Friend Tawhiao—I have been requested by His Excellency the Governor to transmit for your information copy of a despatch he has received from the Right Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies in reference to a letter from yourself. Enough.—From your loving friend,
John Ballance. Enclosure.—Despatch No. 7, of the 2nd February 1886.
Copy of Resolutions
The Resolutions herein written were confirmed by the chiefs and hapus assembled at Whatiwhatihoe on this 4th day of April, in the year 1886.
1. That the Treaty of Waitangi shall continue in force, by which the authority (mana) of the chiefs of the Maori people was assured to them, and which also confirms and guarantees Maori people the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession and control of their lands, and declares that the Maori people shall be maintained in their rights.
2. That the powers conferred by the Act of the year 1852 should be maintained—viz. that a council or councils should be set up, and invested with power and full authority, and that it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to authorise such councils.
3. That the Maori people of Ao-tea-roa (New Zealand) shall act together under the law above mentioned.
4. That the Maori committees, authorised by the laws above referred to, shall be zealous in the performance of their duties.
5. That no wrong proceedings or operations of the Government towards the Maori people shall be sanctioned.
6. That the Native Land Courts Act should be repealed, and that it be left to the Maoris themselves to adjudicate on their own lands.