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" bands of followers, recognise no law but their own inclinations, and do not admit that the Government " have either the right or the power to control them." And speaking of the disputed land questions he says, " Although it has been maintained by high authority that Natives will honourably allow land to " be taken possession of which they have really parted with, I must hesitate to assent to this proposition " until I see the fact realised. Everything that has taken place recently in the Colony and which is now " taking place, negatives such an assertion : and I have invariably seen, that if the land purchased is " not immediately occupied by a proportionate European population, some claimants whose interests have "been overlooked invariably spring up and contest the purchase when Europeans go upon the land. " This evil may slumber for years, but unless the Natives are exterminated or overpowered by an im- " mensely superior European force, I believe that it will certainly come." The Imperial Government however did not take the warning at that time: and in the same year (184G) and next years insurrection, broke out at the Kutt and Wanganui, which were in faot mere continuations of the disturbances of 1844. When Commissioner Spain at that time (1844) went to the Hutt to try and settle one of the many disputes then occurring, he found certain Natives cutting a line across the valley. " One of them, apparently of some authority, said, if you are come to make "any remarks about our cutting this line you may as well return at once, for we will listen to nothing "you have to say on that subject. We have quite made up our minds on the course we intend to '' pursue, nor will we be deterred from it by you, by the Governor, or by the Queen herself." Even Archdeacon Hadfield was at that time of the opinion that it was necessary to check the growing disaffection. " I had a long conversation with him," says Major Richmond, " and he, friendly as he is to " the race, gave it as his opinion (from I may say his death bed) that the time had arrived for giving the "check so much needed in this district since the late triumph of the Natives at Wairau, and for showing "them that while we exercise forbearance and see they have strict justice, we will not suffer injustice " and wrong to be committed on our own countrymen." And Commissioner Spain, speaking in 1844 of his difficulties in the South, says that the experience of the last six months had " led to the confir- " mation to the fullest extent of the opinion he had before expressed, as to the absolute necessity of the "introduction of a naval and military force sufficiently strong to convince the Natives of our power to " enforce obedience to the law, and of the utter hopelessness of any attempt on their part at resistance " to its execution;" adding, that " it appeared to him they had determined totally to disregard British " law and authority, and had come to the conclusion that we were not strong enough to enforce the one " or maintain the other." The Blue Books are indeed crowded with evidence similar to what has been above stated. It clearly shows this fact, so constantly denied of late: that from the earliest time there has in various parts of the country been a greater or less impatience of British rule on the part of the chiefs, and a determination to act independently of it. In all this time, it was the chiefs who were seeking to resume the power which they originally exercised with the strong arm. It was not the common people who wished for anarchy: they were always desirous of the exchange of civilised law for the Maori rule. The best evidence in the country, that of Mr. Hamlin, who for forty years has lived a missionary among them in various places, could be given to show, that during the last twenty years the inferior people have longed to be freed from the arbitrary will of the chiefs, and at length to obtain some individual property in their land, some light which should be respected in their women, their cattle, and personal property. There has always existed the same antagonism between the party who wished to cement the Maori power of the chiefs, and the party who aimed at law and order under British rule. One of Sir George Grey's principal aims was to encourage the emancipation of the people from the Maori rule of the chiefs, while he wished to give the chiefs an English status. lam inclined to think there was a cardinal difference between him and the then Chief Protector on this subject, from the first moment of his assuming the Government. Mr. Clarke was strongly in favour of "the augmentation of the power and influence of the chiefs over their own people" ; whereas Governor Grey " objected altogether to entering into any new treaty with [the then] rebels, as placing them somewhat "in the position of sovereign Princes, and requiring them to treat for and bind others whom they " had no authority or right whatever to control ; and giving to those chiefs an importance and influ- " ence which they did not previously possess, and which it should be our object neither to recognize " nor to confer upon them." During the last five or six years of Sir George Grey's government, the country was quiet. He had succeeded in creating a strong feeling of personal attachment to himself among the Natives of most of the tribes, and this naturally was mistaken for a cordial attachment to the British Government and rule. But no sooner was Sir George Grey's back turned than the old feeling revived among the chiefs, and some of those who had been his best supporters were foremost in the attempt thai was then made to restore their power. There is no need to refer to the mass of evidence which traces the hisiory of that agitation from the first great meeting at Manawapou in 1854. In that meeting, was first seen the germ of what we specifically call the "King movement," though it was nothing more than a revival of the old difficulty under a new name. Archdeacon Hadfield, immediately on his return from England after an absence of two years, said, in a letter to the Governor dated 1856, "I now understand there is a secret intention "of assembling, if possible, most of the leading Chiefs of the central and southern parts of this " island in the ensuing summer,_/br the purpose of raising the authority of the Chiefs. It appears "to be highly important, notwithstanding a very general opinion to the contrary, that the " Governmeut should do nothing towards establishing the influence of the Chiefs, but should " rather endeavour to lessen this by every legitimate means, and especially by raising the position '■ of inferior mr. through the equal action of law." Ido not agree with the Archdeacon, but I concur with Sir G. Grey in thinking that we should endeavour to give the Chiefs a high position under the Queen's Government, to compensate for the loss of power and rank which must

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DESPATCHES FROM GOVERNOR GORE BROWNE