(72)

That your Memorialists have been still more
surprised at the information that your Ex-
cellency's decision has been influenced by a
belief that your Memorialists are persons re-
ferred to in Captain Fitz Roy's despatch to
Lord Stanley, dated, the 14th October 1844,
and published by order of the House of Com-
mons in June 1845 :-

That your Memorialists are only just now
aware of the existence of that Despatch, and
of the view which your Excellency has taken
of the same:-

That each of your Memorialists takes this,
the earliest opportunity of most unequivo-
cally declaring that he did not at the time
mentioned in the despatch referred to, or in-
deed at any other time, excite the natives on
the subject of the Crown's right of pre-emp-
tion:-that he neither subscribed himself, nor
was he aware that any other person ever sub-
scribed any sum whatever "as a reward for
whomsoever should do most towards stirring
up and informing the natives how to act to-
gether on this subject;" and further each of
your Memorialists declares that it was not his
intention (nor is he aware of such intention
having existed on the part of any other per-
son) to agitate in the northern parts of the
Country, during the Governor's absence in
the Southern, "in order that on his Excellency's
return, he might find the stream of popular
feeling too strong to oppose effectually :"-

Your Memorialists trust that this unequivo-
cal denial, will at least as regards themselves,
satisfy Your Excellency of the groundlessness
of the statements contained in the above men-
tioned Despatch : but should your Excellency
entertain a shadow of a doubt as to the accu-
racy of your Memorialists declaration, they
entreat the institution of such an investiga-
tion as may be sufficient to satisfy Your Excel-
lency of their truth :-

And Your Memorialists pray that Your
Excellency feeling the injustice of dealing with
their property, on an assumption of the truth
of that which is undeniably incorrect, will in
conformity with the Secretary of States per-
mission, grant to your Memorialists that title
to their lands, which was promised to those
who purchased under the authority of the
Proclamation of the 10th of October, 1844.

And Your Memorialists will ever pray.

(Signed)

Daniel Lorrigan, William Goodfellow, Chas.
Ring, P. Lundon, Thomas Henderson, T.
Russell, Henry McCan, William Gamble,
Charles Robinson, Benjamin Smith, William
Harkin, Robert White, Joseph May, Henry
Hayr, Adam Chisholm, Thomas Shepherd,
Henry R. Cretway, Isaac Merrick, Edward
Foley, W. Cleghorn, George Buckingham,
G. O. Ormsby, Frederick Whitaker, Frede-
rick S. Peppercorne, C. Fulton, Theophilus
Heale, William Williamson, William Wil-
liams, John Brigham, John L. Heyd'n,
Thomas Somerville, Daniel Lynch, Thomas
Henry, John Oakes, William Smithson, T.
McDonald, James C. Hill, Francis Ring,

James Harris, W. Hart, Clement Partridge,
J. A. Langford, George Willson, Thomas
Jackson, P. Donovan.

Reply of His Excellency to the foregoing
Memorial.

Government House,
Auckland, September 30th, 1846.

GENTLEMEN,-It is very gratifying to me
to receive so distinct a declaration from a por-
tion of the inhabitants of Auckland and its
vicinity, that they have not, at any time, ex-
cited the Natives upon the subject of the
Crown's Right of Pre-emption; but it is ne-
vertheless my duty to take this opportunity of
publicly reiterating the complaints of my pre-
decessor, by stating that during the period I
have administered the Government of this
Colony, most improper attempts have been
made to induce the Natives to dispose of
lands (to which, I believe, their title was
doubtful) without any reference to the Rights
of the Crown, and the present and future in-
terests of the inhabitants of this portion of
Her Majesty's Possessions.

I am fully satisfied that the great majority
of the inhabitants of this portion of New
Zealand will in no way connect themselves
with proceedings, which, looking to the fear-
ful calamities they must eventually entail upon
Her Majesty's subjects of both races, cannot
but be viewed with horror by the whole civil-
ized world. I request them to lend me every
assistance in their power for the suppression of
such attempts, and they may rely that I, upon
my part, will omit no means within my reach
of promoting their prosperity and happiness.

The terms of the Government Notice of
which the Memorialists complain, were pre-
pared with great care, and with the advice and
consent of my Executive Council. They are
in strict conformity with the Instructions of
Her Majesty's Government; and I am aware
that that Notice afforded the most unqualified
satisfaction to the vast majority of the Queen's
subjects within this territory. My duty will
not, therefore, permit me to depart from, or in
any way to vary its terms; and I can give you
no further assurance upon this subject, than
that I will spare no exertion to arrange your
claims in such a manner as to render the
greatest amount of substantial justice to the
many and conflicting interests involved in
them.

(Signed) G. GREY,
Governor and Commander-in-Chief.

To F. Whitaker, Esq., Chairman,
and the Gentlemen composing
the Deputation.

Auckland:-Printed by JOHN WILLIAMSON, for the
New Zealand Government.