TO THE GOVERNOR OE NEW ZEALAND

7

A.—No. la,

No. 11. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. Earl Granville, E.G., to Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G. (No. 97.) Sir, — Downing Street, 15th September, 1869. I have the honor to convey to you the approval of Her Majesty's Government, of the Proclamation which you have issued, warning persons against taking service under the Eiji chief Thakombau, a copy of which was enclosed in your Despatch No. 57, of the 20th May. I have, &c, Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G. GBANVILLE.

See New Zealand Gazette, No. 22, 17th April, 1869.

No. 12. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Bight Hon. Earl Granville, E.G., to Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G. (No. 98.) Sir, — Downing Street, 20th September, 1869. I have received your Despatch No. 74, of 25th June, in reply to mine of 20th April, No. 13, in which I called your attention to certain statements which had been made with regard to the proceedings which took place when Mr. Bichmond, late Minister for Native Affairs, was accompanying the Colonial Eorces at the capture of Ngatapa. I collect from your Despatch and the letter from Mr. Bichmond which it contains that, although a reward had been offered for the person, dead or alive, of Te Eooti, the notorious author of a series of barbarous murders, and a further reward for certain other persons if taken alive, the allegation that a general reward was offered for the heads of Maori rebels was wholly untrue, and that the payment of £50 for the head of Nikora originated in motives highly creditable to the Minister who gave it. I have learned with great satisfaction how much of these allegations is untrue, and I cannot regret that I have noticed these statements as to matters of fact, made, it will be observed, in the Colony, not by Mr. Bichmond's enemies, but by those who approved the proceedings which they professed to record. The subject is one on which lam myself glad to be satisfied, and the present Despatch, Avhich will, of course, in due time be laid before Parliament, will show that your late Ministry repudiated and held in check those feelings of ungoverned animosity which must necessarily prevail in certain portions of a community situated like that of New Zealand. You must be clearly aware that although, as Mr. Bichmond observes, it now rests with the colonists, at least within very wide limits, to choose their own means of defence against the Maori rebels, yet the Imperial Government cannot escape the duty of sifting —by way of reference to the Governor —the truth of such reports as may reach England respecting the mode in which the war is carried on, nor the consequent duty, as the case may be, of either vindicating the Colonial Government from attacks which are ascertained to be unjust, or of directing the moral influence of this country to repress excesses which are found to have occurred, —excesses, it may be added, which are more to be apprehended in proportion as outrages on the other side render them more excusable. Indeed, it is often impossible to prevent the expression of public opinion against cruelties committed even in foreign countries with which Great Britain has no constitutional connection whatever. I am confident that those who, like the late and present Ministry, are desirous of humanizing the war, will find their task materially lightened if it is known in the Colony that the interest winch is felt in this country in the welfare and honor of New Zealand makes it particularly alive to any conduct which exceeds the license excusable in such a war. I have, &c, Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G. GRANVILLE.