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English
Dunedin, Jan. 6, 1873 . My Dear Mr. McLean, I have lost no time in doing what you ask about the monument for dear old Tamati Waka Nene. I have selected the enclosed design from the plans of the "" Urns have now gone out of fashion at home, as being heathenish, and implying that bodies are burned and not buried, and their ashes stored in urns. Christian crosses are now generally used, and are erected in the Highland Churchyards. You will see that this monument would stand 16 feet high, of white Oamaru stone; and will cost in all about £60. i. e. £40 for the stone and work, about £5 for the inscription, and about £15 for frieght, packing cases, etc. It will take about 6 weeks to finish. I told Munro (who seems a very respectable man,) that as you had left the selection to me, he might begin at once on the pedestal, and go on with the rest unless he heard from you to the contrary. You might telegraph to him your approval, and also return the plan direct to him by post, as he has not got another. There may, of course, be some reason of wh. I am ignorant for the delay in the publications of the Amnesty. But Bell, Macandrew, and the other friends of the present Ministry down here, tell me they think it ought not to be much longer delayed, after what passed in Parliament on the subject. I confess that I fear that if it is published only at the moment of my departure, it will look like an ostentatious, personal, act of my own, and not (what it really is,) the result of the deliberations of the Ministry and Parliament, -- originally proposed by yourself and adopted by both parties in the State. However, as I said above, there may be pressing reasons for delay. Only the Attorney General shd. prepare the Proclamation for issue at the right time. I am, Yrs. very truly, G. F. Bowen The Hoble. D. McLean, C. M. G.