9

A.—No. »

was, as I have before stated, that I should go with him to Patea, and that he would send his brother with me to take me to Wanganui and thence to Wellington, and that I ought not to go to Wellington via Taranaki. I did not promise to go to Wellington under Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell's auspices, but I did promise that I would go and see Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell's people, viz., the Native Contingent at Waingongoro. 64. Did not Aperaniko, Captain in the Native Contingent, tell you at Kauae, that if you listened to my words and went to Waingongoro, all would be well, and that you and your tribe would have land restored to you for your use, and that your property, such as horses and cattle, would be spared to you ; but that if you were stubborn, evil would ensue ? —The words of Aperaniko on the occasion were not the words mentioned in the question. 65. Mr. Commissioner Graham.] When you received the white handkerchief did you believe that hostilities would cease ? —Yes. 66. Did you, when you started from Pokakai in the end of July, 1866, after receiving the white handkerchief, with Te Ua and others, intend to proceed to Taranaki, and there having made peace, to go on to Wellington to see the Governor ?—Yes. 67. Mr. Commissioner Cargill.] You say that you intended to make peace at Taranaki, would your people have abstained, and did they abstain, from hostile acts during the intervening period ? — The word of the whole of the Tangahoe and Pakakohi hapus was that the weapon of war should be laid down, and that I should be sent among the Europeans. No hostile act was committed by them after the 27th July, 1866, the day on which I started from Pokaikai, and not even after the attack upon Pokaikai, in consequence of the decision at which they had arrived, as mentioned above. The firearms were hung up, and the women and children were on the ground. 68. If tho above decision, had been really come to by the two hapus abovenamed, why was not this decision communicated to Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell?—The decision was communicated first to Capt. Dawson, 18th Eegiment, by Te Ua, and then by me to Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell, at Kauae, and also by Te Ua at the same place. I also communicated the decision, by letter, to Wirihana, of the Native Contingent, at Manawapou. Wirihana, of the Native Contingent, is related to me. 69. The Chairman.] You have stated that when you saw Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell you saluted him and sang a song, to the effect that you were willing to make peace, but that you did not wish to be hurried into doing so. If the hapus abovenamed had really come to the decision above mentioned, what occasion was there for you to tell Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell that you did not wish to be huri-ied into making peace. All that was necessary was that some competent person should ratify tho decision before Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell, commanding the district ? —I referred in my song to the still hostile Natives of the Ngaruahine hapu, and not to the Tangahoe and Pukakohi hapus. 70. Do you know a woman of the name of Mohi, wife of Arapata, and did she ever bring a message to Pokaikai, in the end of July, 1866 ? —I know the woman Mohi, and she went to Pokaikai after I had left. 71. Was she treated harshly, and in a hostile manner, by the people of Pokaikai, on the occasion of that visit ?—I cannot speak from personal knowledge, as I had left before she came to the village.

Natamaliira JYaftiiist, Continued.

Camp Matakgaeaea, Thtjesday, 19th Maech, 1868. Coll McDonell being sworn was examined. 72. The Chairman.] What is your name and profession ? —My name is Coll McDonell. I am at present proprietor of a billiard table at Middle Eangitikei, but I was formerly Sergeant in the Patea Bangers. 73. You have been cited as a witness by Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell, will you state to the Commission what you know about the attack on Pokaikai in August, 1866 ? —I was present on the occasion. Wo marched from Manawapou a little before sundown, and halted on this side of the Biver Tangahoe till nearly dark. We then resumed the march towards Pokaikai. The Patea Bangers had led till we halted, and when the march was resumed I think Captain Wilson's No. 8. Company of Military Settlers was placed in. front of the column. The Patea Bangers followed the Bth Company, and Company No. 10 Military Settlers followed the Patea Bangers. After crossing the Tawhiti Stream and passing through some old Maori cultivation on a hill, I received orders from Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell, through Captain Newland, to pass to the rear and bring up Lieutenant Fooke's Company No. 10 with fixed bayonets. I was also told to warn my own Company that on no account were they to fire into the Native whares, as the leading Company, No. 8, had been ordered to try and take the villagers prisoners. I forgot to state that Lieutenant Eookes refused to bring up his Company when ordered through me to do so. The column was then halted close to the village of Pokaikai. We remained for an hour or perhaps two hours halting, before the order for the advance was given. Captain Newland bad command of the Patea Bangers, and he directed me to restrain the men and prevent them from crowding upon the leading Company, No. 8. I cannot recollect whether Company No. 10 after the second halt went in rear of Company No. Bor not. When the leading Company got into the village I saw a shot fired on tho right of our men, from some palisading, at the leading Company. All the whares were for the most part, particularly the whares on the right, partitioned off from one another by stab fences, and it is one of these stab fences which I designated above as palisading. Immediately after this shot was fired it was answered by two or three shots from the left, apparently by our own men. By this time the leading files of our Company had come quite close up to a whare which was surrounded on two sides by men of the Military Settlers, some of whom fired into it. An officer, who by the voice I think must have been Captain Newland, cried out, " For God's sake stop that firing, men." Wright, who is since dead, and a man of the name of Spain, who was killed by accident on the occasion, entered the whare, and the firing ceased. Wright pulled out of the whare a dead Native, and Spain, as he was coming out of the door, was shot by Hudson, under the impression that he was Kimball Bent, an European deserter from the 57th Eegiment. I heard no more firing after Spain was shot. 3

Mr. C. McDonell. 19th March, 1868.