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of Sir George Grey's and subsequent Governments. If at any time Ihaia has evinced hostility to the wishes of the Government, he has always been actuated by a sincere desire to serve what he thought to be the cause of the settlers. So careful has he been to avoid injuring the settlers, that, during the late contest at Ikamoana, when his adversaries posted themselves on a settler's farm and surprised him and his followers as they passed along the road, he received their fire and refused to return it until he had retreated out of gunshot of the farm, and thereby lost one of his followers. Your memorialists have no wish to palliate the crime of which Ihaia has been guilty; but when they consider the circumstances which preceded the lawless act, and that it only took place after the Government had for years abandoned all control over the Natives, they cannot but express their opinion that the crime is in some measure shared by the more civilised race, which compelled a rude people to return to their barbarous customs.

Wiremu Kingi, the most prominent of the besieging party, has never been in intimate association with the settlers. He has had commercial relations with them like other Natives, but he has always lived a purely Native life. He has always been a steady opponent of land sales. He arrived here from his retreat at Waikanae with about 500 followers in 1848, in defiance of the threats of Sir George Grey, and located himself on the south bank of Waitara, also in opposition to Sir George Grey's wishes. His influence with the Government has since enabled him to prevent the sale of Ihaia's land, and to his presence in Taranaki may fairly be attributed the difficulties and troubles of the past ten years. His power as a Native chief would be impaired by the civilisation of his followers and their emancipation from barbarous customs. His hatred towards Ihaia is therefore of a most malignant kind. He will listen to no accommodation, for his position will never be consolidated until he has annihilated his opponent and obtained possession of his lands. Many of Wiremu Kingi's adherents would willingly be freed from the peculiar influence he wields by his craft and subtlety; but as they find they cannot break the invisible chain which binds them, without involving themselves in greater anarchy, they still follow his banner as the only resource.

Your memorialists believe that the Government is sincerely anxious to reconcile the contending bodies of Natives, and to restore permanent peace and prosperity to the Province; that the missionaries have exerted their influence to calm the rude passions of the men to whose spiritual welfare they have been devoted; that the settlers have sought by their interference to benefit the Natives, and to secure the cordial cooperation of the two races, in developing the resources of Taranaki: but your memorialists believe, that the efforts of all have not only been fruitless, but that they have increased the difficulties which environ the Natives. Conflicting advice, however well intentioned, can but cause an increase of embarrassment; and the Natives listen now to one opinion, and then to another, until they feel their utter helplessness more keenly. The honor of the Natives is deeply concerned in this feud, they wish to emerge from it without shame, and would hail with joy the intervention of a Government, which could, by the voice of authority, compel them to make peace, and remove with a kindly hand the cause of difference.

That while the Natives are retrograding, from the non-exercise of authority on the part of the Government, the European inhabitants, of whom your memorialists are the representatives, are also suffering from the evils of a partial administration of justice between the two races, arising from the same cause. In population the settlers considerably outnumber the Native inhabitants of the Province. They have exhibited, during many years of severe trial, the most marked deference for law and order, and have relied in all their difficulties on the just claims they possess to the consideration of a Government composed of men of their own race and country. They have borne for many years all the cost of local improvements unaided by the Natives. They have constructed roads and bridged rivers by local rates on land, to which the Natives have not contributed, even when holding property under grants from the Crown. They have striven to eradicate the Scotch Thistle by the imposition of heavy penalties on members of their own race, and have expended considerable sums in extirpating the weed on Native lands. Their cattle are subject to the penalties of trespass if they graze on Native lands, while the cattle of the Natives stray at will with impunity. The local Court strictly enforces the payment of debts from the settlers to the Natives, while the latter, when defendants, are free from its jurisdiction. And generally in the relations of the two races, the colonist performs all the duties necessitated by the wants of a civilised people, and the Natives share in the advantages derived from such performance.

That notwithstanding the deep regard