A—No." 8,
18
PAPERS RELATIVE TO NATIVE
No. 20. Copy of a Letter from Captain Holt to Colonel McDonnell. (No. 680-2.) Colonial Defence Office, Sic,— Wellington, 23rd October, 1867. I have the honor to acknowledge receqrt of your letter of the 3rd instant, No. 86-1, and am directed to convey to you Colonel Haultain's thanks for the very satisfactory information you have been enabled to convey to the Government respecting the desire of the Natives generally on the West Coast for tho establishment and preservation of peace. With regard to that portion of your letter in which you state that several chiefs have requested you to accompany them to the Native meeting which it is proposed to be held at Tokonga in December next, I am to state that the Defence Minister does not consider you could be absent from your district without inconvenience to the public service. I have, &c, Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell, J. Holt, Commanding Colonial Forces, Patea. Under Secretary.
No. 21. Copy of a Letter from Colonel McDonnell to Captain Holt. Sic,— Patea, 14th November, 1867. I have the honor to report for the information of Government that yesterday, the 13th instant, I met (by appointment), at Waihi, Ahitana's tribe, and others from inland of Ketemarae. They are, I believe, the last of the Natives in this district who have until now been openly hostile to us. Several chiefs made speeches, the purport of which was that they were tired of fighting. Mr. Booth and myself then addressed them, and replied to several of their acute questions. The number present was about 120, and they seemed to be in rather a destitute state. Ahitana himself did not attend, being reported as suffering from a wound and unable to travel; but the general tone of the speeches of the chiefs present was such as to induce me to believe they will not offer any further opposition to our occupation of the land in their neighbourhood. I have, &c., Captain Holt, Under Secretary, Thomas McDonnell, Lieut.-Colonel, Colonial Defence, Wellington. Commanding Batea Military District.
No. 22. Copy of a Letter from Mr. Stevens to Colonel McDonnell. (No. 744-2.) Colonial Defence Office, Sic,— Wellington, 2.lst November, 1867. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter, No. Zl, of the 4th instant, reporting your meeting with Ahitana's tribo, and in reply am directed by the Defence Minister to express the satisfaction of the Government at receiving so favourable a report of the disposition of the Natives referred to, who have hitherto been hostile. I have, &c, Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell, Feas. Stevens, Commanding Colonial Forces, Patea. For the Under Secretary.
No. 23. Copy of a Letter from Inspector Huntee to Captain Holt. (No. 247-1.) Sic,— Patea, 30th March, 1868. I have the honor to inform you that Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell with Sub-Inspectors Cumming and McDonnell, four sergeants, and sixty-three constables, of the Armed Constabulary, marched from this post to-day to Wanganui en route for Hokitika, leaving me in command of the district, with the following available force: Patea, three sergeants and fourteen constables ; Waihi, one sub-inspector and eighteen constables. Previous to Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell leaving he gave me verbal instructions to call out a portion of tho Militia to replace the men of the Armed Constabulary. I have so done, and have issued notices calling for fifty Volunteers, pending further instructions from Government. I have not received any other orders or instructions, either verbal or written, and I would therefore beg to be informed what steps I am to take for tho payment of the men of the Armed Constabulary remaining here, and the Volunteer Militia. I presume the amount of pay the latter will be entitled to is that which has been usually granted to local forces according to rank. I may state that the Besident Magistrate, Mr. Booth, has requested me to send out to Kakaramea and Ohika a party of about fifteen men to each place, as a protection to tho settlers there. In one case threatening language was used by Natives towards a settler named Bailey, and some Ohika settlers have had their houses broken into, and their property stolen. I beg to enclose copies of the instructions that I intend to give to each party, and hope that the Hon. the Defence Minister will approve of the same. I would suggest that tho force at Waihi, at present under the command of Sub-Inspector Boss, be brought into camp at Patea, and that that post be held by the Volunteer Militia, thereby enabling me from time to time to carry into effect the wishes and suggestions of the Besident Magistrate, as the