THE WAITARA.

New Zealand Herald, Issue 12, 10 December 1863, Page 4

THE WAITARA.

The following despatches i'reen his Excellency Sir G. Grey to the Duke of Newcastle, were laid on tho table of the House of liepreseutatives l>y the Col. Secretary on Tuesday last. Government House, Auckland, 2Gth October, 1863. My Lor.n Duke,- —I hud tlie honor of receiving on the 22nd inst., your GRico's despatch No. 8S of the 25th of August lust; I thought it my duty to communicate it at once to my responsible advisers, and I have accidentally learned that it lias by direction of the Colonial Secretary been published and copies of it distributed to some of the members of tho Genera'. Assembly. This lias been done without my having been consulted oil the subject, and I have not yet been informed that it was intended to publish it, nor has a printed copy of it been sent to me. 2. J do not mention this in tho way of complaint, for I am sure tho Colonial Secretary has done what lie thought best for tho public service, and that in not mentioning to me wiiaL he intended to do, and in not sending to me tiny copy of thu printed paper, ho merely forgot to take such steps from the pressure of other important mutters upon lii.s mind, but as the despatch has been published, and T fear that some of the remarks in it might complicate tho ultimate settlement of ail'airs with the natives of this country, and thatonc remark in it, 7 lan e no doubt unintentionally made, reflects unjustly upon myself, I liavo enclosed a memorandum, upon a few points in it, which, if your Grace thinks tit to read, will, I am sure, satisfy yon. That William King gave a reason for liis opposition to Te Tciia selling a piece of land at the public meeting at which that chief offered it for sale, and on several occasions subsequently. That the natives used the language wliieli I appear to your Grace to have put into their mouths, in iny despatch of the 21 fh April, on many previous occasions, and that this language of theirs had been transmitted to your Grace, sometimes ulmoot in terms of humble supplication. That the natives had been informed, not that they were interfering to prevent a survoy to ascertain tho ownership of land, but to prevent the survey of the Queen's own land, which had been acquired for her Majesty by purchase from Teira, whose title to it had been investigated and found to be good, and was not disputed by any one. That W. King's letter to the Governor, of February 1859 cannot be characterized as an interdict of "a rebellious character, but was apparently intended to bo a respectful letter. 3. I regret thatseveral misunderstandings connccted with the whole of this subject have arisen from the difliculty of the natives making themselves tlioroughlv understood by loreigu authorities, from the figurative nature ot their language, from the few persons who undersand it well, and lrom the consequent misinterpretations, omissions, or misprints, which from time to time take place in oven the must important documents. lam well aware how great a disadvantage and difliculty your Grace must labour under from this cause alone. ■I. Whilst looking af papers to guide me in writing the enclosed memorandum, in addition to the two im- | portant misintorpretations.orommissions, which I have j pointed out, 1 tind a translation, printed for the purj pose of giving information to your Grace and the j General Assembly, and which was laid before that ; body, in which the natives say—l presume from a j misprint—that their desire was "to retain possession I of the law handed down to them from their ancestors and father;" as though they wished to abjure the Queen's laws—whilst, upon reference to tho original, I find that what they said was that " their desire was to retain possession of the land handed down to them by their ancestors and father."—l have, .Ve., (Signed) G. Grey. E>;ci.osriiK to Hksi-atuh I!i!J, 20th Octoher, 18G3. MbMOKANIiOI. In the Secretary of State's despatch No. BS, of the 23th August, lS(j.*>, the following remarks are made in reference to the conduct of a chief named William King. " In the. same way at a public, meeting where Teira offered the land, and during the many months which elapsed before tho survey, he (William) King gave no reasons for his opposition, he afforded no explanation? of it, either such as was provided for him by others at the time, or sueli as might be drawn from the statements which you have now convoyed to me." In reference to this point it will be found by an enclosure to Governor Browne's despatch, No. 10, of 25th July, 1860, that in the ollicial account of the meeting of the 2.3 th March, IS-30, it is reported that "William King gave a reason for his opposition to the sale of the piece of land, insisting on his own possession of it. In his letter to the Governor of the 20th April, IS-30, this chief again gave the Governor tho same reason against the sale of the land, saying:—" I will not agree to our resting plaee being soid, for that resting plaee belongs to the whole of us." Again on the 2'Jtli November, 18.311, this same chief informed Mr. I'arris that the reason lie would not consent to the sale of the land was, " That the laud belonged to Taylor together with all of us." Although attention was fh>t specifically called to this point in Sir George Grey's despatch' No. 90, of j 11th August, 18(13, it will be found that the natives early in 1800, with almost earnest passion, asserted | that \\ illiam King's answer was such as it now really j proves to have been, and that it lias been misinter- I preted. Their allegations onthispoint were, atthattime ! either not attended to, or not believed. But their statement is that William King answered as follows:—"les, his (Teira's) title is good to his own pieces ! within the boundaries of that land, t wo or three picces. Our title is equally good to our own peices, some have one, or two, or three, or four, within that block. "\\ illiam King stated this, but what lie Slid has been misinl erpretcd by the Land C*'minis.-ioner < f Taranaki, who asserts that William King said the whole of the land was Teira's. It was his determination to take the land by force, and his ignorance of the Maori langu ige, whiehmadehim pervert what William King said." The question of a sale of this piece of land involved the interest and conduct of many other persons besides William King, and it will bo found in various letters transmitted by Governor Browne that the natives invariably alleged the same reasons for opposing the sale of this piece of laud which Tiera oflered to dispose of, although some of those were only received during the progress of the war; as for instance : —" It was a land of complicated claims, the property of the whole tribe, the site of villages and cultivations, and besides that, William King and his ' tribe were in occupation of it." Upon reference to tlie enclosures to Governor 1 Browne's despatches, it will be found that tho natives" urged in letters transmitted to the Secretary of State, i sometimes in terms of humble supplication, language I often identical with that which is stated in the Sec- c retarv of State's despatch No. SS, of the 25th August, 1803, to have boon put into their mouths, in Sir : George Grey's despatch of the 2-lth April of the same < year. The following extracts from such native letters will • show this: — ' ' ( " Was it by their permission that our lands, inlier- j ifed from our ancestors, became our property, which ] lauds have all been taken from us, at the point of the sword " "Was it they who gave our ancestors all their cultivated lands," which X have already mentioned, " when they went IVom Waikanae, which cultivations the soldiers have taken with the edge of tlie sword r" "We have porfions of land at Waitara within the boundaries ot the land which Teira wrongfully sold to tho Governor. This land belongs to us, and to those who were driven oil' that land, and belonged to the ancestors of us all." " How can they justify the denial of our claims, or of those who have been forcibly driven from it r" " In our opinion, Teira's act was a great crime, and nothing can be said in his behalf, which can hide his unjust act." " Is thieving, indeed, then, a legitimate occupation? It has been said to be a wicked one. It must bo that only a theft bv a Maori is wrong; but when a European commits one, it is a laudable action. " It that land shall he permanently wrested from tlieni, then this saying will be handed down through all future generations, ' that hind was forcibly and unlawfully taken away by a Governor appointed bv the Queen of England.' " 1 hoy say the laud belongs to Teira. No; that land belongs to us all—to orphans and to widows. " Should we look to the Queen —or to whom? Wo bad always thought that the law afforded protection from wrong ! We are, at tho present time, wholly at a lossjis to what course to adopt. " Now, wo are altogether perplexed and cxclaiin, alas ! ala.s ! this is a now proceeding on tho part of our Queen. The good which used to be associated with the mention of your name, and which causcd tho Maoris of this island regard you only as our mother, has been lost. Your name was then sweet to flu- hearts of your Maori people. " \our Majesty's nnuie also became strange to this people. Now, for the first -Ihiie/ we have been

liunted with evil. Oh! mother; do not listen to fabrications, which are probably being written to you, to the cirect that the Maoris are fighting against your sovereignty; it is a fabrication. Underhand that this is really a nuarrel about land. " They were loving subjects of yours. Their object was not to trample upon the law; but rather to retain possession of the land which was handed down to them by their ancestors, and father. They did not wish to sell that land. This unwarrantable proceeding lias occasioned grief and confusion to all of us, because wo know that this system is not yours —this taking away, without cause, of the land of other people, and of the orphan aud " Tht! Queen's sovereignty lias been acknowledged long ago. Had it been a fight for supremacy every man in l his island would have been up in arms. But in the present case the lighting is confined to the land which is being taken possession of." They also universally contended, not only that they hud committed no crime against the Queen, but that some of them had previously rendered her Majesl v valuable services, which they had done. In regard to the statement made in the Secretary of State's despatch, " that far from William King's followers being cvieted, as it were for the purpose of taking possession of the purchased land, they themselves in the consciousness of hostility abandoned their pas." It should be borne in mind that the troops did not take possession of the laud until the sth of March, and on the 22nd of February the Government had issued a notice to the natives warning ilium that from that date the law of fighting was about to commence in the district of Taranaki: the Europeans were 011 the same day informed that active military operations were about to be undertaken against the natives. This notice, followed by the march of armed troops, ordered to maintain occupation on behalf of the Crown, of a block of land purchased by the Crown, from Te Teira, would probably not make the natives think that, iu abandoning their villages, they did 60 iu the consciousness of hostility. Their own statement is that they were forciby driven from it. In the Secretary of State's despatch, No. 88, of the 21th of August, the following paragraph occurs: " I hold therefore that no injustice, and it is with justice only that. I am dealing, was either intended or done to William King and his followers by the employment of military force to carry into effect the survey of the Waitara land, for the purpose of ascertaining how much or how little of it was owned by Teira and the others who joined with him in the sale to the Crown." It is presumed that no one will for a moment contend that the Governor intended to do an injustice to the natives, but this much should be said iu their defence. A reference to Governor Browne's despatch, No. 27, of the 22nd March, will clearly show that the military force was sent to th- Waitara, not for the purpose of carrying into effect the survey of the Waitara land, for the object of ascertaining how much and how little of it was owned by Tcira and others who joined with him in the sale of it. The enclosure to that despatch distinctly explains as follows: " Previously to the march of the troops, a manifesto had been published in the Maori language, and widely crrculated by special agents amongst all the tribes in the Northern Island." That manifesto declared as follows :— "The Governor accepted Te Tcira's offer conditionally, on its being shown that he had an undisputed title." Te Tcira's title has been " carefully investigated and found to be good. It is not disputed by anyone. The Governor therefore cannot allow William King to interfere with Te Tcira in the sale of his owi; land." " Payment for the land lias been received by Te Teira. It now belongs to the Queen." " William King has interfered to prevent the survey of the Queen's land by her own surveyors. This interference will not be permitted." What the natives are here told appears to be that William King lias interfered to prevent; the survey of the Queen's land, which had been acquired by purchase in Te Tcira, whose title to it had been in-vesf-T'ii-.; a-id found to be good, aud was not ch'spuu.i ! .inyone, not that he interfered to prevent a survey to ascertain the ownership of the land in dispute. Again, the Secretary of Slate's Despatch, No. SB, of the 25tli August, 1803, states: — " In February, ISSO, before the Waitara question arose, he, William King, had given notice to the Governor that he would allow no land to be sold within a district extending forty miles North of the European boundary at Taranaki, an interdict, of a rebellious character to which the reasons now, or formerly alleged against the Waitara sale, can of course have no application." By the treaty of Waitangi, the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and the respective families and individuals thereof, were guaranteed the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties, which they may collectively or individually possess, so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession. At the date of William King's letter, which is regarded as au interdict of a rebellious character, the natives of Taranaki and its neighbourhood were, and had been for some years, engaged in a scries of blood feuds, iu which the Government had frequently been earnestly solicited by the natives to interfere, to prevent the loss of life which was going on, but the Government declined to do so. And these feuds had all originated in disputes regarding portions of land which the Government wished to purchase from various native claimants. It was under these circumstances that an assemblage of land owners had met, and, thus a runanga chosen tor that year, agreed that they would still decline selling portions of their land within certain limits. Many of these people liad previously sold very large tracts of land to the Government, to meet the wishes of the Europeans, flieir letter to the Government was written and signed by the chief, William King. It is submitted that the letter itself is a respectful letter; and this -infortunate circumstance has taken place, that in the irinted translation of the letter those respectful words it its conclusion are omitted, "My love, is this letter :o you." A correct translation of the letter is herewith enclosed, as there is at lea.-.c one other important emission in the printed translation, which is that which, it is believed, has been always laid before the Jovermnent. The object the natives had in making such an irrangemciit amongst themselves, as is disclosed iu his letter of William King's, is explaiued in their )wn language, ill another native letter: — "It was settled so in consequence of your bad iystem of purchasing land. For we had lost numbers >f our people through this same laud purchasing. iVhcnever the Government shall have laid down | ome equitable system of laud purchase, and when j aim is once more restored, then the tribes who are ! or selling will sell their lands under a properly reguated system." G. Grey. Auckland, New Zealand, 26th October, 1863.