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nent welfare. At the same time, Parliament has said that all acts of lawlessness must cease, and that any Natives who obstruct the Government in giving effect to its plans will be punished as the law directs. The Government has done, and is prepared to do, its part. Large and ample pieces of land will be set apart for those Natives who desire that trouble should cease. Roads which will benefit both Maori and pakeha have been made, and arrangements have also been made for the friendly occupation of the land by both races side by side. The Government has said that it desired peace, not war, and its words have been proved. Even the arrests which have been made were to prevent foolish obstruction to a clear settlement, obstruction which might have brought on a war, causing death to the Maori people. The sun will shine now if the desire of the Government is accepted and accomplished. Let the clouds which have obscured it be dispersed. It only now remains for the Natives to accept that which is offered in "the accepted time," lest "the day of salvation" draw to a close, and the night of confusion again arise so that the good work which has begun be hidden in darkness. The Government has determined to set you, and those with you, free first of all, so that you will see that the words are true which the Governor said, " that he did not wish to return to war or to retain the prisoners longer than was necessary in the interests of both races." Our desire is to release the rest of the prisoners, and this will be done if, on your return, the Natives accept the proposals now made to them. It now rests with you to show that you are willing to help me in doing that which you asked me to do, and which I have been working at for this long time—namely, to cause the confusion to cease, and promote the real interests of your people. Sufficient. From your friend, Wiremu Kingi Matakatea, Dunedin. John Brtce. P.S. —I send you herewith copies of the law to which I have referred, aud the Proclamation which the Governor put forth.

Sub-Enclosure 13 in No. 2.* Memorandum on the Causes which justipv the Detention oe the West Coast Maori Prisoners. To fully appreciate the reasons for the apprehension and detention of the Natives taken prisoners on the West Coast in 1879 and 1880, it is necessary to have a somewhat full knowledge of a very remarkable and complex position, and I have great hesitation in attempting to convey a sufficient idea of the case in what must of necessity be a brief abstract. To detail the actual circumstances which have led up to the arrests in question would not be difficult; but this would be of little assistance in arriving at a correct conclusion. What really is difficult is to produce by description a correct impression of the strange influence which Te Whiti exercises over the minds and actions of his followers, and of the extraordinary mental condition which his teachings or preachings have produced in the minds of the Maoris of the West Coast. Tot, unless a somewhat vivid idea of the abnormal state of the Maoris in this respect is obtained, I do not hesitate to say that false conclusions will certainly be arrived at iu respect to the necessity for the action taken by the Government in apprehending and detaining in custody the Maori prisoners. The land on the west coast of the North Island was confiscated in 1865, on account of the rebellion of the tribes of that part of the country, but attempts at settlement on the confiscated land had not extended northward of the Waingongoro River when in 1868 a fresh rebellion broke out under Titokowaru. During the war of 1868-69 the settlers along that coast between the Waingongoro River and the Kai Iwi Stream, or to within a distance of ten miles of the Town of Wanganui, were driven in; but in the latter part of 1869, after the defeat of Titokowaru and the dispersion of his followers, the settlers resumed possession of their holdings. These holdings, however, it is important to remember, only extended northward as far as the Waingongoro River. No attempt was at that time made, nor for long afterwards, to occupy by European settlement the country between the Waingongoro and Stone3 r Rivers, a territory which includes within its limits that portion of the country which has been commonly called the " Waimate Plains." There can, I think, be little doubt that had settlement been pushed on immediately after the conclusion of Titokowaru's war the difficulties since experienced would not have been encountered; but as the Maoris returned and resumed possession of their villages and cultivations the idea gradually grew, or rather was impressed upon them, that the Government had abandoned its claims on the Waimate Plains and did not intend to insist upon their occupation by Europeans. This idea was most unfortunate in its results, both locally and throughout the colony It encouraged the Maoris to maintain a defiant attitude and to resist the ordinary processes of the law, which they effectually did in that and other districts in the colony During the whole of this time the now celebrated chief Te Whiti resided at or in the neighbourhood of Parihaka, but he had never, it is believed, taken any personal part in actual warfare. Doubtless his tribe did engage in hostilities, but so far from Te Whiti joining in such acts himself he has always preached peace, and without doubt his influence over the Maori mind is due in a large measure to this fact. His great apparent successes, to which I will presently refer, led them to reflect that, whereas they had tried war and had failed, Te Whiti had tried peace and had succeeded. That impression once created, they appeared to have no difficulty in believing that his success, not being due to ordinary or visible means, must rest on invisible means —in other words, that he was possessed of supernatural powers. His own pretensions to such powers were enormous. At his monthly meetings he professed his power to raise the dead, and was believed. Month after month Natives attended his meetings in the full hope of seeing the dead raised, and, in view of the resurrection, bringing with them clothes with which to cover the bodies of their friends who were to be quickened into life. The failure

* For Sub-Enclosure 12, see Gazette, 23rd December, 1880, p. 17G7.