DESPATCHES EROM THE GOVERNOR OE NEW

A.—No. 1.

98

(£2,000) handed over to the two chiefs Eio and Piripi, appointed by the tribe to receive it. Instead of distributing it then and there, Eio and Piripi announced to the runanga that, as Hare Tipine and many others of their friends and relatives were at present lighting against the Queen at Taranaki and might possibly return, when they would wish to make lliem a present, they would lodge the money in the bank. The money thus lodged on a deposit receipt, was not withdrawn till May, 1861, when I believe it was fairly and equitably distributee!. Having thus given the history of the purchase, I proceed to notice General Cameron's charges and statements in regard to it. In the private letter which General Cameron wrote to the Governor on the 28th of January, 1865, from AVanganui, he says —" Since I have been in this part of the world, I have made inquiries about the purchase of the AVaitotara Block, and have reason to believe that it was a more iniquitous job than that of the Waitara Block." AVhcn challenged by Sir George Grey to inform him "of the nature of the enquiry he had made about the purchase of the Waitotara, what were his reasons for believing that it was an iniquitous job, and upon whose information his opinions were founded?" General Caineron, instead of meeting the challenge, says in his letter of the 12th of June, 1865, —" It is no part of my duty to collect information for your Excellency on such a subject as the purchase of the AVaitotara Block, regarding which you have ample means of obtaining all the information you require, and I therefore decline entering into any correspondence with your Excellency on the subject." ,And yet General Cameron, in a letter addressed on the 7th of July, 1865, to the Eight Hon. the Secretary of State for War, professes to give a detailed account of the purchase of the AVaitotara, explaining the way in which he obtained his information in these terms —" It was in riding into Wanganui a day or two after the engagement at Nukumaru that I received the above account, the truth or falsehood of which I had no means of ascertain in.;, but my informant was a very respectable settler, who had been a long time in the country and appeared well acquainted with the history of the transaction ;" and then on this statement "the truth or falsehood of which (he says) he had no means of ascertaining " though in his private note of the 28th of January he had declared that he had made enquiries, General Cameron proceeds to found and forward to the Secretary of State for AVar the gravest possible charges against officers of the Colonial Government. Ist. AVith respect to General Cameron's assertion, "that the purchase of the AVaitotara Block was a more iniquitous job than that of the Waitara Block," I unhesitatingly affirm that the validity of the pure-base has never been in the slightest degree questioned by the Natives. Of this, the following proofs amongst others may be adduced: Ist. A reference to the deed of sale shows that the boundaries, both of the block and of all tho reserves, were marked off by the principal chiefs themselves (in the case of the AVaitara, it is notorious that the surveyors were turned oft' the instant they appeared on the block). 2nd. When some time afterwards it was agreed to reduce the Pakaraka Eeserve, the same chief (Piripi), who had laid it off, pointed out the pegs and assisted in laying off the new boundary. 3rd. AVhcn the rebel Kingites in 1862 begged Potatau to accept the land and to forbid its sale, King Potatau decided that the land had been fairly purchased, belonged to the Queen, and ordered them to complete the sale. 4th. AVhcn, in October, 1864, the rebels refused me admission into tho AVeraroa Pa, they admitted that it was built on Queen's land. sth. AVhen the pa was captured, the chiefs who then surrendered, made a precisely similar admission to His Excellency Sir George Grey, adding that neither they nor anybody else had ever disputed the sale of the block. 6th. Major-General Cameron himself is compelled to confess that the troops under his command were unmolested as long as they were on Queen's land—" That it was not until the troops entered the village of Nukumaru (Hare Tipine's reserve) that their advance was opposed by the Natives, and that on that occasion a severe engagement ensued between them." 7th. It was not until General Cameron marched upon the Nukumaru Eeserve that the road party was interfered with; so far from the Natives objecting to the road being made, they voluntarily allowed it to be carried through their reserves. Even that arch rebel Hare Tipine, who is still in arms against the Queen, when he heard that it was the intention to avoid his reserve, sent me word that I might Like the road through any part of it, and that no opposition would be offered to the road being carried to the Waitotara Eiver. The party who drove off the road party on the 21th of January, 1865, without injuring any of them, were not AVaitotara Natives, but strangers on their way to join the rebels in their attack upon General Cameron at Nukumaru. Bth. AVhen a band of AVaikatos came to Waitotara to purchase supplies from storekeepers connected with the road parties, the AVaitotara Natives compelled them to leave all their arms on the north side of the river, before they would allow them to eross —saying that they would not allow the road parties to be molested as long :us they were engaged on the south side of the river. Surely these facts sufficiently show that there is not tho slightest foundation for General Cameron's opinion, that the purchase of the Waitotara was a more iniquitous job than that of the Waitara. The oidy question that has, as far as I am aware, been raised in connection with this purchase, is, whether certain Natives resident in Wellington were not entitled to some small present out of the purchasemoney. But though these Natives, at my request, went to AVanganui for the purpose of preferring their claims, and actually lived ten days or a fortnight with the sellers at Pakaraka, they never uttered a word about their claim. It is equally easy to dispose of General Cameron's other charges and statements, for there is scarcely a particle of truth in any one of them. General Cameron states that "the land (i.e., the AVaitotara Block) was hurriedly sold (by the Government), without the usual notice by advertisement, to a few speculators in AVellington, at ten shillings an acre ; the sum realised being £13,000, the amount paid to the Natives being £2,500. Hare Tipine and other chiefs protested against the sale at the time," &c. I annex a return to show how little truth is contained in this circumstancial statement. It shows that the usual notice of sale was given, the notice required by law being not less than one month, nor more than three. It also proves that instead of being Bold to :i few speculators in Wellington, thirty out of the thirty-eight purchasers were settlers resident at AVanganui, nearly all the remaining eight being residents it is true in AVellington, but who bought the hind for the purpose of locating themselves upon it. By the same return it will be seen that the sum realised, instead of being £13,000, was only £5,259.