E—No. 3

TO NATIVE AFFAIRS. Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure 1 in No 6, ME. HADFIELD TO THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. Otaki, Wellington, New Zealand, February 25th, 1861. My Lord Duke, — I request to be allowed to draw your Grace's attention to some very serious charges brought against me, in an official document contained in certain " Miscellaneous Papers," forming part of an Appendix to a Memorandum by Mr. Richmond on Sir William Martin's ' Taranaki Question.' The document referred to is " Copy of a letter from the Chief Land Purchase Commissioner to the Governor, dated Ist December, 1860, and purports to be a reply to a letter of mine published in the New Zealand Spectator of the 12th October, 1860." I forbear to trouble your Grace with any remarks on Mr. Donald McLean's contradictions of my statements, what I wish to bring under your Grace's notice is the following passage. " And now I shall briefly advert to some observations which appear in Archdeacon Hadfield's " evidence before the House of Representatives in its last Session. (Answers to Question 44.) " I was absent from the Colony about twelve months, and on my return I found that the (King) " movement had made rapid strides in the South. The progress of the King movement is to be " attributed, in my opinion, to the action of the Land Purchase Department in the South part of " this Island. In making an assertion of this description the Venerable Archdeacon should have " had the candour to avow that the ' Anti-land-selling-league' which eventually merged into the " King party, was really a project of his own, and was recommended by him to the Natives as " early as the year 1848 and 1849. The Natives have openly stated at their meetings, on the " subject of land-selling, that they had been instructed by the Archdeacon not to alienate any "portion of their territory to the Government. " Mr. Hadfield seems to find it very convenient to conceal the part which he took in influencing " the minds of the Natives, and very adroitly to endeavour to impute to the Land Purchase De- " partment the blame due to his own acts. I apprehend that it would require a measure of more " than the Archdeacon's ingenuity—great as it may be —to defend his efforts to embarrass the Gof* vernment in their operations with the Natives, and by his advice and counsel to lead them on to " their own destruction." In reference to this extract I beg leave to make the following observations :— 1. I have no doubt whatever that the opinion I gave in my evidence before the House of Representatives as to the King movement is correct. I shall be prepared to prove its truth whenever an opportunity is afforded roe of adducing evidence in support of it. 2. I have proved in a letter published in the New Zealand Spectator, November 3rd, 1860, that there never has been any " Anti-land-selling-league" in New Zealand. 3. I have never had any project whatever as to an " Anti-land-selling-league," nor have I ever recommended anything of the kind to any Native. 4. During the whole of the year 1848 I was ill and confined to my bed in the house of a friend at Wellington, and had no communication with Natives. It was not till near the end of the year 1849 that I recovered and returned to this place, but the subject of land was never once men>tioned, there being at that time no negotiation for the purchase of any land in my district. 5. Before I had seen the charges on which I am now commenting, I had said in a letter published in the New Zealand Spectator of the 6th instant, I here take the opportunity of noticing an insinuation, if not a statement, publicly made by Mr. Commissioner McLean, that I have advised Natives not to sell their land to the Government. I now state most distinctly and unequivocally that I have never, since New Zealand became a British Colony, either directly or indirectly, advised, or in any way endeavoured to influence any Native, or party of Natives, not to sell their lands to the Government; and that Mr. McLean's statement is a falsehood, and one, I regret to say, which the many opportunities which have occurred for explanation, render wholly inexcusable. As Mr. McLean gives no information as to who " the Natives" are, and when and where they made the statements imputed to them, I can add nothing more on this head, 6. Your Grace will not expect that I should condescend to reply to the calumnious and malignant insinuations contained in the latter portion of the extract from Mr. Donald McLean's letter. But what the effect of my advice and counsel has really been among those Natives over whom I may be supposed to have any influence, is pointed out in a letter addressed by me to the Southern Cross, August 24th, 1860, when a similar attack was made on me by the Native Minister. "It is twenty years since I first went to reside at Waikanae and Otaki. During the " whole of my residence in the district there has been profound peace. No Englishman or Maori " has ever been murdered. No collision has ever taken place among the Natives themselves. No " outrage has ever been committed on the person or property of an Englishman. During the last " twelve years, when law first began to be enforced, there has never been an attempt to prevent " the execution of a warrant issued by the Resident Magistrate of Wellington, though .placed in " the hands of only a single constable. I boldly challenge any one to point to a single instance "of disloyalty on the part of any of the Natives of my District, or of any act which has the " slightest tendency to indicate disloyalty, until the month of May last, when, after the Taranaki " war began, a colour from the Maori King was sent from Waikato, and an attempt was made tq f< erect it."