ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

15

A.—No. 1

13. Again Sir D. Cameron reports regarding me: —" It is a matter of some " surprise that instead of formally referring it to his Responsible Advisers, as " appears by his letter of the 9th of June, His Excellency did not at once satisfy " himself regarding the merits of a question which so immediately affected the " prolongation of the war, and this is the more strange, as if the account I received "be correct, the purchase of the Waitotara Block was a very similar proceeding " to that of the Waitara which Sir George Grey had so severely condemned." 14. Now what chance have I against such a correspondent making unfavorable confidential reports to Her Majesty's Government. 15. I am sent here to govern constitutionally; a complaint is made to me which I have no power, means, or machinery for investigating except those constitutionally provided for me. 16. The information on which this complaint is based, and on which information I am anonymously and scurrilously attacked by a distinguished officer at head quarters, in the English newspapers, is now said to have been received from a very respectable man (name unknown) met with on the road. I however had received it courteously and considerately, and had formally referred it to my Responsible Advisers. My doing so is stated to have been a matter of some surprise. Why, lamat a loss to conceive : The statement as it is written would injure one with those at a distance who did not reflect on the nature of the Government here or who did not know it. But what else could I have done ? Sir D. Cameron knew as well as I did that I had done what was right, and all that was in my power. 17. He does not however state fairly for me what I had done. On the receipt of his complaint I had told him as follows : —" Upon the receipt of your letter I " felt that I ought not to rest under the imputation of holding back any informa- " tion from Her Majesty's Government. I therefore immediately requested my " Responsible Advisers to appoint a Commission to inquire into any facts which " rendered it probable that the purchase of the Waitotara block of land was an " iniquitous job." " They inform me that they have made all inquiries they can and find no " grounds whatever for thinking that the purchase of the W'aitotara Block was a "job. That they are most anxious to appoint a perfectly independent Commission "to inquire into any complaints in regard to the purchase of this block of land, " but that they have no such complaints before them, and do not know what points " they should direct the Commission to inquire into." "As I am very anxious to do justice in this matter, —to do my duty to the " Home Government, and to keep nothing back from them of which they should " be informed, —I should feel very much obliged to you if you would inform me of " the nature of the inquiry you made about the purchase of the Waitotara Block, " what are your reasons for believing that it is an iniquitous job, and upon whose " information your opinions were grounded." " Immediately I am in possession of this information a full inquiry shall be " instituted into the whole matter, and ample justice shall be done, as the state of " the country will now I believe shortly permit of such proceedings being carried " out." 18. I would put it to anyone whether if a General Officer had accidentally picked up a complaint on the road from a person he met riding, which complaint he reported to the Governor, and the Governor had told him that the Ministers had done all they could in the matter, and found no grounds for thinking the complaint had any just foundation, it would not have been reasonable for him to have rested satisfied with that assurance, and to have thanked the Governor for what he had done; or if General Cameron had believed that the complaint was well founded, that it ought to be at once inquired into, as it so immediately affected the prolongation of the war, was it not his bounden duty to have furnished me on the 12th of June last with any information which might have enabled me to follow up the inquiry, instead of refusing to do so and sending his information round by way of England, so that I did not receive it until the Bth of December. I can see no desire for justice in this either for the Natives or for myself.