D.—No. 21

20

RETURN OF ARMS AND AMMUNITION

ammunition. Do you, the Pakohas, wish to give us up to destruction ? If the guns, powder, and caps are taken from us, we the loyal subjects of the Queen will be destroyed. This rather is our thought: let good deeds be done throughout the Island, and then withdraw the guns. If after this letter the Government still say to us " Send in your arms and ammunition," let them open a store where we, the loyal Natives, may be able to purchase the means of protecting our wivesand children. That is all, From Hamtona Hirott, From Erueti Turangapito, And from the rest of the Chiefs and the People.

I).—No. 38. Copy of a Letter from Mr. Durie to the Hon. the Native Minister. Resident Magistrate's Court, Sir,— Wanganui, 18th March, 1866. I have the honor to report that Lieut.-Colonel Gorton, commanding the Wanganui Militia District, has requested the assistance of this office in the disarming the friendly Natives. Lieut.Colonel Gorton is no doubt acting under instructions in this matter, and I shall be glad to render him any assistance in my power ; but before taking any steps in that direction I beg respectfully to submit to the Government my own opinion of the extreme uudesirability of disarming the frieiidlies at the present juncture. The Imperial Troops are being immediately withdrawn from Pipiriki, and the Native Contingent is threatening to break up. The defence of the river must shortly be left almost entirely to the loyal Kupapa Natives, and I do not see that we can reasonably expect this duty of them, if we proceed to deprive them of the means by calling in the Government arms. Mr. Booth, R.M., Upper Wanganui, is equally opposed with myself to the proposed measure, and will report to you by this mail. I have, &c, D. S. Durie, R.M., The Hon. the Native Minister, Wellington. and Acting District Magistrate.

D.—No. 39. Copy of a Letter from Mr. Stevens to Lieut.-Colonel Gorton. (No. 1238-2.) Colonial Defence Office, Sir,— Wellington, 23rd March, 1860. I am directed to acquaint you that a letter from the Resident Magistrate, Wanganui, having been laid before the Hon. Colonel Russell (acting for the Defence Minister), strongly deprecating the calling in of the Government arms from friendly Natives at this juncture, a reply, of which the accompanying is a copy, has been written him from, the Native Office, and I am to request you will be pleased, until further orders, to act in accordance therewith. I have, &c, Lieut.-Colonel Gorton, Eras. Stevens, Chief Clerk, Commanding Militia District, Wanganui. (in the absence of the Under Secretary).

D. —Enclosure in No. 39. Copy of a Letter from Mr. Rolleston to Mr. Durie. (No. 250.) Native Secretary's Office, Sir— Wellington, 22nd March, 1866. I have tho honor, by direction of the Hon. the Native Minister, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 18th March, in which you state that Lieut.-Colonel Gorton, commanding the Wanganui Militia, has requested your assistance in the disarming of the friendly Natives, and express your opinion of the extreme undesirableness of such a step at the present juncture. In reply I am to inform you that Lieut.-Colonel Gorton, in calling in the arms of the Kupapas after the close of General Chute's late campaign, has acted under instructions, and that all the arms of that portion of tho Native Contingent who declined further service, amounting to fifty-two stand, were voluntarily returned, and that on the 14th February Colonel Gorton reported that seventy-four out of eighty-five rifles issued to Major McDonnell for the Kupapas had been delivered in, and that he trusted the remainder would be returned in a day or two. I am to add that the Government consider it much more desirable to have their arms in their own control, ready for issue at a moment's notice, than in the hands of men so capricious and so little under command as the Natives appear to be. Lieut.-Colonel Gorton will however be directed to confer with the Resident Magistrate before taking further action in this matter. I have, &c, W. Rolleston, The Resident Magistrate, Wanganui. Under Secretary.

D.—No. 40. Extract. Colonial Defence Office, (No. 1143-2.) Wellington, 28th February, 1866. Instructions to Lieut.-Colonel Gorton that a part of the Native Contingent is to be placed at the