SUBMISSION OF WI TAKO.

Otago Witness, Issue 658, 9 July 1864, Page 3

SUBMISSION OF WI TAKO.

The following omcial report has been famished to the Wellington papers of the interview between the Colonial Secre'ary and Wi Tako, at waikanae, on the 3rd inst. Walter Butler, Esq. Resident Magistrate, actel as interpreter :— Wi Tako (after mutual greetings) : For three days I have waited for you, Mr Fox, in order that I may see you and talk with you. Colonial Secretary : I should have been down sooner, but I have had much to do at Wanganui and along the Coast. WiTako: What are your thoughts? Colonial Secretary : What they always were. Wi Tako : Are they full of love to the Maoris ? Colonial Secretary : Of course they are. Wi Tako : Before we go any further let me explain to you what Kingism is down here. Wairarapa is one 6ide of the bous-> j this coast is the other side. One roof covers all. I hoid the key Those whom I lock in remain inside the house— those whom I Jock out remain out. I come to you now bearing this key. You have paid that your thoughts are full of love towards the Maoris. Does this inolude all Maoris -the bad as well as the good ? Colonial Secretary : Y«g, ia one sense : but I iave no love for evil itself. % Wi Tako: Our Lord Jesus Christ loves all men— the wicked as we.ll as fhe good. Colonial Secretary: But he will punish thewicked unless tbey repent and turn to Him. • 5T 1 , Tak:o : True « but he desires to save them. Colonial Secretary : Exactly so. But if tbey refuse to be saved they must perish. Wi Tako: I } your lov« extended to me only, or to all on tha wrong si-^e ? Colonial Secretary ; To all. WiTako: Is that the Governor's feelings towards ub as well as your's ? . Colonial Secretary: Yes, the Governor's heart 10 Sft m l ? ve and oompwion for t!) e Maoria Wi Tako : Are you willing to save all without distinction ?

Colonial Secretary r All except the murderers, if you will comply with the conditions. Wi Tako : I have heard the eonditloas and oar? #but efc ms hear them agatofrom Colonial Secretary: Then listen, and I will exptain them. The murderers-those who-have killed women and children and unaimed menwill be banded over to the civil authorities to be

tried. If convicted, they will be hupg as murderers.

Wi Tako-That is clear. It is right to hang the murderers.

Colonial Secretary- Those who have killed fakehas in fair fight will not he treated as murderers. But their lands have all been taken in payment for their rebellion. Wh<=n they give up their arms and return to their allegiance they will be received into friendship again, the pist will be forgiven, and the Government will give to each of them a piece of land secured by Crown grant. Those who have been hoisting kings fl>gs, drilling soldiers, and committing other acts of that sort, are all rebels, and are liable to have their lands confiscated. But the Governor is not obliged to tike the lands of such, and if >hey voluntarily come forward, declare their al legiance, and endeavour by future good behavior to atone for the past, their case will receive every consideration at the hands of the Government. With regard to you in particular, Wi 1 ako. J will «ay this : the Government have heard with satisfaction from Dr Fearherston and others th*t the continued peace of this district has been owing, in a great measure, to -i onr individual ex ertions. You have res rnin<=d the violent ones, and you have always declared against the cowardly murder of unarmed pakehas. The Government are theefore disposed to consider your case very favorably. You are liable, as well as the rest, to have all your lands takea from you. But if you are prepared to day to make your submission— to give up yoar kinjtism— for ever, and to sign the decliration of alfegfanca— the Government will not touch any of your laud nor punish you in nny way. You will be received again into favor and all the past will be forgotten.

Wi Tflko— l am quite prepared to make my submission. I toli Dr Featherston that I should, and it was for this purpose that I came here today. But I want to know about the others. You say your love extends to the bad as well as the good, and that you desire to save them all,

Colonial Secretary >And I say it again. We dii not want, ta fight, but they compelled ua We did not want to continue fighting, but they compel us by refusing to submit. As soon as they want peace they shall have it. But they must give a p their guns and declare their allegiance As soon a* they do this all the past will be forriven; and as I said before, a piece of land will be given to each of them out of the lands we have conquered. Rewi, Tamihana Tarapipipi, Wi Hapi, all will be fully pardoned, unless it be proved that they have taken part in the murder. The prisoners on board the hulk— they too will be pardoned and set free as soon as psace is made. At present they are clothed, and fed, and well cared for, and when (hey are liberited the Governor will give them each a piece of land wilh a Grown Grant. Mr Whittaker and I went on board the bulk and told them this, and we sent two of their number through Waikato, to tell it to their friends. And about two hundred natives, many of them chiefs, have given up their arms, and are living on the land marked out for them. It was found that oue of the prisoners. Tang^taware Iwitaia bad murdered a pakeba in cold blood. He was at once handed over to be tried in the Supreme Court, and is no-v undergoing his sentence of imprisonment for life. As for Waikato, it ia clean swept — at completely as you would sweep this fl ior wirh a bmom. 'I here is not a single kiigite between Maungatawhiri and Maungatautari, and only a few of them about Hangatiki. As for the king -he has vani'hed like a dream ; ho has disappeared like a el v , and is nowhere to be heard of! The fighting is no longer for the king, but for the proud heart of Rewi, and for the double heart of Thompson.

Wi Tako : I have heard all that from Wi Hapi every word of it. He told me that Waikato was completely swept. He told me that there was no longer any fighting for the king, but only for the namejof Kewi, and for the name of Tamihana. I then deeiJel to give up this king work, and I wrote letters to Wairarapa and to Ahuriri inviting all the chiefs to a great meeting, so that all the people may hear and understand my rea eons for giving up kingism. The meeting wi!! take place in July o- August. When the people hear my reasons they will all approve. It was I who commenced kingism her«s I meant no evil to the pakeha, and if Waikato had followed my advice there wouM have been no trouble now. I had no secret of my kioeism. When the Governor was here I told him what was iv my heart, and I refused to yield. From the first my kingism was clear and good, but Waikato put it wrong, and now it is crushed and dead. My advice was always set aside, and their plan took a different shape from mine. I declared against the fighting at Tataitamaka, but they would not listen; I declared agiinst the Ngatiranuitollgate, but they would not listen ; I invited Bewi and Thompson to meet me h-re, but they de dined, and sent Porokoru instead. My plan of kingism, if carried out. would never have led to mischief ; it was intended solely to secure good for t v e Maori people, but Waikato made it a cause for fighting. When I saw these things— when I found that they would not listen to my words, and that their plan was a different one to mine- lat once foresaw the end But I had consistently supported kingisra from the first, and I would nnt deseit it tb»n. X contentel myself with restraining my people from evil and keeping them back from the war. I said I will not flesert the cause now, but I shall wait till the Governor has crushed ami killed the work of kingism. When I heard Wi Hapi's account 1 found the fulfilment of my words to the Governor (Otaki, September, 1862). " Tear up the root .and the branches will wither ; dry up the fountain and the streams will vani°h ? " Mr Fox, mv word is now crußhed, and I am virtually dead. This is my position now ! (reclining his hond on the sofa). Colonial Secretary : That is true, Wi Tako, and I come to give you life.

Wi Tako ; Yes, I am crushed, and the kingwork is ended -but through no fault of mine My kind of kingism would never have ended thus. It was calculated to bring forth good fruits only. Bat Waikato would nob listen to my counsels, and departed from the plan. Behold now the end of it I

Colonial Secretary : I too was a kingite— that is to say, I looked favorably on the movement, and hoped that it would bo turned into a proper channel and male productive of c;ood to the Maori pfople. But when I found it took the shape of antagonism to the pakeha, and defiance of law, 1 condemned it ; and when it dcvi loppd into sometbiug worse, and the Waikato peip'e began to murder women and unarmed n en, then my anger was roused, and I determined to crush it.

Wi Tako : All you say, Mr Pox, is true—perfectly true. The fighting is no longer for the king. The fighting at Waikato is for Rewi and

Thompson—the fighting at Wanganuiis for the mid prophet ; and if there should be fighting with Ngatiruanui after this, it will not be for the king, but because they are stifl- necked and proud. Colonial Secretary : lam glad that you see it in that light. That there will be fighting at Taranaki, and much of it, I fully expeof; not that we areanxious >to fight, but because those tribes are proud and rebellious and refuse to submit. Therefore, if you hear by-and-by that all that land is red with soldiers don't be alarmed. Don't fiappose that the lighting will be brought into districts where the natives are peaceful. If the Ngntiruanui nnd Taranaki tribes humble themselves^ even to morrow, and come in and make their submission, civiag up their arms, all the past will be forgiven, and none but the murderers will be taken. But all the lands of these tribes have already parsed to the Government as payment for their rebellion and flghti"g Wi Tako: That is all clear. If Taranaki and Ngatiruanui refuse to submit after they hear that .kingisrn is given up, then they deserve to be pnrsued by your troops ; but I shall do all in my power to include them among the saved. Colonial Secretary : We can do no more than offer them the same terms. If tbey refuse them, their destruction is of their own seeking. Wi Tako : I have talked with Heremia and with all the leaders. They have all consented to give up kingism. When the tribes assemble there will be' one general •' whakamutunga v (finishing up), My profession of kingisrn was heard all over New Zealand; 1 am anxious that my renouncement of it shall be as widely known. When I explain to the assembled trihes what, my views were when I helped to establish kingism years ago— how earnestly I desired the good of my people, and how I labored to accomplish it— when I tell them how Waikato scoffed at my counsels an 1 turned kingism into a a different thiog— when I tell them bow consistently 1 stuck to kingism, through good report "and through evil report— when I tell them how Waikato is crushed and ■conquered— when I tell them all this, they will understand why it is that I now submit to your rule, and they will all agree that kingism is over. I have nothing to be ashamed of wh?n I meet the tribes. I was faithful to kingism till it died, and I had no haad in its death.

Colonial Secretary . lam satisfied, Wi Tako, with your words, and I believe them. The conditions, as you are aware, require that you should give up your gun. But I shall treat you as I would an English gentleman. You are a great chief, and the principal man in your tribe. lam satisfied with the tender of your arms. I accept your word, as the word of a chief that you will never use your gun against the pakeha, nor turn it to any unlawful purpose. I sha'l not therefore degrade you by depriving you of it. But the Onau and Otaki Kingites I don't' know, and I shall therefore expect them all to surrender their guns.

Wi Tako— !VTr Fox, your words are full of kindness. You have no misgiving about my sincerity. While I was a kingite I |was true to the cause. The Governor urged me to give it up -Mr Buller urged me— many urged me, and for many years -but I was staunch to the last. The word has heen spoken ; and I shall now be as faithful to you as I was to the King. There is one thins, however, I must ask. I want nothing for myself, but I watt employment for my people. I want you to find some employment for all them. Colonial Secretary : Wy well. We shall probably soon be miking great roads all ov<r the country. There will then be work for all your p\ople, and the G>vernraent will pay them wagfis. The Chiefs we will appoint assessors and' give them salaries. Wi Tako . lam satisfied.

Colonial Secretary : I shall now request you to make the usual Declaration of Allegiance, and to sign your name to it, in order that I may lay it before the (iov ernor when I gef to Auckland. A Maori version of the following declaration was then read by the Resident Magistrate, Wi Tako repeating it after him in a clear and distinct voice :—

DECORATION. I hereby declare that I am a true and loyal suWjectof the Queen, and that I will for ever hereafter bear true allegiance ti-Her Majesty, bo that I will obey Her Laws, submit to Her Magistrates, and yieli obedience to all the lawful commands of all in authority under Her Majesty. Wi Tako having subscribed his name thereto, the honorable the Colonial Secretary shook him warmly by the hand and congratulated him in kind and friendly terms.