E.—No. 2,

Enclosure 8 in Despatch No. 1. MEMORANDUM by his excellency stating reasons foe abandoning waitaea PUECHASE. The Governor begs to express his thanks to Ministers for the frankness and readiness with which they have given him the advice for which he sought, in reference to the proposed reserve out of the block of land at the Waitara, called Teira's block. But the Governor ought to offer some remarks upon the Ministerial Minute in which they give him that advice, in so far as it relates to the acts and proceedings of the Natives ; and he ought at the same time to state to Ministers the conclusion at which he has arrived in reference to the purchase at Waitara still under negociation. 2. Ministers are aware that the Governor is of opinion (as his predecessor believed was the case in reference to himself,) that a pressure is being in many ways made on him, and is still likely to be made on him, by some of the European inhabitants of Taranaki, to induce him to enter into a war with the Native race, or to take land from them, with the avowed object of promoting the permanent security of the Province. The Governor thinks (perhaps wrongly) that a justification for these views would be afforded by the Ministerial statement, if the disasters brought upon this English Province, and the danger to the lives of the settlers, alluded to in it, had resulted alone from the proceedings of the Natives before the war. 3. Moreover, the Government at the present moment stands between two races, excited by recent hostilities, the inferior one of which is not, except to an inappreciable extent, represented in the General Assembly, and has no effective means whatever of putting its statements before the Queen or the public. It would therefore seem just, alike to Her Majesty's Advisers, who will have to decide on the wisdom and justice of the course pursued in the present crisis, and to the General Assembly of New Zealand, to put forward the Native answers to the view of the case (which is that of only one party to the question,) contained in the Ministerial minute of the 20th instant. 4. It would also seem right that the local Government, which is to act at once, in the existing most difficult state of affairs, should, before determining upon its line of action, carefully consider all sides of the question—and then, in Her Majesty's name, fearless of all parties, earnestly and faithfully do that which impartial men, removed from this scene of national, and in some cases strong party feeling, will admit was that which wise and dispassionate rulers of a country should have done, and which the future historian may admit was worthy of the greatness and generosity of England. 5. The Governor will therefore proceed to state the Native answers to the statements made in the Ministerial minute, which statements have frequently before been made, and have in various forms been discussed at meetings with the Natives. 6. The Natives, then, allege in reference to their disputes before the war, that these arose from Native Assessor of the Crown, whilst trying to meet the wishes of the Government in obtaining land for the Europeans, having with some of his people been treacherously slain by some natives. They go on to state that in this and similar instances, especially of land disputes, they in vain besought the Government to take some steps for establishing law and order in the country, and for affording protection to life and property amongst the Native race. That their appeals were treated with indifference. That at last many of them arrived at the settled conviction that the Government intended to let them destroy one another, either to get rid of them, or to obtain their lands. That it was their anxiety to save themselves from such calamities that at length induced many of their leading men, as a last resource, to join in the attempt to set up a National Government, which might afford them that protection from the violent of their own race which they had in vain sought from the Queen's Government— and, That if the settlers suffered together with the natives from such a state of anarchy as Ministers describe, that the settlers as well as the natives should refer their miseries to the true cause —the apathy and indifference or the weakness of the Government. 7. If these allegations are true, it appears to follow that the proper preventive for the recurrence of such scenes, is to take judicious steps for the gradual establishment of law and order throughout the Colony; and that neither justice nor policy will at present permit us either to enter upon a war, or violently to take their properties from the natives with the view of protecting the European settlers from the serious troubles and dangers which they formerly experienced, which were assuredly very great, and such as should never be allowed to recur if the Government can by any means in its power prevent them. As there are at the present time many violent and exceedingly ill-disposed young men among the native race whose pride and passions have been excited by the recent war, and who will most unwillingly be brought to submit to any restraint upon their inclinations, it will be necessary for some time to retain in this district a strong military and police force. 8. It is further to be observed that the Natives declare that they did not take up arms to prohibit the alienation of territory to the Crown, or to maintain any Seignorial rights. They rest their justification for entering into the general conspiracy which was undoubtedly formed throughout the island, by declaring that it was a struggle for house and home. Especially on the East Coast the Natives have stated this to the Governor ; adding, that various similar incomplete purchases of land had been made in their district from Natives who had only a qualified claim to such lands ; and that the almost universal belief of the Native race was, that a new system of taking lands was to be established, and that if they did not succeed by a general and combined resistance in preventing their houses and lands being taken by the Government from the natives of the Waitara, they would have been each in their turn despoiled in detail of their lands.

10

PAPEES EELATIVE TO