Did you flog him?
- His Shipmates came up, and we let him off with a Promise to do it themselves if he did not return to his Duty; we armed ourselves with Authority to act if it became necessary.
Did you know Mr. P——————— there?
- I did not know him there.
Did you know him anywhere?
- Yes, very well.
Where did you know him?
- In New South Wales.
Should you think that he ought to be designated as a respectable Man?
- I am in possession of One or Two Facts of my own Knowledge which would make me disbelieve him on his Oath under any Circumstances.
Are you aware that the Mr. P——————— of whom you speak has been examined before the Committee?
- I have understood so; his Initials are J.S.P. I know his Brother.
You did not go to the Bay of Islands?
- No.
Did you visit any of the Schools under the Care of the Wesleyan Missionaries?
- I did, several. The Children are generally taught as far as they are able to go, and as the Missionaries Time will admit.
Do you think those Children were intelligent Children, taking them as a Body?
- To as great an Extent as any Children I ever saw anywhere.
Can many of them already read and write?
- I think their Power of Acquisition is greater than our own, almost. I had the indirect Care of Two New Zealand Children in England for some Time. The Persons with whom they were placed have formed the same Opinion of them. They have been placed with Children of the same Age in Schools here.
Are they in this Country now?
- One is dead, and the other has returned to New South Wales.
Do you know whether the Natives in the Neighbourhood of the Place where you were, who were under the Care of the Missionaries, were very eager to obtain Religious Instruction?
- To an amazing Extent. I was present when a Deputation of, I think, Eight came from Taranaki in the Neighbourhood of Cape Egmont. Some Missionaries had been with them, and had been withdrawn by an Arrangement with the Church Missionary Society; they had just come to a preliminary Arrangement then. From the Wars interfering with the Arrangements of the Church Missionary Society, they had been left to their own Resources. With this limited Religious Information they had however kept up the Observance of the Sabbath and their other Religious Services as far as they could, and their Object in coming to Hokianga was to beg and pray that a Missionary might be sent to them forthwith.
Are there any native Missionaries of the Wesleyans there?
- I saw Five or Six, who frequently addressed the Natives in their own Language; and it is customary in all their Villages, however small, for the Chief of the Village to read a Portion of the Liturgy of the Church every Night and Morning. They assemble at Daylight; and always the last Thing at Night before they go to rest they are called together, and I think I may say, unless kept back by serious Illness, they are invariably present. I have spent Nights among them; I have slept in the Chapels where the Services are held. On those Occasions generally the officiating Persons among the Natives are the Chiefs of the Village. They are intelligent Men.
Can they read?
- The great Majority can.
