A.—No. 19.
Ite tau 18G2. Ka whakaturia etc Eunanga Nui ratou ko te Kawana he Kooti Whakawa hei whakawa i n<ra whenua Maori, hiahia ana te Kawanatanga o te Porowini o Poneke kite hoko i to matou whenua —tohe ana kite Eunanga kia whakakorca ake te whakawa ki run^a ki o matou whenua kia riro ai i te Kawanatanga o Poneke to hoko i o matou whenua i Eangitikei, whakaae tonu te Eunanga. Kia rongo mai koe, ko to matou whenua anake, ko to Ngatiraukawa, te whenua i whakakorea ai te Kooti Whakawa, kua tae atu ta matou pukapuka kite Eunanga Nui kia whakakorea taua Ture kia whakawakia ai to matou whenua kite Kooti whakawa —kua tao hold matou ki a Kawana Kerei whakaatu ai i to matou pouri, tono ai hoki kia whakawakia to matou whenua. Kua tae hoki matou ki nga Minita o te Kawanatanga tono ai kia whakawakia to matou whenua, a kahore hoki i whakarongo mai. Tihema 18GG, ka hoatu c te Kai-hoko whenua c to Hupereteneti o Poneke nga moni ki etahi tangata he whenua ano o ratou kei tetahi taha o to matou, hoatu moni ana hoki ki nga iwi o tawhiti noa atu kahoro nei o ratou take ekenga mai ki runga ki to matou whenua. Kua kite nui matou i nga korero o to Hupcretene o Poneke ki tona Eunanga i tc 2G o Aperira, 18G7, c ki ana, kua hokoa katoatia c ia to matou whenua ara nga whenua i Eangitikei, i Manawatu — ko tana ki tenei, kua riro katoa o koutou whenua ia te Kuini o Lngarangi. Ka mohio ano matou ehara tenei Ture ia te Kuini. Na te Eunanga ano o Poneke i pokanoa ake, Na konei matou ou pononga c hapai tonu nei i ou Ture o te taenga mai ra ano o te Kawana tuatahi, ka inoi atu nei kia koe kia tonoa mai o koe etahi Kai- Whakawa whakaaro marama hei titiro i te tikanga o tenei he. Ko nga ingoa enei o matou Hapu o Ngatiraukawa, Ko Ngatipikiahu, Ko Ngatimaniapoto, Ko Ngatiwaewae, Ko Ngatihinewai. E whitu tekau (71) matahi matau nga tane Id to matou pihi ake o roto o Eangitikei—kahore kau i tango i nga moni o Te Petatone, kotahi anake i tango ko Noa Te Eauhihi ko tona kotahi, tera ano etahi o nga Hapu me o ratou whenua. , Na Paeanihi te Tau h He Kai-titiro — Ebuini te Tau. Matene Te Whiwiii. Akapita Te Tewe.
[translation.] To the Queen of England,— Otaki, 29th June, ISG7. Here do we, your loving subjects, cry to you out of the midst of the injustice inflicted upon us. We had all heard before the Treaty of Waitangi that you, the Queen, would take care of us and our lands. We now write to you because of a block of land belonging to us, situate at Eangitikei, in the Province of Wellington. We, the Ngatiraukawa, took that land by force of arms prior to the sovereignty of the Queen having been declared over New Zealand, and we have kept possession of it up to the present time. In the year ISG2 the General Assembly and the Governor established a Court to adjudicate upon Native lands. The Government of the Province of Wellington, desirous of purchasing our land, urged the General Assembly to exclude our lands from the operation of " The Native Lands Act," in order that it might be bought by the Government of Wellington. To this the Assembly straightway assented. Give heed: Only the land of us, the Ngatiraukawa, has been excluded from the Lands Court. We have sent a petition to the General Assembly, praying that the Act might bo disannulled, in order that our claims may be taken through the Court. Wo have also been to Governor Grey and shown him our troubles, requesting that our claims to the land be investigated. We have also been to the Colonial Ministers and requested to have our title investigated ; but they paid no heed. In December, ISCC, the Land Purchase Commissioner, the Superintendent of Wellington, handed over the purchase money to certain persons who own land adjoining ours. He gave money also to tribes dwelling at a distance who had no ground of claim to our land. We have all seen the speech of the Superintendent of Wellington made in opening the Provincial Council on the 2(!th April, 18G7, in which he stated he had purchased the whole of our lands—that is, the Bangitikei-Manawalu Block. He upon a former occasion made use of these words : " The whole of your lands have gone to the Queen of England." JStilL we were aware that this law was not made by the Queen, but was made at their own instance by the Assembly at Wellington. Now therefore we, your subjects, who have always given support to your laws ever since the arrival of the first Governor, pray you to send an investigator of sound judgment to inquire into the particulars of this act of injustice. These are the names of the Hapu of Ngatiraukawa represented by us: Ngatipikiahu, Ngatiwaewae, Ngatimaniapoto, Ngatihinewai. There are seventy-one men of us, owning our piece of land at Eangitikei, who have not taken Dr. Featherston's money. Only one of our party, Noa Te Eauhiti, he alone took money. There are other Hapus of Ngatiraukawa who claim in the block. Paeaniiii te Tau h Witnesses to signatures — Ekuini te Tau. Matene te AVhiwiii. Aeapita te Tewe.
No. 3. Copy of Pabakaia's Petition to the Queen. Xi TO MATOU HATUA XT Te KuiNl Nui O InGAKANGT, He inoi tenei naku na Parakaia Te Pouepa, he tangata Maori no Ngatiraukawa kei Otald Nui Tireni c noho ana.
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