"Address by the Premier.

"Finally the Premier spoke (interpreted by the Hon. Mr. Carroll). He said ho could scarcely find words in which to express his pleasure at being there that day. This reception more than page 9 repaid him for the distance he had come with their respected chief Topia to meet them. Ho was determined that justice should be done to both races. The course adopted in the past had not been productive of good to the Maori race. He saw there that day only the remnant of a great people now fast passing away. He was there in furtherance of a desire to avert that evil. Next session would be one of the most important, as affecting the Maori race, that had ever been held. It was the desire of the pakeha to preserve the great race that formerly held and owned this country. In the early days, when the Maoris were as numerous as the ferns on the hillside, and the pakehas few and powerless, the Maoris stretched out the hand of fellowship to them. Now that the pakehas were as plentiful as the fern, it was their turn to reciprocate that friendship. This they would do in a practical way. Hitherto the Natives had been parting with their lands in a manner which only tended to impoverish them. He was travelling through the country meeting the Natives face to face, so that they might open their minds to him, and so that they might freely state their wants and wishes. When he had ascertained their minds he would be able to decide what remedy to apply. The best way in which the Government could help them was in respect to their lands, so dealing with these that the Maori might be again placed in the proud position which he occupied when the pakeha first came to the colony. He saw a great many little children, and he wished to observe that this rising generation must be cared for by the Government, because the pledge was solemnly given when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed that the Government would attend to the education of the Native children. If their parents allowed them to go to school and mix with the European children, both races would grow up in peace and harmony, both having a fair share of the soil upon which to live. If they asked that day for a school to be established in their midst he would do his best to accomplish that object for them. Ample land must be reserved for the use of the Natives. A plan might be devised whereby the Europeans could use the surplus lands of the Maoris, and the Maoris themselves and their children be protected against want for all time. If he could take them up in a balloon and pass over the land between there and Hawera he could teach them by an object-lesson what good had been achieved already in this way. The returned confiscated lands had been leased for the Natives. Two years ago they received £7,000 in rentals from these lands, and last year these rentals had risen to £14,000. In conclusion, the Premier alluded to the presence in the Ministry of one of their own race (Mr. Carroll), and said that he himself accepted the position of Native Minister because he recognised the paramount importance of settling the Native question. At present in everything relating to Native matters the motto was 'Taihoa!'—procrastination and delay prevailed everywhere. Both Natives and Europeans were like the lion enmeshed in the net, and he hoped to be the mouse that would liberate the lion from its toils.

"Shortly after 3 o'clock the oratory came to an end, and Natives and Europeans addressed themselves with sharpened appetites to the very substantial and well-cooked meal of roast pork, boiled potatoes and kumeras, bread, biscuit, and tea.

"When Pipiriki was regained, at 7 o'clock, every one admitted that this day was a day to be marked with a white stone in the calendar of our memories."

That night at Pipiriki the Premier and the Hon. Mr. Carroll discussed the question of establishing a township at Pipiriki and opening a school there for the education of European and Native children. The Natives expressed a strong desire to have this course adopted.

Another important matter discussed the same evening was the obstruction on the Wanganui River by the Natives. Both the Premier and the Hon. Mr. Carroll pointed out to those interested that the proper line to adopt would be to consult the Government, so that a reasonable understanding might be arrived at. The Natives were informed in very plain language that they must not take the law into their own hands, as the country would not tolerate such a line of procedure.

"Next day we reached Ohakune from Pipiriki. Stayed there a night, picked up the Central-line route, and travelled through the Waimarino Block; and for the next three days were travelling from morn till eve on horseback, chiefly through forest. For that space of time we were practically dead to the outer world, and yet it was a pleasant time. For the first four miles our course lay through Rangitane Block, which has a total area of 2,000 acres. The lower end has been taken up in small grazing-runs by settlement associations. The grazing ground is all occupied, and a few of the association settlers are also on land. Then we enter the Waimarino Block proper, and never leave it again until we reach Taumarunui. The portions of this block assigned to the associations from Marton, Bulls, and Wanganui are already settled. The land selected by other associations is now being surveyed.

"About noon we descend by a narrow shelf of road to the depths of a steep ravine, at the foot of which stands Makatuke Bridge, comprising three 63ft. and five 20ft. spans. This bridge was erected at a cost of about £2,000 in a place where it was never required, and now is familiarly known as Rochfort's Polly. At Seaton's camp, in the heart of the bush, we stop for lunch, finding our dessert in konini berries, which we pluck from trees growing about the clearing. Our road abounds in bog-holes, and is thickly interlaced in places with the roots of trees, and occasionally the trunk of some large tree which had fallen right across the track obliged us to make a deviation page 10 by scrambling as best we could through dense bush. After traversing the forest for sixteen miles we enter with feelings of relief upon the Waimarino Plains, with Ruapehu glittering in its snowy mantle close to our left. A canter of six miles over the sandy undulating plains brings us at 4.30 p.m. to our resting-place for the night, an untenanted Government whare on the very margin of the forest. Our whare is a veritable lodge in the wilderness, and we feel more than ever out of the world, but wonderfully reconciled withal to our solitude. Every man has to prepare his own bed, and we are very soon busily at work cutting down wiwi rushes and fern scrub to pile up on our wooden bunks. We breakfast before 8 next morning, and ten minutes afterwards are in the saddle, briskly picking our way across the plain towards the forest. After we were well into the bush we passed through a forest of totara fully five miles in length. It is said to be about the finest totara bush in the Island. It certainly introduces us to the most charming bush scenery we have yet passed through. We had travelled twenty-five miles, and the sun was fast waning when we emerged into the open scrub-clad country, and by a sharp descent reached the banks of the Wanganui. We were in Taumarunui district at last, and were not impressed by it. At the Native kainga a short halt was made while Natives welcomed the Premier and Mr. Carroll. Early next morning the meeting with the Natives took place. Here we found Mr. Hursthouse and Mr, Tanner waiting to escort us onwards from that point.

"Next morning we parted company with many regrets from Mr. G. T. Murray, who had piloted the party all the way from Ohingaiti. Nothing was omitted by him that could insure the comfort of the party, and no detail overlooked that was necessary to complete the programme laid down. Before 9 o'clock we were on horseback again, and off to Te Kuiti, in the King-country, fifty-two miles distant. There is a good graded road all the way, and rapid progress therefore was made. We journeyed through the valley of Ongaruhe, along the valley of Ohinemoa to Te Poro-o-Toroa Tunnel, and reached Mokau Railway-station at 6 o'clock. After waiting an hour for the train, we proceed down the line on jiggers to Te Kuiti, nine miles distant. Here Mr. C. Hudson, the District Manager of the Auckland Section, is in waiting to supervise the train arrangements right through to Auckland. At Te Kuiti, Mr. Lang, M.H.R. for Waipa, joined the party, and accompanied us right through the Waikato. He had just returned from a visit to Stratford, and went to the Awakino Settlement, and thence up Ohura Valley to Taumarunui. He was highly impressed with the fine quality of the land about Awakino and Ohura Valley.

"Next day was a busy one. A Native meeting was held at Te Kuiti in the morning, and another at Otorohanga in the afternoon, both immensely satisfactory, and in the evening we went on to Te Awamutu Township.