No. 3.
Copy of letter from William Fox, Esq., Resident Agent for the New Zealand [gap — reason: damage] Company at Nelson, to Colonel Wakefield.

Sir,—

Having considered it my duty to take certain steps, with the view of checking the aggressions of a party of Natives in this settlement, and having done so in opposition to the express injunction of the Police Magistrate, and in contravention of the policy by which the Local Government appears to be actuated in all its transactions with the Aborigines, I hasten to give you a circumstantial account of my proceedings.

In the plan of this settlement, as agreed upon by Mr. Commissioner Spain at the sitting of the Land Claims Court, held here in August last (a copy of which signed by the Commissioner, Mr. Protector Clarke, and myself, on behalf of the Company, is in my possession), a small valley of four or five hundred acres, distant about 10 miles from the Town of Nelson, is included in the Suburban North district, embracing Sections 24 and 39 on the Surveyor's plan of accomodation lands. No part of the land allotted to the Company in this Valley was occupied or cultivated by the Natives at the period of the formation of the settlement, nor has been at any subsequent time, nor do they occupy any at a less distance than about five miles, at which distance, further north from Nelson, they have a pah on the sea coast, at a place called Wakapuaka. The Chief of this pah is Paramatta, Who was many years in slavery to Tuawaiki, of Otago. When the Commissioner held his Court in Nelson, Paramatta attended, and received a large portion of the money distributed for himself and his tribe, in the course of which transaction, he displayed the faithlessness of the New Zealander, by a fraud which he attempted to practise on his people, by having a portion of the goods which were purchased with the distributed money secretly kept back for himself. He also excited much indignation amongst the other Natives in Blind Bay, by pretending a right to the Waimea district, his claim to which they all concurred in asserting was a mere fabrication, and unheard of till then.

After receiving his share of "utu," he returned to his pah, and several settlers proceeded to occupy sections and to graze cattle and sheep in the valley referred to. Paramatta, or his men, told some of these that they were right in so doing, that the land was the white man's, and that they should not be disturbed. About a month ago, however, Paramatta crossed the Strait on a visit to some of the Waikato tribes, in company with a few of whom and some of his own people he returned here on Tuesday the 15th current. He landed between Nelson and the Valley, and immediately proceeded to the latter where he commenced his aggressions on the settlers, warning them off the land, and threatening to destroy their houses and themselves if they did not quit.

After many alarming menaces he left the Valley, and returned to the farm of Mr. F. Jollie (nearer Nelson), where he and his party endangered the crops and buildings by their fires, and also threatened Mr. Jollie as they had done the settlers in the Valley.

On the following day a complaint was made by the disturbed settlers to the Police Magistrate of Nelson, who with his clerk and Interpreter, Mr. Tinline, proceeded to the Valley, where they had an interview with Paramatta. The latter denied having sold the Valley, assaulted Mr. Tinline and Mr. Jollie, and told the Police Magistrate and his Interpreter that ho would serve them as Rauperaha had served Messrs. Thompson and Brooks at the Wairau. Eventually, however, he promised to be quiet for a fortnight, in order that the Magistrate might produce evidence of the sale and Commissioner's award, but if he failed in doing so, Paramatta declared he would drive off the settlers.

The Police Magistrate returned to Nelson, and Paramatta, the following morning, re-commenced page 269his aggressions. He broke into the house of a settler named Graham, robbed him of some flour, and told him he would return on the following Monday and burn all down. He then destroyed a stockyard and burnt a quantity of hurdles and shingles belonging to other parties, and returned to his pah.

These renewed aggressions being reported in Nelson, considerable feeling was excited, and on Saturday afternoon (18th current), the Police Magistrate called a public meeting over which he presided, and at which were present, Dr. Monro, J.P., Mr. Vallé, J.P., and several leading settlers. It was proposed by the Police Magistrate, and finally agreed to, that he should proceed on the following Monday to the Valley, with the plan settled by the Commissioner before referred to, and warn Paramatta against future aggression; the Police Magistrate stipulating that he should be accompanied by an armed and volunteer force.

On the following evening (Sunday), a meeting of the above-named three Magistrates was held after which the Police Magistrate announced to the public that his intention was changed, and that he would take no step towards checking Paramatta, except writing to him to come to Nelson to see the plan, and sending to Wellington to request Major Richmond to afford military assistance.

This resolution, it afterwards appeared, was not concurred in by Dr. Monro, and at a private interview which I had with the Magistrates, I informed them that I could not acquiesce in the decision they had come to, and should consider it my duty to maintain the settlers in possession of the land by whatever means I might think most expedient.

The following morning (Monday), a public meeting was held, when it was determined that Mr. Stephens, the Company's Principal Surveyor, should proceed to the Valley and cut a broad line across it, in exact accordance with the Commissioner's plan; that Paramatta should be requested to inspect this line, and warned against disturbing settlers within it; and, lastly, as Mr. Stephens would probably be prevented by the Natives from cutting the line if alone, that he should be accompanied by a well armed Volunteer force, who should remain with him till his work was done. A number of respectable settlers, including Dr. Monro, J.P., immediately volunteered, and, at their request, I consented to take the command of the party and the responsibility of the necessary arrangements. The rest of this day was spent in making preparations, and in the evening an armed muster was held, at which a notice, issued by the Police Magistrate, forbidding our proceedings, was read by the Chief Constable.

On the following morning (Tuesday, 21st January), the party proceeded to the Valley, to the number of upwards of eighty, about one-third of whom were settlers of the upper class, and the whole armed with weapons and ammunition whose order had been carefully tested over night. On arriving in the Valley, Mr. Stephens proceeded to cut the line; to which no obstacle opposed itself, the Natives having heard of our [gap — reason: damage]ster, and withdrawn from the Valley.

On the previous evening, the Rev. Messrs. Reay and Butt, the resident clergymen of the Episcopal Church, and Missionaries, had volunteered to proceed to Paramatta's pah by water, for the purpose of endeavoring to pursuade him to come to the Valley to see the line cut, and offering him safe conduct there and back. They found him very sulky and obstinate. He treated the Commissioner's award as a concerted fraud, in which the Protector had taken part, and as a proof of it, he urged the cases which had been reported to him on the other side of the Strait, where the Commissioner's award had been set aside, and the Natives affected by it received additional money from the Governor. He declined coming to the Valley or to Nelson, in accordance with the Police Magistrate's requisition which he had received. Mr. Reay, finding him obstinate, left him, and met us in the Valley shortly after our arrival in it, when he communicated the substance of the above.

It was then proposed to visit Paramatta at his pah, to show him the plan and caution him, but Mr. Reay declined to act as the guide of an armed party, and, no one knowing the road, which was through a thick bush and understood to be difficult, the proposal was abandoned; and Mr. Reay returned alone, carrying with him the plan and some printed notices in the Native language (into which they had been translated by the Rev. Mr. Butt) by which I gave Paramatta notice that "I had cut the line, and that if he gave any more trouble to the settlers I would come with many white men and bring him to Nelson to be tried by the Queen's laws."

On reaching the pah, Mr. Reay produced the plan and notices which, however, Paramatta would not look at, but they were inspected and read by the other Natives, among whom were several from Massacre Bay, who had arrived during Mr. Reay's absence. Paramatta repeated his assertions about the plan being a fraud, and the disallowance of the Commissioner's award on the other side of the Strait. Three young natives had accompanied Mr. Reay, and, on their return, gave an exaggerated account of our force telling their fellows that we were 1000 strong, a mis-statement which will probably tend to increase the effect of our demonstration.

Our party returned to Nelson in the evening, having been 12 hours under arms, in a very hot day, during which they behaved in an extremely orderly manner. Before their dismissal the nucleus of a permanent volunteer force was formed, which will, I believe, be very generally joined, the late alarm having brought forcibly before the minds of the settlers the unprotected condition in which they are.

Since the Governor and Council have distinctly declined acting in obedience to Lord Stanley's recent instructions to embody a militia, the settlers see that they must take steps to afford themselves that protection which Government denies them; and I cannot help feeling that it is my duty to assist them, as far as possible in a proceeding so necessary and so much in accordance with the wishes of the Home Government, even though it may place me in opposition to the local authorities.

Aggressions such as these above recorded are of too serious a character to be trifled with, and I am satisfied that it is only by our facing the aggressors on their first appearance that we can hope to check them. This outbreak of Paramatta's is the first we have been subjected to since the Commissioner's award, and I believe that the promptitude with which the settlers have met his attempt to extort further payments (for that is his sole object), will go far to prevent a recurrence of such annoyances in this settlement. The movement has also had a visible effect in inspiring confidence in the settlers, many of whom by the unhappy result of the Wairau, and the continually page 270recurring reports of unchecked Native aggression in the Northern Island, had acquired a feeling of awe for the Aborigines, which I do not believe that their real prowess by any means justifies.

The few expenses attending the expedition have been borne by voluntary subscription. Hoping that the course I have pursued will meet with your approbation.