THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 233

Frederick Baines, Leeds,
Benjamin Scott, F.R.A.S.,
Edmond Beales, M.A., Lincoln's Inn.
Edmund Sturge, Birmingham,
John Lee, LL.D., Hartwell,
Jabez Burns, D.D.,
Joseph Cooper, Lloyds,
John Cropper, Liverpool,
John Hodgkin, Lewes,
Henry Vincent,
Washington Wilkes,
L. A. Chamerovzow,
George Gilfillan, Dundee,
John Cassell,
Arthur Trevelyan,
J. P., Teinholm, Tranent, N.B.,
J. J. Colman, Norwich,
Richard Smith, 7, Highbury Crescent,
F. W. Chesson,
A. K. Isbister, M.A.,
John Epps, M.D.,
Joseph Cowen, Junr., Newcastle-on-
Tyne,
John Mayfield, 300, Holborn,
Francis E. Fox, Tottenham,
Justin M'Carthy,
James Cropper, Kendal,
James Taylor, Junr., Birmingham,
Wilson Armistead Leeds,
William Anderson, LL.D., Glasgow,
Frederick Wheeler, Rochester,
Henry Richardson, Newcastle-on-
Tyne,
Joseph Lupton, Leeds,
Caleb Fletcher, M.D., York.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 4th May, 1864.

MY LORD,—The letter which you and
other noblemen and gentlemen connected
with the Aborigines Society addressed to
His Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.B.,
Governor of this Colony, in January last, has
been referred by His Excellency to his respon-
sible Advisers.

They have submitted their opinions upon
it to His Excellency, in the form of an
Official Memorandum, of which, at His Ex-
cellency's suggestion, they have now the
honour to forward a copy to you, and of
which His Excellency will forward one to
Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State
for the Colonies.

As the letter in which your Lordship and
the other subscribers impugned the policy of
confiscation, which the New Zealand Govern-
ment has adopted, was published by you, at
the date of its transmission to the Colony, in
the London Times, and other newspapers, I
venture respectfully to express a hope that
you will give similar publicity to the enclosed
Memorandum.

I have, &c.,

WILLIAM FOX,
Colonial Secretary.

The Right Hon. Earl Chichester,
22, Grosvenor Place,
London, S.W.

MEMORANDUM FOR HIS EXCELLENCY THE
GOVERNOR.

1. Ministers have received a copy of the
   letter addressed to His Excellency the Go-
   vernor by Lord Chichester and several other
   gentlemen connected with the "Aborigines
   Protection Society" in London relative to the
   war which is now raging in New Zealand
   between the Maoris and "their English
   rulers," on which they beg to make the fol-
   lowing remarks.

2. The only two points in the letter which
   appear to call for any remark are. First, the
   hope expressed that His Excellency the Go-
   vernor "would avail himself of the first favor-
   able opportunity of endeavouring to terminate
   the war by negotiation, and especially that he
   would listen to any overtures of peace which
   any of the natives who have taken up arms
   might make," and secondly, a protest against
   the confiscation of the lands of the rebel
   tribes.

3. With regard to the first of these points,
   Ministers regret to state that down to this
   date, the rebels have not as a body, nor
   have any leading tribes, made the smallest
   overture of peace. At the commencement
   of the present unhappy struggle, they appear
   to have entertained a firm conviction that
   they could drive the Europeans out of the
   island, and they commenced by a desperate
   attack upon Auckland, the seat of Govern-
   ment. Early in the struggle, Thompson, who
   may be regarded as the leader of the rebel
   party, announced in writing under his own
   hand, his determination to carry the war to
   the utmost extremity, not even sparing un-
   armed persons. Acting in this spirit, the
   Maoris threw themselves into the heart of
   the settled districts of the Province of Auck-
   land, murdering and destroying the settlers
   within 17 miles of the town, cutting down
   the Government flagstaff at the Manukau,
   the western harbor of the City of Auckland
   itself, and driving from their farms and home-
   steads a tolerably dense population of agri-
   cultural settlers over a space of some
   twenty miles square. So sudden was
   their onslaught, and so completely did they
   succeed in gettingpossession of the coun-
   try close around Auckland, that it was not
   till after the fall of Rangiriri, five months
   at least after the struggle commenced, that
   they were driven back and routed out of the
   wooded ranges to such an extent that even
   the city and the immediate suburbs of Auck-
   land could be considered safe. Since that
   period they have been driven or escaped from
   one stronghold after another till they have
   been compelled to evacuate the whole of the
   Waikato proper; they have retreated before
   our troops to a distance of 120 miles from
   Auckland, and their main body is understood
   to be broken into two or three sections, the
   principal of which appears to have descended
   upon Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, where
   with the resident rebels of that dis-
   trict, they are again defying the
   British troops and throwing up ag-
   gressive works within a distance of three