sai«t the companvtWely rich, but this is really the operation of the Provincial Education Act, which goes the length of helping those who are able to i help themselves, but fails to assist those who are not. Surely in an endowment soheme, one has a right to expeot that the weakest are most entitled to assistance, at least so far as to give them a start. This aot seems to be very popular throughout the provinoe, and justly so, but a slight amendment ought to be introduced to enable the Board of Education to bear a greater proportion than, one half of the expense, for at least a year or two in such places as Raglan, whioh, from its isolation amongst the natives, and its distance from Auckland, has not hitherto made such progress as settlements to the north have. Children here are growing up in utter ignorance of book learning, and the disadvantages to whioh the rising generation is subjected, can never be remedied by themselves. A wrong has been done to our young people, now growing into manhood and womanhood, which it is to be hoped , will not continue to be inflioted upon their younger brothers and sisters, and upon their own' children. The new Auckland Government should consider' ibis* point.. Observing the comments of the Ntw-Ztalahder on your correspondent from this settlement of this time last

year,?!' A-Waitetjiim Settler^ ImuignntlyutaaiaM'' on referring to Mr, Fenton'i report, from,Trhiotf tint ' extraot is mods-, to< find,- that that gentleman, White condemning newspaper* for , publishing* un&rtain' rh* mours, which lefioot upon,// important chiefs^ ai?d government nchuinwj for the government of theoountryl makes tu> accusation against'" Mr.< Stewart; M.P.C.'ji' which- is, if true, imcourteons and* unnecessary; and<if untrue, inexcusable.. Mr. Fenton ii co mealy-mouthed that he cannot >write the. word '.'adultery," or'«veri "crim. con:," but calls tthe offence by its Maori name; " puremu," as it.is repeatedly.termed in the "Report of Commissioners, Lower Waikato.". He did not; however, let his accusation be, known to those most concerned, for his acouwtion against Mr. Stewarts it addressed to the Native Minister on<7th of February; 1862, and the first that the accused heard' of ii was on 25th of December, 1862. .Meanwhile this offensive and probably false charge against a public > man 'is circulated throughout New Zealand, sent home and commented upon by Governor Sir George Grey, and the Duke of Newcastle iv a deprecatory manner, i "Tbii is very injurious/— to imitate Mr. Fenton's style of writing English, in the Maori idiom. Mr: Stewart was in Auckland all last February at his'" M. P. C.'J duties, and might at least have been, told by either Mr. Fenton or the Native Minister, of the charge brought against him. But he is no doubt, now that he is aware of the charge, quite able to rebut it, and I can assure the public that he has as little reason as has your correspondent to be ashamed of or to disown anything that he has written anonymously to the Daily Southern Cross, or to the bi-weekly Southern Cross of last February or January either. I cannot tell you who "A Waitetuna Settler " is, and if I could I should never publish it in any of your contemporaries, or. in any government blue book ; and Mr. Fenton,' jhe Native Minister, and all those who had any hand in the concoction and publication of this worse than any newspaper unauthenticated rumour, had no possible title to break in thus upon a newspaper correspondent's incognito. In the Dailt Southern Cross of Nov. 26th last, a letterappears by which it seems that "0," another of your correspondents, had been subjected to an attempt by some vulgar fellow to remove his mask. To this attempt ihe letter of Major Peacocke is a manly reply. But this is a different case, when a public man is accused in an insidiou", indefinite, intangible, and insinuating way of falsehood, scandalous writing, and interference with the peaceable management of the native race, and I have no doubt that when it is sufficiently known, the author of it will meet with that publio reprobation which he richly merits! Truly, Mr. Fenton, "this is very injurious."~WulUm Naylor and his people have done far worse things than " shoot cattle." (1.) They or some of them have stolen pigs, and sold them to the owners thereof, and were thus discovered. An instance of this 1 related in my last communication to you. (2.) Waata, whose death is above recorded, stole a cow, took it to Waipa, brought it back with a calf, and sold it to Mr. Kescal here. Mr. Douglas, to whose children the cow belonged, prosecuted Waata before Dr. Harsant, and Waat* had to pay £4. Waata was after thxt mode an assessor. (3.) Heteraka, Naylor's nephew, and alto a native attestor, attacked Taraihana on * - public road, and with the aid of a relative took money nut of his pocket. And Tamibana went and told Mr. Gorst about this, who reported the whole to the government, and the Southern Cboss reported it to everybody else. '(4) Hakopa, who was i alto aftenoards made a native avessor, and Te Wahapu, officiated as executioners upon an old-man and woman, who were believed to have bewitched a son of W. Naylor's, and the old couple gloried in the imputation. This waß the carrying out of the sentence of the tribe, of which Naylor is the head. The bodies were cooked and buried iv an oveu of lcd-heated stones, and I suppose aie still lying in that earthly hell. (5) Minerapa, one of his " people," tomahawked Mr. Wilson's working bullock, because it trespassed through his trumpery fence, and said that he would shoot any future trespassing cattle. Now, Mr. Fenton, these things are true, and have occurred in the knowledge of the settlers within the last six or seven years, and whilst " William Nero and his people," where, in the full bloom of that system of ethics, which 3>our correspondent is not latitudinarian enough to call by the name of Christ as its author. Christ's missionaries never taught them to do f so ; but they did them because they did not believe in Christianity, or feel the advantages or restraints of a civilized government. Tfc is not offensive to William Naylor to*publish these things ; he is not ashamed in having taken the part he did in any of them But he is justly offended that Mr. Fenton should try and breed mischief between him and any of the pakehss about him, with whom he has always lived, and desires still to remain upon the best of terms. His pakehas, during iho late war, found his mana a comfortable protection, and we now are perfectly willing to recognize him as the lord of the manor. The township of Raglan is situated in a very inconvenient part of the harbour of Whaingaroo. This is no paity question or matter of isolated opinion, but everybody acknowledges that it ought to have been farther inland from the outer seaboard. Had it been placed at the Okete Falls, and taken in all the land between the Paraiti cieek and that river that is cut off by the present line of the Waipa road, it w ould have contained sufficient land for sale, and for large reserves besides. It would have been a betW harbour for vessels, and a better landing place, been more accessible by land to the majority of the settlers, and bavp had one of the best and most available water-falls in New Zealand on the public property, which could be leased for the benefit of tho community at large, instead of having the land on both sides of it in the monopoly of one family. Had this land been reserved for a township, about £2,000 of government road-making money would have been saved on the road from the township to the Waipa country. But now, through this mistake, a dreary addition of about four miles is added to the journey of settlers before they can get to the government township as at present placed. A better site and one nearer still to the Waipa country than Raglan is, would be upon Major Johustone's land, within the Waitetuna heads, for there a wharf could be made on firm land and in deep and smooth water. But the public is debarred from access to these good landing places on the Okete and Waitetuna rivers, us they were not probably known to the surveyor who several years ago laid out the roads through this settlement. Bonds in other places are also much wanted ; for some settlers have no roads to their farms, save by the kind permission of their intervening neighbours. For these and other things, a provincial government surveyor is much wanted down here, the general government surveyor having already a sufficient burden of field and office work. One other local subject requires public attention again 'tobe di awn to it. The admiralty chart of Whaingaron harbour is calculated to run a vessel ashore, and ought to be amended. This was notified in the Southern Cross of 16th October, 1857, but no notice has ever been taken of it in high quarters. The Cross would conferva public benefit to the shipping interest, by reprinting the letter which it published above five years ago.