Christchurch May 19, 1863 Dear McLean, I am really exceedingly obliged to you for your kind letter. I look upon Hawkes Bay as place where the great question of how the Native and European can be made ''to lie down together'' ought to be solved. You are in a position to start an independant experiment and to solve the difficulty as it were from the outside. I hope you dontinclude me amongst party men on either side in this question. I have long believed our whole mistake in not governing the Maoris is in not using to carry the law into force whereever we can, but it is the force of the not of the we want, and we should by never coming to issue except in clear cases of crime such as I am sure in Hawkes Bay you ought not to hesitate with 100 troopers and you ought not to have less to carry the Queens writ into the whole Province. Had I been in office I would have insisted on you being made Civil Commr. so as to bring the Govts. of the two races under one head. I am sorry you think I spoke strongly of Whitmore and am very glad to hear he does not deserve it; but I have heard many speak very strongly indeed about his appointment. I am quite glad to hear you will write to me. You may rely on my doing all I can to help you. Could you not get Renata and one or two of the younger men returned to the Provl. Council. Would it not be buying the allegiance of the Natives very cheaply if we could get the law executed at the price of getting them to unite their Runanga with ours? Of course you look at these matters from the point of view provided by experience. I can only regard it from such position as an insight into the motives of all human action affords. I was saying to an old Pakeha the other day I am not aware of any Maori custom or law of which you will not find the proto type among the laws of the Saxons or the Bretions. In fact all the Maori laws have their representative in English law of the present day - It is very hard to believe the Maoris civilized but upon my honor it is harder not to believe that some of ones friends are savages. Still we English retain a grand spice of the heathen & cannibal in our composition. Bell is working himself blind, but to no good result. I am fast losing all faith in Grey. It really seems to me as I said before that the Maori question lies more in your province and with you than elsewhere. Yours very truly, James Edward Fitzgerald The press shall be sent to you regularly.