I have the honour to address you in reference to the important subject upon which I entered in the "Notes on the Best Mode of working the Lands Act," and in the letter, dated 18th July last, accompanying those notes. Further consideration has confirmed my conviction that there yet remains open to us a course of action whereby we may escape from our present difficulties in Native matters, and may attain the objects we desire, and that by a process neither costly nor difficult. I desire, therefore, now to complete the review of the subject which I then commenced. I feel assured that you, Sir, considering the importance of the matter, will give a patient hearing even to a statement which, from the nature of the case, cannot be very brief. Before proceeding to define the course of action which I desire to commend to the consideration of the Government, it will be necessary to notice our present relations to the Native population of this Island.

The whole Native population may be divided into two sections:

Let us now consider the elements of which this latter group is comprised.

Waikato.

• 3. In Waikato a large portion of the Native owners hold their position outside the boundary-line traced by the Proclamation, kept from their old possessions by the presence of a large force, suffering privations, exasperated but not subdued. If we desire to comprehend rightly the state of page 14mind of these people, we must put ourselves in their place. We must also remember how widely the estimate formed by the Natives of our dealings with them differs from that which is current among ourselves. To them all the doings of the pakeha present themselves as one great whole. Englishmen are apt to accept various solutions of the public questions which cannot be accepted them. If the justness or fitness of a public measure be canvassed, we often hear it said that such a measure was adopted or acquiesced in for such and such reasons: the reason being oftentimes connected, not with the intrinsic merits of measure in question, but only with the internal working of our complicated system of government. The Natives, knowing little of our internal politics, look only at the general result. There is reason to believe that the view commonly taken by the people of the Waikato and Waipa Rivers is the following: They had combined in an attempt to form an independent Government, a movement which they had come to believe right and even necessary. They were told that the name of King would not in itself be deemed a cause of war, and the more moderate party were careful not to give their stronger neighbour any other cause for entering their borders. For a long time they succeeded in restraining their turbulent brethren, even in the face of preparations for war visibly and steadily advancing on our part. Then came the reoccupation of the Tataraimaka, and the resumption of hostilities by Rewi, and soon after the entrance of our troops into Waikato. Two vain attempts were made to withstand our advance by fair fighting. Shortly after, on the 6th December, a letter was written in the Governor's name to all the chiefs of Waikato. "Your letter of the 2nd December has reached me. Sons, my words to you are these: The General must go uninterrupted to Ngaruawahia [the King's village]. The flag of the Queen must be hoisted there. Then I will talk to you." The promised conference did not take place. The troops went forward, not indeed to follow Rewi into his territory, but to take possession of the lands of the nearer tribes. Can we be surprised at this course appearing to them severe and unjust, when they saw no distinction made between the two sections into which the population of Waikato had been divided through the whole period of these troubles: between those who had been driven to take up arms by the Natives, which they could not honourably disregard, and those whose wilfulness had renewed the war; or rather, when they saw the less offending heavily punished, and the more offending visited with a comparatively slight punishment?

• 4. Our adversaries in Waikato believe themselves guilty of no wrong in contending for their nationality. It has not been usual for Maori tribes to yield up their lands to an invader without repeated efforts to recover them. Some may be disposed to submit, but this cannot bind or control their brethren. It may be expected that the majority may have much the same feeling as the majority of our own people would have if they could be placed in like circumstances. There appears to be ground for the apprehension which has been expressed that in case of the dispossessed Maoris actually making an effort to repossess their lands they may find allies on the northern side of Auckland. Persons who have had good opportunities for observing, report that the presence of the prisoners in that part, after their escape from the Kawau, has generated in some portions of the population a strong sympathy with their cause.

  At present there is in the way of any such attempt the obstacle presented by the English regiments, which, in conjunction with the Colonial Force, occupy Waikato and Tauranga. Whilst this advantage still remains to us, every possible security should be provided against the breaking-out of fresh troubles whenever those regiments shall be withdrawn.

The South-western Tribes.

• 5. From the beginning our relations with the Ruanuis have been unfortunate. The visit of the "Alligator" in 1834 could not [gap — reason: illegible]leave on their minds any favourable impression. Since we have entered the land fewer reclaiming influences have been brought to bear upon them than on most of the other tribes. In Governor Browne's memorandum on Native affairs, dated 25th May, 1861, it is stated that "even up to that time many districts, such as Taupo, Ngatiruanui, Taranaki, and the country about the East Cape, have never been visited by an officer of the Government. The residents in these districts have never felt that they are the subjects of the Queen of England, and have little reason to think that the Government of the colony cares at all about their welfare." The Ruanuis, like the other Maoris, had seen their own need of being aided and raised. In 1853 they were urgent for a missionary, but none could be found. At this very time the Bishop of Wellington is building his cathedral church on a site which was given for the purpose by Governor Grey in that year as a memorial of the earnest desire of these very Ruanuis for Christian instruction, and of their readiness to give annually a tenth part of their produce for the support of ministers of religion.
• 6. A strong feeling is commonly entertained against the Taranakis as having rushed into the Waitara quarrel without any immediate provocation. In fairness it ought to be remembered that circumstances, to them very alarming and irritating, had occurred at New Plymouth a very few years before (in 1855), and had wrought strongly on their minds, and that they then openly declared their apprehension of an attempt by the pakeha to dispossess the Maoris of their land, and their fixed determination to resist any such attempt. I do not seek to extenuate their misdeeds. I only say that there had been no concealment of their determination, and that there was every reason to expect them to act upon it. (Parl. Papers, July, 1860, p. 170, and March, 1861.) Warea, the chief settlement of that tribe, is the place where we now meet the most determined and unceasing resistance. May it not be that in our recent measures they believe they see the verification of the suspicions they expressed in 1855? I do not say that when these small nations voluntarily come into collision with a great nation they ought not to suffer for their temerity. I only point out facts which cannot properly be overlooked in estimating the amount of punishment to be inflicted.

The Hauhau Superstition.

• 7. Amongst these southern tribes the new superstition had its birth at a time when the relations between the pakeha and the Maori were such as greatly to favour its growth. For at that time the suspicions which had from the beginning existed as to the intentions of the Government appeared to page 15many of the Natives to be clearly justified. From the very beginning it had been apprehended by some that the English Government would, when strong enough, seize the Natives lands. This suspicion was suggested to a number of chiefs by an English subject in the year 1814 at Sydney, just when Mr. Marsden was on the point of sailing for this country ("Nicholas's Voyage to New Zealand," I., 41). Once kindled it never died out. From time to time it has blazed forth, as at Waitangi and on other occasions. It was apprehended that the ministers of religion, whether knowingly or not, were employed or encouraged by the Government for the purpose of gradually weakening the power of resistance on the part of the Natives, a view which was favoured by the diplomatic habits of the Native tribes accustomed to seek by craft ends which could not be attained by force. It was seen that an active part was taken by the missionaries in introducing into the country first a Resident and afterwards a Governor. The responsibility which the missionaries in so doing took upon themselves was rightly estimated at the time by Dr. Maunsell, of Waikato (Parl. Papers, 1841, p. 99).

  In 1843 I heard these notions broadly avowed on the shores of Lake Taupo by one of the leading chiefs of that district. They gained great strength from the events of 1860. When the southern tribes set up their toll-gate on the coast road the highest tolls demanded were for ministers of religion —English or Maori. In Waikato children were withdrawn by the parents from the missionary schools which were known to be aided by grants of Government money. Mr. Gorst, with all his qualifications and resources, could draw into his institution scarcely any purely Native pupils. Many public discussions took place at Turanga and other places on the East Coast upon the conduct of the missionaries and their relations to the Government.

• 8. When the result of the hostilities in Waikato was seen, and the soldiers had taken possession of all the lands of the tribes on the Waikato and Waipa, it appeared now clear to many that the old apprehensions had been too well grounded, and that they had, in fact, been the victims of a plot in which the ministers of religion had been the agents of the Government. Along with the first bitterness of their exasperation there broke out a hope that in their extremity supernatural aid was at hand. That aid appeared to be supplied by the new revelation to the prophet Horopapera te Ua. A sort of preparation for the new superstition had been noticed by an intelligent traveller who passed through the territory of the southern tribes in 1861. After the cessation of active hostilities at Taranaki there was a widely-spread notion that supernatural help had been already vouchsafed. The vaunted energies of the pakeha had really inflicted little damage. The people stated that by our Armstrong guns only three persons had been killed. In this they saw a proof that the hand of God had been over them.

  The new superstition, having gained strength in the south-west, began to spread northward and eastward. Everywhere very many were predisposed to welcome it. Some accepted it in faith, many in wilfulness and bitterness. Some thought it true, others thought that it might be useful. Some men severed themselves from their missionaries in perfect calmness and quietness. One of the chiefs of Opotiki informed Bishop Williams of his conversion to the new creed in these words: "Bishop, many years ago we received the faith from you; now we return it to you, for there has been found a new and precious thing by which we shall keep our land" (kua kitea tetahi taonga hou a mau ai to matou whenua). A common feeling united fanatical believers with cool politicians who believed nothing, but who kept up the fervour of their brethren by false reports of miracles wrought at Taranaki, and of great loss sustained by our troops. The new religion combined men of every sort, from the ferocity of Kereopa to perfect inoffensiveness—some of the best as well as some of the worst of the race. It was accepted as the religion of all who were no longer willing to accept religion at the hands of the pakeha. As in all times of national ferment the fiercer and more determined natures got the lead.

  In the beginning of the war the Kingites had prayed for their King after the form in our Prayer Book, and that sometimes with fasting and great earnestness. Now a new form of prayer was put together, and the new worship was accepted as the bond of union amongst all who still adhered to the cause of the Maori King.

• 9. No spot in the Island was better prepared to receive this fanaticism than Opotiki, in the Bay of Plenty. The people of that place had sympathized with the Waikato, and some of them had taken part in the war. Various circumstances had caused their minister (Mr. Völkner) to be suspected of being in secret correspondence with the Government on the subject of their disaffection. The feeling of the people became more bitter when their leading chief, Aperotanga, who had been wounded and taken prisoner by our allies, was murdered by a woman of that tribe (the widow of Pekama Tohi), in revenge for the death of her husband who had fallen in the war. Yet this provocation did not at once lead them to retaliate on Mr. Völkner. Even two men of the offending tribe, who had come into the district of Opotiki from the eastward in ignorance of all that had passed, were spared. The cry for blood which arose from the widows was rebuked by a woman, and the men were fed, conducted to the western boundary of the district, and sent on their way.

  Mr. Völkner, having again visited Auckland, was continually troubled by the thought of the miserable condition of his people. Their cultivations had been neglected, and a low fever, caused by lack of food, had carried off more than 150 persons. It appeared to be worth while to try the effect of an attempt to minister to them in their distress. He resolved, therefore, to revisit them, carrying with him wine and quinine, though, as he said, "It was doubtful whether, in their then state of mind, any one would take such things from his hands." These were amongst the last words I heard from his mouth. In the meantime a party of the Hauhaus from Taranaki had crossed the country to Opotiki. They had determined early in the year (1865) to carry the war to the opposite extremity of the Island, and to divert part of our troops thither. So they marched across to Taupo Lake, and thence to the Bay of Plenty. On their way they passed near to the station of a missionary (Mr. Spencer), who has remained through all these troubles unharmed at his station on Tarawera Lake. They reached Opotiki seven days before the vessel which carried Mr. Völkner thither. Every night the leaders of the party harangued the people on the conduct of the missionaries. One who heard them reports that the burden of their discourses night after night was the same. "These men," said they, "were always telling us, 'Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth;' and so, while we were looking up to heaven, our land was snatched away from beneath our feet." After two days the house page 16of the missionary was plundered, and the goods sold to the bystanders. After five days more a small vessel was seen entering the river, and it was discovered that Mr. Völkner was on board. As the people clustered on the banks of the river the Hauhau leaders pointed to the Vessel as a proof of the magical power of the new worship which had so brought their betrayer into their hands.

• 10. Even after this foul crime the superstition continued to spread. Patara, who was himself not present at the murder, proceeded with his party to Turanga. He kept Kereopa in the background, and spoke of the murder as a misfortune—a great blow to a good cause. Even then men, who had for years exhibited a sober, thoughtful character, were induced to join, carried away by what the Maori calls aroha ki te noi (pity for the people)—what we should call a strong sympathy with the national cause. The Maoris were strongly affected by the novel practices and the burden of the worship, and especially by the bitter crying and wailing for their countrymen slain and their land seized by the pakeha.

  It is plain that this delusion has no real strength, and that Maoris, drawn by various motives and influences to support it, do not fight as well as others have done who believed their quarrel to be just. And we see that those who have recently submitted and taken the oath to the Queen have, as a matter of course dropped at the same time the Hauhau worship. Moreover, this very crime has roused into action a body of Native allies in the same part of the Island—a resolute minority, whose bravery and knowledge of the country have proved of essential service. A like effect was produced, as you are well aware, in Hawke's Ba? and elsewhere. Perhaps the Government may not be aware that some Native Magistrates from the Gulf of Hauraki and the Thames came up to Auckland to propose a combined expedition of "all the churches" (as they worded it), for the purpose of crushing the guilty tribe. At that time there was no person in Auckland to represent the General Government. The resistance, then, on the East Coast is less formidable than that on the West; still, that radical evil remains of which the acceptance of the Hauhau creed was an indication and a measure. The practical fact with which we have to deal is this: The old feeling of distrust and exasperation towards our Government has been strong enough to lead thoughtful men, incapable of being parties to such acts, to join the Hauhau cause, even after the commission of the great crime at Opotiki. This is our real difficulty; the same in kind as ever, but greater in degree. I believe that this feeling is now more deep and more widely spread than at any time. I believe there are now many who are convinced that we are determined, even by fraud and violence, to get possession of their land, and force our dominion upon men who have never consented to it. Many, therefore, on their part, determine to hold their own as best they may, and are content to sacrifice their lives in the contest. The state of the case is this: We have put too great a pressure upon these people, more than they can bear—more than we can continue to exert; we have driven many of the Natives into a state of determined resistance, bordering on desperation; we have brought upon ourselves the necessity of bearing burdens beyond our strength.

Need of Peace.

• 11. The practical business before us is first to terminate the present evil state of things, and then to take such measures as may introduce a better state, and render it permanent. The obstacles to be overcome are not merely physical, but moral, and such as mere physical power, even if it were at our command, could not remove. Moral means must be employed, and it is in the nature of such means to work somewhat slowly.

  For the whole country, for both races, peace is necessary. Some settlement is needed, such as may be depended on as complete, safe, and trustworthy. I think, Sir, there is no chance of any settlement, unless it be such as to show moderation, if not generosity, on our part, and to exhibit a clear distinction between the different classes of our opponents. As to the blocks included in the Proclamation under the New Zealand Settlements Act, the reasons urged in my letter of the 18th July last for resorting to cession instead of mere seizure, appear to me to receive additional weight daily, as the real state of things becomes more manifest to ourselves and also to our adversaries. If we consider the relations between the two races from the beginning, and the history of this quarrel, there appears no reason why we should make the terms of submission as exasperating, and not rather as palatable, as possible consistently with the establishment of our authority and the permanence of peace. Our best security against a desperate effort being made by some section of the expelled Natives to reoccupy the lands taken, and the recurrence of such miseries as we have just emerged from, lies in our so acting as to turn the general opinion of the Maoris against making any such attempt, and so convincing the most hostile that they will have no support or sympathy from the great majority of their countrymen.

  Happily the language of the recent Proclamations of 2nd September, 1865, shows that the more liberal course is proposed to be adopted: Out of the lands which have been confiscated in the Waikato and at Taranaki and Ngatiruanui the Governor will at once restore considerable quantities to those of the Natives who wish to settle down upon their lands, to hold them under Crown grants, and to live under the protection of the law. For this purpose Commissioners will be sent forth into the Waikato and the country about Taranaki, and between that place and Whanganui, who will put the Natives who may desire it upon lands at once, and will re-mark out the boundaries of the blocks which they are to occupy. Those who do not come in at once to claim the benefit of this arrangement must expect to be excluded." But a considerable time must be given for that Proclamation to work its due effect. To require a speedy acceptance of our terms would be to require that which, in the present disorganization of the Maoris, or rather in the new combinations into which the war has thrown them, is not possible. Besides, men who believe themselves wronged do not very readily come into terms.

  The great principle of all our policy towards the Natives, the one hope of success in overcoming their fear an distrust of us, was expressed by the first Native Minister in words which ought not to be forgotten: "The fears of the Natives can be calmed, and the peace of the country secured, only by a policy which seeks not theirs but them." (Mr. Richmond's Memorandum, p. 25.)

• 12. It is clear that no policy can succeed and secure peace for the future unless it be in accordance page 17with the actual facts. And out of our troubles this advantage at least has come, that we have been brought by them nearer to the facts. The prisoners at Rangiriri, and again at Weraroa, have been treated as prisoners of war. It has been recognized as a fact that the tribes with which we are at strife are for the most part not in the strict sense subjects of the Queen, though included within the dominions of the Queen.

  Not only in newspapers, but in public documents, from the commencement of these troubles, the hostile Natives have been called rebels. It is now admitted that a large portion of the Native population has never intelligently, or at all, assented to our dominion, and therefore remains where Captain Hobson found it. Such portions of the population are still what the terms of our first national transaction with them admitted them to be, and what (as I showed on a former occasion) the natives of North America have been uniformly recognized as being—that is to say, small communities entitled to the possession of their own soil and to the management of their own internal affairs. This is for them an unsafe position, for they are subject to the risk of a war with their strong neighbour. For both it is an undesirable one; but it is their position at present. Those, therefore, who are actually in arms against us are to be regarded as enemies in war—as hostile, but not criminal. If so, then so far as these communities are concerned the Acts and Proclamations are not properly laws, but simply announcements that the stronger party will take the lands of the weaker. The taking itself is an act of war, an act of the Queen, to whom alone belongs the prerogative of peace and war. It is for the English nation, therefore, finally to determine how the "giant's strength" of England is to be used. The object of the war itself was to repress and terminate the efforts which the Natives were making to set up a separate nationality, an effort dangerous to both races; but though that effort was a great folly it was not a great crime.

  In respect, then, to these portions of the Native population, let our policy be confined to the facts. Let us not attempt to exert an authority which we do not in fact possess, and which, upon our own principles, we cannot claim. Let us abstain from any attempt at direct or internal control over them, and from threats. They may be warned of their insecurity, and assured of our readiness to extend our system to them whenever they may desire it. Then let us leave them alone until the present exasperation shall have ceased and time shall render them more reasonable and disposed to union. It is idle to attempt to force our laws on people whose very principle of union amongst themselves is a common determination not to submit to our authority, and whilst the attempt involves the carrying-on of a chronic war, and destroying those whom we are seeking to benefit and professing to govern.

Legislation in Native Affairs.

• 13. In proceeding to consider the mode of dealing with Native affairs for the future, I begin with the source of legislation—the General Assembly. We are all agreed that the General Assembly should become the one acknowledged Legislature for both races; but it would be a great error to assume (as it is sometimes done) that the Assembly has actually attained this position. Can we maintain that the Assembly possesses constitutional and rightful authority over these people? Rather, our business is to find some way by which it may be brought into possession and exercise of such an authority.

  As to the former, how is the English Crown to transfer to the Assembly the obligations which it has contracted in respect of those portions of the Native people who have assented and adhered to the authority of the Crown—without their assent or manifest acquiescence—without at least every possible precaution and safeguard for a fair and beneficial exercise by the Assembly of that power which the Crown finds itself unable to exercise? And as to the tribes who have never assented to our dominion, how can the Crown bestow on the Assembly an authority larger than that which (as we have seen) the Crown itself possesses over them? Let no man think that the trouble of this Island will be summarily terminated, or even diminished, by merely handing over this authority to the Greneral Assembly without due provision for rendering the exercise of it safe and legitimate. I know that at this time there are, even in the peaceful North, quiet and well-disposed men who view any such transfer of authority, or (as they term it) the "ceasing to be called children of the Queen," with the liveliest apprehension and alarm.

• 14. Has it ever happened in the history of the world that a purely democratic body, with an Executive which depends solely on the will of the majority in that body, and where the members and the constituency belong to one race, has dealt justly with a race assumed to be inferior, and, in fact, unrepresented, especially where the relations between them have begun in a state of open war? To this intrinsic difficulty add in this case the practical difficulty arising from the peculiar relations between the two Islands at this time, the majority of the Assembly consisting of members from the Southern Island, whose interests are much less closely connected with those of the Natives than are those of the northern members, and much less seriously affected by a Native war. We do not trust men of our own race with the power of governing us until we have, secured protection in many ways against their possible misuse of power. Can we say that no safeguards are needed for the Native race? Can we reasonably expect a full acquiescence on their part until they see that some such safeguards are provided? It should be remembered that, in conferring powers on the Assembly, a reservation has always been made of Imperial interests; and what interest is more truly Imperial than the honour and good faith of the Crown of England?

  Is it possible then to find safeguards which may be effectual for their purpose, yet such as to involve no minute interference with the proceedings of the Colonial Government, and no cost to the English Government? I suggest the following as being at present necessary conditions of safe legislation by the General Assembly: (a.) That the war be speedily and completely wound up. If Government, by the Assembly, is to have a fair chance of success, let it have a fair start. The Assembly will not become more competent, or better disposed for calm and wise legislation, by having first to pass through years of slow and exasperating war. (b.) Representation being, under such a form of government as ours, a necessary security for fair legislation, yet representation of the Native population being at present unattainable, let us do the best we can to supply its place. Before any measure of page 18importance to the Natives is brought forward in the Assembly let a draft of it be published, with the proper explanations, in every district which has accepted our system, and let the people of the district be told that they are at liberty to address the Assembly by petition, and that any objections which they may entertain to such measures will in that way receive full consideration. No course can be less favourable to the peaceful settlement of the country, or the contented acceptance of our legislation, nothing more irritating even to friends and allies, than the sudden announcement that some novel and severe measure has been already passed without any previous intimation to them of what was intended. We shall not create confidence or make friends without openness and, straightforwardness on these matters. (c.) Let no Act of the Assembly affecting land still under Native tenure, or in any way especially affecting the, Natives in person or in land, be brought into operation until the Government shall have received a notification from the Secretary of State that the Royal assent has been given. Experience shows that every real safeguard against hasty legislation will be a boon to ourselves as well as to the Natives.

Administration of Native Affairs.

• 15. Equally serious is the question as to the administration of Native, affairs. At the best the Assembly can do little more than lay down sound general principles, with an outline of the mode of administering them. In this point of administration lies our great practical difficulty. I have already indicated that which appears to me the only mode of surmounting this difficulty; I will therefore be brief on this point: That for our success we need the continuous and consistent working of some one system for an adequate length of time most men will admit. Can any man, who has watched the present mode of proceeding, see in it any security for the permanance of plans and arrangements, or even for the fulfilment of promises? Supposing a Native Minister to have formed some distinct conception of what ought to be done, his office will soon be transferred to another, who may have other views or none, so short-lived are our Ministers. One of two things must be expected to happen: either the substitution of officers will be left to go on at their own discretion, without aid and without check, or business must stand still until the new man has acquired the requisite knowledge. Such a state of things would be detrimental to the public service even in routine business, but in a business so novel and peculiar as this it may be fatal. With all this delay and uncertainty, projects put forward and never carried out, one expectation after another raised and disappointed, the soreness and distrust of the Natives will remain unallayed, or even increased; many more will come to say, what too many say already, that our plans and proposals to them are maminga—devices to cheat them and gain time.

  Whatever be the outward form or nature of the Native Department there must be somewhere a set of persons intrusted with special functions, and possessed of special knowledge, and empowered to carry out steadily and uninterruptedly some one consistent plan, if we intend to have contentment and peace. A mere theoretical uniformity of the outside of our administration will only screen from view a fact which it will be wiser to recognize. Special circumstances need a special organization to deal with them.

Plan proposed.

• 16. The plan of internal administration for Native districts, which I submitted in the "Notes on the Best Mode of working the Native Lands Act," and which may be established by means of that Act, interferes in no way with the existing institutions of the colony. It lets them work, and lets the Natives gradually and safely take their part in working them. Under it they must become really subjects. They cannot have the benefits of the system without working through the Government, and accepting the authority of the officers of the Government in all matters of business with the English. They will become possessed of the franchise in common with the settlers whom the operation of the Act will introduce. For their own wealth and prosperity, they must become dependent on the presence of the pakeha alongside of them. The only part of the system which will be in any degree independent will be the function of the Native Magistrates in deciding disputes among themselves—an arrangement which has always existed, and which relieves our officers, whilst it tends to satisfy within safe limits the desire of self-government. The Native Council will, if worked in the mode suggested, become simply a Board of Trustees for managing certain property, and appropriating the income amongst the purposes of the trust similar to the many local Boards which already exist in the colony. The natural effect of the measures recommended will be to unite both populations and bring them under one system.

• 17. The Native Lands Act puts into our hands a lever wherewith to move the whole Native population, a means of establishing law and carrying settlement everywhere. If this great power be thrown away or wasted, the mistake will deserve to be classed with the most serious of the mistakes hitherto made; yet we shall waste it if we are content to use it for effecting purchases here and there in detached patches and on no system.

  This boon ought not to be given except on terms clearly expressed beforehand. Nothing can be so reasonable as to require that law shall be accepted and criminals given up in tracts in which we are going to plant our people. The whole history of the colonization of this Island shows the need of this. Much suffering and cost have resulted from the scattering of settlers among populations subject to no control. Therefore, whenever a desire is shown to have the benefit of this Act, that desire should be used as a means of inducing the people of a definite district to come within our system. Our great object should be to facilitate the transfer of their superfluous lands, and to clear those portions which will remain in their ownership of, the perplexities and endless questions which arise amongst a people who have no written rules and no statute of limitations. Several districts might be marked out here in the North, and I presume in the South also, each as large as an English county, in which the people as a whole desire to be one with us, and to have the protection of one system. In some one of these districts let us make a beginning of a system such as has been proposed, and on it concentrate our strength. I use these words in the fullest meaning. It is a necessity for us to use every means of influence to economize our power and combine our efforts towards this end. In such one district, or at the most two, let the plan be tested. If a clearly beneficial-result be exhibited, page 19that result will certainly tell upon the minds of the people throughout the Island, and will gradually dispel distrust and repugnance as surely as the sun's heat removed the wayfaring man's cloak in the old fable.

  If the system we introduce is to have the effect we desire, it must involve the acceptance of definite rules, and a real co-operation on the part of the Natives. To set up a system of nominal local government without such rules practically enforced, and without some exertion and sacrifice on their part, is to keep up a show which throws on the General Government the maximum of cost, and effects the minimum of good.

• 18. There is, I think, no lack of persons qualified for working this system; in fact there were some fourteen months ago in actual service in the Native Department three men who would have been quite sufficient for the Central Board. Two remain; the third, who has left the colony, might possibly be recovered. These three men possessed a large stock of knowledge, local and personal, extending over the northern and central parts of this Island, and each of them enjoyed the respect and confidence of the Natives of certain districts in a high degree. As to subordinate officers, there is a sufficient force, if we will confine ourselves to doing real, work in limited districts, and so bringing one after another effectually within our system. In fact, in the mode proposed, the presence of one able and active man in each district will be all that will be permanently necessary. The gradual settlement of Europeans in the district, which must accompany the working of the Act, will, of course, bring with it a Resident Magistrate, and in due time a District Court. The main part of the purely Native work of the district will be done by the Natives themselves.

Recent Enactments.

• 19. In all this business of bringing the Natives within the operation of the law, it behoves us to be ourselves careful to act according to law, and that the law of England. As long as we are able to say, "This is part of the law of England," we insure a certain degree of acceptance; for 'the-belief is widely entertained among them that our superiority is owing in great measure to the fact that by the act of writing we have been able to preserve and accumulate the experience and wisdom of past generations. They are willing to recognize in the greatness of our nation a proof of the excellence of our laws. But we offer them as a boon the name of English subjects (as we are now doing by the Native Rights Act just passed), and, if they find that in practice for them that name is to mean subjection to hard rules, which no man in England is subject to, they will not be eager to accept our offer. 20. A strong instance of the evil to which I am referring is supplied by the Outlying Districts Police Act, also just passed. From the beginning of our connection with the Natives, the one principle which has been more than all impressed upon them as the distinguishing excellence of the law, not only of England but of all civilized nations, is the principle that crime is to be avenged by smiting the actual offenders, and not by visiting the whole tribe with war: the more advanced among them have learnt to accept it as such.

  The recent enactment embodies the opposite principle. It makes it lawful for the Governor to take land at discretion and appropriate it for purposes of settlement, wherever a supposed criminal is not given up on demand. The demand may be made on rumour or suspicion, for no previous inquiry is required by the Act; all lands alike are made subject to seizure, with only one exception applying to a very rare case. To the Natives this must appear tyrannical. There exists amongst them no organization for the purposes of police, and' any person who may be disposed to apprehend offenders can do so only at the risk of civil war. Is this to be to them the manifestation of our authority and government, to cast on them the very work which we took upon ourselves in the beginning, and to punish them by seizure of land of all alike incase they fail to effect that which we confess to be beyond our own power? Can this appear to them anything but a device for getting land?

  As to the suggestion that there is some English precedent for this enactment, true it is that in old times the inhabitants of a district were under pledge for the peace of the district, and were liable to the extent of a fine to be levied upon the district in case of a person suspected not being forthcoming. Nothing like the present enactment has proceeded from the Parliament of England, so far as I know, even in the worst times. The circumstances attending the passing of this Act were singular. Misgivings as to the probable effect of the measure were strongly expressed on all sides. I do not learn that any one member gave it a cordial support; but it was a Ministerial measure, and at that time the Opposition were not willing to give the Ministry any ground for resigning.

  Amongst ourselves of late years much has been said of the necessity of keeping questions of crime apart from questions of land. This seemed to be one of the few points upon which men of all ways of thinking had come to an agreement; but all our experience is now put aside.

  The new enactment affords a striking instance of the mode in which measures, which are at first defended only as exceptional, come to be extended to entirely different cases. The seizing of the land of innocent men for the offences of others whom they could not restrain and did not aid, was recently justified, in the discussions on the New Zealand Settlements Act, only as being a consequence of war. It is now attempted to make it a part of the ordinary and permanent law, and this too at the very time when the principle is abandoned in the practical working of the original enactment.

• 21. Another instance is found in an Act passed in the session of 1864, intituled "An Act enabling Land, to be taken for Roads and other Public Purposes through Native and other Districts of the Colony" (13th December, 1864, No. 5). The effect of this enactment is to assert a general authority to take land for roads, &c, at the discretion of the Government, whenever and wherever the Government may see fit. The ordinary English provisions for securing a safe exercise of this power in each particular case are omitted, and resistance to such taking is made a ground for taking more, and for applying to the case the provisions of the New Zealand Settlements Act, which in this case also are to be made a permanent part of the law of the colony.

  Thus within twelve months two Acts have been passed which, if they should actually remain as law, would leave to scarcely any Maori in the country any security for the retention of an acre of his land. To these enactments the objections which were urged by the Secretary of State against the page 20New Zealand Settlements Act apply in their full force. In consequence of these objections, it was enacted in the session of 1864 that the New Zealand Settlements Act should continue in operation until the 3rd December, 1865. In the session of 1865 the Outlying Districts Police Act was passed, by which, the extraordinary powers given by the former Act are in fact revived and greatly extended; for by the former Act the power of taking land for settlement is to be exercised only in cases where at least "a considerable number of persons shall have been engaged in rebellion against Her Majesty's authority;" whereas, under the new Act, it suffices that a single person be supposed to have committed a crime, or that a single suspected criminal be supposed to be concealed in any district.

Summary.

• 22. Thus, Sir, in this letter and the previous communication taken together, I have drawn the outline of a plan by which we may hope to arrive at a better state of things. I should have no heart for entering so fully into the subject if I did not believe the way to be still open. There is no reason for desponding about this people, but great reason for changing our mode of handling them. We have tried force, we have tried diplomacy, we have tried money. Whenever we resort to a sound and consistent policy, clearly and openly laid down, and steadily acted upon for an adequate time, then we shall succeed. We have abundant resources and means of influence if only they be used aright. The Maori population is to be rendered contented and peaceable by the same influences as other populations.

• 23. There is even much to favour the undertaking in the present state of men's minds on both sides. It is now becoming manifest to the leaders of the Maori race that the scheme of separate government for themselves cannot succeed. Many of them are even now slowly receding from it What is now wanted is something to reassure them that it is safe to trust us, and this must be derived from some exhibition of moderation and generosity on our part in winding up the war, and from the gradual establishment of a beneficial system for the future.

  On the part of the settlers at large there is no hindrance now to the establishment of a just and well-considered plan. As a body they did not desire the resumption of hostilities, though the war of course became popular for a season. They are now returning, according to the wont of Englishmen, to a cooler view of things. The Maoris have won respect by their manliness in standing up in defence of their nationality against immense odds. It is now seen that the peace of this Island can be kept only by the aid of the Natives themselves. The great body of intelligent settlers are disposed to support a fair and equal system in Native matters.

  Of the particular plan here suggested, the details must be gradually worked out and modified by experience, and after many conferences with Natives. It appears to me to open to the Home Government a way of escape from the pressure of obligation towards the Native people which that Government knows not how to discharge, yet cannot honourably abandon. Along with the gradual extension of the system, the Home interference and control would be gradually withdrawn. I am bold enough to believe that under the operation of such a system, steadily continued, this Island—even the minds of its Native inhabitants—may be in less than twenty years subdued, and that by a process beneficial to every man of both races.

• 24. The foregoing may be summed up in the following reccommendations, which are to be taken in connection with those appended to the "Notes on the Native Lands Act:" (1) That the war be brought to an end speedily, and that on terms of cession of land, instead of mere seizure; (2) that, until the Natives be represented in the Assembly, no Bill affecting the Natives be brought forward until a draft of it shall have been published in every district which has accepted our system, and a reasonable time given for petitioning the Assembly on the subject; (3) that no Act affecting land under Native tenure, or in any way specially affecting the Natives, be brought into operation until the Royal assent has been given and duly notified in the colony; (4) that the Public Works Lands Act and the Outlying Districts Police Act be not brought into operation.

  I beg, Sir, to submit these suggestions to the consideration of the Government. I also beg that a copy of this letter, together with my letter dated 18th July last, and the accompanying "Notes on the Best Mode of working the Native Lands Act," may be forwarded to the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies.