E— No, 3

m FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE I should not have troubled your Grace with this letter, were it not that peculiar circumstances, which it is unnecessary for me to explain, render it unadvisable that I should at present take legal proceedings aga'nst Mr. Commissioner McLean. I have, &c, OCTATITJS HadFIELD. The Eight Honorable the Duke of Newcastle, H.M. Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Enclosure 2 in No 6. ME. MCLEAN TO GOVERNOR GORE BKOAVNE, C.B. Native Secretary's Office, Auckland, 25th March, 1861. Sir, — With reference to the letter addressed by the Key. Archdeacon Hadfleld to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, commenting on certain observations made by me in an official communication dated December Ist, 1860, I take the liberty of making the following remarks: —• The statements made by me in the letter referred to, and which the Venerable Archdeacon designates as calumnious and malignant insinuations, are such as I shall bo quite prepared to substantiate by the evidence of Natives in his own district. The Archdeacon's denial of having ever used his influence to prevent Natives from selling their lands to the Government is not, in my opinion, sufficient to clear him from the imputation which a concurrence of testimony to the contrary fixes upon him. Having proved to his own satisfaction that there " never has been any anti-land-selling league in New Zealand," the Archdeacon may possibly by a similar style of argument satisfy himself that the assertions he now makes are consistent with truth; but the fact stated by me remains and can easily be proved, viz., that the Natives have on several occasions spoken openly of his having advised them not to sell their lands. I shall not now take up your Excellency's time with detailing the evidence which may bo adduced against the assertions contained in the Archdeacon's letter. It will be sufficient for my present purpose to indicate somewhat more precisely the occasions on which I was informed by the Natives to the effect as stated in my letter of the Ist December last, and to show that proof is adducible not only from Native sources, but that from a published report of one of the Archdeacon's speeches, what he now so positively denies has been admitted by himself. In the years 1848 and 1849, when negotiating the purchase of land at Kangitikei and Manawatu, several of the Ngatiraukawa tribe of Otaki publicly stated at meetings at Te Awahou that they had by the advice of their Missionary formed a league against the sale of land. In a notice of a Native meeting at Otaki, of the 4th May, 1860, which appeared in the " Wanganui Chronicle" of the 10th of that month, the following paragraph occurs:—"The " proceedings commenced by a very eloquent and energetic address from the Venerable Archdeacon " Hadfleld, calling upon the assembled Natives to remember that he had been residing among them " as their pastor for twenty years, appealing to them whether he had not always during that period " given them the best of fatherly advice, not to alienate their land; and ending by earnestly " entreating them not to put up a flag which could only lead to trouble and confusion, and end in. " the shedding of blood." In speaking of the anti-land-selling league as being a project of the Archdeacon's, I have merely indicated an opinion, arrived at, as I believe, upon sufficient grounds, and I must add that Mr. Hadfield's present letter fails to satisfy me that this opinion is incorrect. The first time I heard of such a combination was from tribes directly under the influence of the Archdeacon, whose name was constantly used by them, and of whom they spoke as having been their adviser in the matter. I shall feel obliged by your transmitting this letter for the information of his Grace the Dukeof Newcastle. I have, &c, Donald McLean, Native Secretary, To His Excellency Colonel T. Gore Browne, C.8., %c. &c, &c.

Enclosure 3 in No. 6. LEAGUE NOT TO SELL LAND, FORMED AMONG NATIVE POPULATION. In proof of this, the Natives to the North of Auckland, who have for the longest time been acquainted with the Europeans, and who, by repeated acts of this kind, have tacitly given in theii adherence to the European customs, are still willing, to sell land for the extension of while those Natives not brought into such close contact, but living in the less frequented parts of the country South of Auckland, have formed a league to prevent the spread of European influence, and refuse to sell their land, with that avowed object in view. This league, commencing, as before