A.—No. 4.

by the Hauhaus themselves. These offenders cannot be apprehended without disturbing the peace of the district, nor can it be expected that settlers will occupy those lands that have been allotted them, unless they are protected, or are allowed to devise extraordinary means for protecting themselves. Within the last month the Hauhaus have again established aulcati on the confiscated land, over which they have warned settlers to pass at their peril. These aulcati are not intended to prevent the Hauhaus from coming to our settlements, nor to prevent people of the Native race who have committed crimes punishable by our laws from taking refuge with their disaffected countrymen (two instances of this have occurred in this district), but simply to prevent our people from interfering with them. It is on account of these aulcati that we have so much difficulty in obtaining reliable information of what is passing in the disaffected districts. Such is the state of the district so far as the disaffected Natives are concerned, and His Excellency will himself be able to judge as to the present prospect of a permanent peace. The majority of the Tauranga Natives are peaceably disposed towards the Europeans, they are, for Natives, industrious, having a large breadth of ground under cultivation. Many of the chiefs who can afford it have erected comfortable weatherboard houses containing three, four and five rooms, and are making an effort to live like their white neighbours. Before these Natives became involved in the Waikato war they were very particular regarding their religious duties. They were particular about their attendance at the different places of worship; strict in their observance of the Sabbath and in performing other outward Christian duties; but since the peace-making the religion taught them by their old missionaries has been, for the most part, thrown aside. This is not confined to any particular sect —Church of England and Roman Catholic are alike. I regret to have to state that intemperance is on the increase, but not to that extent complained of in some districts: contact with a low class of Europeans has tended much to promote a thirst for ardent spirits. • Ido not think that the Natives in the Tauranga District are on the increase; comparatively few children are to bo found amongst them. Many of the principal men are childless ; in other cases whole families numbering eight and ten have been swept away. The principal causes are scrofula, pulmonary diseases, and fever. From a census taken by mo, eighteen months ago, I find there were 468 men, 419 women, and 311 children. The next subject upon which I will touch is Hauhauism, —its origin, progress, and what I believe to be its intended and ultimate tendency. Hauhauism originated at Taranaki; its founder, Te Ua, said to be a man subject to fits of derangement. When Captain Lloyd fell at Taranaki, he was decapitated, and his head preserved according to Maori fashion. This dried head was said to be the medium through which the liauhau god made his revelations, and issued his commands to his votaries. It was seized by some shrewd far-seeing Natives, as a powerful auxiliary on their side to bind together the Native race; by awakening their superstitious fears they succeeded in obtaining a control over their followers which they otherwise never would have obtained. But soon after its introduction and adoption the Natives met with severe reverses. At Moutoa, on the Wanganui River, at Sentry Hill, in Taranaki, they met with heavy losses; and one might have been naturally led to suppose that the new religion would have been abandoned in disgust. The contrary really was the case; it spread over the country like wild fire, and was adopted almost without question. It began to attract the attention of the Natives of this district in November, 1864. Hauhau missionaries visited them in December, and on Christmas Day the whole Native population retired to the ranges; fortunately, their principal chiefs were away with me in Auckland at the time. I, with their co-operation, succeeded in persuading the deluded people to return to their homes. The Hauhau missionaries had made them believe that their houses and property would be protected by the Hauhau god, and that no harm would come to them. But when they returned they found that their houses had been broken into and ransacked. Many of them at once abandoned the faith they had lately adopted; some few, to this day, put faith in it. Hauhauism has taken several different forms since it was first introduced. At one time they ■erected a pole, danced round it with extended hands, and gabbled " the unknown tongue," like human beings demented. Soon after, the pole was given up and a more rational mode of worship was adopted, a mixture of Judaism, Christianity, and Maori superstition; this was called "Ohaolia." But Hauhauism assumed its most repulsive and cruel phase at Opotiki, on the East Coast, where the Whakatohea, under the direction of the notorious Kereopa, murdered their own devoted missionary, Mr. Volkner; and at the Tapiri, by the mutilation and cannibalism perpetrated on the bodies of the Arawa who fell while opposing the passage of Kereopa and his band of murderers through the Arawa country. The TJreweras and Whakatohea still adhere to the horrible practices as introduced by Kereopa, and every European or Arawa who falls into their hands is slaughtered without mercy, and their bodies subjected to the most revolting indignities. Hauhauism has been adopted as the Maori national religion, of which Tawhiao, " the Maori King," is the acknowledged head. Its object and tendencies are inimical to the Queen's Government. Its first introduction was in blood, and its subsequent progress has been the same. The principal men teach their followers that they must obey implicitly the voice of their god, without fear or favor. There can be no security under such a system, when it is remembered that the pretended revelations of the Hauhau god are made through such men as Kereopa, Hakaraia, Eewi and other kindred spirits. I should have stated before, with regard to confiscation, that the Natives look upon all confiscated land as land acquired by "the blade of our weapon" (te rau o te patu), and it has been held by its advocates as being quite in agreement with Maori custom: but it should be remembered that it is also in accordance with Maori custom that so soon as the original proprietors felt themselves sufficiently strong to retake it they would be perfectly justified in doing so. Hence, in my humble opinion, it would have been preferable if land had been obtained by cession. I will now take a hasty view of the Natives in the Maketu and Lake Districts, including Taupo. These tribes are now generally known as the "Arawa," the name of the canoe in which their ancestors

11. T. Clarke, JEsj. continued.

11

THE TIME OE SIR G. E. BOWEN'S ARRIVAL.