A.—No. 24,

CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO MR. EIRTH'S

4

surprise and regret, the copies of my reply to Mr. Firth's telegram of the 15th January, in which a pledge is given to him that no movement from the Waikato side will bo allowed till Mr. Pirth's interview with Te Kooti is over, and, also, the orders issued by Mr. Branigan to Lieut.-Colonel Moule, not to make any movement till such interview is over." I enclose for your information a published copy of Mr. Firth's report of his proceedings, from which it will be seen that, previously to the receipt of Te Kooti's message, he had been in communication with the Hon. the Minister for Defence, and that, in fact, the interview with Te Kooti had taken place before my reply to the message addressed to the Hon. Mr. McLean had been received by Mr. Firth. No military movement on Lieut.-Colonel Moule's side at that time was contemplated, because the advance of Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell from Taupo was not then known ; but I took the precaution of giving directions to Mr. Commissioner Branigan to give his order to Lieut.-Colonel Moule, lest any movement appearing to threaten an attack should give Te Kooti an excuse for violence to Mr. Firth, who had voluntarily placed himself in great personal danger in order to do what he believed to be a great public service. There was no Minister in Auckland at the time when Mr. Pirth's telegram arrived. It appeared to me then, and does still appear, by the light of subsequent events, clear, that a bloodless surrender of Te Kooti and his followers to take their trial for their crimes, by whomsoever accomplished, was a consummation greatly to be desired, and I could not take the responsibility of closing any opening to such an end. Ido not feel, and, with very great respect, I beg leave to add that I cannot express, regret for tho course I have taken in this matter. In view of an expression of disapprobation so strong as that which you have thought it right to address to me, it is proper that I should at once tender my resignation of the office of Agent of the General Government at Auckland. I have, &c, Hon. Mr. Fox, Premier, Wellington. Daniel Pollen.

Enclosure in No. 2. J. C. Firth, Esq., to the Hon. the Defence Minister. Sir, — Matamata, 20th January, 1870. I have the honor to report, for your information, certain circumstances which have occurred at this place since my arrival here, ten or twelve months ago. In order that you may the better understand my position amongst the adherents of the King, outside the confiscated line, it will be necessary for me to refer very briefly to one or two matters which have exercised more or less influence amongst the Natives living in the country beyond the frontier about Matamata. William Thompson, during his lifetime, gave in his adhesion to the new order of things inaugurated by the Native Lands Courts. His sagacious intellect recognized at once the important services these new Courts were able to confer upon his people. Unfortunately for the welfare of both races, he died in December, 1866—before the people, over whom he exercised an almost unbounded influence, fully comprehended the new state of affairs. Immediately on his death, all the Hauhau section of the Ngatihaua, and other kindred tribes, abandoned the new policy, and returned to the isolating exclusive policy adhered to with so much pertinacity by Tawhiao and his followers at Tokangamutu. Immediately after Thompson's death, a system of warnings and threatenings towards me was resorted to, with the view of compelling me to abandon the agreements made between Thompson and his adherents and myself. My house and stock-yards have been burned, my cattle have been killed, and armed parties have traversed my lands, threatening my life and the lives of my servants. When I asked why I was singled out in this manner, when there were other Europeans holding runs outside the confiscation line as well as myself, they replied, " Tour leases alone have been signed by Thompson. Tou are the only pakeha who was prominently connected with him, and if we can drive you away we shall waste no words with the other pakehas ; we shall say to them, 'Go.' " I steadfastly and quietly resisted every effort to drive mo within the confiscation line. I have submitted to innumerable injuries on the part of the Natives; I have uncomplainingly borne the unjust misrepresentations of a portion of the newspaper press of the Colony. I have been alternately held up by these writers to the scorn and hatred of my countrymen. My life has been threatened again and again by the Natives. My reputation has been continually assailed by anonymous writers. The work I have had to do has been of that nature that I could not afford to lose my time or my temper because anonymous writers chose to attack me. 1 felt that I had been placed in a position which was none of my seeking ; that I was not so much cultivating a farm, or laying the foundations of an estate, as that I was engaged in the nobler work of helping to secure the peace of the country. I have endeavoured, by firmness, justice, and patience, to show the Natives that the European settlers meant well by them: I have endeavoured to turn them from the sullen isolation and wild fanaticism in which I found them in 1865. I have never shrunk from a difficulty, nor have I ever gone out of my way to avoid a danger. When my cattle wero seized b} r Hauhaus, I declined Government assistance to recover them. When the Natives closed up the Thames against my canoes, with the intention of starving me out, and compelling me to abandon my position, I quietly made a road across the Maungakawa Mountains, at a heavy expense, without the assistance, or indeed, I may say, without the knowledge of the Government; and yet, if operations are ever undertaken against Te Kooti, that road will be found to be the only dray-road into the great inland plains lying between the Patatere Eanges and the Waikato Eiver. Sir, I offer no apology for this preface. Against every calumny I have hitherto maintained an immovable silence. It is now duo to myself to make this explanation, because I shall most probably be attacked and insulted as before. This preparatory explanation is also due to you, whose great and intimate knowledge of Native affairs is universally admitted, but whose long absence from this Province has made you to some extent unacquainted with the new state of affairs which has arisen since the termination of the war. 1. On the 12th instant, a Ngatihaua Native informed me that Te Kooti had suddenly appeared in the Patetere Eanges, near Matamata, with 800 men. He advised mo to leave Matamata immediately. I did not pay much attention to his report. Later in the day other Natives gave me confirmatory