F.—Ne. 2c

admitted that they had good reason, especially when they too well knew the use which would be made of an ill-considered opinion or a statement inadvertently made. In conclusion, His Excellency has in his Memorandum under notice so intermixed his references to the Orders in Council, draft Orders in Council, and Regulations, as to involve the subject in almost inextricable confusion to the minds of readers except those personally conversant with it. It seems, therefore, desirable shortly to state the facts of tho case. The defeat of tho Maoris at Orakau, followed by the evacuation of Mangatautari in April last, seemed to Ministers the right moment for putting in force that confiscation of territory, and its settlement by Europeans, which the Governor in 1863 had declared to be the only remedy for the existing troubles. Waikato had been conquered, and the time had arrived to announce the consequences of rebellion not by words but by action, which might carry conviction to the Native mind, and secure for the Colony that material guarantee which was to provide for its future safety. On the 17th of May Ministers submitted for His Excellency's approval the draft of a proclamation intended to define the limits of a district to comprise part of the territories of the principal rebel tribes, out of which district the lands actually to be confiscated and settled were afterwards to bo selected by the Governor in Council. His Excellency in reference to this district expressed his opinion as follows: —" Upon the whole the Governor would prefer a district being in the first instance defined, which would only embrace a considerable part of the territory of the Waikato and Ngatimaniapoto tribes who have been engaged in the rebellion." Thus omitting the contiguous territory of the rebel Thames and Tauranga tribes which Ministers had proposed to include in the same Order in Council, Ministers abandoned their own proposal and adopted that of His Excellency. Orders in Council were accordingly prepared to carry out His Excellency's views, and ho actually signed them on the 28th of May though he afterwards refused to issue them. The first district proposed by Ministers on the 17th of May, and afterwards abandoned, comprised an extent of territory that rendered it proper to make provision for the settlement of Natives who might return to their allegiance and desire to reside within it. Regulations were drafted accordingly and laid before His Excellency with the draft order to which they had reference. When the proposal was abandoned the Regulations of course fell to the ground, for they could have no application to the smaller district which it was on the 28th of May proposed to take, as that did not comprise any land on which they could operate. Nevertheless it was a discussion on these Regulations, arising inadvertently after His Excellency had signed the Orders in Council, that led to his refusal to issue them. The refusal was altogether illogical, the Orders having no reference to the Regulations on which His Excellency based his refusal. The obscurity of His Excellency's Memorandum under notice, and the difficulty which, without explanation, most persons will have in understanding it, arises from the manner in which he has confused his references to the several Orders in Council and the Regulations. It is possible that His Excellency has not understood tho subject himself, and that the confusion of ideas which pervades his Memorandum is the candid reflex of his mind. It will be seen, however, on careful

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