DISTURBANCES AT PATEA.

13

A.—No. 8;

of which several Natives have died. Titokowaru was prevented from coming by sickness, and others, I am informed, who were coming, have remained on account of some unpleasantness which has arisen about some horses which were looted, the owners, or those who had them in their possession, having allowed them to get aw Tay, when the original owners, some of the Ngaruahine Natives who live at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, took them and refused to give them up. This sort of thing will be constantly occurring if those who have loot horses are foolish enough to expose them iv the district from whence they were looted, independent of the legal position of the question. The Patea overland .mail is due to-day, and by it I expect to hear from Mr. Booth ; and if there is anything of importance, I will send it on for your information, if it arrives before the mail for Auckland leaves. More, who seems to be always travelling as a delegate from the Tokangamutu Bunangas, passed on to the South last week, with a party of about twenty, most of whom I have been informed are Thames Natives, I. have not yet heard what the purport of their mission is. I have, &c, The Hon. J. C Bichmond, B. Parris, Minister for Native Affairs, Auckland. , Civil Commissioner.

No. 78. Copy of a Memorandum by Mr. Paerts forwarded to the, Hon. J. C Bichmond at Auckland, along with copy of Mr. Booth's Letter of sth May, 1868. Monday afternoon, 11th May, 1868. Brown from Manutahi has arrived with the Patea mail, but he brings no news further than what is iv Mr. Booth's letter, copy of -which I have sent you, from which I infer that the disturbance about the horses is in abeyance or has been settled. Mr. Booth's letter is dated the sth of the month, and the overland mail left Patea on Friday, Bth instant. Brown has prevailed upon Hone Pihama to allow him to carry the mail for a month as a sort of privilege, which I hope will do him good. I gave him a reprimand this morning in tho presence of Tito Hauatana, who was with me when he arrived. Tito has come up with a party of Ngaruahiues who went on to Katero this morning. B. Paeeis.

No. 79. Copy of, a Letter from Mr. Paeeis to the Hon. J. C Bichmond. (No. 146.) Sic,— New Plymouth, 14th May, 1868. In further reference to the subject of Mr. Booth's letter of the sth instant, respecting some horses which had been taken by Natives, I have now the honor to inform you that I have just obtained the following further information on the subject from Mr. Isaac Bayley, who arrived last night overland from Patea. Mr. Bayley states that Mr. Booth, with the Constabulary, went to Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu a few days ago and demanded the horses. The"Natives said they would give the horses up, but that they were running loose, and could not then be found. One of the Natives who took the horses away was brought in a prisoner or hostage until the horses were returned. Whilst the Constabulary was at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu, the Natives killed some fowls, and cooked them together with some potatoes for them, and the matter is said to have gone off without any unpleasantness, further than the nature of the offence, which we must expect for a long time to come, and which will require judicious management of tho Constabulary, lest by any miscarriage shots should be fired unnecessarily, and hostilities provoked. I have, &c, The Hon. J. C. Bichmond, E. Paeeis, Minister for Native Affairs, Auckalnd. Civil Commissioner.

No. 80. Copy of a Letter from Mr. Paeeis to the Under Secretary, Native Department. (No. 164.) Sic, — ISew Plymouth, 6th June, 1868. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 4th May, No. 181-2, in reference to an article which appeared in the Wanganui Times of the 17th March last, informing me that on certain conditions the; Government is advised that a prosecution should bo instituted by myself against the printer and publisher of the paper. In reply, I have the honor to state that if I had believed the article in question was likely to incite the Natives to make an attack upon me, I should not have put my life into their hands, and at their mercy, so often as I have done in the discharge of the unpleasant duties which have divolved upon me since the publication of the base article referred to. That the article wa3 intended to have that effect there can be no doubt, and its non-fulfilment would not exculpate tho persons who have been guilty of counselling the commission of the crime of murder. When the article in question first appeared, in August, 1866, I called the attention of the Government to it, and asked for its protection, having had good cause for believing that it was the act of persons in the employment of the Government; not with a view to prosecution, but to put a stop to a state of things detrimental to tho public service and disgraceful to the country. The offence of counselling the commission of the crime of murder has been repeated, by the