A.—No. 8.

complained of the treatment they were receiving from the military detachments stationed at Stoncy JtiVer and Warea; and Mr. Carrington, who was stationed there as interpreter, sent me a written statement of what was going on, which I forwarded to the Hon. the Native Minister by letter dated February 17th; but in case your Excellency should not have seen it, I beg to transmit a copy herewith. In terms of my general instructions from Mr. FitzGerald (which I am directed by the present Native Minister to act upon), I located those Natives at the Tailma in September last. They are an important section of the Ngamahauga tribe, of which Iharaira Tuuparo is the principal chief. In January, 1865, they signed the oath of allegiance, after I had risked my life by going into the bush for them, believing, as I always have, that nothing but a forced communication with these deluded fanatics would have the effect of bringing them back to their allegiance to the Government. I feel that both the Natives and myself have been illused, and it weighs upon my mind as to whether I shall be dealing honestly with them in prosecuting my duties in terms of my instructions, and thereby rendering them liable to the sort of treatment the Taihua Natives complain of. To Ua's case was very similar. I was authorized by Colonel Haultain to bring him into a settled district. Having prevailed upon him to secede from the rebels, I located him at Matakaha (his own place) with a friendly chief, Arama Karaka. I could have induced him to go to "Wellington or any other place without subjecting him to the disagreeables of being paraded as a prisoner from his place to Wanganui. Of course the Natives will think I have acted treacherously toward them, until they can be convinced to the contrary, which will be no easy task. 1 have sent your Excellency's letter to Wiremu Kingi Matakatea, and expect in a few days to hear the result. Herewith I have the honor to enclose for your Excellency a Taranalci Herald, containing in its leading article a correct account of the cause of his defection. Whenever your Excellency can part with Te Ua, I shall be glad to have him to assist me in my critical work for the pacification of my district, which was progressing most favourably up to the time of the late military disasters. I have, &c, E. Paeeis, His Excellency Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., Auckland. Civil Commissioner. Enclosure in No. 10. Extract from the Taranalci Herald of 17th March, 1566. "We have received from two or three sources an account, which we have no doubt is trustworthy, of the events preceding the going over to the enemy of ~W. Kingi Matakatea and Herernaia, and of the causes which led them to take this ill-advised and most unfortunate step —unfortunate both for us and for them. "We speak of this act of theirs in these terms, instead of calling it by its technical name of treason, because we believe they were fairly frightened into doing it. There is no doubt whatever that, being related to the Taranaki rebels, they had considerable sympathy with them, and perhaps, in Heremaia's case, with their cause ; but looking carefully at all the evidence we have been able to get, we believe they were very loth to go over, and would gladly have remained where they were if it had not been for the dread and apprehension they felt as to what would happen to them. It is easy enough for us to see that their fear was unreasonable, but it was none the less real to them. It is perhaps desirable to say a few words about the position which these two men were in before General Chute arrived. "W. Matakatea, who is reputed a man of ability and determination, fought against us during the war of 1860, but withdrew from the rebels some tiule before it had ended, and declared himself neutral. He preserved his neutrality, we believe, up to the time of the occupation of Opunake, and by doing so drew on himself a considerable amount of odium from the rebels among whom he was living. We do not suppose that all his people have throughout remained neutral, but he has himself, we believe; a corroborative proof of which is found in the fact that ho had never joined the Pai Marire faith, though living in the very hot-bed of it. When the troops first took possession of Opunake, he looked, according to an impartial and reliable eye-witness,' as if a load had been taken off his shoulders.' He at once took the oath of allegiance, and since then had been living near the troops and on very good terms with them, subject occasionally to small depredations among his pigs, &c, but receiving, on the other hand, the hospitality of the redoubt, where he was a frequent visitor ; and probably, if it had not been for Hcremaia, who was a near relative, he would never have gone over, but Heremaia's fear appears to have infected him. Hereinaia was much more of a " wild man" (as the friendlies call the rebels) ; he had been or was still a Pai Marire, and having been more thoroughly hostile, was much more suspicious. As some of our readers will remember, when the news reached hereof General Chute's successes at Otapawa and elsewhere, Heremaia became very^ much, alarmed, and wanted to know what he was to do to be safe ; he had hung out white flags, but did not seem to trust much in their efficacy, as he had heard that General Chute did not respect white flags. Soon after, General Chute arrived, but unfortunately many things that were done tended to increase instead of allaying his suspicions, until at last his fear overcame his prudence. Wo will not go through all that happened, but will shortly relate as they were told to us the causes which led to the going over of Herernaia and Matakatea. When General Chute was about to attack Waikoukou, a party of friendly Natives under Ensign Macdonncll, who was acting as interpreter to the forces, went up with Heremaia to Manihi, the place he was living at, to get potatoes; while there, Hcremaia proposed that he and his people, including those living at a pa further inland, Nga-ariki, should move down to the camp at Opunake, to be out of the way of the General's operations. This was assented to by Ensign Macdonnell, who said that if they put all their things into one whare he would see that they were protected. Two days after the place was burnt by a party of the 43rd, returning to Opunake after taking Waikoukou, and all the things which it had been

9

WIREMU KIXGI MATAKATEA, ETC.