Report on the Reserve at Te Hakataramea, Waitangi Gorge, promised to Te Warekorari for himself and family.

The population of Te Hakataramea is as follows:—Te Warikorari, m., 50; Tuapuka, f., 40 Their children,—Roiti Pi, f., 15; Taitu, 10; Tomiti, 11; Te Hira, 6; Te Oromene, 3. Betrothed to the two elder boys,—Te Rakiamoa, f., 16, daughter of Karuwai; Tumutu, f., 8, daughter of Te Kihi. One adult son, Ihaia, absent at Sydney.

A reserve of 150 acres at the mouth of Te Hakataramea will suffice for himself and family; and I will, on my next visit, mark out and make a sketch survey of that amount. In the meantime, as the country in his immediate neighbourhood (North Bank) offers little inducement for settlers, even with stock, I have not prohibited the continuance of his cultivation of patches of fertile soil here and there on the low flats and islands of the river. These gardens are mostly in places which no European would think of cultivating at present; and since the southern bank must soon be occupied, I am desirous that the settlers should have at the outset as large a supply of food as the scantiness and (with the honorable exception of Te Warekorari) the laziness of the Native population will permit them to raise.

Te Warekorari's attachment to Europeans and their customs has acquired for him among the Natives the name of "Te Pakeha," by which he is now generally addressed. His conduct since the sale of the country has been in such favourable contrast to that of Huruhuru and the Punaomaru Natives that I would suggest that some trifling present or other mark of His Excellency's approbation would be well bestowed upon him; it would also operate advantageously as a tacit but intelligible censure of the conduct of the latter Natives, whom nothing but the distance and the smallness of the police force has preserved from the consequences of their wanton destruction of the little woods in their neighbourhood. They (especially Huruhuru and Rakitawine) have devoted days to felling trees which they leave to rot upon the ground,—being only actuated by a wish to injure the Government; page 232which, prompted by the Waikouaiti Natives, they blame for an alleged dishonesty of Te Marama. A recurrence of such conduct I shall feel it my duty to punish, however disadvantageous the circumstances under which the prosecution must be conducted. I think it more probable, however, that they will next be heard of in the Middle District; William Harpur (in whose favour a grant, which I find he little merits, is probably now ready for issue,) having incited them to migrate to the Waimatemate wood on the Waihau, whither he is to accompany them.

I have marked my approbation of Te Warekorari's conduct, but what he would most prize would be some proof of that of His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief.