7

G.—4

Enclosure in No. 10. Constable Ryan, Pungarehu, to Inspector Pardy, New Plymouth. Armed Constabulary Station, Pungarehu, 25th May, 1885. Constable W. H. Ryan (No. 280) respectfully reports that James Jenkin Elwin, farmer, residing atWarea, reported that about seven months ago he had one red cow, about four years of age, branded 1 <|f> (1 and a diamond), and figures 13 on off-side ; and one heifer, three years, branded near-rump g*[ (13 upside down), same colour as cow, tip cut off one ear of both animals, running on the Native land opposite his farm, and he had not seen them since, and suspects that the Punihu Natives had stolen them. The cows were just about calving when they were missed. Mr. Elwin made inquiries from Natives passing along the road if they had seen the cows, and they said, " Yes; they are all right, running on the Punihu Run." Mr. Elwin did not trouble any further till about the 4th April, 1885, when he sent Alfred Clothier, a settler residing at Warea, to look for the cows. Clothier saw Charles Hunt, a half-caste, who lives in a house just behind the Punihu Pa, who stated that he had seen the cows, branded as described, running near his place with a calf each at foot, and that they disappeared just before Titokowaru came with his people to Punihu, about the sth March, 1885. Mr. Clothier searched about the run and found the head of a red-coloured animal, and the horns resembled that of the missing heifer, with the ears cut off; the head was close to Hunt's house. Mr. Clothier ascertained that a Native named Mariu, of Punihu, had sold two calves, one red and one strawberry colour, to Mr. Henry Hunt, farmer, at Punihu. The constable proceeded to Punihu on the 24th May, 1885, and saw Mariu, who states that, some time before Titokowaru's people came to Punihu, he went out with Tukawa and shot two wild cows on the ranges; one was black and the other red; they were not branded. They left the hides there and brought home some of the meat, and also the two calves belonging to them, and sold the calves to Henry Hunt. Mariu said he killed another cow for the meeting, near Charles Hunt's house ; it was a red-and-white cow; it had no brand, and he did not know who owned it; there were no ear-marks, and he did not cut the ears off. Tukawa sold the hide to Robert Serille, of Oakura. The constable asked him to point out the place where he shot the cow. Mariu took the constable to the head that Clothier had found, and said, " That is the head." The hide was off the head, and the ears were gone, so that it was impossible for Clothier or Elwin to identify it. The constable saw Serille, who states there was no brand on the hide he bought, and that it was a red-and-white colour. The constable did not see Charles Hunt; he has gone to reside at Bell Block. Charles Hunt was present when the cow was shot near his house. Mariu is willing to take Mr. Clothier to the place where he* killed the cows and show him the hides. Mr. Elwin values cow and heifer at £4 each, and the calves mentioned by Charles Hunt at 15s. each. W. IT. Ryan, W. S. Pardy, Esq., Inspector of Police, New Plymouth. Constable, No. 280.

No. 11. Inspector Paedy, New Plymouth, to the Commissioner, Armed Constabulary, Wellington. Sic, — Police Office, New Plymouth, 3rd June, 1885. In referring to the attached article, clipped from the Taranaki Herald of the 30th ultimo, in which allegations are made of Maori depredations at Pungarehu and Cape Egmont, I have the honour to inform you that I proceeded to those localities on Monday, the Ist instant, and made inquiries into the truth or otherwise of the alleged depredations. The circumstances had been reported to me by Constable Ryan ; but, as the statements in this article differed so 'widely from those of the constable, I thought it best to make full inquiry myself. In reference to Robson's fence, I found the following to be the true facts : On Wednesday, the 24th ultimo, Te Whiti, with several of his followers, were getting in a mob of horses for sale, and, while driving them along the Cape Egmont Road, they, in their endeavours to break away, rushed Robson's wire fence, breaking the wires, and thus forcing their way into the paddock where several of Robson's horses, which were in the paddock, got mixed up with them, and the Maoris, in driving out their own horses, took Robson's with them. Robson states that he asked the Maoris to put his horses back into the paddock, but they refused to do so, when he told them he would go for Constable Ryan, and started for that purpose. They then cut his horses out of the mob and put them back in the paddock. The damage done to the fence was very trifling, and had been repaired at the time of my visit without any expense beyond a little manual labour. In the case of Mr. Serre's fence, referred to in the article as the Frenchman's, the facts are somewhat similar. On the 24th ultimo the Maoris were getting in horses for sale, and jammed them in a corner by Serre's fence with the object of catching them, when two or three of the horses jumped the fence—a ditch-and-bank one —knocking a portion of it down; but on the following day the Maoris returned and mended the fence to the satisfaction of Mr. Serre. He stated that he made no complaint about it to any one; but the man Hill came to him (Serre) and asked him about the fence, and that it must have been him who wrote to the paper. In reference to fences erected at the Cape Road, I travelled along this road from one end to the other, but could find no sign of any fence or learn that any one else had; but on another road, known as the Parihaka Road, as yet unformed, and little used except by Maoris, a temporary fence has been erected by them, not for the purpose of obstruction, but to assist them in catching their horses. The fence forms no obstruction to traffic as a wide space at the part of the road used as a track has been left open.