G.—No. 2.

Zealand ; but my word was not accomplished by you, and when you saw that unarmed ones had fallen, then you applied an evil murderous name to us ; but I thought that we were not accountable for those slain, but rather that you yourselves were ; for you were taken up with poohpoohing my advice, and left it to be a bad name for me. For you said that I was bent on fighting because my word had gone forth so quickly for the unarmed to be removed to Auckland. In that case you were wrong again, because, having ween that I was bent on fighting, why did you not have all such people removed, lest they be overtaken by my fighting, as it had occurred to you that sucli would be the case. O friends, I did have respect for the laws of England. Your word did come to mo, saying that you were averse to ambuscades and killing those that were wounded; whereupon I exhorted my tribes to give over committing such acts. They accordingly forsook such acts, and shaped their course by the laws of England, from Meremere right on to the time of the fall of Eangiriri. Then my wives and children fell there. Then again was I condemned by the laws of England because of the women and children who died with the men of strong hand that fell in the fighting pa. I then left that lesson (learnt there) in my mind ; then the word of General Cameron came to me for peace to be made. I agreed, and gave up my " mere paraoa," in token of having relinquished my weapon. I then went to Ngaruawahia. I was there ; the General and his word were also there coming up after me. When I saw (what that was) I gave up Ngaruaw.ahia to lie in the peacemaking, and went on to Maungatautari. When I got there the word of England again came up after me, —" The Horotiu Eiver will not be traversed by the steamers," but they " will continue to sail on the Waipa in pursuit of Eewi; Ngaruawahia shall be the boundary as far as Tamehana is concerned —the steamer shall not go to Horotiu." Was it not Bishop Sohvyn who told us this ? Was not this second word also spoken by his mouth ?— " That the Maori people dwell quietly at their own places on the banks of the Horotiu." So therefore the women and children, and the men also, dwelt quietly at their own places up to the time that the Bishop and his soldiers arrived before Paterangi. But I and my tribes did go then to help Eewi and his tribes; then it was I acted in accordance with the word of England, which condemned me for the death of the women who fell in the fighting pa. I divided off Eangiaohia to be a place of abode for the women and children, and I drafted off some men to carry food to Waipa—that is to say, to Paterangi. No sooner did the General see that we had all assembled there, than he turned round and commanded his soldiers to go to Eangiaohia, to fight with the women and children. He did not heed the fact that we had collected at Paterangi upon his word, desiring us "to gather together into one place to fight, although we should number 2000" —" I will not fear; I will go straight on and fight them " —that is to say, us. So we assembled at Paterangi. One word of his we greatly desired; it was this: "If I fight the Maoris whilst they are gathered together, and I prove stronger than they, peace shall be made; if they prove stronger than I, lot peace be made;" and I was much pleased at that proposal, thinking it, would be heeded, when behold ho went off to Eangiaohia instead, so I was troubled by a fruitless pursuit of his words which were not fulfilled. Three of the laws of England were at that time broken by the laws of New Zealand; for this is New Zealand law— 1. Ambuscades ; that is to say, secret attacks. 2. Killing women and children. 3. Burning people alive with fire. When I found that English people adopted that mode of action, I called to the Maori people and enjoined them not to return again to those practices. " Leave it to be for England to take up the putrefactions of my ancestors, viz. killing women and children, and burning people alive in their sleeping houses." The Maori people assented to me and what I said to them. O friends, because of this did I fully consent to the fighting ; because of my women and children having been burnt alive in the fire which was suffered, rather than the edge of the sword, to consume their flesh. I would not have regarded it had it been only the men ; there would then have been a reason to have thought less of what the rage of the fire had done on account of their having shot seven Pakehas, my relatives were treated in the same manner at Eangiriri —they were burnt alive in the fire. I did not grieve for that, but a thought came to my mind lest what England had taught should be set aside by the teaching of New Zealand ; but when those doings were enacted again at Eangiaohia, Iheu came up fresh in my memory that which had already been done at Eangiriri. Within me are collected the many things which have troubled us all —but I will confine myself to these. At the time of the fight at Eangiaohia, I discovered that this would be a very great war, because it was conducted in such a pitiless manner. After that (Eangiaohia), the steamer sailed up the Horotiu River. I then said to the people who were living beside the river at their usual places of abode, " come, let us off to Maungatautari—leave this place to be without occupants, lest evil spring up here." So they hearkened to what I said, and we all gathered to Maungatautari. The steamer also came there. Then I said to my people again, " Let us leave this place to be alone." They again assented to me and what I said, but we did fight then with the soldiers, for the space of about ten minutes ; then we left off and went to the mountains, to Patetere, and left the river of Waikato. Because of my great desire for peace, therefore did I remove my people from thence lest further grief should be occasioned by the death of relatives, in which case it would not have been possible to suppress the evil. Now, O Friend, this is how I have been saved from evil—because of my constant striving to do that which is good, ever since the introduction of Christianity on to the time of the King movement, and up to the present days of darkness. After we had embraced Christianity, when my tribe sought payment for our dead who had fallen I did not give my consent. Then I said, " Stop, strive to repay in a Christian manner. Let peaceful living be the payment for my dead." They consented. I then drew all my enemies to me; they all came, not one continued a stranger to me ; but all became related to me in the bonds of Christian fellowship. Then I said—what a good payment this is for those that are dead, this living peacefully ! In the King movement, was brought to an end the land brawls, which had previously existed between father and son, between brother and brother. I then again said —what a good recompense

6

PETITION OF WI TAMIHANA TE WAHAROA.