ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

47

A.—No. 1

9. In conclusion, I would venture to express my hope that the efforts of the Colonial Government and Legislature to restore and maintain internal tranquillity, and to advance the interests of both races of the inhabitants of New Zealand, may be favored with success ; and that I may thus, ere long, be enabled to lay before your Grace a more satisfactory account of the condition of this great Colony, so rich in natural resources. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. F. BOWEN.

Enclosure 1 in No. 30. Cikctjlab from the Native Office to various Officers of the Native Department. Native Secretary's Office, Sin,— Wellington, 15th February, 1868. I am directed by Mr. Richmond to request you to furnish, for the information of His Excellency Sir Gr. F. Bowen, a general report giving the fullest information you are able to afi'ord on the present state of the Natives in your district. A similar report will be called for from other officers of the department with the view of placing before His Excellency as complete information as can be procured on the subject of Native affairs throughout the Colony. I am to request that great pains may be bestowed to render the report as full a history of the past few years as your experience enables you to furnish. It should deal first of' all with the facts which have come under your own immediate cognizance in the position you have occupied under the Government. Reliable information should be given as to the present numbers of the Natives, with the causes affecting their increase or decrease, their state of feeling towards Europeans generally, their physical and moral, condition, and as to the progress of Hauhauism, giving your opinion as to the present intention and effect and ultimate tendency of this movement. You will state what you consider to be the feeling of the Natives in respect of the war, the removal of the troops, the suppression of outbreaks of rebellion on the East Coast or elsewhere, and what you think to be the prospect of peace being permanently established. I am further to request you to notice the effect, present or prospective, of the working of any recent legislation in respegt of Native lands, education, and representation, and to give airy other information which may appear to you to bo likely to prove useful in forming a general opinion on the present state of Native affairs. As His Excellency has already arrived in the Colony, the report is required with as little delay as possible. 1 have, &c, W. Rollestom", Under Secretary.

Enclosure 2 in No. 30. Memorandum by Mr. Rolleston relative to tlie Meeting at Tokangamutu. The groat meeting of Natives at Tokangamutu lias been a subject of considerable interest among the Maoris, both friendly and Hauhaus, for some months past. It was summoned by a circular letter from the Maori King Tawhiao,* addressed in the month of June, 1867, to Natives south of Auckland, in terms which apparently indicated a disposition to establish friendly relations between the two races. Its language, like that generally affected by the Prophets of the Hauhau creed, (which is merely the religious phase of a great political movement in. antagonism to the G-overnmcnt,) was (probably) purposely obscure. It ran thus — June Ist, 1867. News is hereby sent to gatherings of men, to the foolish ones, to the Chiefs, to the Shepherds, to those who obstinately refuse to have anything to do with Hauhauism, and to the Twelve, and to all the tribes along the East Coast. Tokangamutu is the place of meeting appointed for the tribes both far and near. They must all lie down with their weapons. Let it be for the adversary to bring evil. This is a new year, a good year, the venga venga (lily of the valley) is in bloom. Tawhiao. This is to inform you that all the men of great thought must come on the 21st of December, so that they may be here on the 20th of January. This is the letter which has been sent to Taranaki. Te Kiuti, 13th August, 1867. This is a word to the wise men of the Island respecting the news sent in the new year to the wise men who uphold our plans. Those men are like the main pillars of the house; you must be extremely cautious of the temptations of the adversary. Tawhiao. Native delegates appear to have answered the summons from all sides of the country, and from all that can be learned from the reports of Maoris, whose ideas of numbers are somewhat indistinct, about 3,000 to 4,000 would appear to have been present at the meeting. This number, however, is probably exaggerated. The meeting tools: place on or about the 20th of January, at Tokangamutu, which lies about twenty-five miles south-east of Kawhia, the port of the King Natives on the West Coast. The * His name till recently was Matutacra or Methusalah, but ho liaa during the last two years adopted the heathen name of Tawhiao.