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27

A.—No. 16,

TO NATIVE AFFAIRS.

Ko te patu te kai whakatika o te Maungarongo, ko te Maungarongo te kai whakatika o te Rangimarie. E noho aue ana nga tihi i te ao, me te mamaetanga o te whenua kia koutou. Kua tukua ki Taupo, kia te Poihipi tenei ki, me mutu. Na Manuwhiri.

[translation.] Te Kuiti Tanga, 20th May, 1870. Write to the Angel at Kaiiwi, to Heremia, to Te Tihi, to Kiharoa, to the party at Kaiiwi. These are the words expressed by the party. The land is to be held. The wire (telegraph) is to be held (opposed). The persons who are said to be murderers are to be held. These will not be let go. These are to be looked at (i.e., considered) by the party. These have gone forth. That is all of these. In the days of February, 1870, a communication was received by us from Mr. McLean. The substance of the words were that Te Kooti was given to Topia, to Te Kepa, to the Queenite Maoris, to follow up Te Kooti. The white people have been withheld ; they have remained. The pursuit is by the Maoris to kill themselves. They pay only when Te Kooti is caught. These white people and Maoris who are here have been rubbed over with one brush ; there is not the smallest space clean (i.e., the Queenite Maori has no sympathy for the Hauhau party). A heavy stone has been placed as a burden on the Maoris. The word The offensive stone which is bound around Israel and which he wishes to bind round you, is to be of no consequence, rather, in my opinion, it should be trodden under your feet. This is it. The whole matter should be put away, turned off, to be trodden under our feet. The weapon is the corrector for conclusion of peace, and the conclusion of peace the corrector of peace. The tops of the small hills of the world cry out, and the land is in pain concerning you all. This proposition has been sent to Te Poihipi at Taupo to cease, (i.e. to cease fighting with his fellow Maori). Manuwhiri.

No. 34. Mr. J. A. Knocks to the Under Secretary Native Department. Resident Magistrate's Office, Sir,— Otaki, June 2, 1870. I have the honor to report that the Natives, except a few unquiet spirits, continue peaceably disposed. A meeting of Ngatiawa and Ngatiraukawa was held yesterday at Waikanae, for the purpose of settling the question as to where the general meeting which it is proposed to be held in March, 1871, should take place. The Ngatiawa are desirous of having the meeting held at Waikanae, and the Ngatiraukawa have determined upon Otaki as the proper meeting place. I hear this morning that the meeting ended last night without anything being satisfactorily settled; and Wi Tako had proposed several Native names as being fit and proper persons to represent them in Parliament, with what result I have not as yet learned. The Natives in this neighbourhood appear to take a good deal of interest in the anticipation of sending some of themselves to the Representative Council; and in consulting and arranging subjects to place before the meeting for March 1871 ; and in preparing to grow an extra quantity of food. The Waikato Hauhau messenger who arrived here last week in company with Hone Ngahua, a Ngatitoa Hauhau, has gone to Waikanae; and lam told that he purposes going on to Wairarapa to carry despatches to the Hauhaus there. Tamihana Te Rauparaha showed me last night a letter addressed to Wi Hapi from Manuwhiri, dated 19th May, 1870, which was given to Tamihana by Matene Te Whiwhi to be forwarded by him to your office. It is similar to a letter shown to me by Kiharoa Te Mahauariki, a copy of which I have forwarded to your office. I drew the attention of Matene Te Whiwhi, and Tamihana Te Rauparaha to the dates of both letters ; they think the wording of both letters have been altered by the Natives at Kaiiwi Oroua. Kiharoa Te Mahauariki says that theirs, the Hauhau months, are different from the European months ; that by the alteration made in the months by the Hauhaus our April has become their May. Horomona Toremi, who has just returned from Rangitikei, states that the opposition to the survey of the land in the Upper Rangitikei still continues, and that Parakaia Te Pouepa is an adviser to the opposition. I have, &c, The Under Secretary Native Department, J. A. Knocks. Wellington.