had delivered up Aporo and the printing press at once, and had given compensation for the losses sustained by such an outrage, well and good. But Matutaere made himself a party to the robbery. Your talk about Governor Grey’s demand upon Matutaere for the printing press reminds me of Wi Tako’s report to you, in one of his last letters, “that one thousand Europeans had fallen; the payment was twenty-five Waikatos, and that the Waikatos had stationed themselves in the town of Auckland, a letter informed me; this is all the word; let this letter go quickly to all the runangas.” There is just as much truth in Ngairo’s statement about Matutaere and the printing press, as there is in Wi Tako’s story about 1000 Europeans having been killed and Auckland taken by the Waikatos. Ngairo—Is it intended to put down the King movement? Is it not Governor Grey attacking the King? We will all rise, we will defend the King.

The Superintendent—I have already shown you that the King movement has, instead of establishing law, order, and peace, led to war and bloodshed. The King movement must be judged by its fruits; its fruits have been evil; the movement therefore, will and must be put down. I don’t care whether you call yourselves Kingites or Queenites; as long as you remain quiet and peaceable, and obedient to the Queen’s laws, you will be protected; but obey the Queen’s laws you must. Piripi said the killing of the military at Oakura was no murder—that it was fair fighting, and pretended to justify all the outrages at Waikato, and to indulge in threats. Tell Piripi, said the Superintendent to Mr Deighton, that I am sorry to hear him express such opinions, they are simply the sentiments of the men who committed these murders—he is in heart a murderer—a bad man. It is against such bad men that I am taking precautions. I will not reply to such foolish and bad talk. Several other questions were gone into; and a long discussion upon each of them ensued. At 11 o’clock the Superintendent rose to bid them good night, declaring that what he had said he would carry out: that no threats of theirs would in the slightest degree alter his determination. Ngairo at once sprung up and said—In what month do you call out the militia? Superintendent—I have already stated that unless the settlers volunteered I should call out the militia at once. Ngairo—When will you call upon the volunteers? Superintendent—To-morrow. Good-night. The whole meeting at once commenced singing a song, which sounded, if not like hootings and hisses, very much like a yell of defiance; yet a copy of the song was readily given a day or two afterwards to the Superintendent by Matiaha. The impression of the Europeans present at the meeting was that the Kingites meant what they said, mischief—that an immediate rising was intended. The next morning, Friday, the 21st, the Superintendent received a formal notice from the King’s runanga, that the Wairarapa was no longer a sacred district, that the tapu had been removed, and that on the 24th they would begin handling their arms; the notice ended with a song not yet translated. While himself regarding all the threats of the Natives as mere bounce, the Superintendent recognised the defenceless state of the settlers, and the fact that few, if any, coincided in his views as to the feelings and intentions of the Natives; he therefore dispatched a special messenger to Wellington for rifles and ammunition. The messenger started at 8 p.m. on Friday, and the arms applied for were at Greytown early on Sunday morning. On his arrival at Masterton on Friday evening, the Superintendent convened a public meeting of the settlers for the following day at 2 p.m. In spite of the short notice, the school house was crammed. After a brief address from the Superintendent, in which, while expressing his own conviction that there was not at the present time the slightest reason to apprehend a Maori outbreak in any part of this Province, he declared that we were not justified in disregarding the recent threats of the Kingites; and that the time had come when it was expedient to place the settlers in a position to meet any emergency that might possibly arise: he then proceeded to explain that though the Governor had delegated to him the power to call out the militia, either for training or actual service, yet the conditions under which alone he could exercise that power had not been complied with. The Militia Act required that the senior officer of the battalion or company of the district should form a Militia Roll. No militia officers of this district had yet been appointed,—no roll had therefore been prepared, he had consequently no militia to call out, and he therefore called upon them at once to enrol themselves as volunteers. After addresses from Mr V. Smith, Mr Donald, Mr Crayne, Mr Masters, and other settlers, the whole meeting