PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE
A.—Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure in No. 22
No. 27. Military.
No. 1. Statement.
Camp, Waitara, March 17, 18G0. Sir,— I have the honor to inform you that the Natives, under William King, have erected a pah for hostile purposes upon the block of land sold to the Government. I have, &c, (Signed) Robert Parris, Colonel Gold, District Commissioner. Commanding the Foreeg. True Copy. (Signed) James Paul, Captain 65th Regiment, Acting Major of Brigade. No. 23. copy of a DESPATCH fkoji uovernor gore browns, c.b., to his grace the duke OF NEWCASTLE. New Plymouth, New Zealand, 22nd March, 18G0.. Mr Lord Duke, — It is with much regret that I have to inform your Grace that notwithstanding every endeavour. ;on my part to avoid hostilities, a collision has taken place between Her Majesty's Troops at the Waitara and the Natives. For your Grace's convenience, I enclose a printed statement of what has occurred up to the 18tU March. It is now clear to me that W. King has been encouraged in his opposition by an assurance of formidable support, and that the question of the purchase of an insignificant piece of land is merged iv the far greater one of nationality. I have insisted on this comparatively valueless purchase, because if I had admitted the right of a Chief to interfere between me and the lawful proprietors of the soil, I should soon have found further acquisition of territory impossible in any part of New Zealand. Even if the right of " mana" (viz., a feudal superiority without proprietary right in the land) exists at all, W. King could neither possess nor exercise it, Potatau; the Chief of the Waikatos, having obtained it by conquest, and sold all his claims at New Plymouth to the New Zealand Company. Without admitting this right, (whjch is the only one asserted by W. King) I could not vritb. reason have rejected the offer made to me by Teira and his party, because that was the only obstacle to their selling their land, and (by the Treaty of Waitangi) they are prevented from selling to any one but the Government. It follows that I must either have purchased this land, or recognised a right which would have made W. King virtual Sovereign of this part of New Zealand, which is the object of his avowed ambition. The condition of this Province has been for years unsettled and perilous. A desire to sell on the one part and a refusal to do so on the other, having been the cause of chronic feuds between the Natives themselves, frequently ending in battle and murder, fought or perpetrated indiscriminately ou European or Native land, and always liable to entangle the settlers with or without their own consent. Non-interference in these quarrels, so long as they were confined to the Native race, has been my invariable rule; but the time has arrived when to remain passive is quite as dangerous as to act with decision. Your Grace is aware that I have always considered that the Governor of New Zealand is tha natural guardian and trustee of the Native race; that I have strenuously maintained their right to do as they please with their own, and have resisted all attempts to coerce even a small minority of proprietors objecting to alienate land to which they can prove any title even according to Maori custom. I feel confident, therefore, that you will believe that the course I have now adopted is not only equitable, but has become unavoidable. I now turn to what is in my opinion the real question at issue. The Maories have seen with alarm the numerical increase of the Europeans, and recognise with bitterness of heart their own decrease. It is in vain to suggest precautions which might be adopted, and which would (under God's providence) probably arrest or diminish this decrease ; they connect their own decline with our ascendency; they talk and think of themselves as a race dying out; and the King movement, and the land league, are only practical results of thU feeling. The old savages, of whom there are still many, remind their hearers that the decrease of their nation commenced with the arrival of the Europeans, atid they have a firm superstition that we are in some way connected with it. From the best information I can obtain, I am led to believe that the present is an exceedingly critical time; the progress of civilization, which I have watched and reported with so much satisfaction, and the increased community of interest between the races—especially in the North—has alarmed tl H e old Chiefs and others who cling to a distinct nationality, and has led to extensive combinations on national grounds against what they term foreign, dominion. llcnco the extension of the King-
18