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to Sir Donald McLean, in mentioning the money required for the whole transaction, wrote : " In this is included a sum of £1,500, which is to be paid in extinguishment of the claims of the loyal Natives who had an interest in the blocks given them by the Government in consideration of services during the war." And again later in the same letter he wrote : : ' I shall be obliged if you will cause £1,500 to be sent here to pay the Natives for their interest in the block." Sir Donald McLean, in reply, on the 13th December wrote that instructions had been telegraphed to Wellington to imprest to the Hon. J. I). Ormond the amount of money asked for by him. It is evident, therefore, that the £1,500 was forwarded by the Government to be paid to the loyal Natives in extinguishment of the claims to the loyal Natives who had an interest in the blocks given them by the Government at the Hatepe meeting in 1867. It might be noted that the late Sir James Carroll was Clerk and interpreter to the Native Land Court investigating the titles to the four blocks, and, being a native of the district and a participant in the fighting against the Urewera rebels, it can fairly be assumed he was fully conversant with the truth of the Hatepe agreement. It is significant that Sir James during his long period of public service as Minister for Native Affairs and member of Parliament did not question the actions of the Crown with regard to the Hatepe agreement, or of the treatment by the Crown of the loyal Natives of the Wairoa district. In anything I have stated I do not wish to detract from the valuable services rendered to the country by the Ngatikahungunu Tribe under the loyal chiefs Kopu amd Whaanga. Had it not been for their mana amongst the Maoris and their great fighting qualities, the rebels during the Hauhau rising would, have inflicted, much suffering upon the Europeans in the Wairoa, and the district would have been the scene of a long struggle between the two races, and it is doubtful whether the Europeans would not have been driven from that part of the coast. Vernon H. Reed.

Approximate Cost of Paper. —Preparation, not given; printing (650 copies), £34.

Authority : W. A. G. Skinner, Government Printer, Wellington.—l92B.

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