May 58 Tawhati 29th May /58 Dear McLean In my letter to the Nat. Secy. I have spoken of the Raihi hoping that if any assessors are added to the paid list he may be one there is great jealousy up the country towards the natives who living in the vicinity of Auckland have the opportunity of constantly presenting themselves at that El Dorado, te tari --- If you think the Govt. would appoint an assessor at Hauraki I should like to recommend one of the Ngati Maru chiefs --- As I know nothing of what has been done with regard to Ngatae's claim except through the native reports I have said as little as possible in my official letter to yourself about the land in this river, the aborigines hinted to me that in case the chiefs meaning the great men like Taraia and Ngatae attempted to sell their land as well as their own and keep the money in their (Taraia and Ngataes) hands, then they the people living on the land would limit the land offered by Ngatae to the Govt. to those portions actually belonging to him, in which case the result would be very unsatisfactory Ngatae offered the land he owns up here to me in November /56 at the time that Parker pestered the Department about his debts --- I refused to negotiate on account of the very small extent and the isolated position of that called Te Papa --- telling him at the same time (as I knew the Ngati tamatua land surrounded his and that they would oppose what they call tikarohanga) that if he arranged matters first with Taraia and the rest I would then see what could be done --- As for Hori Pokai's and his party claiming land here and Ngatae putting their names in his letter like a lot of people backing a bad bill --- I am confident that Hori Pokai does not own an acre here --- I suppose that I shall receive instructions from you shortly and I feel confident that if I am backed by the Government and that the natives understand that I have the sole management of all negotiations in my district subject of course to the approval of the government, that I can obtain a cession of a very large tract not by any persuasive powers of my own but by managing the disposition evidence by the natives --- I believe it to have been a toss up whether Ngatae got their consent or not and I am now almost inclined to think there may be a little collusion. The natives Hori Pokai, Hoete, Ngatae and Patera whom I was obliged to thwart in their attempt to get a large advance first on Waiheke (the Ngati Rakura and others having cautioned me not to negotiate with Hori Pokai alone) and then on about 2500 acres on the Piako have (I hear through the Maories) threatened to appoint another commissioner and give all their patronage to another surveyor hoping thereby to convince me of the folly of attempting to prevent their paying their debts at the Govt. expence --- Hoeto being very indignant at my not considering about five hundred acres as an equivalent for three hundred pound. I shall finish my Piako work in a very short time and then come here, I am creeping down the river with the land and if I can see Te Moana Nui I shall be able to join Hauhau puhamu and Hotungaio. I prefer this time of year to the summer for work there are no musquitoes, the men work harder and the flies dont defile everything as they do in hot weather. Wet and cold one gets used to in fact the end of July and August is about the only part of the winter that causes any great delay --- You see I have written privately to you as I wanted to mention what I have done and as it could not be done very well officially you get the benefit of two sheets of information such as it is. I see the leading article in one of the Southern Xs talking about natives selling their land to anybody they liked and Govt. surveyors instructing the youthful Maori in surveying and I suppose the use of the globes if that comes to pass I shall go into the church --- I was requested by the Resident Magistrate on the Waikato to rear a sucking surveyor in the shape of a Maori who had solved the mystery of rule of three. I suppose all his blunders supposing I had undertaken it and he had dazzled the world with a theodolite and chain would have been charitably laid on my back as part of a Pakeha conspiracy to have Maori lands wrongly surveyed. I dont expect any thanks for my epistle but remain Yours very truly Geo. W. Drummond Hay