9

A.—l

was aggravated by two considerations, the first of which was that the captain, who ought to have some knowledge of the necessaries for a long voyage, put into the Mauritius and neglected to provision the vessel so as to leave some slight margin upon what was likely to be the actual consumption on the voyage to New Zealand; but this was not to be wondered at, for he did not seem to know what the ordinary duration of the voyage was, and then he had lost time hesitating about putting into Twofold Bay. He felt bound to press for a penalty in this case, so that the verdict might operate in showing masters of vessels that it was part of their duty to see that a proper quantity of provisions was placed on board their ships, and the terms of the law complied with. The present case differed very much from the one heard a few days ago, and he hoped the Bench would impose such a penalty as would force upon captains of vessels trading to the port, the necessity for a proper observance of the law. The Bench said it seemed impossible to get hold of any broad facts in this case. The complaint was that the passengers had been subjected to the annoyance and hardship of existing upon a short allowance of provisions for a considerable time, and it seemed to be urged with very good grounds, when it was considered that the voyage from the Mauritius was not a very protracted one, namely, sixty-four days. A master of a ship should certainly have taken in provisions to last a much longer period than that. Then taking into account that the extra persons taken on board from the wrecked vessel bore so small a proportion to the amount of provisions short supplied to the passengers on board the " Glenlora," the excuse urged under that head was very slight. The biscuit appeared to have gone bad through being kept in bags, a defect in the provisioning of the ship which might easily have been avoided ; and on the whole, the excuses were of the lamest description. No one seemed to be capable of stating what amount of provisions were put on board the vessel, and it was questionable whether she had sufficient on board originally, for though the vessel was detained at the Mauritius, her passengers were maintained by subsistence money. The present case was of a much worse character than that of the " Forfarshire," for there everything appeared to have been done that could possibly be done by the master of the vessel. Defendant would be fined £25 and costs in each of the three cases, making an aggregate fine of £75 and costs.

No. 2. Copy of DESPATCH from the Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand to the Eight Hon. the Earl of Kimberlet. (No. 36.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, —- New Zealand, 7th May, 1873. It is my duty to inform your Lordship of an event which has recently occurred in the Upper Waikato district of a distressing character, the importance of which, in connection with the relations subsisting between the Natives of that district and Her Majesty's Government, cannot at this moment he fully estimated. On the 24th ult. a settler named Timothy Sullivan was murdered by a party of Hauhau Natives. Sullivan was at work on Messrs. Douglas and Walker's farm, fascining part of the Moanatuatua swamp, in company with two other men named Jones and Rodgers. About noon Jones's dog barked, and the men on looking up descried four Natives. The number engaged in the outrage which followed is now considered to have been ten, but the Europeans seemed to have discerned only four Natives, with guns, coming towards them. They took alarm and ran, pursued by the Natives ; but Sullivan, being unable to keep up the pace, dropped behind, and was immediately shot. One of the Natives seemed to have stopped at Sullivan's body, while the others continued the pursuit after Jones and Rodgers, until they were recalled by the Native who had stopped behind. Soon afterwards it appears that a settler proceeded to the spot, where he found Sullivan's body mutilated, the head taken off and carried away, the trunk ripped from the neck downwards, and the heart taken out and removed. The scene of this outrage appears to lie a little outside of the boundary line by which limit is designated between land confiscated to the Crown and land the property of Native owners, over which Tawhiao claims territorial dominion. It appears also that soon after Jones and Rodgers had re-crossed the boundary line, their Native pursuers were recalled. The land itself has been passed by certain of the Native owners through the Native Lands Court, and the title ascertained in ordinary course of law as now provided by Statute, a Statute commonly accepted and acted upon by Natives throughout the Colony. But it probably is the case that these Natives by whom Sullivan was murdered form part of the section of the tribe who were joint owners of the land, and who may have stood aloof, declining to accept the jurisdiction of the Native Lands Court. The immediate cause of the murder is, at least partly, attributable to some such source of discontent, for Mr. Mackay, the Native Commissioner, who, on the part of the Government, is making^inquiries on the spot, reports, " The cause of the outrage appears to be the sales and lease of tribal