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Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 30th May, 1845.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been
pleased to appoint

WILLIAM E. CORMACK, Esquire,
to the Commission of the Peace for the Colony
of New Zealand.

By Command,

ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 30th May, 1845.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been
pleased to direct the publication of the
following Despatches for general information.

By Command,

ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

Auckland, 27th May, 1845.

SIR,-I have the honor of submitting to Your
Excellency a summary of my Military opera-
tions at the Bay of Islands, as detailed in my
Despatches, dated 1st, 7th, 9th, and 12th instant.

The vessels Slains Castle and Velocity, taken
up to convey the Force, under my immediate
command to the Bay of Islands, sailed from
Auckland on the 27th April, and anchored
off Kororareka on the afternoon of the 28th
April, where I was glad to find Her Majesty's
Ship North Star at anchor.-I immediately
consulted with Sir Everard Home, relative to
re-establishing Her Majesty's authority at Koro-
rareka-the Grenadier Company of the 58th
Regiment (as a guard of honor) was landed
about 5 o'clock p. m. the Proclamation was
then read, and the Union Jack, hoisted under a
salute of 21 guns from the North Star-the
yards were then manned, and three cheers from
the party on shore were answered by the seamen
and troops on board the Transports.

In obedience to Your Excellency's instruc-
tions, I prepared to attack the rebel Chiefs and
to destroy their property; and as Pomare was
one of the proscribed Chiefs, and his pah the
most exposed to an attack, the North Star and
Transports got under weigh on the morning of
the 29th April, and proceeded to Otuhu, but
light winds delayed the vessels until midnight,
at which time they anchored off Pomare's pah.

At daylight, I was much surprised to see a
white flag flying in Pomare's pah, but as the
Proclamation only authorized loyal Natives to
shew it, I could not recognize it as an emblem
of peace from a rebel-the troops
commenced disembarking, and when landed, I
sent two Interpreters with a message into the
pah, to desire Pomare to come to me directly;
his answer was, "The Colonel must go to me."
He sent the same answer to a second message.
One of the Interpreters now offered to remain as
a hostage in the pah-this I would not hear of. I
then sent my final message to Pomare, that if

he did not come to me in five minutes, I would
attack his pah; this threat induced Pomare to
come. I had it explained to him that his con-
duct had been very bad-that he must go on
board the North Star, and that he must accom-
pany me to Auckland to account for it, to His
Excellency the Governor.

I preferred proceeding in the manner stated
in preference to hostilities, because I did not
consider that it would add to the reputation of
the British army, or secure the safety of New
Zealand, if a force consisting of three hundred
bayonets attacked an open pah, and defended by
a Chief, with about fifty slaves, whose wife and
children were with him, and who is connected
with almost every powerful Chief in this Island.
I have no hesitation in asserting that, if Pomare
or any member of his family had been killed
that morning, most of the neutral tribes about
Hokianga would have taken up arms against
the Government; and I am not convinced, even
now, that Pomare's death would not have sha-
ken Walker Nene's fidelity to our cause, and
many tribes to the southward would also have
been in arms against us. As far as I could
judge, Pomare did not evince much reluctauce
to go with me on board the North Star-and
during his stay on board of her, he and his
wife and children were treated with much kind-
ness by Sir Everard Home.

It was my intention to advance from Otuhu
in the direction of Kawiti's pah, but my infor-
mation about the country through which my
march lay, was so contradictory, and I must
have acted without the assistance of any loyal
natives, that I decided upon postponing that
movement; and accordingly the troops re-em-
barked, and all the vessels returned to an
anchorage off Kororareka.

I had another motive for so deciding-Para-
tine Rekeao urged me to lose no time in attack-
ing Heke, and by my request he sent a message
to Tamati Waka Nene to visit me on board the
North Star, for I could not undertake a march
of about thirty miles from the Coast, until the
return of H. M. S. Hazard, from Auckland.

On the morning of the 1st instant, Tamati
Waka arrived, and it was on that day finally
arranged that the force should disembark at
Onewero, on the morning of the 3rd instant,
and make two marches to his pah. About noon
on the 3rd instant, the force, consisting of the
small-armed seamen and marines of the North
Star and Hazard, and the troops, in all about
four hundred men, was ready to march; but an
unforeseen obstacle retarded my progress, which
was casually produced, Walker Nene being
unable to produce the number of natives he had
promised me, and whom I required to carry the
spare ammunition, the volunteers from Auck-
land being employed in carrying the hospital
establishment and other articles; and as I had
no alternative, the destruction of the settlement
of Kororareka having placed the means of trans-
port beyond my reach, by being under the vigi-
lence of the rebels, I was obliged to issue spare
ammunition to the extent of thirty rounds to