TAURANGA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3389, 27 May 1868, Page 4

TAURANGA. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

• Ik tone of my recent le&ers I believe I told you that all horns which have lately been taken by natives bad been ordered to be given up. This accordingly was done to tome extent last week, and I suppose there il an end of it. A vigilant and protective Legislature provides for European derelictions in all inch oases, but here Is another instance of what a Maori may do, and does, in defiance of all law -,Md order. The , inland newp is, very conflicting and very unsatisfactory, attributable to the decisions of the Native Lands Court lately sitting i»t Taupo. I saw a letter recently, written at Ohinemutu, which ~ oonfirms what I have hitherto »aid, that if Government does not reverie the decision lately made at Oranui, or, at any rate, assent to a frtah bearing of the oaae, ooufidenoe in our Lands Couits will be destroyed. I rnn not in possession of the particulars of the complaint, but am assured that a representation has been made to his Uxoellency the Governor on the subject sad that the natives are anxiously looking forward for a reply, Te. Paerata, a Hauhau chief who figured very oonat the Lands Courts in Paupo. and who 'l>y the way was unsuccessful in all his attempts) to prove hia claim, is — since his return to his Hauhau quarters— in disgrace with the King's advisers, who exp'eoi themselves very indignant at the chief's presumption in crossing the Hauhau boundary line, s>nd entering the Queen's country. The native Kerete, who was oonneoted with the death of Hamuera t> Heu, is. still at large, and is ■aid to be hiding himself somewhere in the Katikati or I hamea distnot ; this, however, is questionable, as he wa« leen a few days baok at hia father's settletnent, that ohisf beiug now in Te Papa. Some extraotdtnary revelations are supposed to be pending ) about the supplying of grog to them by Te Papa storekeepers. Tana— W Th»mpsou s son— demands thai Kerete shall be handed over to the JJgatihaua% and then arraigned for the wilful murder of Hamuera te Beu. The weather continues fine aud bracing j the nights cold, but •easouab'e. The prospecting party which I alluded to in my last have not allowed any trace of their whereabouts to' leak out ; they are resolute and experienced men, and we all put great faith in their efforts. " The * Stiirr,' oolonial gun boat, Captain Fairchild, arrived here on Saturday morning, aud, after a stay of an hour or two, sailed for Opotiki. * lam glad that my.ad vocacy of a public pound here ' has met with success. Most necessary was such an institution, for the, preservation of good feeling and neighbourly instincts. Two men, about a fortnight ago, oamo down here professedly on a prospecting expedition, but have turned their highly-profersional abilities to obtain a more immediate returu for their outlay. The last that has been hear ( of them (through Major Mair, 1 believe) is that they wi-re in treaty to dispose of a boat which had been lent or hi<ed to them down the ooa<t Such scoundrels deserve nothing less than a repetition of the criminal doses they have had . msted to them both on this and the adjoining oolony. It is no use disguising the fact that the late Government land rales fur this district have caused very much dissatisfaction ; but, as 1 really am not very well posted up in these matters, it may be as Well to let the affair stand as it is. Our produce markets are gradually risinsr— prices for milk, butter, and eggs on the increase. Potatoes, .too, are getting dearer, and stores are becoming monopolists again. You may observe from the columns of the Tawanga ifacordthat a movement is being made 'to establish a post office at the Gate Pa, a very salutary step to the people settled beyond the pa.