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1883. NEW ZEALAND.

REPORTS FROM OFFICERS IN NATIVE DISTRICTS. [In Continuation of G.-1, 1882.]

Presented, to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. The Under-Secretary, Native Department, to Officers in Native Districts. (Circular No. 8.) Sir,— Native Office, Wellington, 11th May, 1883. I have the honour, by direction of Mr. Bryce, to request that you will be good enough to forward at your earliest convenience, but not later than the 14th proximo, the usual annual report upon the state of the Natives in your district, for presentation to Parliament. I have, &c, T. W. Lewis, Under-Secretary. Ml

No. 2. G. T. Wilkinson, Esq., Alexandra, to the Under-Secretary, Native Department. Sir, — Native Office, Alexandra, 11th June, 1883. In accordance with the request contained in your Circular No. 8, of the 11th ultimo, I have the honour to forward herewith my annual report upon the state of the Natives in the Waikato and Thames Districts. Waikato and the King Country. In the month of July last I received instructions to take over the Districts of Auckland and Waikato, including the district known as the King Country, as part of my duties as Native Agent, in the place of Major Mair, who had been appointed to a Judgeship in the Native Land Court Department. I accordingly took over the Auckland office work in the early part of September last, and shortly after visited Alexandra, and commenced my work amongst the Waikato or King Natives. The first Native matter of importance that took place in the Waikato District during the past year was the capture of Winiata, who was charged with the murder of Edwin Packer, at Epsom, near Auckland, in 1876. I need not refer here to the mode of his capture, nor to the means used by the half-caste Barlow in order to bring it about, as that is now a matter of history. Suffice it to say that the effect upon the Natives, both criminals and others, was most salutary. Every one who had broken the law in years gone by, and was therefore " wanted," was more or less startled by the news of Winiata's capture, trial, and subsequent death by hanging. Te Kooti, Purukutu, and others were all "by the ears." The first-named at once established a regular guard over himself, and warned all Europeans and half-castes not to come near Te Kuiti, where he was living. He evidently saw then that Tawhiao, as King, was powerless to protect him against the law, so he determined to take measures to protect himself. To the bulk of the King Natives, who had nothing to fear on account of any evil deeds of their own, the arrest of criminals out of their very midst must have caused consternation; albeit the means employed by Barlow to bring about the capture, and thereby secure the money-reward, took a great deal from the effect that otherwise it would have had amongst the King Natives. Following shortly after this came the Hon. Native Minister's meeting with Tawhiao at Whatiwhatihoe. What took place at that meeting has already been fully recorded both by the Press and by official documents, so that it is not necessary for me to refer to it here more than to say that, judging from subsequent events, more real result was brought about through that meeting than at any previous one that had taken place between a representative of the Government and the Maori King. True, Tawhiao did not accept the terms offered to him, and for which he was to abdicate in favour of law, order, and progress of civilization ; in fact, those who are in a position to know the circumstances under which the first Maori King was set up, and the reasons that have caused these people, his followers, to bind themselves together and act in concert during the last twenty-five years, did not consider it at all likely that he would accept the terms offered to him; —and in saying " would"