21

secure this object, passed a resolution on the 26th Nov., recommending all subscriptions to be forwarded to the account of the General Relief Fund with the Union Bank of Australia, at Auckland, in the joint names of the Colonial Treasurer and the Provincial Treasurer of Taranaki; the entire fund to be disbursed at the end of the war under the sanction of the General Government.

I trust this information will be sufficient to enable your Committee to decide on the application of the fund in their hands.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) G. CUTFIELD,
Superintendent.

Joseph Brittan, Esq.,
Hon. Sec. Taranaki Aid Committee,
Christchurch.

3, Adelaide Place,
King William Street,
London, 24th January, 1861.

SIR,—I beg to annex herewith copy of a resolution passed by the Committee of the New Zealand Relief Fund at a meeting held on the 15th instant, and I have to request you will be so good (at your earliest convenience) to furnish me with the information required.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) E. D. SWEET,
Chairman.

His Honor
The Superintendent of
Taranaki.

[COPY]
"That the Secretary be requested to put himself in communication with the Superintendents of Taranaki and Nelson, to inform them that a subscription is being raised in England for the relief of the sufferers by the war in New Zealand, and to request the Superintendents to direct the Relief Committees of the Provinces to furnish the fullest information as to the position and wants of the sufferers."

(Signed) E. D. SWEET,
Chairman.

Superintendent’s Office,
New Plymouth, 8th April, 1861.

SIR,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th Jan., annexing a resolution of the New Zealand Relief Fund of London.

The immediate wants of the Taranaki settlers, both here and at Nelson, have hitherto been supplied by funds voted by the General Assembly in the past session, and I have every reason to suppose that the same aid will be continued to the end of the war.

The losses sustained by the almost total destruction of the farms remains yet to be supplied. In the last session of the General Assembly a Committee was appointed to enquire into the condition of the Taranaki colonists, and recommended in its report a vote of a sum not exceeding £25,000 in satisfaction of the settlers’ claims, although the Committee admitted that such amount would at that time have been a very small proportion to the settlers’ claims. The House of Representatives, in discussing the adoption of this report, denied its liability to grant any compensation to the settlers, on the grounds that the war was an Imperial one; that the admission of such a right would form a precedent in the event of another insurrection; and that the means of the Colony were unequal to sustain the heavy burden which such an admission would impose on it, in addition to the cost of arming the whole population, and in providing for increased Militia pay, &c. The House, therefore, voted £25,000 as its contribution towards the relief of the Taranaki settlers.

A general opinion existed in the House that the Taranaki losses ought rightly to fall on the native insurgents, and that the confiscation of a portion of the insurgents’ lands would at the same time provide the necessary funds and be a fitting punishment for their rebellion; but as the Home Government retain the entire control of native affairs, it was not deemed advisable by the House to give public expression to this view. The fund from which the settlers’ losses are to be met is at present composed of the £25,000 already mentioned and a subscribed sum of £1100 in the Union Bank of Australia at Auckland. The Colony will not admit the settlers’ claims; there is no hope of obtaining assistance from the Imperial Government; and in the terms of peace proposed to the Ngatiawa no mention is made of the settlers’ losses, except the solitary condition that they shall return the plunder they have taken. The southern tribes of Taranaki and Ngatiruanui have not yet been treated with, but as in the terms of peace to the Ngatiawa the Governor states that he does not use force for the acquisition of land, I fear there is but little probability of reparation from that quarter.

The extent of the settlers’ losses is at present unknown. It is certain that some 200 homesteads have been burned, and the remainder maltreated in various ways, and that the farms which have been in the insurgents’ hands for many months have