E.—No. 3. SECTION I.

a better aim at mo. I presented my firelock, at which lie hid. The greatest number of Maoris that I saw at any one time was about thirty. I did not hear another shot fired after they gave up chasing me. The party who chased me continued firing at me. I fired back again. I was wounded myself in the thigh before I left the dead. The firing was not volleys but file firing. As near as I can guess there must have been thirty or forty Maoris firing. The first shot did no harm—the second killed Sergeant Ellers. From the first firing to the last shot I should think was about twenty-five minutes. Before the firing commenced at all I saw a party ahead on the beach. They could have had time to come up had they been friends. I did not see anything of an escort coming from Poutoko. I do not know of any particular order having been given to the Sergeant in command that day. We had no particular warning of danger given us that morning. Seven out of the ten of us were armed. I did not see any arms with Dr. Hope. Lieutenant Tragett I know had none —his servant told me so. Dr. Hope and Lieutenant Tragett were in regimentals, but had no swords or arms of any kind. I lay in the fern for I suppose two hours. The men of my company told me that a man named Reynolds had passed me on horseback, and seeing the bodies on the beach had returned again to the camp and given the alarm, when an escort of about sixty men were sent out who picked me up. All the privates and non-commissioned officers of our party wore medals on that day. The officers had none, for they had not their dresscoats on. F. Kelly. Josiah Flight, Coroner. DISTRICT OF TARANAKL"} An Inquisition indented, taken at the Military Hospital, in the n w 7 / Town of New Plymouth, and by adjournment at the Provincial Colony of JN ew Zeala>.d, V Council C ] iamber) Mount Elliott, in said Town of New Plymouth, in To wit. J the District and Colony aforesaid, on the Fifth day of May, the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth days of May, in the Year of our Lord One thousand Eight hundred and Sixty-three, Before Josiah Flight, Esquire, Justice of the Peace, the Coroner of Her Majesty the Queen for the said District in the said Colony, upon view of the bodies of Thomas Heathcott Tragett, William Astell Hope, Samuel Ellers, Samuel Hill, John Flinn, Edward Kelly, William Banks, and Bartholomew McCarthy, then and there lying dead, and upon the Oaths of Francis Ullathorn Gledhill, William "Mumford Burton, Frederick Windsor, Arthur Samuel Atkinson, Henry Wright, John Knight, William Bayly, William King Hulke, James Pearce, Robert Pitcairn, Joseph Colesby, and Boswell Robert Middleton, good and lawful men of the said District, who being sworn and charged to enquire on behalf of our Sovereign Lady the Queen, how, when, where, and in what manner the said Thomas Heatheote Tragett, William Astell Hope, Samuel Ellers, Samuel Hill, John Flinn, Edward Kelly, William Banks, and Bartholomew McCarthy, came to their deaths, do say upon their Oath that the said Thomas Heathcote Tragett, William Astell Hope, Samuel Ellers, Samuel Hill, John Flinn, Edward Kelly, William Banks, and Bartholomew McCarthy on the fourth day of May in the year aforesaid at Wairau in the Province of Taranaki, in the District aforesaid, were cruelly and barbarously murdered on the public Highway while in the peaceful discharge of their duty by certain persons of the Native Race to the Jurors unknown, by Gunshot, Tomahawk, and Spear wounds, and of which wounds the said Thomas Heatheote Tragett, William Astell Hope, Samuel Ellers, Samuel Hill, John Flinn, Edward Kelly, William Banks, and Bartholomew McCarthy did languish and die. In Witness wheeeof as well the said Coroner as the Jurors aforesaid, have to this Inquisition put their hands and seals on the day and year, and at the place first above written. Josiah Flight, Coroner. Feancis Ullathoen Gledhill, Foreman. William Bayly, William Mumfobd Bueton, William King Hulke, Fbedeeick Windsor, James Peaece, Aethue Samuel Atkinson, Robeet Pitcaien, Heney Weight, Joseph Colesby, John Knight, Boswell Robeet Middleton.

No. 19. COPY OF DESPATCH FROM GOVERNOR SIR GEORGE GREY, K.C.B., TO HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, K.G. Taranaki, 13th May, 1863. My Lord Duke, — I had just finished my last letter to you, when a vessel brought in news from Wellington, the purport of which amounts to this : —That, at present, all the tribes between Whanganui and Wellington' disapprove of the murders that have been committed, and were of opinion that no war should have been commenced against the Government; but that all the tribes between Whanganui and this place are pleased that a war is likely to have been brought on by the murders. That is, the population of about half the Southern coast of this Island is on our side; whilst the other half is against us. But I fear, if a war takes place, a great many Natives will be drawn into it who at present appear to be friendly to us.

No. 49,

41

TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.