•E.—No. 2.

The Native Minister asked Teira to tell him the story of the permission given by his father, Tamati Earn, to William King, to build his pa at the mouth of the river. Teira gave a full account of this transaction. He said, that William King had quite purposed to live on the north bank, —but that the whole tribe soon got so alarmed at the prospect of a raid from Ngatimaniapoto, that the question was proposed for discussion at general meetings, that they should all live together on the south bank for mutual protection. This being agreed to, the site of the pas had to be determined ; and, although it was admitted that the position selected at the mouth of the river belonged to Teira and his immediate family, it was ultimately agreed by all to build the pas there as the safest position for the tribe. In accordance with this, the Pas Hurirapa, Werohia, and Kuikui, were built, —and, although separate in construction, they were close enough to be taken for one (hui katoa he pa kotahi) for defensive purposes. The Native Minister hereupon asked Teira how it was that, after a general agreement had been come to that this should be the location of them all, he had offered it for sale. Teira commenced his reply by saying, that when they came up they were all living in peace and happiness together,—but that the incessant feuds which had existed for five years, since Kawiri's death in 1845, had cut up the tribe, and darkened the whole land. But he said that he never had any intention to include the sites of the pas when he made the original offer to Governor Gore Browne in March, 1859 ; and he then went into a detailed account of William King's refusal ever to listen to his explanations about the land, and of all the circumstances which preceded Governor Gore Browne's decision to make the survey of the block. Most of the particulars he mentioned were familiar to the Native Minister, and have been made public in the Parliamentary Papers,—but a few were entirely new to him, and so far as Mr. Bell recollects, had never been mentioned before. One was, that the reason why he wished the old native allotments belonging to each man to be marked out in the block (kia piketetia nga taiepa) was, that there were other claims besides his. Another was, that there was to be another Native reserve of 200 acres within the block, and that although AYilliam King's pas had been destroyed when the war broke out, he had never intended to give up his own pa, Hurirapa. He then proceeded to complain that the balance of the purchase money (£500) had not been paid, and he asked me how this was, and whether the money would be given, saying that it was not just an investigation should take place without his being first paid, lest a man should be judged without any offence fairly charged against him (kei whakawakia hara koretia te tangata). The Native Minister told Teira, that however clearly his title should be proved on the investigation, he thought it would be said that, after a general agreement among the tribe so many years before, whereby the sites of these pas had been selected for the purposes of general defence, and not merely as an accommodation to William King, and actually occupied, notwithstanding the Native feuds, up to the time of the land being offered for sale, those sites should not have been included in the sale without the real circumstances being told to the Governor; and that, if he never intended to offer them to the Governor, he should in the first place have expressly excluded them from his offer, and afterwards have prevented their being included in the survey. Moreover, that the matter of the reserve ought to have been cleared up and finally settled before he signed the deed, for there was nothing in the deed to show that any reserve was to be made, while it had been the almost invariable practice to name reserves in any deeds of sale. Teira and Ihaia, after a few moments' silence, said, "If we could answer that, we would do so ; as it is, we are silent." Upon the return of Mr. Parris from the camp, Mr. Bell communicated to him and the Colonial Secretary what had taken place. Mr. Parris stated that nothing had been said by Te Teira at the time of the original offer to show his intention of excepting the pas from it, and that he had never heard of an intended reserve of 200 acres; but that the Government had certainly promised that reserves should be made—that the object of the Government was to form a township at the mouth of the river—and that they contemplated making an arrangement by which certain portions of water frontage should be secured to the Natives within the town (besides other reserves outside), whereby the sites of the pas would have been exchanged for town allotments, sure to rise rapidly in value ; and that all this would have been done if hostilities had not broken out, —but that the war had prevented any plan for the benefit of the Natives being carried out. The Native Minister thinks it right, in making this communication to the Governor, to state that he had refrained until yesterday from questioning Te Teira on any matter connected with the sale of Waitara. He felt that, pending the investigation which the Governor had declared should take place, he ought not, after the part which he has himself taken in the Assembly, to seek, without His Excellency's express commands, information in anticipation of the inquiry, from among the Natives who were parties to the sale. In this instance an accidental turn in the conversation with Teira led to a disclosure of alleged facts, which it was obviously essential to Her Majesty's service should at once be brought before the Governor. F. D. Bell. April 17th, 1863. Note.—A farther account Is given of this interview. (See pages 32 et seq. of this Paper.) Enclosure 6 in Despatch No. 1 MEMORANDUM by his excellency as to making a reserve at the waitara villages. The Governor has carefully considered a statement laid before him by the Native Minister, showing. The arrangements between the natives, under which the South bank of the Waitara had been

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