J. H. HOSKING.]

9

I.—3b.

welfare of the Natives—but, in order to please his masters, as he put it, he endeavoured to bring the Natives down to the smallest area they were willing to accept, with the result that in respect of this large area of land, including their residences and cultivations, only some 6,000-odd acres were awarded for the present and future wants of between six and seven hundred souls—the then estimate. Mr. Mantell was conscious in his own mind that a gross injustice had been done, and it evidently preyed upon him, because in 1856, when in -London, he addressed the Government there. It must be remembered that at that time Native affairs were to some extent under the exclusive control of the British Government. While there he addressed the Principal Secretary of State, and pointed out that promises which had been made to the Natives had not up to that time been fulfilled. In his letter —it is given on page 20 of 1.-8, Appendices for 1888—he forwards a map, and says,— " By promise of more valuable recompense in schools, in hospitals for their sick, and in constant solicitude for their welfare and general protection on the part of the Imperial Government, I procured the cession of these lands for small cash payments. The Colonial Government has neglected to fulfil these promises, and appears to wish to devolve the responsibility on the General Assembly." Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State did not think it was quite right that he should hold communication with an official of the Colonial Government, and indicated that to him, and refused to receive his representations. As a consequence Mr. Mantell thereupon resigned all his official appointments, in order that he might, as he thought, make an effective protest against the conduct that was being pursued. But, as a result, the Home authorities communicated with the Colonial Government; and it will be found from page 23 of these papers that Mr. Donald McLean dealt with the correspondence, and made out Chat everything had been done that ought to have been done. Apparently the matter was not really fully before Mr. McLean, or he could not have suggested that the promises had been fulfilled. He says,— "I have examined the original deed or agreement by which the Natives have ceded to Her Majesty the whole of their claims, excepting certain reservations, for a sum of £2,000, which has been duly paid to them, and the reserves set apart for their own use, together with Stewart Island, left in their undisturbed possession." Now, that is obviously an incorrect representation of the existing state of things, as it must have been known even at that time—in the year 1856—that the future reserves were not set apart. It is, I think, now quite clearly established that all the future reserves were to be left in the hands of the Government, to be carried out in that liberal spirit in which it had been said the purchasing agent had to fulfil his duties. " I can find no trace or record of any other promise made to these Natives." Quite so, because these promises were not put in any deed: they were simply communicated to the Natives verbally by Mr. Mantell, and, as he says, formed one of the principal inducements in bringing the Natives round to agree to the purchase. "Nor have they, to mv knowledge, alluded to any direct promise made by the Government that has not been fulfilled." As to that, the fact was that at that time those then in authority had not, as was demonstrated by the subsequent reports of Commissioners, thoroughly realized what had taken place on the occasion of the sale. Matters seem to have slept pretty well till 1863, when there was a motion made in the House of Representatives by Mr. Wayne that the question of the position of the Natives in the South Island should receive the attention of Parliament. Mr. Fox dealt with that in 1864, and sent down Mr. H. Tracy Clarke, who reported on the 29th September, 1864. His report will be found on page 24 of 1.-8, 1888. By that time it appears to have been realized that something more had been promised to the Natives than this miserable allowance of 10 acres a head which they had received from Mr. Mantell. For instance, dealing with the question of schools, Mr Tracy Clarke reported— "No schools exist in these provinces: the Wesleyan and Maori Missionary Society of Otago have suspended operations, and the German Missionary Society is, from lack of means, relaxing its efforts; and now a strong appeal is made' to the Government to step in and succour this small remnant of a once numerous and powerful tribe. Some of their chiefs are fully alive to their wretched condition. They scruple not to lay the whole blame on the Government. I refer to the alleged promises made by the Government through their agents at the cession of the lands in these provinces, to which I shall do myself the honour particularly to drawn your attention in another letter. The question may suggest itself, if these chiefs are sincere in their regrets at their present low state, how is it that they have not exerted themselves to raise their people from their degraded condition? They answer that they have placed full reliance upon the Government giving full effect to its engagements ; that the Government promised to undertake the task of ameliorating their condition" as part of the consideration for their lands; that, after waiting in vain for these benefits, they concluded in their own minds that Government had forgotten them. They then wrote to the Governor asking him to send a pakeha to watch over their interests and to advise them; no pakeha ever was sent. They have asked for schools for their children ; none have ever been established. Despairing of any assistance from the Government, they have, at the instance of the Rev. R. F. Riemenschneider, a German missionary, built a church, and are erecting a schoolhouse at their own expense. The Government have assisted in building schoolhouses at Moeraki and Waikouaiti, and have very lately paid two-thirds of the price for the erection of a church and schoolhouse at Riverton ; but, further than this, I am not aware that anything has been done. A number of gentlemen in Dunedin, sensible of the neglected state of the Natives, and anxious to improve their condition, formed themselves into a society for that purpose; but their benevolent intentions on behalf of the Natives

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