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consulting the wishes of the people for whose benefit they are designed. The Native Conference would afford an opportunity for bringing forward the subject, and I have little doubt that a proposal such as that contained in Your Excellency's Memorandum would there meet with general approval. As the selection of men would be a matter of seme delicacy, it might be well to invite the Conference to prepare a list of Chiefs of standing and intelligence, and enjoying the confidence of their respective tribes, to be submitted to the Governor. From such a list a certain number might be selected and appointed councillors, to hold office for a limited period, at the expiration of which another selection should be made, and from time to time repeated, so that all might hold office in. turn. With these I would propose to associate a few of the principal Chiefs to be selected by the Governor, whose appointments should be considered permanent during good behaviour. A Council of twelve Chiefs might be thus constituted, who should be consulted by the Executive Government in all matters pertaining to the administration of Native affairs. As it would be desirable that the members of such a Council should reside principally at the Seat of Government, suitable accommodation should be provided for them, and they should receive salaries sufficient to enable them to maintain a position in society befitting their rank and office. It would be undesirable to initiate the proposed plan unless a guarantee for its permanency can be secured. As respects the precise number or mode of selecting the Native Councillors, no strict rule need be laid down; these and similar matters of detail might be made the subject of deliberation in the Native Conference. In the introduction of the proposed system, I submit, as important points, first, that the expressed wishes of the Natives themselves should be made the basis of all action on the part of the Government; and, secondly, that the Governor should exercise an independent discretion in the selection of not less than one-half of the members of the proposed Council to hold permanent appointments. Thos. 11. Smith, Assistant Native Secretary. His Excellency Colonel T. Gore Browne, C. B.

Enclosure 3 in No. 6. MEMORANDUM BY THE LAND CLAIMS COMMISSIONER. I have always been of opinion that the appointment of a number of Chiefs to advise the Governor is essential to the successful conduct of Native affairs. The Native Council proposed to be established will certainly not work well unless seme Native Chiefs are to be associated with it, and I understand this has been admitted on all sides. No really permanent influence over the Native mind towards the full recognition of the Queen's authority and the establishment of British law, will ever be gained except through the agency of the Native people itself; and the present proposal is a step in the right direction. But its value depends on whether it is intended to be a merely temporary measure in consequence of the war, or the germ of a permanent plan. Ought the position of the Chiefs to be raised, or not ? The policy recommended to the Governor by Archdeacon Hadfield in 1856, was, that " the Government should do nothing towards establishing the influence of the Chiefs, but should rather endeavour to lessen this by every legitimate means." Now, the influence of the Chiefs has already sensibly diminished everywhere since the establishment of British sovereignty: we destroyed the right of the strong arm, and offered nothing in its stead. In times of danger we have often owed our safety to what remained of power among the Chiefs, but in times of peace and security we have been inclined to neglect them. I believe the policy recommended by Archdeacon Hadfield was unwise, and contrary to the natural instincts of the Polynesian races ; and that the best thing we can do is to raise the character and position of the Chiefs, not certainly by remitting them to the right of the strong arm, but by encouraging them to seek European honours and a share in the Government. I think the most proper course would be to invite the Conference which will assemble this year, to consider the advisability of permanently establishing ut the Seat of Government a small number of Chiefs as a recognised medium of communication and advice between the Governor and the Native Tribes. The Conference should then be asked to consider whether such Chiefs ought to be elected by the Tribes, or be chosen by the Governor out of a list of Chiefs submitted by the Conference, or be wholly or partly nominated directly by the Governor; whether their appointment should be for life or for a term of years, or a number of Chief's be sent up by rotation to take part in the Government, and attain a practical insight into the conduct of affairs on the European system ; whether part of the number should have a fixed tenure of office, and the others come in by rotation, so as to combine steadiness of action in one direction with varying suggestion and advice, and so forth. The Government would indicate the plan it preferred, but the decision should be as much as possible left to the Natives themselves, either in the Conference, or (as was done last year in the case of the Message on Individualization of Titles) in subsequent discussion by the Tribes in their own districts. Undoubtedly any such plan would require a considerable expenditure; and could not, therefore, be carried into effect

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TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.