Page:Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords, appointed to inquire into the present state of the Islands of New Zealand.pdf/107

 Rh Do they ever harbour them in their Families in the Interior?
 * They will allow them to remain for a short Time; not very long; they will allow them to remain Two or Three Days, but not longer, unless they work.

Are there not Instances of disreputable Characters assuming the native Dress, and living among the Natives?
 * I never heard that; they live as bad as the Natives, but I never saw any of them in the native Dress. They live there for the Purpose of Profligacy, a good many of them.

Their Profligacy receives no Check from the Natives?
 * None whatever.

You say that some of the Slaves are better off than their Masters; are you aware whether they have any independent Property?
 * I do not know whether they have, but they appear quite as respectable as their Masters. At one Place where I was the Chief was very badly dressed, and the Slave was very well dressed in the European Style, and his Family; that

was near Waimate.

In what Way did he work?
 * He did not work; he had been a Prisoner taken in War; his Master could compel him to work, but did not. The Women do most of the Work in the Plantations.

Does he dare to leave?
 * He might go about the Neighbourhood, but he does not try to go beyond the District.

Was he free to hire himself to Europeans and receive the Wages himself?
 * Yes.

Could he do so without the Permission of his Master?
 * Yes. I do not speak of Workpeople; but if I wanted a Man to go on a Message, I should take him and pay him.

Suppose you wanted him to cut down a Pine?
 * I should pay him; but he would not continue without the Permission of his Master.

Are they anxious for Instruction in the course of their Service, or not?
 * They are very eager to obtain Information in Reading and Writing.

Are they anxious for Instruction on religious Matters as well as secular?
 * Yes. And though the Bible is not translated into their Language, they know the principal Facts of the Bible, as stated in their Chapels and Schools.

Have they any Feeling of Jealousy of having their Religion interfered with?
 * Not at all. I do not think they have much Regard for their own Religion.

Is there any religious Order amongst them?
 * I think there is a person called a Priest.

Are the Church Missionary Lands held in common, or the particular Property of each?
 * I think the Lands about Karakara were purchased by Mr. Marsden, for the Church Missionary Society; but the other Lands, I think, have been purchased by Individuals. The Missionaries are allowed by the Church Missionary Society so much when a Child becomes Fourteen Years of Age; 100l.; and some of it might be laid out in Land or in Speculation.

Are there any American Missionary Stations there?
 * No.

Are there any Americans residing there?
 * Yes; I met with Two or Three living at Kororarika.

Were they in large Numbers?
 * No.

(123.3.)