A.—B

2

5. I have turned over many hundred telegrams despatched and received during 1879 and 1880, and have carefully studied the parliamentary debates of the period, as well as the elaborate and most valuable report of the Royal Commission appointed in 1880 to investigate the causes of the discontent existing among the Natives of the west coast of the Northern Island. I have also perused with attention whatever papers, whether printed or manuscript, I could obtain, which appeared likely to throw any light on the subject: but, whilst I trust I may be able to avoid making any positive assertion as to a matter of fact which is inaccurate, I am well aware that my narrative will on many points be meagre and incomplete, and consequently unsatisfactory. 6. Your Lordship does not require to be told that, in 1860, an unfortunate difference with regard to the proprietorship of a piece of land at Waitara, and the determination of the Government of the day to impose by force the view which it had adopted, led to hostilities with a large portion of the Maori race, which lasted with little intermission till 1865. In the month of September in that year, after the restoration of peace in the Province of Taranaki, the extensive district indicated in the accompanying map was, by Proclamation, declared to be confiscated to the Crown, under the provisions of " The New Zealand Settlements Act, " 1863;" but from the operation of this confiscation the lands of loyal Natives were expressly excluded by the Proclamation itself, which also contained a promise that lands would be restored or granted to those in rebellion who submitted, themselves within a reasonable time to the Queen's authority. This Proclamation is, however, in some respects, not altogether easy of interpretation. It declares that, under it, " No land of any loyal inhabitant within the said districts, whether held by Native " custom or under Crown grant, will be taken, except so much as may be abso- " lutely necessary for the security of the country, compensation being given for 11 all land so taken;" and, further, that " all rebel inhabitants of the said districts " who come in within a reasonable time, and make submission to the Queen, will " receive a sufficient quantity of land under grant from the Crown." V. Now, although this language would be intelligible enough, did it relate to land owned by individuals, it is less easy to understand in the case of Native ownership, where the interest of each man in the tribal land is, generally speaking, only that of a share in a joint proprietorship. Whatever else it meant, however, it is clear that, to borrow words used by Sir I\ Dillon Bell in the Legislative Council, " It is untrue to say that the whole of the land between the Waitotara " and the White Cliffs has been confiscated. It never has been confiscated." ; [The Proclamation] " confiscated the land of those in rebellion, but it not only " did not confiscate the land of those that remained loyal, it conserved their " rights, and made the express promise to them that their land should not be " taken." Moreover, under what the Royal Commissioners of 1880 justly call the " very liberal arrangements of the Government" of 1869, a large number of those who had taken part in the rebellion returned to the land in expectation of the grants promised to them. 8. Three years later, fresh hostilities took place in this district, which were, however, altogether brought to a close in the following year. 9. After the suppression of this outbreak, the southern part of the confiscated district, that lying between the Waitotara and Waingongoro Rivers, was speedily reoccupied by the settlers whom the war had temporarily expelled, and by the friendly Natives who had previously inhabited it, to whom definite reserves were duly assigned, whilst all who had taken part in the insurrection were prevented from again returning to the locality. 10. But the next great division of the confiscated territory,—that, namely, between the Waingongoro and Stoney River, —was very differently dealt with. In that district there were practically, with few exceptions, no white settlers. There were, however, Natives who had remained loyal, and who were therefore entitled to retain their lands; and, while, on the one hand, the land comprised between these boundaries was declared to be, " although nominally confiscated," unavailable for settlement (excepting one township) " until arrangements should be made with the Natives "for land sufficient for their own requirements," on the other, large numbers of Natives formerly belonging to the district, but who had taken part in

Mansard, Vol. 34j p. 864