- they were desperately hard up when I visited them last - and desperately anxious that I should pay instalments on the 40 Mile B. - which I refused to do, until the Manawatu purchase was completed. I begin to think, that what are termed the "Native Institutions" i.e. Asst. Commissioners R. Ms and Maori beaks of every possible description, will soon come to be regarded as "the real Native difficulty" - they are not merely an arrant sham - but they are breeding an incalculable amount of mischief - I quite share in your apprehenson about the settlers to the North of Wanganui but then all you can do is to give them the earliest possible intelligence - leaving them to take their own course. All the Militia