to follow his own plan, without attending to the discordant clamors of the public, for do what he may he cannot please all, and if he were to attempt it it would be something like the fable of the old man his son and the ass. I am waiting anxiously for the next intelligence because I am convinced the future quietude of the Colony very much depends upon the measures that are adopted in the present crisis. I have been down the coast in consequence of a rumour that was brought to Port Nicholson stating that Taraia had made a descent upon Manawatu, and butchered the inhabitants of a Pa called Patea some distance up the interior, three individuals only escaping - but I am happy to say that the rumour appears unfounded I can gather no satisfactory intelligence substantiating such a fact, and therefore conclude it is a "ngutu tere" for had such a thing really happened the natives along the coast would not have remained so long in ignorance, or doubtful of its truth. I am therefore on my way home again, home I say, but Port Nicholson I mean, I wish I were going home for I am