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1875. NEW ZEALAND.

FURTHER REPORTS FROM OFFICERS IN NATIVE DISTRICTS.

Presented to both Souses of the General Assembly by Command of Sis Excellency.

No. 1. Mr. E. W. PtrcKET to the Under Secbetary, Native Department. Sib,— Thames, 28th May, 1875. In compliance with instructions contained in your circular of date as per margin, I have the honor to submit the following report on the state of Native matters in this district: — The Condition of the Natives, Physical and Moral. —I may state that but few deaths have taken place ; still, however, two very prominent chiefs have passed away. Haora Tipa, the principal chief of the Ngatipaoa, of whose loyalty to the G-overnment, firm friendship to the Pakeha (whom he usually styled " toku iwi," my people), and the wisdom of whose counsels to his people, who always yielded the greatest deference to his wishes, are so well known that no words of mine are required to do more than pay a passing tribute to his memory ; and Mohi Mangakahia, a most promising young man (son-in-law to W. H. Taipari, the well-known chief of Ngatimaru), and who, his friends hoped, would one day have represented the Western Maori Electoral District in the Parliament of the colony. The loss of men of this stamp is irreparable to the Native race, where so few have gifts which qualify them to take their place, or the perseverance and industry without which it is impossible to achieve any great success. Measles has lately been prevalent amongst the Natives as well as the Europeans resident in this district, and with singular fatality as respects the latter, while only a few Natives have succumbed to its effects. There has been very little crime amongst the Thames Natives, four only during the time I have had charge of Native affairs here have been sentenced to imprisonment—two for petty larceny, one for horse-stealing, and one for aggravated assault. Drunkenness, lam happy to say, is not so rampant as it was, though no temperance movement has as yet been set on foot by the Good Templars, of the benefit accruing from whose actions some of the neighbouring districts seem to be sharing. Hauhauisin is gradually and steadily declining, and all the professedly Hauhau Natives of this district have entirely broken through that rigid exclusiveness which so long kept them aloof from free intercourse with their Pakeha neighbours. With respect to the cultivation of the soil and the growth of crops little can be said ; for the last year or so the means of obtaining food and supplies of various kinds has been so easy of access to all the Natives of the Hauraki tribes, by pledging their lands for sale to the G-overnment, that but little attention has been paid to agricultural pursuits generally. The falling off of the Native revenue, in the shape of miners' rights fees, during the last twelve months (to the extent of about 40 per cent.), has caused a good deal of discontent amongst the owners of the gold field. I have made it my special care to warn them from time to time of the gradual decline of their income. They do not seem, however, either to realize or are unwilling to believe the actual facts of the case, or the causes which have led thereto. In conclusion, I beg leave to say that if the feeling of the Hauraki Natives towards the Government of the colony were fully shared in by the Natives of other districts, no great time would elapse in solving the great question of the Native difficulty. I have, Ac, E. W. Ptjcket, The Under Secretary, Native Department, Wellington. Native Agent.

No. 2. Mr. E. S. Bush to the Hon. the Natite Minister. gj^ Resident Magistrate's Office, Raglan, 6th July, 1875. I hare the honor to furnish, for your information, the following report on Native matters generally: —