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A.—Xo. 5,

Sub-Enclosure. To Ngatinenukukopako and Ngatirangi te Aorere, — Mokoia. 11th February, 1865. Fkiexds, —Hasten back to defend Waiohewa. On the 10th instant, Te Otirui went to Puhirua, and was asked by Ngatiinataku about Hori and the Jew, —the greatest thing is their Jew. Katini stood up and said, Welcome, &c. I thought that Eotorua consented to the decision of our fathers, that the door of jasper should not be opened in Eotorua; for this reason my hand was stayed instead of throwing you out, and I left you alone, although I disapproved of your work. I kept quiet; but now, in the day of my Jew, I have risen and become important, and you will be destroyed by me. Hitherto Auckland has been my fighting place, but now it will be Eotorua, and none of you shall escape my vengeance for the taking of my Jew. Do not suppose that my heart will be lenient to you; for your work this island will have satisfaction. It was decided by Te Hau that this should not be a time of war, because they are women and children without guns, powder, and pouches. Now you will be finished by me, that is by New Zealand. This is it, friends. Hasten back to work at our pa; come at once ; there will be great fighting at Eotorua; there will not be any fighting at the other places. From NESTTKrKOPAKO, and Ea>"gi te Aobeee, and all of us. Enclosure 7 to No. 23. T. H. Smith, Esq., to His Excellency the Goveenok. Mt dear Sib Geoege,— Maketu, 13th February, 1805. I take the liberty of writing privately to you on the subject of the apprehension of Hori Tupaea and the Tiu Tamihana, thinking it important that you should be possessed of information which I can only report officially to the Native Minister who may be in Wellington. Colonel Greer will I presume report the circumstances as tar as they are known to him, but it is possible that his report may omit references to some points upon which your Excellency would desire to be informed. For some time past a report has been in circulation to the effect that the Tiu Tamihana with a number of followers, intended to proceed from Tauranga to the South, for the purpose of making proselytes among the East Coast tribes, and that he would be accompanied by Hori Tupaea ; Colonel Greer wrote to the Arawa chiefs telling them to take these men if they came this way. On the 3rd instant, we heard that a party of eighty, composed of Waikato, Ngatiraukawa, and Tauranga Natives, accompanied by Hori Tupaea, had arrived at Te Puke, a settlement on the Maketu Eiver, some seven or eight miles distant. It was reported that a meeting was to be held there ; that disaffected Natives from various quarters were mustering there armed ; and that when arrangements were complete, the Tiu and his party would proceed on their way through the Arawa country, whether permission to do so were granted or refused. The number collected was estimated at from one hundred to two hundred. I communicated with Colonel Greer stating the circumstances, and that the Arawa would be willing to act in concert with the Military in any proceedings he might consider desirable to take for the purpose of intercepting the Pai Marire expedition. Colonel Greer replied by stating that he considered it peculiarly an Arawa question, and that it was undesirable to take any steps likely to bring about hostilities. On the 6th instant we received intelligence that the Pai Marire had started —that they appeared to be without arms, and numbered eighty-six persons, including women and children This information was received in the evening. An armed party at once went out but were too late to intercept the Pai Marire, who had passed some hours previously. On arriving at Te Eotoiti, they were observed, and a party of Ngatipikiao, Ngatinenukukopako, and Tuhourangi, quickly mustered, which followed, overtook, and made prisoners of them on the Bth instant. Having done so, they wrote to me to request that a party of soldiers should be sent to receive the prisoners, but afterwards decided to bring them to Maketu themselves. This was done on tlie 10th, several parties from Maketu going out to meet them on the way. Thinking it very desirable to avoid subjecting Hori Tupaea to any indignity, I arranged with Major Kirby, the officer in command here, that ho should not be taken into the Fort as a prisoner, but that upon the chiefs promising to be responsible for his safe keeping, he should be trusted with them for the night; this arrangement was however set aside by instructions received from Colonel Greer directing Major Kirby to send in the most important prisoners that night. This order was carried into effect, though not without remonstrance on the part of several of the Arawa chiefs, and complaints that they were treated with a want of courtesy and consideration in the matter. I succeeded in preventing the opposition from proceeding beyond a little noisy demonstration, and Colonel Greer's directions were carried out. While here I had some conversation with Hori Tupaea, who assured me that he had never committed himself in connection with the war. He admitted that he was to blame for not coming to see your Excellency when at Tauranga, saying that that was his only offence. He denied having written the letter to the Ngaiterangi which induced them to leave their homes in December last. He said he was merely travelling in company with the " Tiu," at the request of the latter ; that he had not joined the Pai Marire religion, and that he had not intended to go beyond Te Awa-o-te-Atua, where a relative of his had lately died. He said he was quite willing to go to Auckland to see your Excellency, and answer any questions which might be put to him; that he had never taken up arms himself, or advised his people to do so, and that the only reason why he had not joined the ranks of the Queenites was, that he had had personal differences with the principal men of that party. If credit be due anywhere for the decided action taken in this affair, it belongs to the Ngatipikiaos and their companions, who at their own risk and on their own responsibility have made prisoners of these Pai Marire fanatics. The effect cannot, I think, be otherwise than salutary. They will, of course, expect to be rewarded by the Government for their trouble. They are not free from apprehension as D

13

ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

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