TO NATIVE AEEAIRS.

9

A.—No. 16,

Mr. M'Lean : Apanui, I am glad to meet you and your people, Ngatiawa. I have come to see you face to face, to enquire into your wants. I know that you have had many troubles, but I hope that soon all that will pass away. I approve of what has been said by Wepiha and Kawakura ; you must assist me in bringing out the Urewera, and then there will be peace in this land. The Colonel and William Marsh were wrong in what they did at Ohiwa, they acted without authority in that matter; you all heard me rebuke Kemp for making peace with Tamaikowha, but I did not say that it should not be kept. If I had intended to fight Tamaikowha after that peacemaking, I should have warned him,*lest people should say that there had been treachery. I like open fighting in the day time, face to face, and all who have fought against us fairly and openly may come in and surrender without fear of consequences : we are anxious to settle the country, and only wish to chastise those who have committed great crimes; as for Tamaikowha, he is very guilty ;. but after what has passed, I promise that if he should surrender and trust to the clemency of the Government, he shall not be punished. But Te Kooti cannot be forgiven, it is he who has brought trouble on the land, and every effort will be made to capture or kill him ; even now there are war parties in the Urewera country seeking for him. And now, lam going to speak to Wepiha. I have been told that you have been playing a double part, that you have sent clothing to Te Kooti, this is very wrong. I know that you are of Urewera blood, and you must use your influence with them and induce them to surrender. To-morrow I will speak again. May 25th. Mr. M'Lean: addressing Apanui, Hori Kawakura, Wepiha, and Te Kepa of Tuhourangi:—The people of Ahikereru, with their chiefs Hapurona and Hamiora, have surrendered, and are now at Te Teko and at Rotorua. I have decided to treat them kindly, as an inducement to others to follow their example ; they are men who have borne arms against us, but theirs has been fair open fighting. I am going to place them at Te Putere, whore they can get plenty of fish and eels, and cut flax for the Pakehas ; I will supply them with seed potatoes for planting ; and I will look to you, with Arama Karaka and Rangitukehu, to watch them and encourage them to be well conducted. Hori Kawakura : I would like some Government vessel to go to Te Kaha and those parts and collect food for us. Mr. M'Lean : Whenever a Government steamer passes this way, there would be no objection to her bringing food for you from those places. Wepiha: Ido not like Hori's proposal, if the people like to give us anything, let it be voluntary ; enough of that. I had not the opportunity yesterday to answer your charges, but I will do it now. Tes, it is true that I gave property to the Hauhaus, and that I was in communication with Te Kooti. When I was at Ohope I never saw any Hauhaus ; I had a difference with my old people, and then I went to live on my wife's land at Opotiki. I built houses there and cultivated; the Hauhaus of Waioeka were related to me through my wife, and they heard from the Whakatohea at Waiaua, that I was living at Opotiki; then Hira Te Popo wrote letters and sent messengers to me. Nothing was concealed from Major Mair ; we both wrote to Hira, urging him to surrender. After a time I went to Waioeka to see Hira ;he would not come out, he was ashamed. I said, promise that no evil shall come to us; and he said, if you make Waioeka tapu, no harm shall go to Opotiki from here, and I will keep you informed of everything. Major Mair approved of this, and when Dr. Pollen came to Opotiki, he agreed that Waioeka should be tapu. Hira kept his word, and informed me about Te Kooti. Major Mair has the letters. Te Kooti had to go to Ohiwa instead. Before this Hira sent me a photograph of James Eulloon, wrapped in two koroai mats ; I gave them to Major Mair ; in return I sent a blanket. That is all that I ever gave to the Hauhaus. When Te Kooti was at Te Hira's place, I heard that he would like to meet me: then Major Mair and I thought that we could entice him to come out, and we prepared a trap for him ;it failed, for he went to Ohiwa. Major Mair has a copy of our letter. This is all that I ever had to do with Te Kooti. lam an Urewera chief, and yet I have been foremost on the Government side fighting against my own blood, while they too have been killing my relations of Ngatiawa. Mr. M'Lean : Wepiha, lam satisfied. It was said that you had received money from Te Kooti to buy goods for him, yet it is quite clear that it is a false accusation; it was the talk of some evil person. Wepiha : The Whakatohea are my hereditary enemies, they never lose any opportunity of wronging me ; they invent these lies. Apanui: I wish to speak to you about some land to live upon ; we are like gulls on a sand bank, this land is yours, and if the tide comes in we shall have to leave it. Mr. M'Lean : Tou shall have this place to live upon. Apanui : How about offenders against the law ? Mr. M'Lean : I have said that Tamaikowha may come in. Perhaps he will help us to capture Te Kooti. May 25th, 1870. W. G. Mair.

WAIAPU. No. 8. Mr. J. H. Campbell, R.M., to the Under-Secretary, Native Department, Wellington. Sir,— Waiapu, 4th May, 1870. I have the honor to report that in compliance with instructions received from the Hon. the Native Minister, I visited the various Native settlements on the Bay of Plenty, from Ohiwa, eight miles North of Opotiki southward, to the northern limit of this district. At Ohiwa there is a strongly fortified pa, garrisoned by sixty of the Arawa tribe in the service of the Government, under Wiremu Maihi (Marsh), one of their chiefs. 3