THE GOVERNOR'S DESPATCH land under the light of day. He gave a parawai as a covering for this land. William King did not take it away so as to repudiate Te Teira's claim to the land" (116). 83 The Rev. Riwal Te Ahu, in his letter to the Superintendent of Wellington, (so much relied upon by the apologists of Wiremu Kingi)distinctly admits : " For instance, Mr. (.'. W. Richmond writes, Taranaki, March 1860, (which has been heard by everybody) 'Teira's title has been fully investigated, and is perfectly good : there is no one to deny his title,' Yes, his title is good to his own pieces within the boundaries of that land, two or three pieces. Our title is equally good to our own pieces ; some have one, or two, or three, or four within that block" (117). 84. And Archdeacon Hadfield himself says : '■ Teira's father is indeed the owner of a small portion of the block." (118.) 85. The question therefore narrows itself simply to this: How much or how little land Te Teira and the other Chiefs who joint d with him in tjbe sale to Her Majesty owned ? It was to ascertain this that I desired to make the survey, which was forcibly interrupted by Wiremu Kingi. As Katatore had done before him in 1844, he " would not consent to any information being given as to land, or individual portions pointed out, fearing it might prejudice his assumed influence." (1 18a.) VI. MISREPRESENTATIONS OF THE ABOVE PROCEEDINGS. 86. Your Grace will not expect that I should notice any mis-statements, out of the numbers that have naturally enough been spread abroad since the insurrection broke out, except such as may appear in documents which have been sent to me for transmission to the Colonial Office. I wish, however, to notice a few of those which appear in a letter which I saw for the first time in a newspaper a few days ago, purporting to be addressed to Your Grace by Archdeacon Hadfield, from Otaki, on the 29th May last. 87. The Archdeacon states that he is informed that the Petition of the Natives of Otaki for my recall was "through some alleged informality detained, thus furnishing anothir instance of the " difficulty experienced .by the natives in obtaining any remedy for an act of injustice." The Petition reached me on the 19th April, and on the 28th of the same month I informed Your Grace that I had received it and would forward it, after making enquiry as to its authenticity, by the next mail. Accordingly I did forward it by the next mail, viz., on the 25th May. 88. The Archdeacon asks if it will be believed that (the survey having been attempted on 20tr. February) martial law, dated Auckland January 25, had already been placed in the hands of a subordinate officer to be used at his discretion. This has been explained in my Despatch No. 64, 28th June 1860; but I may here state that the only use or object of martial law was to enable the Officer Commanding to call in the settlers and subsequently to embody them for the def. nco of the town, should it prove necessary to do so. Not to have provided for such a possible contingency would have been most culpable. Martial law was applicable to the settlers a!one. Indeed the Maories in Taranaki have never recognised our law at all, so that a suspension of it could not affect them in any way. Lieut.-Colonel Murray, to whom this power was entrusted, had received the same power in 1858 and did not use it, so that there was no reason to doubt his discretion. 89. The Archdeacon says : —" The question at issue is simply this ;Is aNative Chief to be forcibly ejected from his land, because an individual member of his tribe tells a subordinate land agent that it is his, and trot the Chief's, and that agent believes him ? The Governor sags y e $ ; the Chiefs say No (119)." In answer to this I can only say it is not true that I have forcibly ejected Wiremu Kingi from his land. It wa_. known from the first that he had a small portion of land on the south bank of Waitara River ; this was left out of the survey ; and if Kingi had any further proprietary claim, it was expressly saved by the Memorandum I have quoted above (120). 90. Archdeacon Hadfield says: —"Some years before the establishment of the British Government in New Zealand, alarge portion of the Tribe migrated to the southward to Cook's Straits, for the purpose of being near whalers and obtaining English goods, William King was one of this party"(l2l). The migration had certainly no such peaceful character: the evidence of the Protector of Aborigines in 1844 is clear, that it took place for purposes of conquest (122). A further migration took place under terror of the Waikatos, and "at the time of the invasion," says Governor Fitzroy, "by far the greater number of the Ngatiawa, with their principal men, were absent on a hostile excursion in the South" (123). 91. Again: "But they [the Waikato} never held possession of the land, and consequently never acquired any title to it (121)." But. their possession, occupation, and cultivation has been proved above to have existed, and the title to have been maintained (125). 92. Again : " William King, it will be observed, was never conquered or driven from his land (126.)" The fact is, he ran away from it ; and went back by permission of the conquerors and of Sil George Grey (127). 93.. Archdeacon Hadfield says:.—"l deny that any investigation whatever deserving that designation has ever taken place. The Chief Commissioner did not investigate the claim" (128). Now, in answer to this grave charge, I beg leave to refer Your Grace to the following testimony by the Chief Commissioner :—" But we did not take the land at once. You say we were hasty, but we were not. Eight months passed over before the bargain was closed. We inquired of all the people, and could not find any rightful claimants but Teira and his friends. We said, 'If W. Kingi has a piece in this block, we will not have it, we will leave it outside.' Do not say, then, that

■oovurnob's dbspatch. 4th Dec, 1860.

(116) Baupahara, App. D 2.

(117) Riwai te Auh, App. D. 5,1 (118) Hadfield, App. E. 14.

(USA) McLean, 1844, App. B. 11.

(119) Hadfield, App. E. 14.

(120) Memorandum, App- E. 4.

(121) Hadfield, App. E. 14. (122) Clarke, App. B. 8. (123) Fitzßoy, App. B. 16. (124) Hadfield, App. E, 14. (125) Cto//,-c, (1844), McLean, Waikato Chiefs, (1844), White, Wilson, Huddle, Tamati Naapora,Katipa, Sec, Sec, ntsupra. (120) Hadfield, App. E. 14, (127) While,McLean, Grey,&c,uttnpra. (128) Had field, App, E. 14.

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