E—No. 4,

No. 8. COPT OF A DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR GORE BROWNE TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. Government House, / Auckland, New Zealand, Ist February, 1861. Mr Lord Ddke, — I have the honor to submit to Your Grace an extract from a speech by the Superintendent of Wellington relative to a letter written by Mr. Parris, District (Taranaki) Land Purchase Commissioner, to the Bishop of New Zealand. It is only neeassary to inform Your Grace that the letter was dated 1858, and I have the Bishop's nuthority for stating that it was " on matters unconnected with the present Taranaki question, and not " intended for publication." I should not have ventured to trouble Your Grace on this subject, were it not that many statements and assertions have been circulated and believed in England on no better foundation than the oi.e now explained. I have, &c, T. Gore Browne. His Guaee the Duke of Newcastle, K.G., &c, &c, &c.

No. 9. MEMORANDUM BY BE. TUETON IN REFERENCE TO A CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND AND MR. PARRIS. A correspondence between the Bishop of New Zealand and Mr. Parris of Taranaki, having been laid before the House of Representatives, I beg to offer a few remarks on that portion of it which specially refers to myself. On the 26th August, 1858, Mr. Parris writes privately to the Bishop, that he had been brought into great disfavor with some settlers of New Plymouth, because he " refused to support or countenance dishonorable and treacherous treatment of William King and his people, to exterminate them from the Waitara, in accordance with Mr, Turton's peremptory plan for the acquirement of that delightful and much-coveted district." And in reference to this letter, the Bishop observes on the 2nd of January, 1861, " I can see no reason why you should now wish to corjceal or retract a single word of that letter, which is as honorable to your feelings as it is favorable to the Native character;" thus endorsing with his Lordship's own fanction, every word which had been penned by Mr. Parris. Whether it was my " peremptory plan" which advised " dishonorable and treacherous treatment of William King and his people," or whether such an iniquitous mode of carrying out some plan of mine, was pressed upon Mr. Parris by certain of the settlers, does not plainly appear. If the latter be meant, the writer will be able to support his assertion by other evidence; and if the former, then the exact nature and extent of the treachery contemplated will appear on the face of the following extracts of my Journal, &c, published at the time, in the Taranalci Herald, and referred to with much misapprehension by Bishop Selwyn in his Pastoral Letter, I have not a copy of that letter by me, but I well remember that its allusions to me and the Waitara land, were not more correct thau many of its references to other parts of the general Native question. How his Lordship could possibly take exception to any remarks which I publicly made at that time, on this subject, I never could comprehend, unless it was simply that they were made by myself; for Ido believe that had they proceeded from a Church Missionary or Minister, or even from Mr. Whiteley or Mr. Ironside, they would have met with a much better acceptance. I shall now proceed to extract from my printed journal, and will gladly allow my proper Christian feeling and good conscience towards all the Natives, to be tried on that issue. It was written in 1855, when the Colony was without a Governor, and when Colonel Wynyard, as the Officer Administering the Government, did not like to encounter the responsibility of adopting strong measures with tiie Native belligerents at Taranaki. "New Plymouth, 11th August, 1855.—F0r the past twelvemonths, in accordance with the request of the Government, we have done our utmost to bring this question (the Native warfare) to a safe termination, according to the principles of non interference. This we never approved of, except as a matter of necessity, inasmuch as it is altogether opposed to the dictates of justice, and to the requirements of social order; and therefore, it has been found impracticable. If ever any part of New Zealand is to be called a " settled District," where British law and usage is to obtain, this surely must come within the category. With our Native Assessors spread over every part of the Circuit, and the general lawfulness and civiiiz;ition which has obtained in it for many years past, we can imagine nothing so impolitic or so unjustifiable, as to deprive the people of the protection of those laws to which in a great measure, they have been led to sudmit. Had the Puketapu Chiefs retained

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CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND AND MR. COMMISSIONER PARRIS. I