E—No. 2

66

FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO

But there is ample proof of the connexion of Wiremu Kingi with the Taranaki Land League from the very earliest time. Even so far back as 1848, prior to the great meeting which took place at Waikanae (referred to in the Governor's Despatch of 4th December, I860,) and before the migration, Wiremu Kingi had proposed to Natives of Ngatiruanui and Taranaki to give them allotments of land at Waitara, though they had not the slightest pretence of right to land there, and had not the slightest connection with the Ngatiawa tribe. It is by no means certain that this proposal was not itself the germ of the land league. The league specifically called the Taranaki Land League was inaugurated at Manawapou in the Ngatiruanui country in 1854. The proposal originally made by Wiremu Kingi to members of that tribe to take up a position with him on the Waitara, with the avowed object of helping to prevent any further sales of land, fully accounts for their support to his proceedings in 1855 as stated by the Rev. Mr. Riemenschneider. They had already for years been bound up in a league with him to prevent the extension of English territory, and the Rev. Mr. Taylor admits that the murder or Rawiri was one of its first results.

Note 67. "It is plain then that those operations were commenced in the belief and on the ground." (Page 23) The manifesto issued by the Governor before he went to Taranaki in February, 1860, entirely disproves this assertion. The ground was that Wiremu Kingi was acting not as " Chief of a tribe" but as a Chief of the Land League, and in no other capacity. The Natives were informed with careful distictness of the grounds on which the Governor was moving the troops : — " The Queen has said that all the Natives shall be free to sell their lands to her, or to keep them, "as they may think best. None may compel the Maori people to sell their lands, nor may any forbid " their doing , so. " William King sets his -word above the Queen's, and 6ays, though the rightful owners of the " land may wish to sell, he will not allow them to do so. " The Governor cannot allow William King's words to set aside the words of 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. " The land has been bought and must be surveyed. The Queen's soldiers will protect the sur- " veyors. If William King interferes again and mischief follow, the evil will be of his own seeking." There seems a peculiar injustice in the late Chief of the highest Colonial Court, accustomed to weigh evidence, rejecting distinct and unmistakeable assertions published to the world by the Governor, and then stating himself a "ground" which there is no evidence whatever to show the Governor ever took up.

Note 68. " The proceedings at the Waitara." (Page 23) It is not clear whether Sir W. Martin means to refer to the proceedings of 1859, or the proceedings of 1860. He says the proceedings were resorted to " simply because it was desirable to open the Waitara land :" and he gives in italics a quotation from the Governor's Despath of 29th March, 1859, which refers to the acquisition of the land south of Waitara. But if he had also put in italics the words immediately succeeding, which stated that it was " most important to vindicate our right to purchase from those who have both the right and the desire to sell," every one would have seen that the former object, " simply," was not the one the Governor had in view, but that the real stress was laid on the ether object, the vindication of that which, a year before hostilities commenced, had been laid down as a right in the Natives.

Note 69. "But that connection began after our employment of military force and in consequence' , (Page 24) This is at variance with the testimony of the Eev. Mr. Buddie, Superintendent of the Wesleyaii Mission (quoted fully in the Governor's Despatch of 4th December, 1860), who expressly says that it was while the deputation which had come up from the Ngatiruanui and Ngatiawa tribes to give in their allegiance to the King, and to hand over their lands to the League, was at Waikato, thai intelligence ivas received of the breaking out of hostilities. The most violent speeches had been made before.

Note 70. " The movements of which we have been speaking" (P a 9 c 24) In reference to this subject Sir W. Martin said in his Memorandum of 12th May, iB6O :—" Their proceedings (of the Natives engaged in the Waikato movement) are an unconscious attestation to the soundness of the views set forth in His Excellency's Despatches of last year relating to this subject." [Parl. Pap. 15th Aug. 1860, p. 9.]