fully, " If it be true," he says of data on which his conclusion is based, and again his opinion on this point is evidently modified in the paragraph in which he alludes to conduct " which under ordinary circumstances would be incompatible with the dignity of the Crown," nevertheless on the whole it may be said that the Duke does not approve of a course of action which has unfortunately involved, or appeared to involve heavy expenditure on the part of the home Government. I could not indeed hope that the Duke of Newcastle, writing as an English minister, should applaud the wisdom of a policy which must to him appear as the immediate cause of that expense. Now, I have not thought it necessary to allude to this point in the resolutions which I have proposed. I believe that there are in this assembly a considerable number (though as I think, a very decided minority) of members, who hold in that respect views more or less in unison with those of the Duke of Newcastle, and I do not think it advisable that the unanimity which I hope to attain upon the main question, should be endangered by the introduction of a secondary issue. For my own part, I am of the same opinion that I have always been. In my eyes the Waitara war was not only necessary and inevitable, due regard being had to the maintenance of the authority of the Crown, and the rights of the weaker natives; but for that very reason also right in policy, and if the same circumstances were to occur again, I would take the same course again. (Cheers.) I do say, Sir, that difficulties, gross and foul in our way, that no human foresight could have conceived. Who could have supposed that Colonel Gold with a thousand men, soldiers and volunteers, would be foiled, even in the open country by a few hundred natives. It was such misfortunes as these that marred what would have resulted in the greatest possible advantage to both races. Had the forces been in the hands of a man of ordinary capability; I firmly believe that hundreds of thousands, nay millions of pounds; and hundreds, I fear I may say thousands, of lives, would have been saved to England and to the Colony. (Hear, hear.) And that three years ago the relations between the two races might have been put into a position towards which we are now wading through prodigal expenditure of blood and money. Therefore my opinion of the policy which I then supported, is unchanged by the accident of its success not having fulfilled my first expectations, but as I imagine that there are very few such phenomena to be found in the military world as Colonel Gold, so I believe that it might have been tried again and again and would have succeeded—that the chances were ten to one in favor of its success. (Hear, hear.) Still I cannot hope that any arguments of this House could be expected to alter the opinions formed on this point by His Grace the Duke of Newcastle. Indeed as by matters of opinion, it seems to me that no amount of disputation ever, as a rule, convinces anybody,

(Mr. Fitzgerald; hear, hear,) consequently I should never be so sanguine as to expect to convince my honorable friend the member for Ellesmere. I assure my hon. friend that I fully believe him to be proof against all argument. (Laughter.) As I have said, I think it quite unnecessary to endeavor to pledge the House on the question of the advisability of the Waitara policy, that is a question of the past, and I am perfectly content to leave it open: but it is otherwise with the other part of the subject. It appears, Sir, to me that his Excellency Governor Sir George Grey has been singularly unfortunate, either in those from whom he obtains his information, or in his mode of obtaining it, or in the form of language in which he endeavours to impart his ideas and information when obtained. (Hear, hear.) I cannot but refer to statements which his Excellency has made, or is reported to have made during the recess, and which to me are simply astounding. I will instance two cases. I remember one speech at or near Otaki in which His Excellency is reported to have spoken of general opposition received by him from Roman Catholic natives, in terms which would convey the idea that the Catholic natives were leaders of the King movement and of the insurrection; now every honorable member who knows anything whatsoever of the matter is aware that such an impression would be absolutely at variance with the real facts of the case. (Hear, hear, and assent from Mr. Dillon Bell late minister for native affairs.) We know that the chiefs of the insurrection are chiefly Church of England and other non-Roman Catholic natives. (Hear.) Then there was another statement which at the time struck me as an exceedingly remarkable one, and at which indeed the whole Colony stood aghast with surprise, for our attention was particularly drawn to the province of Taranaki and we were open-eyed with anxiety to see what the Governor would do when he arrived there, furnished by the Colonial Assembly with funds, backed by its resolutions, with every power at his disposal that the liberality of the Home Government could bestow. What would he say to those settlers of Taranaki who with unparalleled courage and constancy, had for a period of three years supported without flinching, sufferings, difficulties, and dangers which might have daunted any less determined or less energetic body of men, even of our own race, still more of any less determined or less energetic race than British Colonials. What did his Excellency say to those men? Why the first thing that we heard was that a deputation from them had waited on the Governor, and we heard too, (with feelings which I almost hesitate to describe, lest I might be led unwittingly to trespass on that respect which we all feel is due to the representative of the Crown) we heard Sir, that his Excellency had absolutely stated to that deputation, representing a body of men whose difficulties had been one of the causes of his mission to this country, that he was not aware of the state of suffering...