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With the exception of Government transactions the Bay of Plenty Natives are at present alienating but little land, either by sale or lease. It is not necessary that I should allude tj the Native schools here, as a special report on that subject will be forwarded by me. In conclusion, Sir, I may remark that the general good conduct and amenity to the law displayed by the Bay of Plenty Natives leave but little to report on. I have, &c, Herbert W. Brabant, R.M., Tho Under Secretary, Native Department, Native Officer, Bay "of Plenty. AVellington.

No. 16. Major Brown, Civil Commissioner, New Plymouth, to the Under Secretary, Native Department. Sir,— New Plymouth, 17th May, 1879. In reference to your Circular No. 5, of the 7th April, 1879, I have the honor to stato that my report of the 2nd April last will form the preliminary part of my annual report, and may at once be handed to the Government Printer, while I am writing what may be termed a supplement of it to date. I have, &c, The Under Secretary, Native Department, Chas. Brown, Wellington. Civil Commissioner.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1(J. Major Brown, Civil Commissioner, to the Under Secretary, Native Department. Sir,— AVellington, 2nd April, 1879. I have the honor to make the following report on the present state of the AVest Coast confiscated land question, which has recently resulted in the forcible removal of the various survey parties from the AA raimate Plains. The present aspect of it being now very different from what it was on previous occasions, when the surveyors have been removed in the same way on the east side of the Waingongoro, have been deprived of their instruments and tools, or even threatened by armed parties, when I have always beeu able to surmount the difficulty by delay, by temporizing, and by a use of the compensation that was at my disposal. In the past three years I have thus carried out the confiscation over nearly 200,000 acres, under the instructions given to my predecessor and myself by the late Sir D. McLean, then Native Minister. The Natives saw that they were beaten, and that any struggle would leave them in a still worse position than the last war had left them in. I believe that the prophet Te AA'hiti and his coadjutor Tohu also recognized this, and therefore counselled that no resistance should be offered to the surveys, and, above all, that no blood should be shed. This is borne out by the advice he gave when he was asked if I should be prevented by force of arms from taking the survey ou to the AVaimate Plains : "There has been bloodshed enough for that land; let no more be shed." A small matter, as little desired by Te AVhiti as it was by the Government, and that might have happened at any time since hostilities ceased on that coast —the murder of McLean by Hiroki, at Waitotara—has changed the whole aspect of affairs. There are not the slightest grounds for regarding the murder as a political one connected with the survey of the confiscated land. But Hiroki, having escaped and reached Parihaka although wounded, claimed that it was, and Tc Whiti felt obliged on that ground to afford him an asylum, and he became the possessor of a white elephant. Te AVhiti said to me very plainly, "If he had been killed on the way I should have had nothing to say : as he has reached me, I am prepared to hear what the Native Minister has to say about it." Since then the aspect of the confiscation question has materially altered. The Native mind sees it in the light that, if the Government cannot deal with Hiroki, it cannot deal further with the confiscated lands. And Te AVhiti, when recently asked by the Hon. the Native Minister to give up Hiroki to be tried, feeling himself in a dilemma, lost his temper; and after the departure of tho Hon. J. Sheehan, yielding also probably to pressure, ordered that the surveyors should be removed from the Plains, which may be taken as his reply to the request to give up Hiroki. I believe still that Te Whiti is anxious to avoid bloodshed, but he has felt obliged to take the step he has to maintain his position, and he is not in a position, nor has he the will, to prejudice it by retreating, nor can he choose what further steps he will take. That the action of Te AVhiti was not anticipated by his people even the day before, is proved by the fact that Titokowaru visited the Hon. Native Minister the evening before, and preferred various requests —among others, that the road surveyed across his field of cocksfoot should be deviated : this was the only approach to a grievance, and he was informed that instructions had been given to deviate it. Titokowaru aud his people always said of the confiscation, "Go to Parihaka and talk about it;" and this same answer I received while the surveys were in progress, and I asked for some one to be appointed by the tribe to assist me in pointing out to the Govern-