A.—No. 8

promised should bo safe were of course destroyed. To the Natives, already suspicious and apprehensive, this naturally looked like an act of treachery or deliberate breach of faith ; that it was so we do not believe ; but these Natives so regarded it, as will be seen farther on. It will be remembered that the great difficulty we have had all along in dealing with the disaffected Natives, has been their distrust of our sincerity and good faith. On the same day on which the Manihi was burnt another unfortunate event occurred. An officer at Opunake, hearing that Heremaia had got to TJmuroa on his way there, and for some reason, wishing to expedite his arrival, rode to Umuroa, where had made a temporary halt, and brought him to Opunake under a threat of shooting him —at least as they passed Te Namu, Heremaia was in front, and. so frightened that he dare not turn his head to answer a question put to him by Tamati Kaweora, and the oflicer was riding behind with his pistol in his hand; this appears to have made a strong impression on him. When General Chute got to Opunake, he sent a party of soldiers over to Matakaha to bring over Adam Clark, Te Ua, and about thirty others who were there, including some of the Poutoko Natives. They were brought into camp with a very tinnecessary display of force, in the shape of bayonets, &c, and were shut up in two tents. Here they made up their minds fully that they wore to be executed, and exhorted each other to fortitude. Nothing, of course, was done to them beyond administering the oath of allegiance (which, we should imagine, was peculiarly valuable, taken under such circumstances) and they were let go ; but the effect did not end there or with them, and there is very little doubt that Adam Clark and all his people would have gone over with or immediately after the others, if it had not been for a few thoroughly friendly Natives living with them at the time; as it was added to the fear of Heremaia and Matakatea. The last cause of their fear arose from seeing their young men taken, one after another, to act as guides to the various expeditions ; they had been told all to assemble, and they thought that they should all have to go to fight, and that if they refused they would be shot. This, and the interpreter at Opunake telling Heremaia that some rebels had been found at Nga-ariki, which he had said was his place, and therefore he had done a great wrong, appears to have settled the matter, as it was during the following night, we believe, they went away. We have not spoken of the burning of Whitiora and Te Kurukowhatu, and the destruction of the canoes, &c, because we do not hear that this produced much impression, though it may, perhaps, have helped. The events subsequent to their going have not been hitherto correctly reported. It was a poetical fiction that Heremaia took the letter of Captain Livesay telling them to come back, and tired it from his gun. When Tamati Kaweora took the letter up to Nukuteapipi, Heremaia and Matakatea were not there, the only men there were three rebels and one of Heremaia's men, and he saw one of them set oil" with the letter inland. He told them what he had come for, and they answered that " Heremaia's things had been put into a house that was marked as sacred (rahui) and it was burnt; and if the General got them into a house, even though it was marked as sacred, they would be served in the same way." Tamati went up again, two or three hours afterwards, but got no further answer, and the next morning the place was destroyed by the troops. As we have already said, the defection of these men, at this time, and under the circumstances which led to it, is, we think, very greatly to be regretted. It is easy to say that they were rebels at heart, which, at least in Heremaia's case, was probably true ; but what are the Ngatiruanuis and other actively hostile Natives, and on what terms will they be induced to submit ? Are we to go on fighting them until they become our warm and devoted friends ; or merely until they accept the conditions we impose ? Unless we are prepared to adopt the latter course, we must address ourselves at once to the work of extermination, and that is likely to take some time, at the rate we have hitherto gone. When Mr. Parris was about to accompany the force southwards, he was told very plainly, we believe, that his services were not required. We observe that General Chute speaks as follows of Dr. Featherston, who accompanied him : —" It is hardly possible for me to convey to your Excellency how much I feel indebted to Dr. Featherston for his able advice on all subjects connected with the Natives." Putting these two things together, we presume that General Chute and Dr. Featherston felt themselves able to do without Mr. Parris' knowledge of the Natives in his own district, and therefore they are equally responsible for what they did in ignorance as for what they did intentionally, Dr. Featherston does not seem to be quite so sensitive to Native wrongs as he was in 18G0. We have said before, and we repeat it, that General Chute's march up from Wanganui was about the best thing that has been done in the war ; but we do not hesitate to say that it would have been better for Taranaki if his march had ended in this town, and he had gone back to Wanganui by steamer —for he has left us with more enemies than he found here when he came. No. 11. Copy of a Letter from Mr. B. Pahris to the Hon. A. H. Eussell. Sin,— Wellington, 27th July, 1866. In further reference to my reports relative to the defection of Wiremu Kingi Matakatea, I have the honor to state that it was my intention to have gone to the district for the purpose of communicating personally with him, in order to ascertain what loss he and his people sustained by the action of the forces under 31ajor-General Chute, and all the attendant circumstances, in accordance with the instructions contained in the letter of the Under Secretary of the 15th February last. The sitting of the Compensation Court at New Plymouth prevented mo from going through the district, although I had several messages from the Natives requesting me to visit them, in answer to which, I sent them word that when the Compensation Court had finished the inquiry into the questions then before it, I would do so, and to prevent any delay in assembling the Natives, I sent Te Ua to the district to make preliminary arrangements for an interview with any of the disaffected tribes. The day on which the Compensation Court finished its sitting, I received an order from the Chairman of the Confiscation Committee to proceed to Wellington to give evidence before the said Committee, whereby I was again prevented from going to the district; and about the same time, I

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