Par. 9.

The assertions here made cannot be admitted. The quarrel is in its origin and nature a land quarrel. To the Maories, it is not even now a question of Sovereignty in Mr. Richmond's sense. I believe there are very few (if any) amongst them, who think it possible page 31 or desirable to overthrow the Queen's Sovereignty and to establish one of their own. To them it is an intensely practical matter. The people of the Waitara resisted because they saw the soldiers take possession of the land. That which draws others into the quarrel is the belief that if the present proceeding of the Government shall succeed, the like will be attempted elsewhere, and they will have no security for their lands or their lives. There can be no clear understanding of the present state of affairs unless we distinguish between two things which are often confounded in official papers, the British Government and the Colonial Government. Even yet the great mass of the Native population is disposed to trust to the justice of the British Government, but I fear there are few who are disposed to trust to the justice of the present Colonial Government.