A.—No. 4

No. 71. Lieut.-General Sir D. A. Cameron to His Excellency the Governor. My dear Sir George,— Camp on the Patea,*2lst April, 1865. I came here in consequence of intelligence I received from Wanganui, that the chief Pehimana and his tribe were .about to make their submission, and that the Wereroa Pa would be evacuated. It is even reported that the one hundred Waikatos have left the Pa and gone towards the Waingongoro, and that there are only about forty Natives remaining in it. Mr. White appears very confident about the sincerity of Pehimana, and I am expecting every hour to hear of the evacuation of the pa, which I should of course occupy immediately. Meanwhile, I have desired General Waddy to continue to reconnoitre the villages near the bush between the Manutatu and the Waingongoro, not only for the purpose of ascertaining their position and whether they are still occupied, but also to engage the attention of the Ngatiruanuis and Waikatos, and prevent them from again collecting in the Wereroa Pa, and perhaps inducing Pehimana and his people to change their mind. All the villages we have reconnoitred have been abandoned on our approach, the few natives left in them, apparently as scouts, retiring into the bush ; and, as I mentioned in one of my reports, the only thing to be done now in my opinion is, to establish a line of posts along the edge of the bush, to keep them in it or drive them further into it, if it be desirable to carry on a guerilla war of this description with them. There are no crops now in the ground, and all the food is probably stored and concealed a good distance inside the bush, and all we should gain by attempting to follow them would probably be a few broken heads. I have, Ac, D. A. Cameron. Lieut.-General. P.S. —The " Moa " arrived in the Patea yesterday afternoon, the first steamer since the 2nd of the month. His Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.B. D. A. C. No. 72. His Excellency the Governor to Lieut.-General Sir D. A. Cameron. Sir, — Government House, Auckland, 17th April, 1865. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, in which you inform me of the reasons which make you consider it unadvisable to reduce further your moveable column of about 800 men, or to occupy more posts along the coast between Taranaki and AVanganui, and request to be informed whether I intend the posts you have already established along the coast shall be occupied during the winter. In reply I have the honor to state that I think it my duty to acquiesce in the decision which you have formed on this subject, and that it is my wish that the posts you have occupied should be held during the winter by the troops, or until the Colony can take them over, which my Eesponsible Advisers inform me it is making preparations to do. The Colonial Government thinks nt so necessary that we should place ourselves in a state of security for the future against the natives of Warea, who have brought such serious evils upon the country, and that generally the safety of the Province of Taranaki should be provided for, that some effort must now be made by the Colony itself to do this. When I have had an opportunity of conferring with my Eesponsible Advisers regarding your letter of the 7th instant, I will again communicate with you on this subject. I have, Ac, Lieut.-General Sir D. A. Cameron, K.C.B. G. Grey. No. 73. His Excellency the Governor to Lieut.-General Sir D. A. Cameron. Sir, — Government House, Auckland, 17th April, 1565. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your private letter of the 30th of March, as also your letter of the 9th instant, informing me that you had sent a copy of the letter to the Secretary of State for War. I regret that you thought it your duty to write the letter of the 30th of March, which contains serious imputations against myself and my Eesponsible Advisers. I regret still more that you should have sent the copy of such a letter to the Secretary of State for War, unaccompanied by any reply from us. You will I am sure feel that I cannot after this continue a private correspondence, which subjects me to difficulties of this nature. I will however publicly reply to your letter of the 30th of March, by the next opportunity. I have, Ac, Lieut.-General Sir D. A. Cameron, K.C.B. G. Grey. No. 74. The Assistant Military Secretary to His Excellency's Private Secretary. Sir, — Head Quarters, Camp Patea, 22nd April, 1865. I have the honor by direction of the Lieut.-General Commanding to forward for the information of His Excellency the Governor the enclosed copy of a letter received from Colonel Greer, C.8., commanding the troops at Tauranga. The Lieut.-General requests that His Excellency will have the goodness to cause interpreters to be sent without further delay to the stations of Tauranga and Maketu, where they are much required. I have, Ac, The Private Secretary, Government House, Geo. Dean Pitt, Auckland. Major, A. M. S.

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