Wallingford Decr. 28th, 1865 My dear McLean, I have not much to write you - the mail brought no letter from you, nor can I gather from the papers that anything has yet occurred at the Wairoa. I heard from Fitzgerald a day or two since he writes that that old sweep Herewanu has refused to allow the road to be explored beyond a certain place which he names on the road to Wairarapa. I should stand very little nonsense from Mr. Herewanu if I were you. I should simply tell him the road shd. go. My only other news is that Manihera from Otaraiata, Wairarapa with 4 or 5 other Hau Hau scoundrels from there is at Porangahau on his way to Poverty Bay and thence to Tarranaki. My people say he is a great Hau Hau and proselytizer. Henry and Morena have urged Manihera and party to return but they decline and will go on your way at once. Now the road is blocked for these Gentry at Rangitikei and Wanganui at which places they refuse to allow these Hau Hau emissaries to pass - they have to come this way to get to the West Coast at all. How it wd. do to pack Mr. Manihera and party off back again the way they have come. If you could get a small party you could rely on to take charge of them and see them back as far as our boundary it wd. have a capital effect I think and stop such parties from coming here again. Old Hadfield from Waimarima is back from Wairarapa - he says that the Wairarapa people all told him it was at the instance and thro' the influence of old Hapuku that they became Hau Hau's and that the faith was so generally supported there. I have a letter from Fenton he has fixed the 25th February as the day for the sitting of the Native Lands Court here. Will you have the necessary survey map of our Govt. Blocks lodged in accordance with the requirements of the Act before that date. Richardson tells me you are wanting some Leicester Rams and that you want good ones not half breds. I am going to use my own half bred Lambs and have I think it is 25 Auckland Leicester Rams to dispose of. If you are wanting any you may as well take mine as send for any from Auckland. Mine are as good as any you will get from there. 10 of them I got from Col. Nixon they were the pick of his lot of that year. 12 I got from Mr. Howard Hutton. I picked them out of his lot. 4 I got from Col. Nixon - they were Rams he had used that year himself. The first lot I have had 3 years they were Hogg's when I got them. The two last lots I have had two seasons. The Hutton Sheep were all Hoggetts when I brought them down. The 4 Nixon Rams were one year older - that is they have been used 3 seasons now. One by Nixon 2 by me. The sires of all were imported Rams and the Ewes were all declared to me to be pure Ewes (I dont believe they have 6 Pure Leicester Ewes in all Auckland) but the ones I speak of I saw and they are as good as any I saw there. They beat every McLean's that year at the agricultural show - (Huttons) If you think of them let me know or Richardson will do as well - I will sell them reasonably. Yours very truly, J. D. Ormond. A native is just here from Porangahau he tells me that Manihera and party have listened to the Porangahau people and returned to Wairarapa today.