sustained every possible injury from the wantonness of the natives. The settler, on recovering his land, will find it in a condition to require the immediate application of a large amount of labour and capital to rebuild his dwelling and offices, to repair and renew fences, and, worst of all, to eradicate the Scotch Thistle, which 12 months of abandonment would have spread throughout the country. The stock in which the bush farmers almost exclusively, and the fern farmer to a great extent relied, no longer exists in some districts, and in all has greatly diminished: for many months the insurgents have been living on our sheep and cattle, and they have destroyed in wantonness many more than they have eaten. A few of the largest oxen and the tamest of the cows, and many horses, have been carried away. These may some day be recovered, but they form but a small proportion of the loss. In addition to these drains upon the stock, another and heavier still existed. When the war came on the settlers were unable to bring a large proportion of their crops into town, and many were compelled to fly from their homes without saving even clothes and furniture. These people, whose whole capital was invested in their farms, had no reserve on which to support their families, except their stock which ran at large through the country, and which was driven in herds from time to time by friendly natives; and sold for present support to the Commissariat butcher. The stock which remains consists, therefore, of the young animals and the very old; those which the butcher rejected and the natives disregarded.

The settlers, as a body, have not profited by the large Commissariat expenditure. A few publicans and storekeepers, and the owners of working oxen who have been fortunate enough to let their teams to the Commissariat, have derived large gains, but the country settlers as a mass have nothing left but their bare lands, and the few stock running on them, and but too many farms are burthened with heavy mortgages.

Such is briefly the condition of the Taranaki settlers at this time, and referring to the terms of the resolution appended to your letter, I beg to suggest that the best means of aiding them would be to forward subscriptions to the account of the Taranaki General Relief Fund standing in the names of the Colonial Treasurer and the Provincial Treasurer of Taranaki at Auckland. This fund is to be expended at the close of the war under the sanction of the General Government, which will be a guarantee to the public for its proper distribution.

I have, &c.,

(Signed) G. Cutfield,
Superintendent.

E. D. Sweet, Esq.,
King William Street,
London.

Provincial Secretary’s Office,
New Plymouth, 13th April, 1861.

GENTLEMEN.—Some misconception has arisen in the Colony with regard to the letters of the Superintendent of Taranaki to friends in England on the state and prospects of our people. It appears that a subscription list was opened in London and withdrawn again, in consequence partly of the great distress at home, and partly of the impression that aid was not needed. Though the Superintendent has not moved himself to obtain assistance from our friends, the great promptitude of many of them having anticipated any motion he might otherwise have made, and the Colonial Government have accepted the general charge of present aid to necessitous persons, yet he would be to blame if he let the impression continue that we are likely to get through our difficulties without a severe pressure on many settlers. We have no right to calculate on much more help from the Colony at large, which already suffers from the stagnation of trade and increase of liabilities through the war. The land fund of this Province, on which, as a last resource, we hope to fall back, is as yet non-existent; its amount, should it arise, is quite problematical, and it could not be absorbed entirely in the compensation of our losses without great detriment to the progress of the district, and preventing that rapid occupation which we look on as one of the best guarantees for future tranquillity.

Under these circumstances and seeing the uncertainty and delay inseparable from the only mode of relief that seems open in the colony, the help of English friends will be of immediate use at the end of the war and far from superfluous. At the same time the view taken by the Superintendent and Provincial Council here is unchanged, namely, that it is fit to husband our friends’ aid till the return of peace, the General Assembly having unequivocally accepted the present relief of all our wants. A resolution of an Aid Committee at Nelson expresses a different view, but it must be observed that as long as any private sources flow for the present relief of our people, the Colonial Government naturally and as a duty to the Colony holds its hand to a corresponding