The Story of New Zealand [Vol.II]

Arthur S. Thomson

First published by John Murray in 1859

Digitised and made available online by the University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services.

Epub © 2013 Early New Zealand Books Collection

ISBN 978-1-927288-30-6

[HALFTITLE]

NEW ZEALAND

VOL. II.

LONDON

PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.

NEW-STREET SQUARE

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

STAGE FOR HAKARI OR FEAST GIVEN TO GOVERNOR GREY IN 1849 AT THE BAY OF ISLANDS TO CELEBRATE THE PEACE BETWEEN THE TWO RACES.
FRONTISPIECE, Vol. II (See Vol. I., page 189.)

[TITLE PAGE]

THE STORY
OF
NEW ZEALAND:

PAST AND PRESENT – SAVAGE AND CIVILIZED.

BY ARTHUR S. THOMSON, M.D.,
SURGEON-MAJOR 58TH REGIMENT.

One of Bishop Selwyn's New Zealand Churches.
Vol. II., page 266.

IN TWO VOLUMES. – Vol. II.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1859.
The right of Translation is reserved.

[Page ii is blank]

[CONTENTS]

CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

PART II.

CONTINUED.

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF NEW ZEALAND BY EUROPEANS.

CHAP. V.

COMMENCEMENT OF COLONISATION, 1839 TO 1842.

Proceedings which led to colonisation – Opponents to colonisation. – Reasons against colonisation. – New Zealand Company formed – Company's pioneers sail. – Captain Hobson appointed consul. – Rumour of French colony in New Zealand. – Sovereignty of New Zealand. – Public confidence in Company. – Systematic colonisation. – Prospects of emigrants. – Colonel Wakefield's doings in New Zealand. – Articles given for land. – Settlement at Port Nicholson. – Hobson's arrival in New Zealand. – Treaty of Waitangi – Discussion on treaty. – Sovereignty proclaimed. – Native opinion of treaty. – European opinion of treaty. – Benefit of treaty to natives. – Settlers arrive at Port Nicholson – Injustice of Company's land purchases. – Troops required. – Foundation of Auckland – First sale of crown lands. – Provisional government formed at Wellington. – French occupy Akaroa. – Land claims. – Secrets of land sharking. – Quantity of land awarded. – Charter granted to Company and their land claims. – Illegal purchase of Chatham Islands. – New Zealand an independent colony. – Legislative council. – Wanganui settlement formed. – New Plymouth settlement formed. – Manukau settlement. – Nelson

founded. – Instructions relative to natives. – Disputes between settlers and natives. – At Wellington. – At Wanganui. – In the north. – At New Plymouth. – At Nelson. – Remarks on disputes. – Execution of a native – Lament for. – Effect of execution. – Proposal to bring a cannibal to justice. – Account of cannibalism. – Orders issued to seize Taraia. – Death of Governor Hobson..........Page 3

CHAP. VI.

NEW ZEALAND IN 1842.

Social state of white population.. – Condition of aborigines. – Education, religion, and justice. – Resources of colony. – Revenue and expenditure. – Newspapers. – Poetical description of a cannibal feast.......................59

CHAP. VII.

MR. SHORTLAND'S RULE, SEPTEMBER 1842 TO OCTOBER 1843.

Troops take the field against cannibals. – Right of interference in purely native disputes. – Conflict between settlers and natives in the Wairau. – Place of conflict now sacred. – Effect of conflict on natives. – Effect of conflict on settlers. – Effect in England. – Financial crisis of 1843. – Mr. Shortland's rule..................71

CHAP. VIII.

GOVERNOR FITZROY'S RULE, DECEMBER 1843 TO NOVEMBER 1845.

Arrival of Captain Fitzroy. – Visits Wellington and Nelson. – Rauparaha and Rangihaeata pardoned – Verdict mistaken for weakness. – Concessions to natives. – Law of theft altered. – Alteration in selling land. – Overawing feast. – Award of Commissioner set aside to please natives at Taranaki. – Quarrelsome spirit of natives at Wellington in 1844. – Discontent at the Bay of Islands. – Heke. – Flagstaff cut down. – Atonement for flagstaff. – State of country. – Customs Act repealed. – Flagstaff again cut down. – Destruction of Kororareka. – Panic in Auckland. – War declared. – Customs re-enacted. – Troops take the field. – Seizure of Pomare. – Unsuccessful attack on Okaihau. – Results of conflict. – Oheawai campaign. – Description of Pa. – Attack, repulse, and occupation of Pa. – Results of conflict. – Feeling in England about New Zealand. – State of natives after Oheawai. – Captain Fitzroy's rule......................82

CHAP. IX.

GOVERNOR GREY'S RULE, NOVEMBER 1845 TO DECEMBER 1853.

Arrival of Captain Grey. – State of colony. – Advance against Ruapekapeka.- Description of pa. – Occupation of pa. – Enemy sue for peace. – War at Wellington. – Settlers murdered. – Troops surprised. – Rauparaha made prisoner. – Sensation produced by seizure. – Engagement in the Horokiwi valley. – Prisoner of war executed. – Soldiers and natives make roads. – Disturbances at Wanganui. – Wanganui war. – Peace proclaimed. – Feeling in England on the wars. – Officers rewarded. – Colonial opinion of troops' conduct. – Policy of war. – Usefulness of allies – Native policy modified. – Accusations against missionaries. – Missionary land claims. – Charter granted to colony in 1846. – Charter causes excitement among natives. – Charter suspended. – Rauparaha released. – Settlement of Governor Fitzroy's land questions. – Military settlements formed. – Otago settlement formed. – Earthquake of 1848. – Discovery of gold in California. – English law among natives. – Family of settlers murdered. – Attempt to stop native murders. – Execution of a native by natives. – Peace nearly broken by carrying out English law. – Disturbances from delay in executing English law. – Life and death of Rauparaha. – Canterbury settlement formed. – Settlement at Hawke's Bay. – Class settlements. – New Zealand Company relinquish their charter. – Census of 1851. – Discovery of gold. – Price of crown lands reduced. – Survey of coasts. – Deaths of Heke, Pomare, Kawiti, Taniwha, Rangihaeata. – Constitution of 1852. – General government. – Provincial government. – Municipal governments. – Settlers' opinion of charter. – Provinces, electoral districts proclaimed. – First elections. – Departure of Governor Grey. – Character of rule......................Page 124

CHAP. X.

COLONEL WYNYARD'S RULE, JANUARY 1854 TO SEPTEMBER 1855.

Colonel Wynyard. – Measles break out. – Political condition of colony. – First meeting of General Assembly. – First mixed responsible ministry. – Irresponsible executive conduct affairs. – Cause of failure of mixed responsible ministers. – Two parties in colony. – Native feud at Taranaki. – Settlers oppose the league. – Love of land. – Education of settlers. – Earthquake of 1855. – General Assembly of 1855. – Colonel Wynyard's rule.............................213

CHAP. XI.

GOVERNOR BROWNE'S RULE, OCTOBER 1855 TO JUNE 1859.

Colonel Browne. – Statistics of colony in 1856. – General Assembly of 1856. – Strife for office. – Stafford ministry. – Results of session. – Seat of government. – Colonial press. – Responsible government and natives. – Consistent Christians and Christians. – Maori king. – Arms Act relaxed. – Native feud at Hawke's Bay. – Renewal of native feud at Taranaki. – New Zealand flax. – Gold at Nelson. – Representation of colonies in Parliament. – Church of England in colony. – General Assembly of 1858. – New Provinces bill. – Legislation for natives. – Discovery of coal. – Census of natives. – Comparative progress of provinces. – General progress of colony....................Page 236

PART III.

ON THE DECREASE OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

CHAP. I.

ARE THE NEW ZEALANDERS DECREASING IN NUMBERS?

Disappearance of savages before civilisation. – Proof of decrease among natives. – Causes of decrease. – Inattention to the sick. – Infanticide. – Sterility. – New habits. – New diseases. – Breeding in and in. – Rate of decrease..............283

CHAP. II.

PROGRESS OF CIVILISATION AMONG THE NEW ZEALANDEHS, AND MEANS REQUISITE TO PROMOTE IT.

False and true proofs of civilisation. – Proofs of progressive civilisation. – Measure of progressive civilisation. – Intellectual civilisation. – Imaginary evils of civilisation. – Means requisite to promote civilisation. – Necessity of teaching Christianity and English. – Individualisation of property. – English settlements and roads – Introduction of English law. – Prevention of disease – Amalgamation of races............292

CHAP. III.

HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.

The best colony. – Drawbacks to New Zealand. – Attachment to New Zealand. – The best settlers. – Choice of province. – Season to arrive. – Warning.............Page 308

APPENDIX...........319

BIBLIOGRAPHY........325

[LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS]

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME.

STAGE FOR HAKARI OR FEAST, given to Governor Grey in 1849, at the Bay of Islands, to celebrate the Peace between the two Races, from a Sketch by Mr. Cuthbert Clarke..............frontispiece.

ONE OF BISHOP SELWYN'S NEW ZEALAND CHURCHES, from a Sketch by the Rev. John Kinder............title page.

KERI KERI WATERFALL, NEAR WAITANGI, BAY OF ISLANDS, from a Sketch by Col. Bridge...............to face page 19

HEKE AND HIS WIFE, from a Sketch by Mr. Merritt.............90

KORORAREKA IN 1849, from a Sketch by Col. Bridge..............102

PLAN OF KORORAREKA.........105

ATTACK ON OKAIHAU, from a Sketch by Col. Bridge, 58th Regt.........110

WAIKARI RIVER EXPEDITION, from a Sketch by Col. Bridge...........111

REPULSE OF STORMING PARTY AT OHEAWAI, from a Sketch by Lance-Serjt. J. Williams, 58th Regt.............116

PLAN OF RUAPEKAPEKA........127

NEW ZEALAND GIRL, WITH HER HALF-CASTE NEPHEW AND NIECE, from a Photograph, by Crombie.............306

PART II.

CONTINUED.

HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF NEW ZEALAND BY EUROPEANS.

[Page 2 is blank]

CHAPTER V. COMMENCEMENT OF COLONISATION, 1839 TO 1842.

CHAP. V.

COMMENCEMENT OF COLONISATION, 1839 TO 1842.

Proceedings which led to colonisation. – Opponents to colonisation. – Reasons against colonisation. – New Zealand Company formed – Company's pioneers sail. – Captain Hobson appointed consul. – Rumour of French colony in New Zealand. – Sovereignty of New Zealand. – Public confidence in Company. – Systematic colonisation. – Prospects of emigrants. – Colonel Wakefield's doings in New Zealand. – Articles given for land. – Settlement at Port Nicholson. – Hobson's arrival in New Zealand. – Treaty of Waitangi – Discussion on treaty. – Sovereignty proclaimed. – Native opinion of treaty. – European opinion of treaty.. – Benefit of treaty to natives. – Settlers arrive at Port Nicholson – Injustice of Company's land purchases. – Troops required. – Foundation of Auckland. – First sale of crown lands. – Provisional government formed at Wellington. – French occupy Akaroa.. – Land claims. – Secrets of land sharking. – Quantity of land awarded. – Charter granted to Company and their land claims. – Illegal purchase of Chatham Islands. – New Zealand an independent colony. – Legislative council. – Wanganui settlement formed. – New Plymouth settlement formed. – Manukau settlement. – Nelson founded. – Instructions relative to natives. – Disputes between settlers and natives. – At Wellington. – At Wanganui. – In the north. – At New Plymouth. – At Nelson. – Remarks on disputes. – Execution of a native. – Lament for. – Effect of execution. – Proposal to bring a cannibal to justice. – Account of cannibalism. – Orders issued to seize Taraia. – Death of Governor Hobson.

I HAVE already related how public attention was drawn to New Zealand previously to 1839. It is now requisite to narrate the events which immediately led to the colonisation of the country, as for many years to come these events must form a curious page in its history.

PROCEEDINGS LEADING TO COLONISATION.

To the late John Lambton, first Earl of Durham, and Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, England is chiefly indebted for the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. After the failure of the scheme of 1825, of which Lord Durham was the most influential mover, the formation of a colony in that country was considered hopeless. On several occasions the question was mooted, but those persons to whom it was referred invariably asked, Who would prefer migrating to a country inhabited by cannibals?

In the year 1836 a committee of the House of Commons was inquiring into the condition of the aboriginal inhabitants of colonised countries, and another committee into the best mode of disposing of waste lands in colonies, and on both committees New Zealand was incidentally mentioned as an eligible field for colonisation. This drew Mr. Francis Baring's attention to the country, and in 1837 the New Zealand Association was formed, of which that gentleman was chairman, and Lord Durham senior member of the managing committee. This Association consisted of people intending to emigrate, and of public men, who gave the influence of their names to collect information, and were willing to carry the measure into execution. A volume entitled The British Colonisation of New Zealand was soon afterwards published, and widely circulated. The Association stated that its sole aim was to hasten the systematic colonisation of New Zealand, as the only remedy for the irregular colonisation then going on; to protect the natives, and to induce the government to sell land at 1l. an acre, and not give it away for a few shillings as in other colonies.

Her Majesty's government were at first inclined to

MISSIONARY OPPOSITION.

favour the Association, but after some time a legal difficulty caused the ministers to oppose it. The Association, the secretary of state said, was not a company trading for profit, and on the condition of it becoming such a charter was offered to it. This boon the directors announced they could not accept, having excluded all purposes of private gain from their object. 1

The Association then changed its ground, and attempted to form a colony by another method. This was done by Mr. Baring, who introduced a bill into parliament in 1838 "to establish a provincial government of British Settlements in New Zealand under the control of sixteen commissioners." Meanwhile Lord Durham had assumed the high office of Governor-General of Canada, and Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield accompanied him to that colony, so their influential support to this scheme was lost. Ministers now openly opposed the colonisation of New Zealand, and Mr. Baring's bill, described by Lord Howick as "monstrous," 2 was thrown out of parliament by a large majority.

During these proceedings the British government was guided in its policy towards New Zealand by missionaries. A deputation of the New Zealand Association waited on the great Duke of Wellington, and Mr. Dandeson Coates, the secretary of the Church Missionary Society, to solicit their support. His grace said Great Britain had enough colonies, even although New Zealand might become what the deputation represented, a jewel in England's colonial crown; he promised, however, not to oppose the scheme. Mr. Coates told the deputation he was against the colonisation of New Zealand

REASONS AGAINST COLONISATION.

in any shape, and was determined to thwart the Association by every means in his power. 3

Mr. Coates published two pamphlets against the scheme; in one addressed to the colonial minister, and marked confidential, he charged the Association with being influenced by motives of personal gain; an accusation which drew a pamphlet from Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, one of the Association's most active members. Mr. John Beecham, secretary of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, also published two pamphlets against establishing a colony in New Zealand. From these pamphlets it seemed the missionaries were anxious the islands should be left in their hands, and they characterised the arrival of colonists as an enemy pouring in like a flood. The baffled Association accused the missionaries of wishing to rule the country, and of attempting to erect it into a sort of Levitical republic similar to that of the Jesuits in Paragua.

The reasons assigned for their violent opposition were not kept secret; they said the New Zealanders would pine and melt away before white men; that in no temperate climate, where a colony has been formed, have the aboriginal inhabitants kept up their original numbers, even although the colonists declared on setting out, that their principal aim was the propagation of the Christian religion; 4 that colonists would obtain the lands of the natives for mere baubles; that wherever savages and civilised men have come in contact the story has been written in blood; that in a few years the New Zealanders would look on the missionaries as enemies, as men who had led the way for those who

NEW ZEALAND COMPANY FORMED.

deprived them of their lands; that the Association's plan for their civilisation was Quixotic, destitute of any provision for religious instruction, and under the management of the notorious Edward Gibbon Wakefield. 5

The accuracy of some of these objections cannot be doubted, and it is an idle task to discuss the merits of the others, for this very obvious reason; the settlement of Europeans in New Zealand could not be prevented after the year l838 without a fleet to blockade the coasts, and as this was impossible, it was better to have a British colony formed in the country, than a number of republics similar to that flourishing at the Bay of Islands. The missionary opposition was a pious attempt to work a miracle. Such philanthropy, although honourable to the hearts of men, is discreditable to their judgments; and from similar ill-judged attempts to do good, much evil has often arisen in this world.

Intimately acquainted with the ways of the world were the directors of the New Zealand Association, and they were now convinced that nothing could be done with the opposition arrayed against them; so after Mr. Baring's bill was defeated in parliament the Association broke up, and, to excite sympathy indirectly, accused the ministers of having destroyed a body founded solely for the public good. The secret history of the Manukau Company discloses that internal dissension had some influence in producing this result. 6

In 1839 several of the members of the defunct New Zealand Association took advantage of the colonial minister's suggestion of a charter, and established the New Zealand Land Company, with a capital of 100,000l., in

COMPANY'S PIONEERS SAIL.

400 shares at 25l. each share. This joint-stock company assumed the memorable name of the New Zealand Company, on purchasing from individuals, and the New Zealand Company of 1825, some acres of land at Hokianga, and two islands near the mouth of the river Thames. Lord Durham, who suddenly returned from Canada, became the governor of the company, Joseph Somes, Esq., deputy governor, and the following gentlemen were the first directors: Lord Petre, Hon. F. Baring, J. E. Boulcott, Esq., J. W. Buckle, Esq., Russell Ellice, Esq., Ralph Fenwick, Esq., J. B. Gordon, Esq., W. Hutt, Esq., M.P., George Lyall, Esq., Stewart Marjoribanks, Esq., Sir William Molesworth, Bart., M.P., Alex. Nairne, Esq., J. Pirie, Esq., Alderman, Sir George Sinclair, Bart., M.P., J. A. Smith, Esq. M.P., W. Thompson, Esq., M.P., Sir H. Webb, Bart, Arthur Willis, Esq., J. F. Young, Esq., J. Ward, secretary.

It was soon ascertained her Majesty's ministers were as much opposed to the New Zealand Company as to the Association; and the directors, knowing from past experience that it was impossible to move the colonial office, determined to consider New Zealand a foreign country, and to establish settlements in it without the crown's permission. In May 1839, before the directors had divulged their scheme to the public, the ship Tory, 400 tons burthen, sailed for New Zealand, having on board Colonel Wakefield, the Company's chief agent, a staff of intelligent officers, and Nayti the New Zealander, who had been living for two years as a prince with Mr. E. G. Wakefield. Eclat was given to the expedition by the appointment of a naturalist. These pioneers were directed to purchase land, acquire information, and make preparation for the formation of a republic under the fictitious auspices of some independent chief.

CONSUL APPOINTED

Two days after the ship was clear of England's shores, the directors announced that the Company was formed to purchase land in New Zealand, promote emigration, lay out settlements, resell such lands according to the value bestowed on them by emigration, and with the surplus money give free passages to skilled tradesmen and agricultural labourers.

The colonial office was completely surprised at this energetic step. An explanation and an account of the whole affair were immediately demanded by the secretary of state, and Lord John Russell informed the directors that the instructions sent out for the government of the emigrants, and the entire expedition, were illegal, because no body of Englishmen can form a colony in any country without the consent of the crown. 7 After a considerable display of wordy resistance, the directors admitted their errors, asked for a favourable construction of their motives, and put themselves under the protection of her Majesty's ministers. 8

Queen Victoria's government had been hesitating about sending a consul to New Zealand ever since the formation of the republican association at the Bay of Islands in 1838, and the New Zealand Company's proceedings decided the question. Without delay letters patent were issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom on the 15th June 1839, extending the boundary of New South Wales to include any part of New Zealand that may be acquired in sovereignty by her Majesty; and Captain Hobson, R.N., an officer who visited New Zealand in 1837, when commanding her Majesty's ship Rattlesnake, was immediately ordered

FRENCH SETTLERS SAIL FOR AKAROA.

out in the Druid for the purpose of erecting the country into a British colony. The treasury minute of the 19th July, 1839, directs him to proceed to New Zealand as consul, to endeavour to obtain the sovereignty of the country, and then to act as lieutenant-governor. 9

Ministers took this step with much regret, and Lord Normanby informed Captain Hobson that her Majesty's government had deferred as long as possible the colonisation of New Zealand, because the approximation of civilised with uncivilised men had hitherto proved destructive to the latter, and the white man's progress in the New World had been over the dead bodies of the aborigines.

For many months after the departure of Colonel Wakefield and Captain Hobson nothing was heard from either of them. Meanwhile it became known in London that a vessel named the Comte de Paris, having on board emigrants, had left France, in October 1839, for Akaroa, in the Middle Island; and that the French frigate L'Aube was on the eve of sailing for the same destination. The shareholders in England grew uneasy at this intelligence, for it was gravely announced that France contemplated the formation of a penal settlement and a colony in New Zealand; and, although this statement was denied, I am convinced from inquiries made at Akaroa that the French did intend to form a colony in the country. Louis Philippe possessed shares in the company which sent out the Akaroa settlers; and M. de Belligny, the agent of the expedition, openly stated that the French government promised protection to the emigrants. 10 The French occupation of the islands of

SOVEREIGNTY OF NEW ZEALAND.

Tahiti and New Caledonia in the Pacific, since this period, tends to confirm the accuracy of the above rumour. 11

Another curious circumstance revived uneasiness on this subject. On the 10th March 1840, a highly favourable despatch was received from Colonel Wakefield. This drew public attention to some papers relating to Captain Hobson's appointment, already laid before parliament; and several influential London merchants were surprised to find the ministers had not ordered that officer to proclaim her Majesty's sovereignty over New Zealand. Without delay, one hundred and fifteen bankers, merchants, and traders of London called a public meeting at Guildhall on the 15th April 1840, to consider the subject, and from this assembly petitions were sent to both Houses of Parliament, praying them to annex the New Zealand islands, "the Britain of the South," to her Majesty's dominions. This led to the appointment of a select committee of the House of Commons to collect evidence on the question, and it was then ascertained that Captain Cook took possession of the islands in the name of King George III., in 1769, and that when New South Wales was declared a portion of the British dominions in 1787, these islands, although not named, were within the proclaimed boundaries as much as Norfolk Island; but that certain acts had occurred since these events which prevented the Queen of England assuming the sovereignty; these were King William IV. having addressed the New Zealanders as an independent people in 1833, and having recognised their national flag in 1834. 12

PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN COMPANY.

All these singular discussions drew much attention to the New Zealand Company, and as the directors were men of great political and commercial influence, it rose high in public estimation, as may be inferred from the quantity of land sold. In June 1839, 110,000 acres, in lots of 101 acres each, at 101l. a lot, comprising 100 country acres and one town section, were disposed of by lottery without difficulty. The conditions of sale were, that 75l. of the purchase-money could be claimed for free passages for purchasers and their families, or for their servants and labourers; and the directors informed the public that when no such claim was made the benefit was equally conferred on the landowner, as the whole of the emigration fund would be spent in conveying labourers to the colony.

For the purpose of attracting emigrants the Company published a New Zealand journal in London, and paid a numerous corps of newspaper writers all over Great Britain, who gave glowing and occasionally fictitious descriptions of New Zealand; thus the river flowing into Port Nicholson, now called the Hutt, was stated to be as broad and deep as the Thames at London Bridge for eighty miles, the fact being that a boat can with difficulty get six miles up the river; while panoramas of the valley of the Hutt and of the site of Wellington were exhibited in London to admiring intending emigrants.

The directors of the Company described in strong language the system of colonisation which they meant to pursue: not the shovelling out of paupers, but the removal of a community in all its component parts from England to New Zealand; the transplanting of English society in its various gradations in due proportions, carrying with them the laws, customs, associations, habits,

SYSTEMATIC COLONISATION.

manners, everything in England but the soil and the climate; the founding of a colony, which in a few generations will offer to the world a counterpart of England in its social system, national character, wealth, and power. It was made known the settlers were to be concentrated into one spot, in place of being dispersed about the country, that this would make land valuable, reduce wages, and prevent labouring men from becoming independent. It was also announced that men of birth, education, and refinement had become owners of land in New Zealand; that several Jews were about to embark, who were to have accommodation for a priest on board to kill animals according to Jewish custom; that houses and other buildings in frames ready to be put up like a bedstead in an hour, with machinery of all kinds, steam-engines, agricultural implements, mechanics' tools, types, presses, and an editor, were among the articles ready to be carried out; and that a library and scientific institution were established. And this was not all. To disarm the hostility of the Church Missionary Society, and to obtain the support of the High Church party, arrangements were made to have a bishop appointed to the colony. The labouring emigrants already congregated for embarkation were described by the directors to be of the finest sort, in the prime of manhood, of approved moral character, and in good health, the proper persons to carve fortunes out of the wilderness.

Such flattering descriptions made simple-minded persons in England believe that the purchase of 100 acres of land and a "town lot" from the New Zealand Company was equivalent to a prize in the lottery. On the 30th July, 1839, a month after the first prospectus was issued, the directors announced that they were ready to

PROSPECTS OF EMIGRANTS.

receive applications for country lands to the extent of 50,000 acres, in sections of 100 acres each, at the price of 100l. the section, or at 1l. an acre, to be paid in full in exchange for a land order, either at the Company's principal settlement, or at Hokianga, Kaipara, Manukau, or the islands of Waiheke and Paroa.

Men acquainted with New Zealand could scarcely believe the directors were in their senses, and some doubted their honesty; for it will be hardly credited that when these prospectuses were published, and large quantities of land sold, the Company had as much right to sell estates in Spain as in New Zealand. It is still more wonderful that, before February 1840, 216 first and second-class passengers, and 909 labourers, sailed for a country inhabited by a well-armed race of men, who might dispute their disembarkation, and refuse them land upon which to build their houses. The emigrants were apparently bewitched; and there was a feeling among them that they were moving with, and not away from, the civilised world; and, from the wealth of some, the migration was not a flight from starvation to exile, but a short road to abundance and affluence. Most of them were Englishmen and Scotchmen. Irish emigrants were not encouraged by the directors, as they were considered "turbulent and dangerous."

In August 1839, the ship Tory hove in sight of the lofty snow-capped mountains in the Middle Island of New Zealand, and after touching at various places in Cook's Straits, anchored on the 20th September in Port Nicholson, a magnificent harbour in the North Island, rather difficult of access, which was discovered by a flax-trader in 1828, and named in honour of the Sydney

WAKEFIELD'S PROCEEDINGS.

owner of the vessel. A number of natives came on board, who were kindly received and well fed; they looked over the pictures in Cook's voyages, said the English were the first visitors, and gave unmistakable evidence that the native brought from England as an interpreter and a prince, was a slave and not a chief. From the ship's deck Colonel Wakefield inquired, through an interpreter called Barrett, an old whaler, the names of such and such points; and then asked the natives if they would sell all those headlands, rivers, mountains, points, coasts, and islands? To which questions they answered yes.

In less than three months Colonel Wakefield reported he had purchased a territory as large as Ireland, extending from the 38th to the 43rd degree of south latitude on the west coast, and from the 41st to the 43rd degree of latitude on the east coast. The deeds of purchase are three in number; in the first, the tenth part of the whole land is reserved for the natives; in the second and third the native reserves are not specified. These deeds are drawn out after the model of those used in the missionary land-purchases, and are signed or marked by fifty-eight chiefs, few of whom, according to subsequent proceedings, rightly comprehended what they were doing. To obtain the protection of white men against the inroads of the Hawke's Bay natives, and eagerness for the articles ostentatiously displayed before their eyes, were the two great motives which actuated them in this bargain.

The goods paid by the Company's agents for their lands were valued at 8,983l., and the articles given are worthy of record: –

ARTICLES GIVEN FOR LAND.

300 red blankets.
200 muskets.
16 single-barrelled guns.
8 double-barrelled guns.
2 tierces tobacco.
15 cwt. tobacco.
148 iron pots.
6 cases soap.
15 fowling pieces.
81 kegs gunpowder.
2 casks ball cartridge.
4 kegs lead slates.
200 cartouch boxes.
60 tomahawks.
2 cases pipes.
10 gross pipes.
72 spades.
100 steel axes.
20 axes.
46 adzes.
3,200 fish hooks.
24 bullet moulds.
1,500 flints.
276 shirts.
92 jackets.
92 trowsers.
60 red nightcaps.
300 yards cotton duck.
200 yards calico.
300 yards check.
200 yards print.
480 pocket handkerchiefs.
72 writing slates.
600 pencils.
204 looking glasses.
276 pocket knives.
204 pairs scissors.
12 pairs shoes.
12 hats.
6 lbs. beads.
12 hair umbrellas.
100 yards ribbons.
144 Jew's harps.
36 razors.
180 dressing combs.
72 hoes.
2 suits superfine clothes.
36 shaving boxes.
12 shaving brushes.
12 sticks sealing wax.
11 quires cartridge paper.
12 flushing coats.
24 combs.

No person can look over the above list of things given to the New Zealanders for their lands without sorrow mingled with mirth. Europeans acquainted with the natives at this period must laugh at the idea of seeing them with shaving brushes and red night caps, and feel sorrow on reflecting what they would do with 200 muskets, 16 double-barrelled guns, 8 double and 15 single-barrelled fowling pieces, 81 kegs of powder, 2 casks of ball cartridge, 1500 flints, lead, and bullet moulds.

It is difficult to conceive why weapons of destruction were given to the natives: there is no analogy between the bartering of fire-arms by the early settlers for flax and the present transaction. Common sense should

POSSESSION TAKEN OF PORT NICHOLSON.

have whispered to the Company's agent that these weapons might some day be turned against the colonists, and scarcely four years elapsed before that event actually occurred, and Colonel Wakefield's brother was one of the sufferers.

On the 30th of September, 1839, the Company's agent took formal possession of Port Nicholson, under a royal salute, and the New Zealand flag was hoisted on an immense staff, erected for the purpose. There was a war dance on this celebrated occasion, at which the natives whirled their newly-acquired muskets in the air, and the English spectators drank the health of the chiefs and people of Port Nicholson in bumpers of champagne. The natives expressed delight at the prospect of having white men and women to settle among them, to grow corn and bring cattle. The Company's pioneers were surprised at the civilisation of the aborigines, and bore testimony against previous adverse opinions as to the benefits conferred on the New Zealanders by the irregular settlement of white men in the country. 13

Leaving this auspicious commencement of colonisation in the south of New Zealand, we shall now turn to Captain Hobson's doings in the north.

After a prosperous voyage, her Majesty's ship Druid landed Captain Hobson at Sydney; here he took the oaths of office, and had the good fortune to receive advice in the art of ruling a colony from that able man Governor Sir George Gipps. Captain Hobson then sailed for New Zealand, accompanied by a treasurer, a collector of customs, a police magistrate, two clerks, a sergeant, and four troopers of the New South Wales

HOBSON'S ARRIVAL AT BAY OF ISLANDS.

mounted police, and landed at the Bay of Islands on the 29th of January, 1840.

The consul was loyally received by the motley population of Kororareka, and next day, on the beach of that notorious settlement, two commissions were read; one under the Great Seal extending the limits of New South Wales to include New Zealand; the other under the royal signet, appointing Captain Hobson lieutenant-governor over such parts of New Zealand as shall hereafter be added to her Majesty's dominions. Two proclamations, afterwards printed at the missionary press at Paihia, were at the same time promulgated. The first asserted her Majesty's authority over British subjects in the colony, and the second announced that the Queen would acknowledge no titles to land but those derived from Crown grants, that purchasing land from natives after this date was illegal, and that a commission would investigate into all the land purchases already made. This last announcement startled the whole community, being a death-blow to men who had purchased principalities for baubles.

Captain Hobson had now to perform a duty which has fallen to the lot of few British governors; the declaration of her Majesty's sovereignty over the country he was commissioned first to acquire and then to rule. This task weighed on his broken spirit during the dreary solitude of the voyage to the Antipodes; and when he contemplated the multitude of armed warriors in the neighbourhood of Kororareka with his own defenceless position, he saw the declaration could not be made without the almost unanimous permission of the people. But how to obtain this without exciting their suspicion, was a delicate and dangerous task.

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

KERI-KERI WATERFALL, NEAR WAITANGI, BAY OF ISLANDS.
Vol. II. page 19.

TREATY OF WAITANGI.

As the work brooked no delay, an assembly of natives was convened five days after his arrival, for the purpose of laying the question before them. The spot chosen for the conference was where the Waitangi river falls into the sea. Here, on the 5th of February, a great number of chiefs with their followers were gathered together. The day was singularly beautiful even for the Bay of Islands, and the place of assembly equally so; but superstitious men augured evil from the conference, because "Waitangi" signifies "weeping water." A spacious marquee profusely decorated with flags had been erected; and at noon Captain Hobson entered the tent accompanied by Mr. Busby, the late Resident, the principal European inhabitants, the heads of the English and French missions, the Government officers, and the officers of her Majesty's ship Herald.

The following treaty, prepared by Mr. Busby, was explained to the natives by the Rev. Henry Williams, and Captain Hobson, at the conclusion of the explanation, asked the chiefs individually to sign the treaty in the name of their respective tribes.

Article the first. The chiefs of the confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand, and the separate and independent chiefs who have not become members of the confederation, cede to her Majesty the Queen of England, absolutely and without reservation, all the rights and powers of sovereignty which the said confederation or individual chiefs respectively exercise or possess over their respective territories as sole sovereigns thereof.

Article the second. Her Majesty the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and to their respective families

DISCUSSION ON TREATY.

and individuals thereof, the full exclusive and undisputed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and other properties which they may collectively or individually possess, as long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession. But the chiefs of the United Tribes and the individual chiefs yield to her Majesty the exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands, as the proprietors thereof may be pleased to alienate, at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective proprietors and persons appointed by her Majesty to treat with them on that behalf.

Article the third. In consideration thereof, her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the natives of New Zealand her royal protection, and imparts to them all the privileges of British subjects.

Twenty chiefs addressed the meeting in favour of the treaty, and six against it. The objectors stated, in speeches full of quotations from ancient songs and familiar proverbs, that the treaty would deprive them of their lands, that it was smooth and oily, but treachery was hidden under it; and these orations so moved the audience that an unfavourable termination of the conference was anticipated. At this critical juncture a chief afterwards celebrated as our best ally in the day of battle, Thomas Walker Nene, rose and spoke. He called to the minds of his countrymen their degraded position before the arrival of white men among them, told them they could not govern themselves without bloodshed, besought them to place confidence in Captain Hobson's promises, and acknowledge the Queen of England as their sovereign, by signing the treaty. The Governor insinuated that the opposition to the treaty was got up by French missionaries and evil-disposed

SOVEREIGNTY PROCLAIMED.

white men, and that the former employed for this purpose a cannibal European called Marmon. 14

As the debate produced much excitement, twenty-four hours were given for deliberation, and this time was separately occupied by each tribe in earnestly considering the question. Next day without further discussion, forty-six chiefs in the presence of 500 followers signed the treaty. The first name on the roll is Kawiti, one of the leaders of the insurrection in 1844.

From Waitangi the treaty was taken about the country by missionaries and government agents for signature. Captain Hobson took it to Hokianga, where 3,000 natives were collected together for the purpose of again discussing its terms, and up the river Thames. Major Bunbury and the Rev. Henry Williams were despatched with it to the eastern and western coasts of the North Island, to Cook's Strait, Stewart's Island, and the Middle Island. Before the end of June, 512 New Zealand chiefs signed the treaty of Waitangi. To most of the signers, a blanket and some tobacco were given, but several refused these presents lest they might be construed into payments for the land.

The great legal difficulty was thus removed, and the Queen of England could now assert her sovereignty to the satisfaction of state lawyers. This was proclaimed over the North Island on the 21st of May, 1840, in virtue of the treaty of Waitangi; and over the Middle Island and Stewart's Island on the same day, in virtue of the right of discovery. To remove all doubts regarding the legality of this last act, Major Bunbury proclaimed the Queen's authority over the Middle Island on the 17th of June in virtue of the Waitangi treaty.

NATIVE OPINION OF TREATY.

The sovereignty of Stewart's Island still rests on the right of discovery. 15

Few natives rightly comprehended the nature of the treaty of Waitangi. Nopera, an intelligent chief, said "the shadow of the land goes to Queen Victoria, but the substance remains with us." All who signed the treaty knew their lands were guaranteed to them; none were aware that it exposed them to the danger of being hung for killing slaves, or to imprisonment for acts of the criminality of which they were ignorant. A conspiracy was hatched at the Bay of Islands, in consequence of the dread produced by the treaty, to murder every white settler and appropriate their wives; but the missionary natives loudly opposed, and were the means of preventing this diabolical deed. 16 Chiefs who refused to sign the treaty taunted those who had with slavery. Te Heu Heu, the great Taupo chief, when addressing some natives who had signed the Waitangi treaty said: "You are all slaves now, and your dignity and power are gone, but mine is not. Just as there is one man in Europe, King George, so do I stand alone in New Zealand, the chief over all others, the only free man left; look at me, for I do not hide when I say, I am Te Heu Heu." 17

For nearly twenty years the treaty of Waitangi has been law, and although dissatisfaction has been several times expressed with the act, yet it has never been repudiated by any large party of New Zealanders.

By many Europeans the treaty of Waitangi was laughed at as a solemn farce, a bartering of sovereignty for blankets. The New Zealand Company considered the

EUROPEAN OPINION OF TREATY.

whole business as illegal, and doubted "whether a treaty made with naked savages could be treated by lawyers as anything but a praiseworthy device for their amusement," 18 and a committee of the House of Commons, in 1844, characterised the treaty as an injudicious proceeding. But settlers unconnected with the company, the land sharks, or the Government, who have watched events since the formation of the colony, universally admit that the treaty of Waitangi was a wise measure, a Christian mode of commencing the colonisation of the country, and an act which has proved of signal benefit to the natives and the peace of the colony for the following reason.

It is contended by Vattel in his "Law of Nations" 19 that an unclaimed country, in which there are none but erratic natives incapable of occupying the whole, cannot be allowed to appropriate exclusively to themselves more land than they have use for; it is urged that their unsettled habitation cannot be accounted a true and legal possession, and that the people of Europe, too closely pent up at home, are lawfully entitled to seize the waste and settle it with colonies. Lawyers, historians, and statesmen can see nothing worthy of argument against Vattel's opinion; and, according to it, all the land in New Zealand did not legally belong to the natives. The treaty of Waitangi did this great good to the New Zealanders and to the cause of peace; it clearly recognised their legal title to all the land in the country, and on that account the act may be denominated the Magna Charta of the people.

SETTLERS ARRIVE AT PORT NICHOLSON.

To return to the Cook's Strait settlers. On the 22nd of January, 1840, the Aurora, the company's first emigrant ship, arrived at Port Nicholson, and before the end of the year twelve hundred settlers disembarked. The natives were transported with wonder at the sight of so many white women and men, and inquired if the whole tribe, meaning all the people of England, had come to New Zealand. The natives instructed the settlers in building huts, and cheerfully sold them numerous pigs and abundance of potatoes. There was no quarrelling, and both races lived in the confidence of each other.

At the entrance to the valley of the Hutt, Colonel Wakefield laid the foundation of a town which was named Britannia; but as this was soon found to be a bad selection from its exposure to the open sea, in March, 1840, after several men were drowned on the beach by the upsetting of a boat, it was determined, at a public meeting, to move it to the opposite side of the harbour. The new town was called Wellington. Unfortunately this place was inhabited by natives who strongly protested against the settlers appropriating land used by them for cultivation. They denied having sold the land, and told the settlers they were acting unjustly. But no physical resistance was offered to the erection of houses, as the natives were informed by persons collecting signatures for the treaty of Waitangi that her Majesty's Government would send magistrates to see justice done them. This was the first instance of the settlers taking possession of disputed lands, and with regret be it stated, it was not the last.

The remarkable earnestness with which the natives urged their complaints against the location of the settlers at Wellington, made some of the more thinking

INJUSTICE OF LAND PURCHASES.

emigrants inquire into the nature of the company's land purchases. It was then found, that Colonel Wakefield had bought twenty millions of acres from fifty-eight persons, upon which land ten thousand souls were living of different tribes from those who sold the land, each of whom, according to native custom, had a vested right in some part of it, and according to native usage a voice in its disposal; that missionaries and whalers, previously to Colonel Wakefield's bargain, had bought portions of the same lands from the natives; and that the New Zealanders denominated the company's land purchases "thievish bargains."

These ominous mutterings of a distant storm, and the scenes at the Waitangi conference, convinced the Governor that his authority was imaginary without troops, as disputes might arise between the two races which a military force alone could put down. In consequence of this feeling, urgent applications were sent to Sydney for soldiers, and two companies of the 80th regiment arrived at the Bay of Islands. This force was soon required to support the civil power. A native was arrested on the charge of murdering a European employed by the Rev. Henry Williams in the interior; during the prisoner's examination at Kororareka, an armed mob surrounded the court-house, and demanded his release. Secretly a messenger was despatched for the troops, and as they approached with fixed bayonets the mob fled. When, however, the affair was explained to them, they willingly allowed the law to take its course. Of the man's guilt there was no doubt, and he died not by the executioner but from dysentery, contracted by his imprisonment previous to the day of trial.

On this occasion the presence of the troops prevented

FOUNDATION OF AUCKLAND.

the natives doing what on explanation they admitted to be wrong; in the following affair they protected the natives from the rage of Europeans. Pomare's tribe, in June 1840, captured a deserter from a whale ship, and the master of the vessel not only refused to give the usual reward for this service, but endeavoured to take the man from them by force. A scuffle ensued, shots were fired and men injured, when Captain Lockhart's company was ordered out, and the riot was immediately arrested. Next day Pomare thanked the Governor for the protection the soldiers afforded his people. 20

Governor Hobson, although possessed of a force which terrified the natives, did not treat their customs with contempt, as may be inferred from the following trifling incident. A public building was erecting at Kororareka on a sacred spot; to prevent this desecration a deputation of chiefs waited on the Governor, and his excellency immediately ordered the house to be pulled down.

Difficulty was experienced in finding a good site for a town in the Bay of Islands. This arose from the broken nature of the country, the quantity of land claimed by Europeans, and their exorbitant terms of sale. A property belonging to Mr. Clendon, on a narrow neck of land opposite Kororareka, at the entrance of the Kawa Kawa river, was bought by government, after much higgling, for 15,000l. This spot was surveyed, and named Russell; after some time the Bay of Islands was found an unsuitable place for the capital, in consequence of an insufficiency of available land.

It was then remembered that Captain Cook, in 1769, recommended the Houraki gulf as a good place for a

FIRST SALE OF CROWN LANDS.

European settlement; and the Governor, after visiting this noble inlet, chose a site for a town on the right bank of the Waitemata, the native name of one of the rivers flowing into the gulf, and signifying "glittering water." Captain W. C. Symonds, surveyor-general, had no difficulty in purchasing the land from the natives; and on the 19th of September 1840 the British flag was hoisted at Auckland, the name given to the future capital.

Captain Drury, after surveying the entire coast, pronounced Auckland to be the best site in the colony for a town. It is central with regard to both sides of the island, has water communication with distant parts of the country, and much available land in the neighbourhood. The eastern harbour is safe and easy of access; that on the west, called Manukau, is suitable for steamers. Auckland may be compared to Corinth for commerce and to Naples for beauty; the commercial view may be seen from the top of Mount Eden, the beauty of the place from an elevated position above the lake on the north shore. The Queen approved of the site, and in January 1841 Captain Hobson took up his abode there. The removal of the seat of government was a death-blow to Russell. In 1853 one ruined stone house was still standing, a few English flowers were growing wild, but not a vestige was to be seen of the streets, quays, squares, and public buildings so beautifully drawn in the plan of the town laid before Parliament.

The first sale of crown lands took place at Auckland, in April 1841. It was advertised for several months in New South Wales, and attracted a number of speculators. The lands were put up to auction, and forty-one town acres sold at an average price of 595l. each, a price

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT.

which excited the surprise of the Wellington settlers, and caused people to anticipate a splendid future for New Zealand. In September, another sale of suburban allotments and small farms was held, but this auction was not so productive as the last. Suburban lots realised 45l. an acre, and small farms 3l.

These sales were made under the sign manual, dated 1840, which directed all crown lands in New Zealand to be sold at a uniform price. After this date, the Australian Land Sales Act was introduced, by which all lands were sold by auction at an upset price of not less than ll. an acre. Half the proceeds were to be applied to public purposes, the other half to promote emigration. By a subsequent act New Zealand was exempted from the Australian act, and the crown's power over the waste lands restored. The Secretary of State then directed that all such lands should be sold by public auction, at not less than ll. an acre; and the Governor was given permission to bestow grants of land on individuals and public bodies.

While matters were thus progressing at Auckland, various domestic disputes of a trivial nature had convinced the Wellington settlers, whom Governor Hobson had neglected, that they could not live in harmony without a code of laws; and accordingly a committee of colonists, a provisional government as it was called, was formed in March 1840, for the preservation of peace and order. Colonel Wakefield was the first president. For some violation of the laws of the provisional government, the master of a trading vessel, named Pearson, was imprisoned. Being an ingenious man, he managed to escape from confinement, and immediately sailed to the Bay of Islands, where he lodged a complaint of illegal imprisonment. The Governor magnified the

PROCLAIMED ILLEGAL.

formation of a provisional government into an act of rebellion, and no time was lost in chartering a vessel to convey Lieutenant Shortland, R.N., colonial secretary, and thirty soldiers, to put down the insurrection. On arriving at Wellington, the troops landed in battle array, the British flag was hoisted, the provisional government was proclaimed illegal, and all persons were required to withdraw therefrom.

This ridiculous affair gave occasion to several good caricatures against the Governor and his Lieutenant, and created much ill feeling between Colonel Wakefield and Captain Hobson. From this day forward, everything done by the Government was wrong in the eyes of the Company's agent. Colonel Wakefield accused the Protectors of Aborigines of doing harm, and Captain Hobson of interested motives in not making Wellington the seat of Government; in reply, Captain Hobson broadly insinuated that the New Zealand Company were a set of gamblers. Colonel Wakefield's and Captain Hobson's despatches to their respective superiors are not unlike the advertisements of rival shopkeepers, each praising his own settlement. Colonel Wakefield was supported by the powerful English press, and Captain Hobson by the Colonial Office; consequently, when the shareholders in England spoke of the New Zealand settlements, they always meant the Company's settlements, and books written about New Zealand confined their information to these. 21 Auckland was only mentioned to be decried.

This Wellington Provisional Government caused Governor Hobson to proclaim Her Majesty's sovereignty over the Middle Island sooner than he had intended,

FRENCH OCCUPY AKAROA.

and it was fortunate this was done; for in August, 1840, the Comte de Paris, the French emigrant ship, whose departure created so much sensation in London, arrived at Akaroa under the escort of the French frigate l'Aube. Fifty-seven settlers disembarked, and Captain Owen Stanley, who was sent by the Governor to watch their proceedings in Her Majesty's ship Britomart, protested against six long 24-pounders mounted on field carriages being landed. An English magistrate was left at Akaroa, and Captain Lavaud of the Aube acknowledged the emigrants were French settlers in an English colony. Five hundred more settlers were leaving France when news of the declaration of Queen Victoria's sovereignty over New Zealand reached Europe.

The origin of the Akaroa settlement was this. Langlois, the master of a French whaler, purchased from the natives in 1838, 30,000 acres of land on Banks's Peninsula, and two mercantile houses in Nantes and two at Bordeaux, with three gentlemen from Paris, associated themselves with Langlois under the denomination of the Nanto-Bordelaise Company, to form a colony in New Zealand. Although circumstances prevented the colony from prospering, Akaroa has never since been neglected by the French. In 1843, Commodore Berard visited the settlement to inquire into the settlers land claims, during which year nineteen sail of French vessels entered the harbour, and most of the French men-of-war in the Pacific still touch at Akaroa.

Before the establishment of the British Government many English and Americans, like the Frenchman Langlois, purchased land from the natives. These purchases were at first confined to a few persons; but when it became evident that the country must soon be-

LAND CLAIMS. – QUANTITY BOUGHT.

come a British colony, a rush was made by traders, and by people from Australia, to buy lands in any locality. Land was to the early settlers in New Zealand, what gold was to the Spaniards in Mexico. Out of this scramble sprang up the "land-sharks," a class of men who bought land from savages, and took advantage of their childish ignorance regarding its value. Land-sharking was not, however, limited to persons whose sole object in life was money-making, as several missionaries, Mr. Wentworth, an eminent Sydney lawyer, and the British Resident, were to be found among them. To such an extent did trading in land go, that on Captain Hobson's arrival in New Zealand 45,000,000 of acres, or about one half of the whole country, were claimed as having been bought from the natives. The following table shows the quantity of land claimed and the date of purchase: –

Date of Purchase.

Quantity
Purchased in
Acres.

Remarks.

From 1815 to 1824

8,000

" 1825 " 1829

1,008,000

" 1830 " 1834

600,000

Also several islands.

" 1835 " 1836

120,000

" 1837 " 1838

240,000

Also several islands.

In 1839

12,000,000

Stewart's Island and others.

In 1840

12,000,000

New Zealand Comp. purchases, 1839

20,000,000

Total

45,976,000

One of Captain Hobson's proclamations on the Kororareka beach put an end to land-sharking, and a bill passed the Legislative Council in New South Wales, empowering the Governor to send commissioners to examine into the purchases already made. Dismay

SECRETS OF LAND-SHARKING.

seized upon the land-sharks when the nature of the ordinance was promulgated, and the Wellington settlers sent a deputation to Sydney, for the purpose of obtaining a favourable consideration of their case. Three commissioners arrived in New Zealand, and announced, in accordance with the land claims bill, that no Crown grant would be given for more than four square miles of land, or 2560 acres; and that all land claims must be lodged in the Government within six months. A schedule was given of the value put on the lands at different periods. Before the year 1824, land was to be valued at sixpence an acre; between 1825 and 1829, from sixpence to eightpence; in 1835, from one to two shillings; and 1839, from four to eight shillings an acre. The commissioners were directed to charge absentee purchasers more than residents. Goods given for land were to be valued at three times their Sydney prices.

Mr. Busby, the late British Resident, and some other land purchasers, objected to the validity of the land claims act, on the ground that they bought their lands from an independent people.

The secrets of land-sharking were laid bare by the commissioners. It was found that deeds of conveyancing were drawn out in Sydney and England with blanks for boundaries, and sent to agents in New Zealand; that a lawyer's clerk in Sydney prepared a cargo of these parchment deeds, which he sold in New Zealand for 5l. each; that in several cases the natives were ignorant of the lands they had sold; that the same tract of land was claimed by different individuals; that permission to fish along a certain line of coast was converted into a claim for miles of property inland; that large tracts of land, defined sometimes by latitude

QUANTITY OF LAND AWARDED.

and longitude or the course of large rivers, were sold for a trifle on half a sheet of paper; that boundaries were inserted after signatures; that land was sold by chiefs who had no right to dispose of it; that the whole Middle Island was purchased from a few natives who were at Sydney when the land-sharking mania was at its height; that land was paid for with powder, ball, guns, blankets, pipes, pots, pans, iron nails, tomahawks, Jews' harps, &c. &c.; that ten shillings an acre were given for some land, and 100 acres were bought with a farthing; and that one land Mammoth designated most of the land purchases as "legal farces." 22

Out of twenty-six millions of acres claimed by less than three hundred persons in separate claims, crown grants were awarded for about one hundred thousand. The commissioners were accused of harshness and injustice in not awarding more land to the claimants, because of nearly one thousand claims adjudicated on not twenty were disputed by the natives. But this is a fallacious evidence of a just purchase. It is occupation of the land alone which shows whether the natives admit that land has been fairly bought from them. Some of the pioneers of civilisation, who bought land in a fair spirit, could not substantiate their purchases, and these men suffered for the sins of the land-sharks. In 1856, when the people had obtained self-government, an act was passed, and a commission appointed, to inquire into some of these and other land-claims. Purchasers who refused to acknowledge the power of the commissioners never obtained their lands. In 1855, Mr. Busby, the most active representative of this class, tried before the

CHARTER GRANTED TO COMPANY.

Supreme Court at Auckland the validity of a title derived from the aboriginal natives for land purchased by him in 1839 at Wangarei, and a jury of settlers decided that he had no claim without a crown grant. 23

The New Zealand Company's land purchases were settled by another tribunal. The directors in England led government to believe they were proprietors of almost half the land in New Zealand; and on ministers receiving an assurance that an equitable purchase of several millions of acres had actually been made, a charter of incorporation was given to the company in February 1841. But government soon became aware that none of the company's land purchases were good, by Governor Hobson declining to give Colonel Wakefield crown grants for any of them. Then the directors of the company turned round, and said that the original validity of their land purchases did not rest with the native chiefs, but was derived from the agreement made with the Crown previously to the execution of the charter. The colonial minister would not admit this proposition. A long correspondence ensued; Mr. Pennington, an accountant, was appointed to ascertain the amount expended by the company; and it was arranged that one acre should be allowed for every five shillings fairly expended in purchasing land and promoting emigration. The inquiry disclosed that the directors had spent 249,256l. which sum entitled the company to receive 997,024 acres.

Before this arrangement was concluded, a change of ministers occurred, and a transaction not creditable to some of the company's agents came to light. In con-

CHATHAM ISLANDS PURCHASED.

sequence of this, Lord Stanley, the colonial minister, refused to carry out his predecessor's intentions, accused the company of obtaining a charter under false pretences, intimated to the directors that the native title of all their lands must be extinguished, and appointed a commissioner to proceed to New Zealand to see this done.

What injured the company with Her Majesty's Government was a wily bargain the directors were making about the Chatham Islands. These islands, four in number, are two days' sail from New Zealand, and the largest is thirty-six miles long, with an area of six hundred thousand acres. They were discovered in 1791 by Lieut. Broughton, R. N.; and on his landing to take possession of them for King George III., a combat ensued with the natives in which two English sailors were wounded and one native, killed. The aboriginal inhabitants belong to the Polynesian race, speak a dialect similar to that of the New Zealanders, and number 510 souls. In 1838 an English vessel made the existence of the Chatham Islands known to the New Zealanders, and a number of them in terror of Rauparaha fled thither from Port Nicholson in the brig Rodney. On their arrival they conquered and enslaved the aborigines, and some of them returning to Port Nicholson told Colonel Wakefield about their new home. That gentleman, not satisfied with his imaginary princely possessions in New Zealand, sent an agent in the ship Cuba, and in July 1840 purchased the Chatham Islands for the company from some of these intruders. No settlement was made on the islands by the agent. The directors in London tried to resell the group to a Hamburgh Colonisation Society; but before the completion of the bargain, a reference was made about it by

NEW ZEALAND PROCLAIMED A COLONY.

the Dutch Government to the English Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and a curious correspondence ensued. The crown lawyers declared the purchase of the Chatham Islands by the New Zealand Company illegal, and the directors were threatened with the loss of their charter for interfering with the royal prerogative. The end of it was, that the bargain between Mr. Syndicus Sieveking on one part and the New Zealand Company on the other fell to the ground, and the Chatham Islands were declared a dependency of New Zealand. 24

Hitherto New Zealand was attached to New South Wales, but when the New Zealand Company obtained a royal charter it was proclaimed an independent colony, and the announcement of this produced much joy among the settlers. The town of Kororareka was illuminated, and addresses were presented to Captain Hobson, who was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief. The islands of New Zealand, generally known as the North, Middle, and Stewart's Islands, were respectively denominated New Ulster, New Munster, and New Leinster. 25 An executive council, consisting of the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, and Colonial Treasurer for the time being, was appointed by Her Majesty, and a legislative council composed of the above officers and the three senior justices of the peace. Magistrates were commissioned, a chief justice, and an attorney-general were created, and the colony was constituted a bishop's see.

The first meeting of the newly-created legislative council was held at Auckland in May 1841. It was opened by Governor Hobson with a short address, and several ordinances were passed. It is hardly necessary to remark that this council was a mockery of freedom,

WANGANUI SETTLEMENT FORMED.

as any member could be removed who spoke or voted against the governor. With similar constituted councils colonial governors have done things they would not have done if the responsibility of the acts rested on themselves. Such councils have the outward appearance of free assemblies, and that is all.

Soon after the foundation of Wellington and Auckland, four new settlements were formed. The first was at Wanganui. Late in the year 1840, two hundred Wellington settlers, finding they were impoverished by living on their own resources, and seeing no prospect of obtaining country sections of land nearer than forty miles to the town, migrated by sea to Wanganui, a place on the west coast, one hundred and twenty miles to the north of Wellington. This new settlement was named Petre, and the site chosen for the town, up to which vessels of fourteen tons' burthen could be easily navigated, was four miles from the mouth of the Wanganui river. The Wanganui district was Colonel Wakefield's second land purchase from the natives. In old maps the river is called Knowsley, and in some of the company's flattering publications it is improperly described as navigable for large vessels. It rises sixty miles inland, at the base of Tongariro, and after running a tortuous and picturesque course of one hundred miles falls into the sea. Like all rivers on the west coast, a shifting sandbank at the mouth renders its entrance dangerous in stormy weather. The native population in the neighbourhood was numerous, and the land fertile, and there is a communication between it and Wellington along the sea beach. 26

NEW PLYMOUTH SETTLEMENT FORMED.

Another settlement was formed by the Company at Taranaki, in the North Island, in the year 1841. The first settlers arrived in March, and the main body in September. These colonists were sent out by a joint-stock association, denominated the New Plymouth Company, from a town celebrated in the early colonisation of Massachusetts, and seated in a district which gave birth to that leader of colonists Raleigh Gilbert. Lord Devon was the association's patron, and the directors invested 10,000l. of the shareholders' money in purchasing 50,000 acres of land from the New Zealand Company. Before the site was fixed on, a plan of the settlement was exhibited in London; and the regularity of the town and country sections drew admiration from all surveyors. It was then announced that the country lands were to be sold at thirty shillings an acre, and for every hundred acres purchased one acre of town land was to be given for nothing.

On his arrival at Wellington, Mr. Carrington, who was despatched to New Zealand to select a site, met Colonel Wakefield, who recommended the Taranaki district as the best location for the colonists, at which place, he said, the New Zealand Company were owners of sixty miles along the coast, and from fifteen to twenty miles inland. Taranaki, described as the garden of New Zealand, is situated on the western coast of the North Island, and the beauty and grandeur of the spot is much enhanced by Mount Egmont, a solitary snowcapped mountain, about 10,000 feet high, of singularly elegant proportions, and rising out of a densely wooded plain. Mr. Carrington approved of the site, and commenced surveying the land; but the settlers, on their arrival, complained of the want of a harbour, and that

MANUKAU SETTLEMENT.

the loud roar of the waves breaking on the coast prevented sleep, and caused deafness. To the grand music of the sea their ears soon grew reconciled, but they never cease to lament the open roadstead.

Late in the year 1841, twenty-seven settlers from Great Britain arrived in the Manukau harbour. This is a large estuary on the west coast of the North Island, exactly opposite Auckland harbour, and only six miles distant. These colonists were sent out by a Scotch colonisation company, which claimed 19,000 acres of land, purchased from the natives in 1835 by Mr. Mitchell, and resold in 1839 to Major Campbell, Mr. Roy, and Captain Symonds. The settlers, on disembarkation, squatted on the ground; but, as the company could not establish their right of purchase, no more emigrants were sent out, and the settlement never took root. Those already in the colony were given lands in other localities, and after twelve years' correspondence the colonial government reported that the Manukau Company were only entitled to 1900 acres of land.

The secret history of this abortive Manukau settlement is worthy of record. At a dinner given by Lord Durham to the New Zealand Association, when most of the arrangements for sending out emigrants were complete, his Lordship proposed the health of Major Campbell as the Governor of their first settlement. Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who was present, and secretly anxious to obtain this office, objected to Major Campbell's appointment, not directly, but in that cunning way so peculiarly characteristic of himself. A meeting of the influential members was in a few days convened, at which circumstances occurred which led to

NELSON SETTLEMENT FOUNDED.

the breaking up of the Association. Mr. Wakefield's party then formed the New Zealand Company, and Major Campbell's attempted to found a settlement in the Manukau. 27

The directors of the New Zealand Company, encouraged by the eagerness with which land was purchased in England at the Wellington and New Plymouth settlements, issued a prospectus in 1841, for the formation of another settlement, to be called Nelson. 201,000 acres were offered for sale in allotments of 201 acres each, at thirty shillings an acre, with a town lot: the money to be paid before sailing. Three-sixths of the sum realised was to be paid to assist emigrants; two-sixths to defray the company's expenses; and one-sixth was to be held in trust for the purpose of rendering the settlement attractive, which last appropriation gave origin to the Nelson educational fund. Four hundred and forty-two properties were sold to three hundred and fifteen purchasers, of whom eighty proceeded to New Zealand. Priority of choice was determined by lot. Captain Arthur Wakefield, R.N., a brother of the Colonel's, was appointed leader of the expedition and resident agent.

In April, 1841, the ships Whitby and Will Watch sailed from London with emigrants for Nelson, and arrived at Wellington in September; Governor Hobson, who met the settlers at this place, wished them to be located in the northern part of the North Island, and suggested as good sites Mahurangi, the river Thames, and the Waipa district. Several of the emigrants were anxious to squat on the plain since appropriated by the

SETTLERS DISEMBARK.

Canterbury settlement; but Governor Hobson opposed this proposition. Colonel Wakefield settled the question by selecting Blind Bay in the Middle Island for the settlement, and for this site the ships sailed out of Port Nicholson. Touching at the Island of Kapiti, the emigrants met Rauparaha, who listened with suppressed alarm to the accounts of the expected advent of many more Europeans.

On the arrival of the ships in the Nelson Haven, a conference was held with the native owners of the soil, and Captain Wakefield promised them presents when the settlers obtained possession of the lands his brother had purchased. This speech produced a long silence. One chief said, "We welcome the white men, but decline their presents, lest they might be construed into proofs that the lands were fairly bought;" but a majority acceded to the agent's conditions; after which, surveyors and settlers landed to select a site for the town. One emigrant, years' since rich in flocks and herds, pitched his solitary sixpence overboard, and now boasts of having landed without a penny.

The settlers were delighted with the calm atmosphere of Nelson, after the boisterous Wellington weather, and the natives told them the Cook's Strait gales rarely extended so far down the Bay as Nelson. The harbour was pronounced excellent, but difficult of entrance; and the curious bank of boulders, which forms a perfect breakwater to it, attracted the attention of the geological and sea-faring emigrants. Gardeners were surprised to see delicate plants flowering in the plains, and snow on the mountains around; while agriculturists, hinting that the Waimea plain was not extensive, were told of fertile valleys across the first mountain range.

INSTRUCTIONS RELATIVE TO NATIVES.

From the nature of the country Captain Wakefield saw that the company's plan of selling land cut out in blocks like a chess-board was an imposition, and he sent Mr. Heaphy to England to explain this to the directors.

In all these settlements the Anglo-Saxons were brought into daily direct intercourse with the New Zealanders, and the great question was now to be solved, how the two races would agree. Lord John Russell, foreseeing danger from this source, transmitted with the charter of the colony a highly-philosophical despatch relative to the management of the natives. In that state paper Governor Hobson is directed to protect the aborigines from injustice, cruelty, and wrong; to establish and maintain friendly relations with them; to turn into useful channels their hitherto neglected capacities for labour; to avoid every practice injurious to their health or the diminution of their numbers; and to educate the young, and diffuse among the whole population the blessings of Christianity. "If the experience of the past," says his lordship, "compels me to look forward with anxiety to the too probable defeat of these purposes by the sinister influence of the many passions, prejudices, and physical difficulties with which we shall have to contend, it is, on the other hand, my duty and your own to avoid yielding in any degree to that despair of success which would assuredly render success impossible. To rescue the natives of New Zealand from the calamities of which the approach of civilised men to barbarous tribes has hitherto been the almost universal herald, is a duty too sacred and important to be neglected, whatever may be the discouragements under which it may be undertaken." 28

DISPUTES OF SETTLERS AND NATIVES.

The noble spirit contained in this despatch found small sympathy among some of the settlers, and there was little community of feeling between the races. Besides, the settlers were destitute of that species of worldly wisdom which adversity taught the pioneers of civilisation, and of that subordination, patience, and industry, from which success in such enterprises as they were engaged in springs. Unfortunately they did not conceal their contempt for brown-skinned men who were once cannibals, claimed land without title deeds, disfigured their faces for ornament, lived in dog-kennels, fed on putrid fish and fern-root, and spoke a language in which there was no written literature. These feelings were most common among the company's settlers, many of whom looked on the New Zealanders as the curse of the country, as the only obstacle to their obtaining possession of their lands.

The Wellington settlers, as already stated, had estranged themselves from the natives by occupying lands the latter cultivated, and within the limits of Wellington there were three native villages. Races so situated could have little intercourse without quarrelling, and the natives frequently complained that their cultivated grounds were destroyed by white men; and, as no redress could be obtained, they hinted at retaliation. One day an English boy died of a spear-wound in Wellington, but there was no evidence to support the general opinion that he had been speared for stealing potatoes. In August 1840, a dispute arose regarding a pot of ground, and the settlers took up arms. Lieutenant Shortland suppressed the riot by taking possession of the disputed ground, and by proclaiming that it was illegal for persons to assemble in arms without authority.

NATIVE DISPUTES AT WELLINGTON.

In August 1841, Governor Hobson visited Wellington, and several chiefs asked his protection against the unscrupulous demands of the company's settlers. His excellency, in consequence, reported to the Secretary of State, that the two races in Wellington were suspicious of each other, and that the settlers were excited by a venal press.

In this same year, a New Zealander of rank was found dead in the suburbs of Wellington, and on the evidence of a knot tied in flax after the white man's fashion, the natives declared with one voice that he was slain by white men. Warepore, the murdered man's chief, requested the life of a gentleman as payment, and when reasoned with on the injustice of such a demand, said, a labouring man's life would be sufficient, but he must have life for life. This affair was nearly forgotten, when Mr. Alexander Milne was killed on the Petoni road near Wellington; and it was universally believed, and subsequently admitted, that the fatal tomahawk wounds on his head were inflicted by natives. Shortly after Milne's murder, the native village on the Te Aro flat within the town of Wellington was burned, and the New Zealanders loudly accused the white men of incendiarism, and demanded payment for their losses.

From this day forth, the natives, in their opposition to the Wellington settlers, acted on principle; they did not commit personal violence or steal, but pulled down houses erected on disputed lands, and informed Colonel Wakefield beforehand that such acts would be perpetrated. Singular to relate, none of the property within the houses was destroyed or taken away. A warrant was issued to arrest Rangihaeata, the author of these defiant acts, but no bailiff would execute it. Mr. Swanson,

NATIVE DISPUTES AT WANGANUI.

the eminent naturalist, and other settlers, reported to Colonel Wakefield that the natives opposed their occupying lands in the valley of the Hutt. Colonel Wakefield reported to the directors of the company that the government police magistrate was instructed not to interfere against the natives, and in consequence he asked for soldiers and permission to form a militia. 29

In 1842 Mr. Halswell, the native commissioner at Wellington, informed Colonel Wakefield that the disputes between the two races were daily becoming worse, that the New Zealanders were hourly calling on him for advice, and that he dreaded a collision. The settlers now took warning, and a public meeting was convened to consider what steps should be taken. Colonel Wakefield declared he had done his utmost to put the settlers into possession of their lands, and as a last resort a report of the state of affairs was sent to the governor. Such was the melancholy condition the Wellington settlement had fallen into.

The Wanganui settlers fared no better than those at Wellington. On arriving at Wanganui they took possession of land pointed out as their own by the company's agent; but the natives warned them off, and announced that they were ready to fight for their inherited possessions. To prevent bloodshed the governor appointed a police magistrate to reside at Wanganui, and cautioned the people from settling on land under company's orders. After lengthened suffering twenty-six Wanganui settlers reported that they were impoverished by living on their own means, by the want of land, and by the absence of other legitimate sources of industry.

NATIVE DISPUTES IN THE NORTH.

Both races lived together in harmony in Auckland; but at Kaipara, Mongonui, and Wangarei there were disputes between solitary settlers and natives for squatting on disputed lands. At the Bay of Islands the two races were discontented, not with each other, but from a cause affecting both, and which soon afterwards burst into a conflagration. Both races were enraged at the removal of the seat of government from Russell, and Pomare complained that the customs duties had driven most of the whale ships from the Bay of Islands. 30 In 1842, when these murmurs were deep not loud, the government house at Russell was burned to the ground, and the settlers insinuated that the place was fired by discontented New Zealanders; but the natives denied the accusation, and hinted that the deed was done by respectable Europeans. One chief wrote to the governor, "that he could recollect white men, whether gentlemen or men of low degree he cannot say, but they were clothed in tailed coats, very good coats indeed, very good trowsers, and the shoes they walked in were polished," standing near the government house before the flames appeared. 31

The New Plymouth settlers soon suffered from their ill-judged location, and complicated causes led to this result. Taranaki, 32 well inhabited in 1820, was occupied, when Colonel Wakefield purchased it, by ninety natives, living for security in cliffs around Mount Egmont, and in holes in the sugar-loaf rocks; part of the proprietors were fugitives in Cook's Strait, part were slaves among

NATIVE DISPUTES AT NEW PLYMOUTH.

the Waikato and Bay of Islands tribes, and only those living on the spot divided the goods which alienated the whole land. Taranaki, celebrated in the songs and traditions of the people for the size of its taros and the sweetness of its sweet potatoes, was, in 1839, apparently a waste.

In 1841 Christianity and other causes manumitted many Taranaki slaves, and these men returned with joy to their fatherland. To them Colonel Wakefield's purchase was unknown, and they told the pioneers of the New Plymouth settlement that they were surveying their lands. Twisting their long arms round gigantic trees, tapued long ago for canoes, they besought Mr. Carrington to stop the woodcutter's axe, and he was only allowed to proceed in his survey on stating that the lands would be paid for in a just spirit when the settlers came. In September eight hundred of these arrived at Taranaki, and more fugitives and manumitted slaves likewise returned to the district. The surprise of the latter on finding the lands of their fathers parcelled out among strangers cannot be described, and it is not to be wondered at if disputes daily occurred between men so situated.

Governor Hobson bought for 400l. the right Te Whero Whero held over Taranaki in virtue of conquest, and a connection of that chief told the police magistrate at New Plymouth that these complaining slaves and returned fugitives had no legal claim on the land; that Te Whero Whero was the true lord of the soil, and that this right he had sold to the Queen. Acting on this opinion the magistrate sanctioned Mr. Cook swearing in twenty-eight special constables, who, after arming themselves, drove off a party of natives cultivating land near the

NATIVE DISPUTES AT NELSON.

Waitara river. Slavery and defeat had cowed the ancient spirit of the people, and they bowed their heads to the invaders without striking a blow, and heard their ancestral chief threatened with imprisonment for occupying land cultivated from time immemorial by his ancestors.

In December, 1842, Mr. Wickstead, the company's agent at New Plymouth, emboldened by success and aided by twenty settlers, destroyed a native fence. On this occasion a scuffle ensued before the work of destruction was completed, during which a native brandished a tomahawk over Mr. Wickstead's head, and for this he was taken into custody and charged with an assault. But the accusation was too glaringly unjust, and a bench of magistrates discharged the man, and informed Mr. Wickstead that he was acting illegally. These successful appeals to physical force diffused joy among the company's settlers. 33

Nowhere was this joy greater than at Nelson, as there a dispute had arisen in principle not unlike the New Plymouth one. Coal and lime were found cropping out in Massacre Bay soon after the formation of Nelson, and a party proceeded in a vessel to examine the spot. The natives living at the place denied having sold the land, and they refused the proffered presents for it; nevertheless, in defiance of their threats, the vessel was laden with coal and lime. At Nelson the value of both was appreciated, and a number of picked labourers were sent to work the seams. No physical resistance was given to the workers during the day, but at night the natives heaped in the coal the labourers dug out during

REMARKS ON DISPUTES.

day, and one chief broke the top of a lime cask ready for shipment. For this act a warrant was issued to arrest him, and an armed party proceeded from Nelson to execute it. The chief was arrested without resistance, tried on the spot, and sentenced to pay a fine or suffer imprisonment. Confident in the justice of his case, he refused to pay the fine, but his wife paid it without his knowledge, and he was forthwith liberated. At the termination of this affair, the police magistrate returned to Nelson highly elated with the success of his expedition, and the lesson given to the natives in English law. 34 Little did he think that this was the prelude to a future tragedy.

These disputes gave the emigrants a practical proof of the evils of settling in a country occupied by aborigines, although it never entered their minds to compare themselves to the Israelites, as the Puritans did in New England, and shoot the New Zealanders on the strength of a text out of Joshua. From these transactions the settlers began to look upon the New Zealanders as cowards: they did not comprehend that peculiarity in their character which makes them slow to commence hostilities. The Anglo-Saxon feeling, that one Englishman was a match for several "black fellows," the term frequently applied to the natives, was now universal.

At Wellington, Wanganui, Taranaki, and Nelson, Colonel Wakefield's thievish land purchases were the direct and indirect causes of strife; in the north the disputes were attributable partly to the ignorance both races had of each other's customs, – as where a settler's house was burned because he had taken a skull from a

MURDER OF A SETTLER'S FAMILY.

cemetery, – partly to the irregular manner in which lands were bought; and some disputes were magnified by discontented colonists to embarrass Government.

In these quarrels there may have been slight faults on both sides, but it is necessary to bear in mind that the white men were the intruders; that one race spoke the noble language of England, the other a tongue only written by the aid of Englishmen; that the Wellington colonists were the first to occupy disputed lands, and the first to resort to arms; and that at Taranaki and Nelson the forbearance of savages prevented evil results from the rashness of civilised men.

It is worthy of remark that the Portuguese authorities at Angola, on the west coast of Africa, forbid the Portuguese passing the boundary. Long acquaintance with the people has made the authorities assume that where the white trader is killed the aggression was made by him, and they adopt this means to avoid punishing those who had been provoked to shed Portuguese blood. 35

While the company's settlers were instructing the New Zealanders in English law, at the expense of justice, an event occurred in the Bay of Islands, early in 1842, indicative of the moral strength of the British Government in a good cause, and the feeling of justice prevalent in the native mind. Maketu, a New Zealander aged seventeen years, was employed by Mrs. Roberton, a widow lady living with her son aged eight years, two female children, one a half-caste, and a European male servant, on an island near Kororareka. One day the European servant spoke harshly to Maketu, and for this he split his skull while asleep. Mrs. Roberton, who accidentally

EXECUTION

saw the deed done, was likewise murdered, and also the two children; the boy fled, but Maketu caught him and flung him over a rocky precipice. No human being could now bear witness against Maketu; he fired the house where the murdered lay, paddled in a canoe to his father's village, and, strange to say, immediately related what he had done.

The flames of Mrs. Roberton's house were seen at Kororareka, and when the affair became known the people were panic-stricken. Maketu was soon afterwards delivered into the hands of the police magistrate by his tribe; partly from a sense of justice, and partly from terror of the relations of the murdered half-caste infant, a powerful tribe in the Bay of Islands. The murderer was conveyed to Auckland for trial, to inaugurate the opening of the Supreme Court of Justice in New Zealand. On trial day the Court was crowded with natives. Maketu confessed his guilt, and was sentenced to die. When his sentence was made known to him he asked to be killed on leaving the dock, complained bitterly of the cruelty of keeping him alive after his doom was fixed, and said he inflicted no such pain on his victims. He admitted the white men were justified in taking away his life, but not in the cold-blooded manner they intended.

On the 7th of March Maketu was brought out for execution at Auckland, where crowds of natives had congregated from distant parts of the country to witness this novel and awful scene. The murderer was calm, the spectators were agitated; when the rope was put round his neck a low sound of horror ran through the crowd, and as the drop fell a loud deep expiration, like that which ends a war song, burst from the spectators. When the body was cut down some of his relatives

LAMENT FOR MAKETU.

asked for it, but this was refused, and it was interred within the jail.

Ten months after the execution Maketu's father begged for his son's bones, which request was granted, and in the dead of night the body was exhumed. The rotten flesh was scraped from the bones, still held together by the ligaments; the skeleton was conveyed to the Bay of Islands and deposited in the cemetery of his ancestors. Maketu's father composed the following lament on this sad occasion.

"0 my son! I may ne'er forget thee. Thou art gone
Far hence, for the deep springs of fatherly
Affection are bubbling now, and the mind
Seems all bewildered, o'ertaken by a storm.
I fed thee with the fish, which line the rocks
Along the ocean shore, and taught thee how to meet the enemy.
O my son, I used to press thee to my breast.
Yes, Maketu, that child whom priests
Baptized in the fast flowing stream. 36
Stay, my son. It was a day of life
When the'people came in companies.
When the birds and other dainties were set
Before them. How now?
Ah, do not look upon my bird 37 with scorn
So it is newly fledged, and comes from
That noble one, Whara Whara, the Great.
And when its death is known, the grandsons
Of famed Taingahue will come from
Distant places. Here are thy lines,
O'er those I weep, and then I place
Thy hooks within a basket as a memorial
Of my lost one.
My son, thy name was scarcely known.
Thou wert but a stripling, and yet
Thy hands have touched another's treasures.
Thy sires, Pehi and Te Ngatata, were great
And wise, then how hast thou become
Acquainted with Whiro, the god of plunder?" 38

EFFECT OF EXECUTION.

Maketu was the first man legally hung in New Zealand, and the execution had an indescribable influence on the native mind. The natives could not separate the affair from the judge, who condemned him to die, and when that gentleman made an overland journey from Wellington to Auckland in 1843, crowds came from a distance to see him pass. All admitted the justice of Maketu's death, but loudly deprecated the cruelty of the execution. The force of this opinion will be understood from the following fact. A number of Maoris were captured near Tara Wera, and it was arranged that if the chief concluded a speech with a certain word, having no reference to death, all were to be tomahawked; they were to die without knowing their fate, the usual principle of New Zealand executions, sensibility being extinguished by a blow on the head, before bodily suffering begins.

Maketu was a Christian and a lad of violent temper, revenge caused him to murder the male servant, and the others were slain on the running a muck principle. It was asserted before his execution that the lad was insane; of this, however, no proof was given, but I saw his uncle a lunatic in the Auckland Asylum in 1855. Two days previous to Mrs. Roberton's murder, she established her right to the island where she was slain, and it was then said that the deed was done by the natives to get the island back, but they indignantly denied this insinuation.

Several members of the Executive Council of the colony were anxious that this moral power of Government should be frequently exerted for the public good, and a rare opportunity occurred. Within fifty miles of Auckland two human beings were publicly eaten in

PROPOSAL TO HANG A CANNIBAL.

1842, and cannibalism and child-murder were the two native customs the Governor was directed not to tolerate. 39 The persons eaten were Christians; and their tribe, in requesting the assistance of the Governor, cunningly suggested that the ringleader Taraia should be hung like Maketu. The Government called on several natives for an account of the affair, and the following narrative was laid before the Executive Council. 40

Between Taraia's tribe in the river Thames, and the Tauranga natives, wars have occurred for several generations, and their hatred commenced thus. A marriage took place in which the husband belonged to one of these tribes, the wife to the other; and some time afterwards the girl's father was cast ashore near his married daughter's residence, where he was killed and eaten. The girl fled to her father's people, and war broke out between the two tribes, which has been renewed on trivial grounds ever since. It was the Tauranga people that killed the canoe-wrecked man, aud in excuse for their conduct they alleged that it was a law written on their hearts, that persons saved from drowning always brought evil on their preservers.

In 1842 Taraia was living quietly in his pa, when he received insulting letters from the Tauranga natives. Secretly he collected forty picked warriors, and started with the night flood up the Thames to wreak his vengeance on the slanderers. On reaching the upper part of the river the war party disembarked, dragged their canoes on shore, and crossed the mountains which lie between the Thames and Tauranga. On the road

ACCOUNT OF CANNIBALISM.

they halted until evening, lest their approach might be observed. The pa to be surprised was Engaro, and in it were sixteen men with women and children; the remainder were absent at a funeral ceremony. Before dawn Taraia's party approached close under the pa. One man within it had risen early to smoke his pipe, and was standing at the fence overlooking the sea; hearing the stones rolling under the war party's feet, he called out "Halloo! whence came these men outside our pa?" Te Whanake, who came to the fence on hearing the cry, said, "No, it is the tide dashing against the stones;" but the chief, whose Christian name was Thompson, called out a second time, "Which of our men is outside our pa?" Te Whanake again replied, "No, it is the tide dashing against the stones." Thompson now saw the enemy advancing, and shrieked out, "0 my friends! there is a war party attacking us;" but before the exclamation was finished the enemy were in the pa. Three chiefs, one woman, and a child were slain, and twelve women and children enslaved, the remainder escaped to their canoes. The bodies of Te Whanake and Reko, after being cooked, were entombed in the warriors' stomachs. Tautahanga was interred, and not eaten, being a blood connection of the war party.

After the action Taraia went over the deserted pa, and collected the guns, the religious books of God and the hymn-books of the people, then his party returned to their canoes on the Thames. On the road they robbed a white man's house, but Taraia made them restore the blankets. Paddling down the Thames they stopped one night at a Christian settlement. There they ran to the church with the two chiefs' heads, rang the bell,

CANNIBALS' SEIZURE ORDERED.

and caricatured the Christian service; to the great God of Heaven they prayed boastfully, and danced war dances; one old man tore prayer books with his teeth, put out his tongue at the Christian natives, and stretching wide his arms, cried aloud, "When will Christ your God come to save those of you who have been cooked in the oven? What is your God? – all lies." Then the whole party jeered the Christians.

The next day Taraia reached his own village. In it there was a church and a few believers; here they rung the prayer bell and mocked the great God of Heaven. When the Christians were at their evening prayers, Taraia rolled the two chiefs' heads into the midst of them. A portion of the body of Te Whanake was sent to Te Taniwha at Coromandel, but that chief returned the flesh, and announced that he and his people would continue worshipping God only.

The perusal of this narrative shocked the members of the Executive Council, and it was apparent to them that there never could occur a better case for Government interference than this, seeing the laws of God and man were alike violated. Without delay orders were issued for the soldiers at Auckland to embark in the Government brig and seize Taraia. During the delay which occurred in getting the brig round from the Manukau into the Auckland harbour, Taraia heard of the Governor's intentions, and he addressed a letter stating that His Excellency had no right to interfere in a purely native quarrel, and that any attempt to arrest him would only make things worse.

The good sense of the cannibal's letter changed the minds of the Executive Council, and when the brig was ready to sail she was despatched to Taraia's pa with

DEATH OF GOVERNOR HOBSON.

missionaries instead of soldiers. Taraia then asked what relation the Governor was to the men slain, that he should interfere. The missionaries suggested that Taraia should give some compensation to the sufferers' tribe; and to this he had no objection, provided the tribe paid him for his relations they had slain. "Have they not eaten my mother?" said Taraia, at the conclusion of his eloquent harangue upon this subject.

The illness Governor Hobson laboured under on his arrival in New Zealand was converted into a fatal disease by the anxiety incident to his position, and the irritating conduct of several settlers. The latter annoyance assumed various shapes. The people of Auckland petitioned for his recall, because the country was reduced to bankruptcy, and because he did not purchase land from the natives; and the Company's settlers begged her Majesty to relieve him, because he misrepresented them.

It accidentally became known that, like most officers of the royal navy, Captain Hobson was keenly alive to newspaper criticism, and after this discovery he never had a day's peace. Newspapers unknown beyond the place where they were printed kept him in a perpetual fever. He removed one gentleman from the Legislative Council, and another from the commission of the peace, for writing against him. As his presence in Auckland caused activity among his enemies, he made a trip up the Waikato and Waipa rivers, crossed over to Kawhia, and returned by the coast to Auckland. Immediately on his arrival, a public meeting was called, to consider the best means of alleviating the distress of the colony; and when an address of congratulation to her Majesty, on the birth of a princess, was also made the means of

REMARKS ON HIS RULE.

personal annoyance, the Governor's heart sunk, a relapse of paralysis followed, and he died on the 10th of September, 1842, aged forty-nine years.

Captain Hobson governed New Zealand for thirty-five months; and the Secretary of State approved of his general policy. But a man who had spent thirty years of his life at sea was ill suited to lay the foundation of a colony in the midst of natives. Much personal dislike arose from the irresponsible nature of his power; but none of his opponents could justly accuse him of using his public position to promote his own gain. By the natives who knew him he was highly respected, and some chiefs in asking for a new Governor from her Majesty said, "Let him be a good man, as this Governor who has just died." His body lies in the cemetery at Auckland, and in St. Paul's Church of that city a marble slab commemorates in English and Maori that he was a native of Ireland. But Governor Hobson requires no monument in New Zealand, as the town of Auckland, the site of which he chose, now rapidly springing up around his grave, will better perpetuate his fame than a pillar of stone or a statue of brass. 41

1 Parl. Papers, 1840. Lord Durham's letter.

2 Mirror of Parliament, 1838.

3 Wakefield's Adventures in New Zealand.

4 Founders of Connecticut America.

5 Trial of, for the abduction of Miss Turner; Townsend's Modern State Trials, vol. 2.

6 See vol. 2., p.39.

7 Parl. Papers, 1841. Sir G. Gipps' speech.

8 Parl. Papers, dated 8th April, 1840.

9 Parl. Papers, 1840. Instructions, August 14th, 1839.

10 Journal de Havre, 1840.

11 Journal des Debats, 1844.

12 Statutes 57 Geo. III. cap. 53.; Geo. IV. cap. 83. sec. 4.; Geo. IV. cap. 96. Parl. Papers, 1840.

13 Colonel Wakefield's Journal. New Zealand Company's Reports.

14 Parl. Papers, 1840.

15 Parl. Papers, 1841.

16 The First Settlers in New Zealand, by J. Busby, Esq., p. 65.

17 Wakefield's Adventures in New Zealand.

18 Parl. Papers, 1844. Company's publications. Letter to Lord Stanley.

19 Edition by Chitty. London.

20 Parl. Papers. Personal Information.

21 Heaphy's New Zealand, 1842.

22 Parl. Papers, 1840. Sir George Gipps to Secretary of State. Parl. Papers, 1844. Mr. Crawford's evidence. Personal inquiry.

23 Busby v. Mackenzie. New Zealander newspaper, June, 1855.

24 Parl. Papers. Bishop Selwyn's visit to; see Church in Colonies.

25 Government Gazette.

26 Medial Topography of Wanganui, by Dr. Rees. New Zealand Government Gazette.

27 This account was given to me by a Manukau settler, a gentleman who was examined before the House of Commons in 1844.

28 Parl. Papers, 1841. Page 29.

29 Parl. Papers, 1844. Protector of Aborigines Reports. New Zealand Company's Reports.

30 Narrative of a voyage in the Pacific, by Captain Sir John Ross, 1841.

31 MSS. letter, Native Secretary's Office, Auckland.

32 The term Taranaki is used in the sense the English use it.

33 Parl. Papers, 1844, No. 556.

34 Narrative of Mr. Tuckett, Chief Surveyor.

35 Livingstone.

36 The ceremony of Iriiri or Iriiringa.

37 An affectionate term for a beloved child.

38 Maori Mementos, by C. 0. Davis, 1855.

39 Lord John Russell's Dispatch. Parl. Papers.

40 MSS. Native Secretary's Office, Auckland. Letter from William Jowett, a native.

41 Auckland, the capital of New Zealand. Smith & Elder, 1853.

CHAPTER VI. NEW ZEALAND IN 1842.

CHAP. VI.

NEW ZEALAND IN 1842.

Social state of white population. – Condition of aborigines. – Education, religion, and justice. – Resources of colony. – Revenue and expenditure. – Newspapers. – Poetical description of a cannibal feast.

WE must now pause in our narrative, in order to give some account of the social and commercial condition of the inhabitants in 1842; and this chapter may prove interesting when the children of the present landed proprietors have become New Zealand squires.

The population first demands attention. In 1842, there were 10,992 white persons in the colony; Wellington, the largest settlement, had 3701 inhabitants; Auckland, 2895; Nelson, 2500; New Plymouth, 895; Russell, 380; Hokianga, 263; Wanganui, 200; and Akaroa, 198.

The northern settlers were chiefly derived from Australia; those in the south from Great Britain. The former were distinguished for colonial wisdom; the latter for education and good home connections. The Company's settlers, having come direct from a country where the people rule themselves, felt more keenly than the northern immigrants the irritation arising from living under irresponsible government. The male population exceeded the female in all the settlements, and this inequality was greater in Auckland than in

SOCIAL STATE OF SETTLERS.

Wellington. Few of the settlers were above fifty years of age. Crime was almost unknown. At the Bay of Islands the inhabitants gained their bread by trading with the whale ships; at Hokianga, in felling the giant Kauri trees for the Australian and English markets. At Auckland the people were living on the government expenditure, and awaited the arrival of immigrants to occupy the houses they had built, and re-purchase the town lots they had bought. The French at Akaroa were cultivating vines; and were settling down into idleness and happiness amidst their beautiful gardens and vineyards. At Wellington, Wanganui, New Plymouth, and Nelson, the settlers were living on their own resources, from not having got possession of their lands; some were frittering away their lives in idle pastimes, while torpor and drinking had taken possession of a few. There was little land under cultivation, farming implements were rusting for want of use, and money was spent in purchasing what labour should have supplied. Several children and cattle had died from eating Tutu berries.

The dark prospects of the Company's emigrants, contrasted with their brightest expectations, partly justified their loud demands to be put by force into possession of what they considered their own lands. At all the settlements save Auckland the natives were discontented; but although the Virginian colonies failed twice from famine and native hostility, yet the New Zealand settlers had no dread of either of these misfortunes. The military force in the colony consisted of 150 soldiers of the 80th Regiment, which fine body of men, before sailing for India to mingle in the conflicts of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon, erected at Auckland a loopholed barrack, the first scoria-building in the colony.

PRICE OF FOOD.

Many settlers' houses were constructed of reeds, a material so liable to ignition that the Legislative Council passed an act against their erection in towns. Fencing and ditching cost little, as labourers were numerous in comparison to the demand for labour; but skilled work was expensive. The Company's labourers were paid fourteen shillings a week with rations, carpenters and bricklayers 4l.

Pork and potatoes formed the staple food, and at Wellington the settlers caused a dearth of these articles among the neighbouring natives. Jews ate pork, and called it mutton. Potatoes were 10l. a ton; beef 1s. 4d. a pound, and scarce; pork 3 1/2d a pound. An ox was killed at Auckland in 1842, by special request, to furnish a few Englishmen with roast beef on Christmas-day. Mutton was 1s. a pound, fowls 12s. a couple, eggs 6s. a dozen. For several weeks the Auckland Gazette repeats there was no tea in the town. Gin, rum, and brandy were the usual drinks. Two Australian customs had already taken root in the colony; one a beverage composed of brandy and ginger-beer, which was denominated a stone fence; the other a halloo used by settlers in shouting to people at a distance; the cry was coooe, the halloo or shriek of the Australian aborigines under similar circumstances.

There were no hospitals for the sick or insane; and as disease was rare, several medical emigrants, finding their professional talents useless, turned store-keepers. From the nature of the country many men were drowned; and the frequency of these accidents compared with death from disease made colonists describe death by drowning as a natural one in New Zealand. Sporting settlers were disappointed: quails were found in the

AMUSEMENTS OF SETTLERS.

Middle Island; and in the North Island sportsmen sallied out to shoot dottrel, ducks, pigeons, and pukekos; but none furnished sport equal to the bringing down of partridge and blackcock in old England. There was no fresh-water fishing; and sea-fishing, even the hauling out of a hundred-pound hapuka, was poor sport compared with the landing of lively trouts. Spearing bush boars on horseback occasionally equalled the same gallant sport in the Deccan. Race meetings were held at several settlements, and the winner of the Auckland town plate in 1842 was to be sold for 150l.; but a traveller present on the course asked, "Who in his senses would give as many pence for a race-horse in the wilderness?" 42

There were few carts and no gigs, dinner parties were unknown, balls were common, and the natives called waltzing and galloping harlot's dances. Saddle horses were let to hire for 15s. a day; but few settlers ventured far from their settlements. There were no roads; the native path between Wellington and Porirua had been widened, and the road from Wellington to the Hutt was making. Port Nicholson was covered with large trees to the water's edge. There was little communication between the different settlements, and news from Wellington and Nelson reached Auckland through Sydney; New Plymouth was as isolated as Norfolk Island. It was not known that both sides of Cook's Straits were subject to severe earthquakes. Few settlers ventured out at night without lanterns. The quantity of land in the hands of the Government was small. At Wellington an aristocracy was found within the walls of the Wakefield Club, and

SCENES – IMPORTANCE OF SETTLEMENTS.

here cards were occasionally played until the sun rose. The government officers at Auckland chose their allotments in one place, called it Official Bay, and tried to form an exclusive set.

An easy style in everything was the fashion; blue shirts were generally worn, and customers were served by shopkeepers with pipes in their mouth. Curious scenes frequently occurred from this freedom of manners. A settler unaccustomed to the colony arrived at Wellington in December 1841; on going to bed in the best hotel he found the sheets were dirty table-cloths, and when remonstrating with the landlord, was told not to address a collegian in such terms. In the middle of this controversy a commissioner fresh from England complained to the landlord that his bed was occupied by an immense hairy man; then the fastidious settler, forgetting his own misfortunes in his friend's greater evil, went and urged the illegal occupant of the bed to give it up to the legitimate proprietor, which request being refused, he dashed a bucket of cold water between the sheets, and decamped pursued by the wet enraged man as far as he could safely follow him naked. The excitement of the early days of the Colony had been followed by depression.

An idea of the relative importance of the settlements may be drawn from the customs' duties collected at each. In 1842, at Wellington they amounted to 8967l., at Auckland to 5496l., at Russell to 2585l., at Nelson to 1350l.; and at New Plymouth to 170l. 43

The New Zealanders, erroneously reckoned ten times more numerous than the settlers, were, with a few ex-

CONDITION OF NATIVES.

ceptions, living at peace with each other. Human flesh was eaten in 1842, but it was universally admitted that the natives were making rapid strides in industry and civilisation, although what Englishmen understood by comfort was unknown among them. Even by their friends they were said to be perfectly able to protect themselves against the settlers. Christian natives were less given to hospitality than the heathens, and the maxim of the Psalmist, that prosperous men are observant of ceremonial piety was peculiarly applicable to the natives. Religion amongst them consisted more in words than deeds, but in all countries the Spirit of Christianity is followed by a few, and the outward form is the lot of the many. Travellers have been frequently warned of their approach to human habitations by hearing the chanting of hymns through the silence and solitude of the forest. During the early days of the settlements, pigs and potatoes were sold for pipes and other articles, but now silver and gold coin was invariably demanded; away from the English, figs of tobacco and pipes were still the circulating medium. The highest-born chief thought it an honour to be a shrewd pig-merchant. Fire-arms and ammunition were held in high estimation, and the natives resorted to the settlements armed. Few natives spoke English, and few settlers Maori: trade was conducted between the two races by means of a half-caste dialect and the interpretation of pakeha Maoris. The infatuation of the white population for agricultural land had given place to an anxiety for mineral lands; this the natives soon detected; specimens of minerals were brought to town by natives, and islands entirely composed of clay were purchased by sensible men under the idea they were full of copper.

EDUCATION. – RELIGION. – JUSTICE.

Horses were unknown in the interior. A newspaper written in Maori was circulated by Government among the natives.

One of the reasons assigned by Governor Hobson for not purchasing land from the natives for the settlers was, that as the natives were rapidly decreasing, their lands would soon become the Crown's property for nothing. 44

Education was at a low ebb in 1842. Settlers taught their children the arts of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the natives were instructed by the three missionary bodies settled in the country. Among the colonists there were men of all religions, but the members of the English Church were most numerous. A society had been formed in England in 1840 to endow a bishopric, and in 1842 George Augustus Selwyn, the first Bishop of New Zealand, landed in the country. 45 His activity soon made him known among the natives, and as he surpassed them in walking and fording dangerous rivers, they believed these qualities were the gifts of God for his special work.

The Legislative Council had already passed twenty-six acts for the peace, order, and government of the country, and the Supreme Court of Justice, created by one of these ordinances, was opened on March 1842. When the secretary of state appointed a judge and an attorney-general for New Zealand, he sent out one hundred Parkhurst boys as emigrants; and these reformed prisoners, in one year after their arrival, doubled the felony cases in the colony, and gave the Supreme Court some occupation.

RESOURCES OF COLONY.

In 1771 New Zealand was represented to be almost destitute of resources useful to civilised men; but Dr. Franklin pointed out that this was no reason to despair of the country, as England was once thought only to produce sloes. 46 The justice of Dr. Franklin's remark was now admitted. In 1842 the settlers knew there were veins of copper, manganese, coal, and lime, near Auckland and Nelson; that a dark dye was expressed from the wood of the hinau; that there were several tanning barks, that the sea sand at Wanganui and New Plymouth was full of iron; that clay for making bricks was easy of access; that an island of sulphur stood in the Bay of Plenty; that the New Zealand flax was famous for mats and fishing-lines; that the soil and climate were good for health and corn; that there were excellent furniture and ship-building woods; that kauri gum clear as amber could be dug out of the earth; that the forests swarmed with pigs and the sea with edible fish; that an acre of land laid down in grass fattened five sheep or one bullock; and that fern-root fed pigs often weighed five hundred pounds.

As yet the whale and timber trades were the only remunerative pursuits. Several tons of the greenstone found in the Middle Island were sent to Hong Kong by a Manilla merchant, but the black grains in the mineral rendered it worthless for Chinese ornaments. 47

It is a curious circumstance that the English settlers in New Zealand in 1842, like the Romans in England in 287, celebrated the importance of their respective abodes with remarkable similarity. Both described the fertility of the soil, the temperate nature of the climate,

REVENUE. – NEWSPAPERS.

the safety of the harbours, the absence of venomous serpents, and the abundance of animals in the forests suitable for food. 48 In England these animals were horned cattle, in New Zealand pigs.

The revenue of the colony was derived from the English Parliament, the customs dues, and the sale of Crown lands, and these produced in 1842 upwards of 50,000l.: 49 50,000l. were expected to be derived in 1842 from the sale of land, whereas only 11,000l. were realised from this source. As much of the customs revenue was derived from taxes on blankets and tobacco, the natives were large contributors to the support of the colony. Governor Hobson received 60,000l. from Parliament and 40,000l. from the sale of lands, and left the country at his death on the verge of bankruptcy, after ruling it thirty-five months. In 1842 the exports were valued at 18,000l. and the imports at 166,OOOl. 50 The former were chiefly whale-oil and sawn timber; the latter sheep, cattle, horses, and almost every article required by civilised men.

There were nine newspapers published in the colony in 1842. 1. The New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator; 2. The New Zealand Colonist; 3. The Nelson Examiner; 4. The Bay of Islands Observer; 5. The New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette; 6. The Auckland Times; 7. The Auckland Chronicle; 8. The New Zealand Government Gazette; 9. The Native Newspaper.

Two of these papers were published at Wellington, two at the Bay of Islands, four at Auckland, and one at Nelson. Each paper cost sixpence, although not larger

STYLE OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES.

than four pages of the Penny Magazine; few circulated beyond the limits of the settlements in which they were printed, and each paper issued about two hundred copies. About one half of the papers were published weekly, the others twice a week. The Nelson Examiner and the Wellington Spectator are the only survivors in 1859. The Auckland Times was "printed in a mangle.' All the papers were in the habit of using strong language; indeed, savage scurrility supplied the place of wit, and harshness of expression the want of keenness. Many articles were actuated by personal feelings, but, as some excuse for this state of things, it is to be remembered that the press was the only check the people had on their rulers. The Government Gazette was published at the Bay of Islands until July 1841. It was partly official and partly not, although there was often difficulty in detecting which was which, and some of the articles are curious compositions for a paper "published by authority."

Most emigrants embarking for New Zealand before 1842 thought the natives devoured each other like carnivorous beasts, and stale cannibal jokes passed between friends on bidding each other farewell. The Rev. Sydney Smith amused his London friends by saying, "There is a New Zealand attorney arrived in London with 6s. 8d tattooed all over his face;" and, finding the joke took, he recommended Bishop Selwyn, on his departure from New Zealand, to receive the cannibal chiefs of that country with the following speech: "'I deeply regret, sirs, to have nothing on my table suited to your tastes, but you will find plenty of cold curate and roasted clergyman on the sideboard.' And if, in spite of this prudent provision, his visitors should end their repast

DESCRIPTION OF A CANNIBAL FEAST.

by eating him likewise, 'Why,' said the witty canon, 'I could only add, I sincerely hoped he would disagree with them.'" 51

Even the Government Gazette of the colony was tainted with this vile habit; and the June number of that official organ, in 1841, contains Governor Hobson's speech on the opening of the Legislative Council, and among other articles a poetical description of a cannibal feast witnessed by a traveller in 1836. The poem is too long for insertion, but an idea of its spirit may be drawn from the following extract. Our traveller arrived at a village in the interior of the North Island, where

"The chief invited him to rest awhile,
And take his dinner in New Zealand style."

This invitation he accepted, and returning from bathing

"The chief, a fellow fond of jovial fun,
Informed him, smiling, that the pig was done."

Our traveller was given an honourable place in the circle of villagers round the food, and then

"They tear the joints, devour the juicy treat,
And laugh most heartily to see him eat."

After dinner the chief produced the head of the boy eaten, and the horrible expression of the dead lad's features hurt our traveller: –

"Judge how appalling these must now have looked,
The blood scarce clotted, heads are never cooked."

The readers of the Government Gazette are then informed in poetical measure that horror and sickness

DESCRIPTION OF A CANNIBAL FEAST.

seized the traveller; that during his future abode in New Zealand he lived on cabbages and shell-fish; and that ever since, although resident in Australia, he has so execrated pork,

"That every stranger, friend, and neighbour too,
Affect amazement, grin, and call him 'Jew.' " 52

42 Majoribanks' New Zealand.

43 See Table 12, in Appendix.

44 Speech of Mr. Porter, House of Representatives, 1855.

45 Parl. Papers, 1844.

46 Scheme for the Civilisation of the New Zealanders.

47 Hong Kong Gazette.

48 Gibbon, chapter xiii.

49 See Appendix, Table XI.

50 See Table XIV.

51 Lady Holland's Memoirs of the Rev. Sydney Smith. London, 1855.

52 New Zealand Government Gazette, No. 17. June, 1841.

CHAPTER VII. MR. SHORTLAND'S RULE, SEPTEMBER 1842 TO OCTOBER 1843.

CHAP. VII.

MR. SHORTLAND'S RULE, SEPTEMBER 1842 TO OCTOBER 1843.

Troops take the field against cannibals. – Right of interference in purely native disputes. – Conflict between settlers and natives in the Wairau. – Place of conflict now sacred. – Effect of conflict on natives. – Effect of conflict on settlers. – Effect in England. – Financial crisis of 1843. – Mr. Shortland's rule.

ON Governor Hobson's death Mr. Willoughby Shortland, the colonial secretary, assumed the administration. This gentleman was formerly first lieutenant on board Captain Hobson's ship in the West Indies; an occupation but little conducive to a knowledge of constitutional law. He differed from Taraia concerning the legality of interfering in purely native disputes, and soon found an excuse for carrying out his patron's policy by taking the field against cannibals.

In October 1842, Tangaroa, a Maketu chief, had his vessel captured by the Tauranga natives, and a near connection slain, for violating a tapu; in other words, for eating potatoes growing near the graves of Taraia's victims. The crew of the captured Maketu vessel escaped into the woods around Tauranga, where they hid for several days, and ultimately got away in Mr. Farrow's schooner, which they stole from her anchorage in the Tauranga harbour. Tohi, a high-born warrior of Maketu, assisted Tangaroa in taking his revenge; to accomplish which they embarked their followers in Farrow's schooner, and proceeded to the Mayor Island,

LEGALITY OF

a possession of the Tauranga people in the Bay of Plenty. After anchoring the vessel, Tohi and Tangaroa dressed themselves like sailors and promenaded about the deck. As this European custom of walking the deck is never adopted by the New Zealanders, the natives on the island, unsuspicious of evil from what they conceived to be a white man's vessel, paddled on board, and were massacred. Their bodies were cooked and eaten, and several baskets of flesh were sent for distribution among the Rotorua chiefs.

Just when the Tauranga people were preparing to attack Tohi for this murder, Mr. Shortland arrived in the government brig on his passage to Wellington. As the Maketu natives had forcibly seized a European vessel, the officer administering the government made up his mind to assist the Tauranga Christians in attacking the Maketu cannibals. The brig was despatched to Auckland for troops, and returned with forty soldiers, three guns, and a protest from Mr. Attorney-General Swainson against the Governor's intended proceedings.

The Maketu pa was eighteen miles from the English camp at Tauranga, and as the beach road between the combatants was good when the tide was out, Mr. Shortland stated that he had no doubt of success. Just at this stage of the campaign Bishop Selwyn and Chief-Justice Martin arrived in the English camp, and, having passed unmolested through the enemies' ranks at Maketu, they strongly recommended Mr. Shortland to practise forbearance, which advice he wisely adopted. The troops were ordered back to Auckland, the Maketu natives restored Mr. Farrow's boat, and a war was prevented which would have cost both races many lives and the Government much money.

INTERFERING IN NATIVE QUARRELS.

The question raised by Taraia, and now taken up by the attorney-general, regarding the right of Government to interfere in purely native disputes, is one of grave importance. It was urged that the Mayor Island was not in the colony; that only those New Zealanders were British subjects who signed the Waitangi treaty; that few of the inland tribes had given in their allegiance; that neither Tohi nor Tangaroa had ceded their sovereign rights to the Queen; and that it would be illegal to arrest them for murders committed out of her Majesty's dominions. Several constitutional lawyers thought this opinion correct. 53 The Secretary of State, Lord Stanley, totally differed from it, and informed Mr. Swainson that no gentleman holding opinions so directly at variance with her Majesty's royal instructions for the government of New Zealand could be permitted to act as a public officer. 54

The case was this. A majority of the principal chiefs signed the treaty of Waitangi, in virtue of which her Majesty's authority was proclaimed over all. A larger proportional number of the inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland were against the Hanoverian succession than there were of New Zealanders against the treaty of Waitangi, and consequently the New Zealanders only experienced what the minority of the English people frequently suffer from the majority. The attorney-general was not removed from his office; and although his law may have been law, it was, in a common-sense view of the question, a legal quibble. Nevertheless, it did great good by preventing the acting governor from embroiling the colony in a war.

SETTLERS MARCH AGAINST NATIVES.

Another appeal to arms did not terminate so happily as the Tauranga campaign. The bold and illegal conduct of the company's settlers, already related, received an awful check in June 1843; and the severity of the blow was aggravated by a chief named Rangihaeata, then highly incensed against the Government, in consequence of the acquittal by the Supreme Court of a white man, who murdered a woman, a blood connection of his own. It occurred thus: –

There is a large valley in the province of Nelson, called the Wairau. This tract of land Colonel Wakefield claimed as the company's property, but the natives denied having sold it. Captain Wakefield, the company's agent, feeling confident in the justice of his brother's bargain, sent men to survey the valley. Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, the proprietors, considering this the act of taking possession, burned down the surveyor's huts, but before applying the match they carefully removed and preserved for their owners' use all the surveyor's property within the huts. Captain Wakefield, remembering the success which had followed the arrest of the Massacre Bay chief, considered this a good opportunity for giving the natives what was called another lesson in English law. A warrant to arrest Rauparaha for robbery and arson was obtained from a Nelson bench of justices of the peace, and Mr. Thompson, the police magistrate, eight gentlemen, and forty armed labourers volunteered to execute it.

The expedition sailed in the colonial brig to the mouth of the Wairau river in Cloudy Bay; and on landing, Puaha, a Christian native, entreated the police magistrate not to go up against Rauparaha armed, but his warning passed unheeded. After marching six miles

WAIRAU MASSACRE.

up the valley, the party suddenly came on Rauparaha surrounded by a hundred followers, in a camp chosen with much skill for defence and retreat; an unfordable brook flowed past its front, and a dense scrub sheltered its rear. For half an hour an irritating conversation was kept up between the two parties. The police magistrate explained that he had come to seize Rauparaha, and displayed the justices' warrant as his authority. Rauparaha distinctly refused, unless by force, to go a prisoner to Nelson; and said the burned huts were his own property, that he was averse from fighting, and that the dispute should be referred to the land commissioner.

During this discussion Puaha read aloud extracts from the New Testament, and exhorted both parties to keep the peace. A demonstration to seize Rauparaha led to a rush; a musket was fired from the colonists' side; the natives returned it, and a running fight ensued. When the settlers saw several of their party fall, they retreated, scattered, and escaped panic-stricken to the brig or overland to Nelson. Five gentlemen and four labourers, who refused to run, surrendered themselves to Rauparaha; but Rangihaeata having lost his wife in the conflict cried aloud, "This is the second time the settlers have wounded me by slaying my relatives," and red-handed tomahawked all the prisoners.

Twenty-two settlers were killed and five were wounded; thirteen of these fell in the conflict, and nine were massacred. Five natives were killed and eight were wounded. Among the European dead were H. A. Thompson, Esq., police magistrate; Captain Wakefield; G. Richardson, Esq., Crown-Prosecutor, Nelson; and Captain England, late of the 12th Regiment.

PLACE OF CONFLICT SACRED.

When the affair was over Rauparaha crossed Cook's Strait in his canoes, and dreading the vengeance of the settlers, took up a position at Otaki. As he proceeded along the coast he excited the natives by exhibiting a pair of felon's iron handcuffs taken from the police magistrate, and which he stated were intended for his wrists.

The Wairau valley was visited a few days after the conflict by a Wesleyan clergyman, who interred seventeen dead bodies. All had their skulls cleft, but none of the dead had been eaten or mutilated. The Nelson settlement mourned for the loss of her pioneers. Captain Arthur Wakefield was deeply deplored by the colonists, and by those who had served with him in the royal navy, as none of the party undertook the Wairau expedition in a more firm belief that it was lawful and desirable to arrest Rauparaha than he did. Travellers look in vain for a tablet at Nelson commemorating the names of those who fell, although a sum of money was collected for the purpose; but Mount Arthur, a black-pointed hill in the snowy range behind the Waimea valley, is no bad monument for Captain Wakefield. In 1848, Bishop Selwyn visited the Wairau graves; those who fell in the battle are interred on the banks of the Tua Marina, and those who were massacred lie on a knoll in full sight of the valley for which they lost their lives in vain. The spot, now tapued by the natives, has been set apart by Bishop Selwyn for a Church and burial ground. 55

This successful stand against the settlers had a wonderful influence on the native mind; the news spread

EFFECT OF CONFLICT ON NATIVES.

like fire among flax from hamlet to hamlet all over the country, and being magnified in their usual manner, gave confidence to the restless and dissatisfied. Rauparaha, dreading vengeance, declared he would massacre every settler in the colony should one of his kindred suffer injury for his deeds. The native who murdered Mr. Milne, and who was rescued from Wellington jail, where he was confined on a charge of theft, was subsequently given up through entreaty rather than force; and on his trial day, numbers of armed men congregated in the hills around Wellington to prevent his execution, in case that sentence should be awarded him.

Rauparaha and Rangihaeata carried with them the sympathy of their country. "Is Rauparaha," said a turbulent northern chief, "to have all the honour of killing the white men?" 56 What was called the retreat of the troops from Tauranga and the Wairau conflict were never-failing subjects of interest; and Rauparaha proclaimed that the colonists were a widely different race from the bold whalers. The prestige of the English for valour was destroyed, the natives said the settlers were unable to defend themselves, and several ambitious chiefs were anxious to try their strength with the soldiers. Meanwhile omens of victory were drawn from the appearance of the great comet in 1843, and the simultaneous concurrence of a severe earthquake at Wanganui.

The conduct of the colonists did not tend to lessen the boastfulness of the natives, for a panic perfectly familiar to Rauparaha spread among them in Cook's

EFFECT OF CONFLICT ON SETTLERS.

Strait when the Wairau conflict became known. Memorials were addressed to the Governors of New South Wales and Tasmania for troops, and a deputation of magistrates from Wellington and Nelson informed the officer administering the government that the English could not maintain themselves much longer in the country without a settlement of the land question. Seven hundred settlers petitioned the Queen to inquire into the condition of the colony, and they stated that the non-settlement of the land claims, and the want of an independent government for Cook's Strait, were the primary causes of the late massacre.

They saw they were sitting on a volcano, and from being over rash, they fell into an opposite extreme, and imagined danger where none existed. The acting governor took the Wairau conflict as a warning, and endeavoured to congregate the out-settlers around Auckland. He now doubted whether victory would have attended his Maketu expedition had a shot been fired; he declared that an inquiry should be made into the Wairau affair, and the guilty punished; he appointed Major Richmond of the 96th Regiment chief magistrate of the southern districts, and ordered fifty-three soldiers of the 96th Regiment from Auckland to Wellington. In the meantime her Majesty's ship North Star, having on board a company of the 80th Regiment, arrived at Wellington from Tasmania; and it was remarked that there was not a defensible position in the country in the hands of the Government.

This force raised the depressed spirits of the Cook's Strait settlers, and they called upon the Governor to revenge the blood of their countrymen by hanging

EFFECT OF CONFLICT IN EUROPE.

Rauparaha and Rangihaeata; but the police magistrates of Nelson and Wellington refused to issue warrants for their arrest, and Chief-Justice Martin also objected to give a bench-warrant for this purpose, because it involved questions as to the legal liabilities of a large portion of the native population. In this difficulty several unpaid Nelson magistrates signed warrants for the seizure of Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, and they requested Captain Sir Everard Home, R.N., of her Majesty's ship North Star, to execute them, but that officer declined to act without the Governor's sanction. Thus foiled in their desire for blood, the settlers began to hate the whole native race, and Colonel Wakefield declared they must for the present be subservient to circumstances, and that the time was not far distant when the rising generation of Anglo-Saxons would take ample vengeance for the opposition their fathers had encountered. 57

The Wairau conflict attracted the attention of Europe, and created interest in the minds of men who never thought about colonies. It completely stopped emigration to New Zealand, called forth the sympathy of people in different parts of Great Rritain, and at Paris a proposition was made to commence a subscription to enable the unfortunate settlers to return home. 58 The secretary of state, to promote the ends of justice, appointed Mr. Chapman a judge of the Supreme Court for the southern settlements of the colony.

A financial crisis aggravated the depression. The revenue was small and decreasing, the expenditure large,

FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 1843.

the treasury empty, and the Government 20,000l. in debt. An attempt to borrow 15,000l. at 15 per cent. interest in Sydney proved unsuccessful, and bills on the Lords of the Treasury were dishonoured. Only 1600l. were realised in 1843, from the sale of crown lands, and no land was purchased from the natives. The European population of 1843 exceeded that of 1842 by 1000 persons; the customs revenue had fallen 5OOOl. The exports of flax, timber, and oil, the three great commodities from which wealth was expected to flow, were decreasing. There was no coin in circulation, a circumstance which disheartened the labourers, and caused discontent among the natives because they could not get money for their pigs and potatoes. Men in the middle ranks of life offered to work for hire; most of the settlers were poor, and none were growing rich. The financial difficulties of the Government were said to have produced the financial distress of the people. At Nelson, the company's labourers, irritated at the low rate of wages given to them, threatened the lives of their superintendents. In the midst of these complicated difficulties a new ruler arrived.

Mr. Shortland's fifteen months' administration was an eventful one in the colony. He did not assemble the Legislative Council, but ruled by proclamations. As colonial secretary he was distinguished for vanity; and when he became His Excellency, a fascinating title given to officers administering governments, he grew arrogant. He bore, however, the disgrace Governor Fitzroy heaped upon him with an equanimity not to be expected from his elation in prosperity. After the Tauranga expedition he ceased to create difficulties,

SHORTLAND'S RULE.

and exerted himself to keep the machinery of Government together until his successor's arrival, and this he did well, although offensively. Her Majesty's ministers directed that Mr, Shortland's dishonoured bills should become a debt on the colony, and as a balm to his wounded feelings, appointed him Governor of the Island of Nevis in the West Indies.

53 The New Zealand Question. Newby, London, 1848. Dr. Phillimore, D.C.L., and S. L. Woolmer, Esq.

54 Parl. Papers, 1844.

55 Church in the Colonies. Visitation Tour, 1848.

56 Parl. Papers, 1844.

57 Parl. Papers, 1844. No. 556, page 569.

58 Galignani's Messenger, 3rd April, 1844.

CHAPTER VIII. GOVERNOR FITZROY'S RULE, DECEMBER 1843 TO NOVEMBER 1845.

CHAP. VIII.

GOVERNOR FITZROY'S RULE, DECEMBER 1843 TO NOVEMBER 1845.

Arrival of Captain Fitzroy. – Visits Wellington and Nelson. – Rauparaha and Rangihaeata pardoned. – Verdict mistaken for weakness. – Concessions to natives. – Law of theft altered. – Alteration in selling land. – Overawing feast. – Award of Commissioner set aside to please natives at Taranaki. – Quarrelsome spirit of natives at Wellington in 1844. – Discontent at the Bay of Islands. – Heke. – Flagstaff cut down. – Atonement for flagstaff. – State of country. – Customs act repealed. – Flagstaff again cut down. – Destruction of Kororareka. – Panic in Auckland. – War declared. – Customs re-enacted. – Troops take the field. – Seizure of Pomare. – Unsuccessful attack on Okaihau. – Results of conflict. – Oheawai campaign. – Description of Pa. – Attack, repulse, and occupation of Pa. – Results of conflict – Feeling in England about New Zealand. – State of natives after Oheawai. – Captain Fitzroy's rule.

CAPTAIN ROBERT FITZROY, R.N., was appointed to succeed Governor Hobson. This officer's connection with the colony arose from his having visited the Bay of Islands in 1835 in her Majesty's surveying ship Beagle, and from having given evidence in 1838, regarding New Zealand, before the committee of the House of Lords.

In December 1843 Captain Fitzroy arrived at Auckland, and his landing in Commercial Bay was eminently ridiculous. A gentleman connected with the native department carried a pole surmounted with a crown of flax, from which waved the New Zealand flag; and Captain Fitzroy, excited by the occasion, cried aloud when stepping on shore, "I have come among you to

ARRIVAL IN COLONY.

do all the good I can." The crowd of fifty persons replied to this noble sentiment with a cheer, and the commanding officer of the company of soldiers in attendance shouted, "quick march;" immediately the two drummer boys and the fifer of the guard of honour struck up "The king of the Cannibal islands," to which appropriate air His Excellency marched to Government House.

Next day a curious scene occurred at the levee. The colonial office had given Captain Fitzroy files of a New Zealand newspaper, famous for abusing Acting-Governor Shortland, to read during the voyage; and when the editor of that paper was presented at Government House, the Governor informed him that he highly approved of the principles of the Southern Cross. This speech, equivalent to announcing in the Government Gazette that the colonial secretary was an arrogant fool, caused Mr. Shortland to resign his office; and Dr. A. Sinclair, a surgeon of the royal navy, who had accompanied Captain Fitzroy to explore the natural history of the country, was appointed colonial secretary in his stead.

At this levee two addresses were presented from the natives; in one they complained of not being permitted to sell land, in the other of the high price of tobacco.

On the 18th of January 1844, Captain Fitzroy embarked for Cook's Strait in one of her Majesty's ships of war, to inquire into the Wairau conflict.

On arriving at Wellington, His Excellency held a levee which was numerously attended. The settlers complained of the natives with bitterness, and the natives stated that the settlers were ill-disposed towards them. "We have been taught," says the settlers' address, "that

VISITS WELLINGTON AND NELSON.

one drop of the blood of the meanest of her Majesty's subjects was sacred at the extremities of the earth, and here we find twenty-two slain, nine massacred in cold blood, by men who instead of being brought to trial have been treated as innocent or injured parties." The reading of this address visibly irritated the Governor, and he so abused Mr. Jerningham Wakefield and several settlers for their hatred to the natives, that some of the spectators thought he was not master of his own actions. 59

His Excellency then crossed over Cook's Strait to Nelson; here he publicly rebuked the magistrates who signed the warrants for Rauparaha and Rangihaeata's arrest, and stated that the warrant against Rauparaha for arson, which led to the massacre, was illegal. "Arson," said the Governor, "is burning another man's house, it is not arson to burn your own house. The natives had never sold the Wairau, the hut which was burned was built on ground which belonged to the natives, and of materials which belonged to them also; consequently no arson was committed, and therefore the warrant was illegal." This speech, delivered in an irritating tone, produced a deep sensation among men mourning the death of their fellow-colonists. Several magistrates immediately resigned their commissions, and called her Majesty's representative a madman. Captain Fitzroy's visit to Nelson aggravated the hatred of races towards each other, instead of allaying it.

From Nelson Captain Fitzroy crossed the strait to the island of Kapiti, under the lee of which the ship was anchored, and the Governor landed to visit Rauparaha at Waikanai, a large pa on the coast near Wellington.

PARDONS RAUPARAHA AND RANGIHAEATA.

Since the Wairau conflict Rauparaha had professed Christianity and had become a church-goer, and to account for the suddenness of his conversion he likened himself to St. Paul. At his interview with the Governor there were twelve Europeans and five hundred natives present. Rauparaha squatted close to His Excellency's chair, Rangihaeata stood aloof, and neither of their faces expressed fear or anxiety. His Excellency informed the meeting that he had visited Wellington and Nelson to hear the settlers' account of the Wairau affair, and he had now come to listen to Rauparaha's narrative, so that he might judge justly between the combatants. Rauparaha got up to speak with great reluctance, and said the fight in the Wairau arose out of the land not having been fairly bought; he gave a minute account of the conflict, and stated that the police magistrate twice ordered the settlers to fire. No description was given, or asked, concerning the massacre.

For half an hour after Rauparaha had done speaking a solemn silence pervaded the assembly, and when the Governor rose to deliver his verdict a low murmur ran through the crowd. "In the first place," said his Excellency, "the white men were wrong, but you" (looking at Rauparaha and Rangihaeata) "committed a horrible crime in murdering men who had surrendered themselves, in reliance on your honour as chiefs; but, as the Europeans were the first in the wrong, I will not avenge their deaths." The Governor then introduced Major Richmond as superintendent of the southern division of New Zealand, and urged the natives to seek advice from their missionaries and protectors. 60

VERDICT MISTAKEN FOR WEAKNESS.

This decision proved injurious to the future peace of New Zealand. There were faults on both sides in regard to the Wairau conflict, but the settlers from whom most forbearance was to be expected were the aggressors, and no native custom was violated on the part of Rangihaeata in tomahawking the prisoners. Even if Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were more guilty than they were, there was no force in the country sufficient to arrest them, and the Governor thought the safety of the Cook's Strait settlers required that he should at once announce there was no intention to revenge the massacre at a future day.

Justice, however, obtained from the weak is never duly honoured, and the natives mistook the verdict for cowardice. Not to avenge the dead, according to native law, indicates the most craven spirit; and in all dealings with them it is necessary to take their own customs into consideration, when this can be accomplished without violating those of justice. This principle was unknown to Captain Fitzroy, otherwise he would have claimed the Wairau valley, as having been paid for by the blood of his countrymen. The consequence was that Rauparaha laughed heartily at the Governor's speech, and openly stated His Excellency was afraid of him. Another chief said: "You white people are very good for building houses and ships, for buying and selling, for making cattle fat, and for growing bread and cabbages; you are like the rats, always at work, but as to fighting, you are like them also, you only know how to run." 61

After the Wairau massacre, out-settlers, in their solitude, began to forbode evil, and it was generally admitted that the moral influence period, so loudly vaunted

CONCESSIONS TO NATIVES.

in England, was ended, and the days of physical force were at hand. Hitherto the New Zealanders were invariably defendants in disputes with settlers; now they became the domineering race, and for the sake of peace several concessions were made to them by the Governor.

The first was an alteration in the law of theft. Soon after the treaty of Waitangi, the natives complained that imprisonment for theft was an unjust punishment to them; that it was like putting a gentleman in jail, as it degraded a free New Zealander to the rank of a slave. The consequences of the confinement were more than the confinement itself, and a code of laws, conducted on the payment for injuries principle, was in their opinion the best.

During the Governor's absence from Auckland, an event occurred which led to a modification of this law. A native was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for stealing a cap, and when the turnkey was removing the prisoner from the dock, Kawau, an influential Christian chief, aided by a number of followers, rescued him, and carried him away to the neighbouring village of Orakei. Major Bunbury, of the 80th Regiment, and a company of soldiers, pursued the criminal without capturing him. Next day a warrant was issued to arrest Kawau, but the Executive Council, dreading another conflict, refused to allow it to be executed. Some days afterwards, through the influence of the missionaries, the rescued thief surrendered himself to the sheriff, and was lodged in jail.

When the Governor returned, Kawau acknowledged his guilt, but urged that a money payment was sufficient compensation for theft, and that such a law would give

LAWS OF THEFT AND LAND ALTERED.

satisfaction to heathen and Christian natives, because it was in strict accordance with the Holy Scriptures and the customs of the New Zealanders. The Governor entirely concurred with Kawau, two months of the thief's confinement were pardoned, and an ordinance enacted allowing native thieves to escape imprisonment on giving a four-fold payment of the value of the goods stolen.

The second concession had reference to land. No settler could legally purchase land from the natives after 1840, and as Governors Hobson and Shortland had bought very little from them, the natives were deprived of their usual supply of money from this source, and complained of the injustice of the new arrangement; the Governor, they stated, would neither purchase their lands nor allow others to do so.

In compliance with these entreaties, Captain Fitzroy, in March 1844, gave the settlers permission to buy land direct from the natives, on the purchaser paying ten shillings an acre to the Government; 62 but this act was not deemed sufficiently liberal for land-speculators, and only 1795 acres were purchased under it.

In purchasing land under this proclamation, the buyers represented to the natives that they would have given them more money for their lands were they not obliged to pay the Governor ten shillings for every acre in addition to the payment given to them. Friendly chiefs avoided inquiring into the nature of this additional payment, and dissatisfied ones adduced it as a proof that the Waitangi treaty was a deception, and that the land was not their own. The Maoris around Auck-

DISPLAY OF PHYSICAL FORCE.

land, who were most immediately concerned with this law, conceived that a friendly display of their strength would produce a beneficial influence on the Governor's mind. In order to strike this moral blow, a feast was celebrated in the immediate vicinity of the town, and crowds of warriors intimated to the Governor that unless the law were modified there might be a general rising of the people.

Terrified by the one race, and cajoled by interested persons in the other, Captain Fitzroy proclaimed that the ten shillings an acre proclamation had been represented to be a badge of slavery, and that, to avoid evil consequences, the Government would henceforth give crown grants to purchasers of native lands on the payment of a penny an acre; 63 under which proclamation 90,000 acres were purchased from the natives.

Both these proclamations enabled private individuals to purchase lands in the vicinity of Auckland, which Government should have previously purchased. It was expected the penny an acre proclamation would restore prosperity to the country, and allure thousands of emigrants from Australia; but none came, as life and property were not then considered safe in New Zealand.

The display of physical force just noticed, not only overawed Auckland, but caused the Governor to prorogue the meeting of the Legislative Council. The feast was given to the Waikato tribes, and the place of assembly was two miles from the town, on a fern plain between Mounts Hobson and St. John, now covered with grass parks and gay villas. Here a shed four hun-

OVERAWING FEAST.

dred yards long was erected, and covered with Witney manufacture, and fifty yards from it there was a breastwork of potatoes, surrounded by a fence loaded with dried sharks. As the warriors congregated, an uneasy feeling spread over the town. On the 11th of May the Governor visited the feast by invitation; at a given signal each tribe seized the food portioned out for it, and sixteen hundred men armed with guns and tomahawks danced the war dance. The soldiers in Auckland sunk into nothing before this host; and settlers, for the first time, admitted that they lived in New Zealand on sufferance. Two hundred men of influence returned the Governor's visit, and requested that their lands should be secured to them. After this interview the assembly dispersed.

No depredation was committed by the armed crowds who daily perambulated the streets to admire the articles displayed for sale in the shop windows; and men asked: Would the Caledonians, from the age of Constantine to that of the Plantagenets, have shown similar forbearance? At this banquet there were given away to the guests 11,000 baskets of potatoes, 9000 sharks, 100 full-grown pigs, 1000 blankets, and large quantities of wheat, rice, sugar, and tobacco. It was observed that the tribes living near Auckland were better dressed than those from a distance; many were clad in European apparel, but none in a complete suit. Wetere, a man next in rank to Te Whero Whero the Waikato chief, was dressed in a blue frock coat, and wore a cloth cap with gold band and ostrich feather, but he had no shoes.

Physical force extorted another concession from the Governor. It has been already related that before the Wairau massacre the New Plymouth settlers, on two

AWARD OF COMMISSIONER SET ASIDE.

occasions, armed themselves and drove off the manumitted slaves and returned fugitives from disputed lands, broke down their fences, and insulted them with impunity. Times were now changed; two hundred of these natives armed themselves and assembled on Mr. Cook's farm, and without opposition cut down trees, jeered at the authorities, and stated it to be their intention to occupy the land until it was paid for; and, as they kept their words, this appeal to physical force by the natives brought Captain Fitzroy to New Plymouth.

The merits of the case were these. Mr. Spain, the commissioner sent from England to examine into the New Zealand Company's land claims, reported in 1843 that the company's agents had fairly bought 282,000 acres from the natives: 64 71,900 acres were in the Wellington district, 151,000 in Nelson, and 60,000 at New Plymouth. Colonel Wakefield's "twenty millions of acres," his "country as large as Ireland," dwindled down to about a county under the commissioners inquiry.

This award of 60,000 acres of land at Taranaki caused the fugitives and manumitted slaves to appeal to arms. Just at the time Mr. Spain was conducting his investigation at New Plymouth a native battle was fought at Mongonui, in consequence of Government having purchased land from New Zealanders who held a title to it by inheritance, but had lost it by defeat. The case was this. Noble, a Christian chief, sold Government a tract of land from which he had been expelled forty years before. The conquerors and occupiers of the soil denied that he had any right to dispose of their property, and a conflict ensued in which forty lives were lost; the Go-

SCENES IN COMMISSIONER'S COURT.

vernment, eventually, had to repurchase the land from the true proprietors; for the Queen of England had as much right to sell land in the United States as Noble had at Mongonui. Mr. Spain, cognizant of this unfortunate affair, and induced by other circumstances, decided that the returned fugitives and slaves, who now constituted the majority of the native population at New Plymouth, had no right to receive payment for the land; and this award was the cause of the present disturbance.

Governor Fitzroy, after inquiry, reversed Mr. Spain's award, and declared the company had only purchased 3500 acres at New Plymouth; in which decision Captain Fitzroy was both right and wrong. He was right in recognising the claims of the fugitives and slaves; because Te Whero Whero, the conqueror, had never occupied the district, and occupation alone, according to native law, makes conquerors proprietors. But Captain Fitzroy did wrong in entirely changing Mr. Spain's decision; he should have approved of the purchase of 60,000 acres, and ordered the fugitives and slaves a further payment for the disputed land. As it was, Captain Fitzroy's decision produced much discontent among the settlers, showed the natives that physical force was their best weapon, and consequently laid the foundation of future strife.

These transactions exhibit the temper of the natives around the English settlements of Auckland and New Plymouth; the spirit animating those about Wellington in 1844 is best gleaned from the scenes which occurred in settling disputed land claims.

Mr. Commissioner Spain held a court for this purpose at Porirua in March, at which were present six Europeans and two hundred natives, among whom were Rauparaha

AT WELLINGTON IN 1844.

and Rangihaeata. The commissioner opened the court by saying: "Rauparaha! I received your letter asking me to settle the Port Nicholson purchase, and after inquiry I have decided that the natives who owned the land are entitled to more money, and I therefore offer you the following terms." Rauparaha said: "My wish was to settle my claims on Port Nicholson, but you want me to give up the Hutt." Mr. Spain replied: "Did you not consent to receive 300l. for Port Nicholson and the Hutt?" Rauparaha answered that he did not consider it in that light. Mr. Spain said: "I am aware of the cause of this objection; that man sitting by your side, Te Ringa Kuri, is cultivating land in the Hutt to which he has no right." Rauparaha replied: "It belongs to him; he is the eldest man of the resident natives, and that boy is the real chief of the place." Mr. Spain rose to go away, upbraided Rauparaha for not keeping his word, and recalled to his memory his own statement, "I am now a Christian and want peace." Rauparaha detained him by saying: "Do not go away in anger." Mr. Spain replied: "I only go away in sorrow." Then Rauparaha commenced talking about the Wairau massacre, but Mr. Spain refused to listen to anything about that affair, as the Governor had settled it. Mr. Spain then said: "I go away in sorrow;" to which Te Ringa Kuri answered: "If you go away in sorrow anger will soon follow, for sorrow is always followed by anger." Mr. Spain, laughing at this caustic remark, and shaking hands with Te Ringa Kuri, said: "No no, I am only sorry you will not take my advice."

Mr. Spain visited the Hutt a few days after this, to ascertain whether Te Ringa Kuri was cutting, as reported, a line between the lands of the natives and the settlers.

SCENE IN HUTT VALLEY.

On arriving at the valley, a native said: "If you have come to make remarks about our cutting this line, you may as well return, as we will listen to nothing you have got to say, nor will we be deterred from it by you, by the Governor, or by the Queen." Mr. Spain found Te Ringa Kuri in the midst of a crowd of natives, and he requested to know what object he had in cutting the present line. "I am cutting the line," replied Te Ringa, "by Rauparaha's orders, to divide the lands of the settlers from our own." Mr. Spain said: "This is not the line formerly agreed on." Te Ringa replied: "It is plain you are not peaceably disposed; you heard at Porirua that Rauparaha would not agree to your boundaries, and you appear determined to insist on them. You had better return to the land of your birth." Mr. Spain said: "Te Ringa Kuri, you know you are speaking false; we do not want to take your land from you. This land has been already sold; I have a deed with Rauparaha's signature acknowledging the receipt of money for it, and I have directed he should receive more money, which he refuses. If you do not desist from cutting that line you must abide the consequences." Te Ringa refused to stop, and the man who spoke so rudely now rose and told Mr. Spain to begone; but Te Ringa requested him to be silent, and said: "You are all alike, you only want to get our lands; you are not our friends. You, Mr. Spain, were one of the first to seek vengeance for the Wairau fight." Mr. Spain replied: "You accuse me falsely; you know my object in going to the Wairau was peace, and did I not take charge of some of your wounded?" Te Ringa Kuri, seeing Mr. Spain moving off, said: "Do not go away. I was wrong to accuse you; and we are peaceably disposed,

DISCONTENT AT BAY OF ISLANDS.

although we will obey Rauparaha's instructions about cutting this line." 65

But the natives in the most northern part of the colony were more defiant than those surrounding Wellington. After the establishment of the British government in New Zealand, the natives in the Bay of Islands grew every month more and more discontented with the customs duties, the absence of whale ships from Kororareka, and the high price of tobacco and blankets. Unfortunately also the demand for Hokianga timber in the Australian market, so active from 1838 to 1842, ceased in 1844, and Hokianga was like a suburb of the Bay of Islands.

These great changes made chiefs feel that they had lost their influence with the settlers, and that a new and to them unknown power had risen up against their old ways of doing business. An American settler more sharp than honest, well known to the natives, whispered, as he walked about the Kororareka beach with his pipe in his mouth, that the British flag, waving from the staff on the hill above the town, was the emblem of the power which ruined the Hokianga timber trade, and deterred the American whalers from entering the harbour of Kororareka. These words produced a deep impression, and when the blankets were worn out, the second-rate finery ragged, and tobacco scarce among the settlements on the banks of the rivers which fall into the Bay of Islands, an idea was kindled in the native mind, that, if the flagstaff were cut down, the fine old days of Kororareka would return.

Hone Heke, one of the sufferers from these changes, lived at Kaikohe. This man was educated by the mis-

HEKE.

sionaries and had acquired a deep knowledge of the Bible; he was baptized in the presence of the British Resident, and the tears he shed on the occasion showed how keenly he felt the solemnity of that sacrament. 66 Heke did not spring from the highest aristocracy of the country, but, having married Hongi's beautiful and intelligent daughter, he derived from this renowned alliance some of the magic influence attached to that great warrior. When Heke became a man he fell back into heathenism, and took delight in religious disputes; he argued against the truths of Scripture, and confounded Christians with their own weapons. The missionaries called him an apostate. 67 He disliked Europeans, and expressed this feeling allegorically by saying, one beehive was very good, several were troublesome. He bore to the English a hatred similar to that cherished by Hannibal against the Romans, and looked on every thing pertaining to them with jaundiced eyes. Borrowing a simile from Holy Writ, he likened the English to the Egyptians in Pharaoh's days, and the New Zealanders to the oppressed Israelites. He said the natives were the settlers' slaves, and adduced in proof of this that many natives were servants to Englishmen, but no Englishman was servant to a native. He pointed out to his tribe that in 1840 they were clad in the best clothes, now they wore old blankets; that in 1840 they smoked American tobacco, now they puffed dried indigenous leaves.

Education would have made Heke an accomplished diplomatist, for his mind was of the order found in the

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

HEKE AND HIS WIFE
Vol.II. page 96]

FLAGSTAFF CUT DOWN.

front rank of intellectual progress; but he had no love for fighting, although ambitious of the fame of a warrior. Like his father-in-law Hongi, he became nervously anxious to create a name for himself among his countrymen, and he accomplished this by taking advantage of the present discontent.

In the town of Kororareka there lived a European called Lord, who had married a woman of Heke's tribe. This woman, in a fit of rage, called Heke a pig, and Heke to avenge the insult collected a hundred men, marched to Kororareka, plundered Lord's house, and carried his wife away to Kaikohe. Lord, lamenting her absence, offered Heke a cask of tobacco if he would let her return. This offer was accepted, and Heke fulfilled his part of the bargain, but Lord refused the promised payment; whereupon Heke returned to Kororareka, pillaged several stores, and insulted the inhabitants for several days with impunity. On the 8th of July 1844 Heke taught his troops to regard themselves as under the protection of Heaven, by praying to the true Grod and also to the false; he mingled the Christian prayer of love and mercy with the wild chant in honour of Tumatauenga, the god of war. Then his followers danced the war dance, cut down and burned the Kororareka flagstaff, and carried away the signal balls. On Heke's march homewards after the perpetration of this act, he visited a missionary's only son at Waimate who was dying; bidding the boy farewell, he turned to the father and said: "Brown, we must leave your boy with God; if he suffers him to live it will be good, if he takes him to heaven it will still be good." 68

ATONEMENT FOR FLAGSTAFF.

This chivalrous mode of commencing war alarmed the Governor; and as there were only ninety soldiers of the 96th at Auckland, despatches were sent to Australia in hot haste for troops. Early in August, 160 men of the 99th Regiment, with the detachment of the 96th and two light guns, under the command of Colonel Hulme of the 96th, arrived at the Bay of Islands, and encamped at Kororareka. On the advent of her Majesty's ship Hazard with the Governor on board, orders were issued for the troops and armed seamen to follow Heke into his fastness.

Just as the force was landing on the banks of the Keri Keri river for this service, several chiefs besought the Governor not to commence hostilities; and they promised to pay for the flagstaff and to be responsible for Heke's future good behaviour. These terms were agreed on, and the Governor, at a large meeting of natives in the village of Waimate, accepted ten old muskets as an atonement for the cutting down of the flagstaff; and in a long speech attributed the disturbances to the evil advice of wicked settlers. Twenty-five chiefs apologised for Heke's conduct, and as a proof their speeches were not sincere, none complained of the high price of tobacco, the scarcity of blankets, or the absence of the whale ships from Kororareka. Heke was not at the meeting, although Waimate was only ten miles from his residence. He, however, apologised to the Governor, by letter, for cutting down the flagstaff, and in extenuation of his conduct, impudently asserted that the staff was his own property, and was dragged out of the forest by native labour, for the purpose of displaying the New Zealand, not the British, flag.

CRITICAL STATE OF COLONY.

At the request of Walker Nene, the Governor entirely withdrew the troops from Kororareka, and Nene promised to keep the peace. The value of this man's adherence at this critical juncture is ill understood. New Zealanders in all important affairs are guided by ancient usages, but there was no precedent to guide Nene in joining white men in a war against his own race. The fact, therefore, of his declaring in favour of the Government on this grave occasion became a precedent, or a law, which produced several imitators, and raised up allies for future conflicts. The flagstaff was again erected at Kororareka, and the Governor, before leaving the Bay of Islands, being convinced that the customs duties had injured the place and caused discontent among the natives, declared Kororareka a free port, which act so overjoyed the white settlers that all the candles in the town were squandered in an illumination.

Never was the colony in a more critical state. The financial difficulties of 1843 had become worse in 1844, and the Governor was literally paralysed for want of money. The government officers were unpaid, the customs were dwindling down, and 400 crown grants for land lay in the colonial secretary's office, from inability of the proprietors to pay for each a pound fee. All over the colony the natives were in a state of confident excitement, and the spirit of the settlers was subdued. For several days Heke with a hundred men insulted the whole town of Kororareka; and the people of Auckland shrank from training themselves to arms, lest by so doing they should exasperate the natives. The Company's agents had stopped their works for want of funds, and their settlers were in confusion and distress.

CUSTOMS DUTIES REPEALED.

At Nelson, seed-potatoes planted in the ground were actually dug up for food.

To prevent the colony falling to pieces from bankruptcy, the Legislative Council passed a bill authorising the Governor to issue 15,000l. of debentures, which debentures were declared a legal tender; and it was represented to the Government that Auckland, like Kororareka, should be declared a free port. The absolute necessity of this act was, however, denied by the Governor's Executive Council, as there are several free ports in Europe in the midst of ports where customs are levied. But the inhabitants of Auckland could see no analogy between Hamburgh and Kororareka; and as Captain Fitzroy had attributed all the evils of the country to the imposition of customs duties, he was easily convinced, and a bill was hastily passed abolishing the act for levying customs duties in the colony, and substituting a property-rate ordinance. So much haste boded little real speed, but the Governor thought otherwise; for, on closing the Legislative Council which enacted these measures, his Excellency stated that the crisis of the colony was past: an unfortunate attempt to look into futurity, as an event again occurred at the Bay of Islands which discerning men knew to be the commencement of a new difficulty.

Late in the year 1844 news arrived in New Zealand that a committee of the House of Commons had declared the treaty of Waitangi an injudicious proceeding. 69 As the Governor and the missionaries had represented that act to the natives as the one which preserved to them their lands, this intelligence produced evil results; Heke

FLAGSTAFF AGAIN CUT DOWN.

made it the means of convincing the doubtful, and of strengthening the zeal of his lukewarm adherents, and wrote to the Governor that he now believed they were to be deprived of their lands, like the aboriginal Australians. The disturbances took a new turn. Settlers Hingstone of the Bay of Islands and Mellon at Matakana had their property destroyed for occupying lands which the natives considered their own, and the flagstaff at Kororareka was again cut down without any opposition from Walker Nene. However, this was no infringement of Nene's promise to keep the peace, as neither party shed blood, and both shrank from killing a human being for a piece of wood.

Two proclamations were immediately issued; in one a reward of 100l. was offered for the apprehension of the natives who destroyed Messrs. Hingstone and Mellon's property, and a similar sum for the capture of Heke. Neither of these proclamations was of any use, and the latter excited the zeal of the enemy. "Is Heke a pig," they said, "that he should be bought and sold?" Heke, no way daunted, and to be on even terms with the Governor, offered a reward of 100l. for Captain Fitzroy's head. A detachment of the 96th Regiment and her Majesty's ship Hazard were sent to erect the flagstaff again at Kororareka. This time the pole was sheathed with iron, surrounded with a stockade, and a detachment of soldiers was left to protect it. All these proceedings confirmed the New Zealanders in their opinion that the flagstaff was the power which scared the whale ships from the bay. "See," said Heke, "the flagstaff does mean a taking possession, or why else should they persist in re-erecting it?"

On the 4th of March 1845, the Governor opened the

HEKE THREATENS HOSTILITIES.

Legislative Council by stating that the prospects of the colony were improving, and that if it were not for the pernicious effect of slanderous publications the country would be tranquil. But the settlers had now lost all confidence in his prophecies, and a memorial was sent to the throne asking for troops and money, in which memorial it was stated that the New Zealanders were getting overbearing from the conciliatory policy adopted towards them. At the very time that Captain Fitzroy was indulging in visions of peace, settling every question and leaving everything unsettled, Heke struck a blow when there was no adequate preparation to parry it.

After the third erection of the flagstaff at Kororareka Heke announced that he would not allow it to remain. The town had then a white population of four hundred souls, and the flagstaff stood on a hill in close proximity to it, although three hundred feet above it. As Heke had never broken his word, the inhabitants were privately drilled to arms; Captain Robertson, of her Majesty's ship Hazard, was posted with a gun overlooking Matavai Bay; twenty soldiers were stationed at the foot of the flagstaff; a body of the inhabitants occupied a blockhouse half way up the hill, and soldiers, marines, and inhabitants garrisoned Mr. Polack's house on the beach. Early in March it was known that Heke's troops were in the neighbourhood of Kororareka, and they gave the first indication of hostilities by firing on an armed boat pursuing plunderers, and by capturing Lieutenant Philpott of the royal navy. One Sunday a missionary preached in the native camp from the text in James, "Whence come wars and fightings;" and at the conclusion of the service, Heke recommended the priest to go and deliver the same sermon in the English camp, as it

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

KORORAREKA IN 1849
Vol.II page 102.

ATTACKS KORORAREKA.

was more applicable there than here; and as a proof of the sincerity of his wishes for peace, he informed the missionary that he had released Lieutenant Philpott uninjured.

Before daylight on the 11th of March 1845 Captain Robertson's position was attacked by two hundred natives under Kawiti, and the soldiers at the foot of the flagstaff were surprised by Heke and the staff cut down. For some time Captain Robertson defended his position with great bravery, but when he saw the soldiers flying down the flagstaff hill, he spiked his gun and likewise fell back. The whole force was then collected in Mr. Polack's house on the beach; and here the soldiers and the inhabitants, with the aid of the guns of the Hazard, defended themselves for three hours against the natives firing from the shelter of broken ground. The officers of the United States ship of war St. Louis had much difficulty in keeping their crew, most of whom were Englishmen, neutral. One bold civilian proposed to retake the flagstaff, but none seconded his proposition. The women and children, like a herd of panic-stricken deer, fled to the ships, and just as their embarkation was completed the powder magazine on shore exploded. A council of war assembled, and it was resolved not to renew the fight, but to abandon the settlement; and during a truce demanded by the natives, to carry off their killed and wounded, the whole of the inhabitants and soldiers embarked on board her Majesty's ship Hazard, the United States corvette St. Louis, the whale ship Matilda, and the schooner Dolphin.

During this flight the enemy, who were over-estimated at eight hundred, squatted on the surrounding heights in a sort of mesmeric amazement; and when the whole had embarked, they danced war dances, made speeches,

DESTRUCTION OF KORORAREKA.

and pillaged the town; some gorged themselves with sugar, a few got beastly drunk. The inhabitants contemplating these scenes from the shipping were differently affected by the destruction of their property; several having recovered from their panic landed to rescue some forsaken valuables, and at one time the pillagers and the pillaged were mingled together. One strong-minded woman was seen pulling a blanket against an armed native, and children left on shore in the hurry of the flight were sent by the enemy uninjured to their parents. The whole affair was conducted in the best spirit. At last the town caught fire, and the buildings being of wood, a conflagration ensued which was seen reflected in the sky during the night for an immense distance. 70 The Roman-Catholic mission station, and several warehouses the property of Americans, standing at the opposite end of the beach, escaped.

During the conflict six seamen, four soldiers, and one half-caste child were slain; and twenty soldiers, inhabitants, and seamen were wounded. Captain Robertson and Lieutenant Morgan of her Majesty's ship Hazard were among the latter. Thirty-four of the enemy fell. Fifty thousand pounds' worth of property was destroyed, and several prosperous men were reduced to beggary. On the 13th of March, when the ashes of the town were cool, the ships with the inhabitants and soldiers on board sailed for Auckland.

Such is the singular story of the destruction of Kororareka, an affair which spread Heke's fame all over New Zealand, convinced the natives that the settlers were unable to protect themselves, and tore from the

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

SKETCH OF KORORAREKA
W.West. lith.

EFFECT ON NATIVES.

soldiers' brows the charm of invincibility. Fortunately the bravery of the sailors retrieved the defeat of the military, and Captain Robertson's deeds were related with universal admiration in native huts far away from the scene of the conflict. By the time the story got to Rotorua it ran that Captain Robertson killed with his own arm five brave Ngapuhi warriors. The inhabitants of Kororareka accused the soldiers of cowardice; the soldiers accused the inhabitants of evacuating the town without any necessity. The two subaltern officers of the 96th Regiment, the only military officers present, were tried by court martial on these insinuations; the lieutenant was honourably acquitted, and the ensign, a mere boy, was reprimanded for withdrawing his detachment from the blockhouse without orders. Most of the soldiers were recruits, and superstition caused them to dread savage more than civilised foes. Worldly men attributed the fall of Kororareka to a panic; religious persons read in the destruction of the place a judgment for its sins; and curious to relate, two Christian prelates, Bishops Pompellier of the Roman-Catholic and Selwyn of the English Church, witnessed the conflagration and assisted the wounded.

Kororareka has never recovered its former prosperity. In 1853 there were not forty inhabitants in the town; the English church, riddled with shot, still stood, and a wooden tomb marked the spot where the English slain lay. The remnant of the people, owing to long separation from the world, have formed an imaginary idea of their own misfortunes, and some of them believe the destruction of Kororareka to be as famous as the burning of Moscow.

A panic spread over Auckland when the penniless and

PANIC IN AUCKLAND.

haggard inhabitants of Kororareka, packed like slaves in Guinea ships, landed on the beach. This terror, apparent to the friendly Waikato tribes, increased when the people heard that Heke was to attack Auckland next full moon. Out-settlers, dreading a war of races, congregated about Auckland; several colonists left the country, and property could be bought at a nominal price. Britomart barracks were entrenched and two blockhouses built; a militia ordinance was hastily passed, and 300 men were trained to arms. Fort Ligar, an earthwork near the Roman-catholic chapel, was thrown up, and the windows in St. Paul's church were barricaded.

Every day Heke grew more terrible in people's minds. A sentry was posted on the roof of the barracks to catch the first glimpse of his army. One night musketry were heard, the drums beat, the Governor and troops ran to arms, the officers and men of her Majesty's ship Hazard landed, and all remained in attitudes of defence until daylight; and then much merriment arose when it was found the alarm originated in the firing of guns at the village of Orakei to celebrate a chief's death, the echo of which, reverberated by the hills, was magnified by the people's fears into a conflict. Te Whero Whero, seeing the terror of the inhabitants, offered to defend Auckland against Heke. The Ngatiwhatua tribe, living around Auckland, had little time to think of war, or of giving assistance to the settlers, being busily occupied in collecting kauri gum, the value of which had suddenly risen to a high price in American markets.

When the news of the destruction of Kororareka reached Wellington, fortifications were commenced and Clifford's stockade thrown up; a militia was formed, and

CUSTOMS RE-ENACTED – WAR DECLARED.

250 men appeared in arms on the Te Aro and Thorndon flats. At Nelson the same spirit was shown, and a mob of armed natives, who threatened to destroy cattle grazing on disputed grounds, fled hastily before an armed party of settlers.

The Governor was now convinced that war alone could bring about peace; to pass over the destruction of Kororareka on the Christian principle of doing good for evil would endanger every settlement in the country. Despatches were sent to Australia for troops and ammunition, the Legislative Counsel was assembled, and the Governor admitted his error in attributing all the colonial evils to the customs duties. As the Cook's Strait settlers refused to pay the property-rate tax passed in a former session, on the constitutional principle that they were not represented in the Council which imposed it, his Excellency at once repealed the act, and re-enacted the customs ordinance. The unproductive property-tax and the want of money had already forced the Governor to issue more debentures than the act authorised. On the 22nd of April the Legislative Council was closed to prepare for a war which, the Governor proclaimed, was to be conducted with justice and mercy.

Heke and Kawiti, the leaders of the enemy, felt that they must now fight for their lives; and those who knew them confidentially said terror and anxiety were constantly depicted on their faces. The enemy never intended attacking Auckland, in consequence of its proximity to Te Whero Whero's dominions; but to be in readiness for the English they built a pa in the interior of the country, and dragged their war canoes inland for safety. Troops having arrived from Sydney, an expedition sailed from Auckland for the Bay of Islands

SEIZURE OF POMARE.

on the 3rd of April 1845, under the command of Colonel Hulme, 96th Regiment. On landing at Kororareka, a guard of honour hoisted the British flag, and proclaimed martial law. No European was aware of the enemy's position, and all the information which could be got about Heke was obtained from Thomas Walker Nene.

The campaign commenced with an act discreditable to the British arms; Pomare, a sharer in the plunder of Kororareka, was taken prisoner by treachery; he was seized when a flag of truce was flying, and his pa, in close proximity to the river, was burnt to the ground. This dishonourable act sprung from a desire to save bloodshed; but no motive can justify the deed. All will admit the difficulty of fighting savages on civilised principles, nevertheless, the more openly war is carried on against them, the more do they respect civilisation; for honesty in war, as well as in other worldly affairs, is the best policy. Pomare was conveyed a prisoner to Auckland, and released with a present of a boat as some compensation for his unfair treatment. 71

It was ultimately undoubtedly ascertained by our allies that Heke was at Okaihau, a fortification belonging to Kawiti, eighteen miles inland from the Bay of Islands; and on the 3rd of May the troops disembarked at Oneroa, a place at the mouth of the Keri Keri river for the purpose of demolishing it. The force consisted of the 58th Regiment under Major Bridge, a detachment of the 96th, and seamen and marines from her Majesty's ships North Star and Hazard; in all 400 men, under the command of Colonel Hulme. The native allies who afterwards joined Colonel Hulme's force under Walker

ADVANCE ON OKAIHAU.

Nene amounted to 400 men. The soldiers were amazed at the first sight of their friends, and a war dance, executed in honour of the English host, with Walker Nene's wife in the front rank marking time, added much to the singularity of the alliance. The soldiers of the 58th Regiment just arrived from England could scarcely believe they were brought to the antipodes to fight in alliance with a rabble of cannibals entirely destitute of that prompt obedience which distinguishes an army from a mob. On the other hand, the native allies, who publicly worshipped God night and morning when the reveille and tattoo were beating, asked Colonel Hulme if his soldiers, so lately from the land whence the missionaries came, were Christians.

The commissariat having no means of transport, each soldier carriei in his havresack thirty rounds of ammunition and five days' biscuits. The path to the pa was narrow, little frequented, and much of it lay through a forest. Unluckily it commenced raining as the troops moved off, and the force took four days in getting to the pa, during the whole of which time the rain fell in torrents. The month of May in New Zealand corresponds to November in England. As the expedition had no tents, two thirds of the ammunition and all the biscuits were found unfit for use on arriving before the pa. Our native allies hutted themselves comfortably every night, and formed a poor opinion of the soldiers from their inability for the first day or two even to raise a break wind to sleep behind. But no sickness was contracted, although the men had little to eat, and slept in wet clothes on damp earth. Kauri gum, found in abundance, served the soldiers for fuel, and with lint as wicks it was a good substitute for candles.

TROOPS REPULSED.

The nature of the citadel the troops had advanced to capture was now seen. It stood on a narrow plain, on the verge of hilly forests and close to a large lake. It had two rows of wooden palisades and a ditch inside; the external fence being covered with flax concealed the enemy. An order was given to assault the pa and force an entrance by pulling down the palisades, but Walker Nene urged the English leader not to try what was impossible, not to sacrifice men like a madman. On the 8th of May, Colonel Hulme, an old soldier, "knowing that the chances of war are many," advanced three storming parties within two hundred yards of the pa, and fired some rockets out of a rocket-tube the land forces borrowed from the navy. The first rocket cut asunder a strong pole, burst inside the pa, and terrified every one: some of the enemy were for flying, but Heke entreated them to wait to see the effect of the next discharge; and as none of the succeeding shots did any injury they recovered their courage, and simultaneously sallied from the pa, and out of an ambush in the forest under Kawiti, armed with tomahawks fastened on long poles, with that undisciplined enthusiasm which cools as the conflict waxes hotter. Fortunately this well-laid forest ambush was discovered by the bravery and discretion of John Hobbs, one of our native allies, otherwise the British loss would have been fearful. After some skirmishing the 58th Regiment and the Royal Marines levelled to the charge and drove the enemy into the pa at the point of the bayonet. During the night after this conflict the evening hymn was sung by the enemy, and the sound rising to heaven conveyed the idea that the warriors inside the fortification were martyrs fighting for their holy faith. Colonel

[Inserted unpaginated illustrations]

ATTACK ON OKAIHAU
Vol.II page 110.

WAIKARI RIVER EXPEDITION
Vol.II page 111.

TROOPS FALL BACK – LOSS.

Hulme, finding the place impregnable without artillery, marched the troops back to the ships at Oneroa.

The English lost before Okaihau fourteen soldiers slain and thirty-nine wounded; the enemy's loss was not ascertained, but Kawiti's two sons fell in the conflict. Our allies, wearing a white headband to distinguish them from the foe, were, with a few exceptions, merely spectators of the fight. There was much difficulty, on the return of the force, with the wounded, until the allies, now called by the soldiers "Jack Maori," lessened their sufferings by constructing for their use native litters, admirable conveyances for wounded men over a rough mountainous country and through forests. The troops were not molested during their advance on Okaihau, nor during their retreat from it. This circumstance excited much astonishment in the breasts of the soldiers, which feeling rose into respect when they heard the graves of their fallen comrades at Okaihau were deepened by their foes, that Christian priests were brought to read the burial service over them, and that the clothes of the slain were burned and not used.

During the absence of the land expedition from the shipping, Captain Sir Everard Home, the naval commander, destroyed some of the enemy's villages, broke a few old canoes, and recovered several stolen boats. 72

After the affair of Okaihau, 200 men of the 58th Regiment, under Major Bridge, sailed up the Waikari river, to attack a fortification there, but the enemy fled on their approach.

Colonel Hulme, the wounded, and a few troops, re-

CAUSE OF DEFEAT.

turned to Auckland; the remainder of the force occupied Kororareka. At Auckland the inhabitants were in daily expectation of hearing that the enemy's stronghold was demolished, and their amazement cannot be described when they saw the haggard looks and worn-out accoutrements of the soldiers, the wounded carried on shore, and the despatch stating that fourteen brave men were left dead before Heke's untaken pa. As this was the second time the troops had returned to Auckland after defeat, a feeling of subdued resignation visible on the faces of all the citizens spread among the people.

Men wise after the event blamed Colonel Hulme for attacking Okaihau without means. Captain Bennett, of the Royal Engineers, had reported to the Government in 1843 that native fortifications could not be taken without guns. 73 This, however, was a theoretical opinion which Colonel Hulme probably never saw, for there was then nothing practically known regarding the strength of pas. It must also be borne in mind that the settlers and the Governor were urging the commanding officer to put Heke down, and that it was universally believed that the enemy would fly before trained soldiers properly led. Okaihau is therefore an instance of defeat arising from contempt of the enemy. The bravery of the troops, and the spirit with which they bore up against wet and hunger, were highly commended by General O'Connell, commanding the forces in Australia. But deeds done in the remote corner of an island at the antipodes, before an unknown fort, and with no "Times correspondent" in the camp, are unhonoured in

EFFECT ON NATIVES.

England because they are unknown, and the distant soldier has no reward save the consciousness of having done his duty.

From the conflict of Okaihau the New Zealanders learned that they were no match against disciplined troops in the open field, and strengthened their pas, which, with much wit, they denominated their best allies.

Heke, in the hour of victory, wrote two letters to the Governor about peace, which were full of war and insult. In one letter he said: "If you make peace, do not bear malice against your enemy. Caasar, Pontius Pilate, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, Nicodemus, Agrippa, and Herod were kings and governors; did they confer any benefit, or did they not kill Jesus Christ?" 74 So boastful were the enemy after Okaihau that they attacked our native allies, and Heke received a bullet in his thigh which prevented him taking an active part in the next campaign.

Meanwhile the Governor, although lamenting that the enemy had discovered their strength, was fully roused to the critical position of the colony. More troops having arrived from Sydney, orders were issued for another expedition against Heke, who now occupied a stronghold at Oheawai, a place nineteen miles inland from the Bay of Islands, and seven from the mission station of Waimate. Colonel Despard, 99th Regiment, an old soldier, who had seen service early in the century in the East Indies, having arrived in New Zealand, assumed the command of the troops.

On the 16th of June 1845, the expedition landed at

ADVANCE ON OHEAWAI.

Oneroa, and marched to the Keri Keri mission station; the path from which to Waimate, although only twelve miles, was accomplished with difficulty, from the guns being without tumbrels or limbers, and having ship-carriages with wheels fifteen inches high. From the want of conveyance much ammunition was left behind, and it was the 22nd of June before the whole force paraded at Waimate. The expedition was composed of some of England's best soldiers, and notwithstanding the reverses already sustained, the men were animated with that spirit which renders success almost certain. It numbered 630 men and 4 guns; our allies were reckoned at 250 men. Among the European portion of the force there was the 58th Regiment, numbering 270 men, under Major Bridge; 180 men detached from the 99th Regiment; 70 men of the 96th Regiment, 30 men of her Majesty's ship Hazard, and 80 volunteers from among the Auckland settlers. Several chiefs tendered their services to Colonel Despard, and among them were Ruhe, the father of the executed murderer Maketu, and the released prisoner Pomare.

Early on the 23rd of June the troops commenced their advance from Waimate. As the path was a bad one for guns, it was nearly dark before the whole force reached Oheawai. Few men slept that night in either camp; the enemy sat up praying, eating, and talking; the English lay on the ground watching for daylight to see what sort of work was before them, and from the colonel to the youngest drummer-boy all pronounced the fortification to be twice as strong as Okaihau.

Oheawai stood on a clear level space in the forest 500 yards square; on each side of the pa was a

DESCRIPTION OF STRONGHOLD.

ravine with woody hills, and the surrounding country was thickly covered with trees. The pa was 90 yards by 50, with a square flank projecting on each side; it was surrounded with three rows of palisades, the two outer being close together, and 6 feet from the inner fence; the inner palisade, the strongest of the three, was constructed of trunks of trees 15 feet high, and from 9 to 20 inches in diameter. Between the inner and middle fences there was a ditch 5 feet deep, with traverses, from which the defenders fired through loopholes on a level with the ground, and this ditch communicated with passages under the palisades. Inside the pa there were huts having underground excavations. The enemy within the fortification were estimated at 250 men, armed with double and single-barrelled guns, with plenty of ammunition. Flax was hung over the outer fence to conceal the strength of the inner palisade.

On the 24th of June the six guns and twelve-pounder carronades were fired against the pa at ranges from two hundred and fifty to eighty yards without effect; and had not Commander Johnston, of her Majesty's ship Hazard, brought up a thirty-two pounder, the force would have been obliged to act as it had done at Okaihau. This thirty-two pounder was placed in battery a hundred yards from the pa, half way up a hill, and fired obliquely on the palisades. One day the enemy made a sortie from the pa and attacked Walker Nene's position; and so sudden and unexpected was this sally that a British flag was taken and Colonel Despard and some senior officers only escaped by a ridiculous and undignified flight. This token of success was hoisted inside the fortification under Heke's flac.

After twenty-six shots had been fired from the thirty-

STORMING PARTY REPULSED.

two-pounder, Colonel Despard thought the palisades sufficiently broken in two places for an assault, but Captain Marlow, the senior engineer officer, did not consider either breach practicable. In defiance of this professional opinion Colonel Despard ordered a storming party of 160 soldiers under Majors Macpherson and Bridge, and 40 seamen and volunteers under Lieutenant Philpott, R.N., with hatchets, ropes, and ladders, to be ready at 3 p.m. on the 1st of July. All the troops told off for this awful service paraded at the hour named, save one man of the 99th Regiment, who was taken prisoner in the morning. When the advance was sounded, the stormers rushed on the breach at eighty yards, and for ten minutes tried to enter the pa by pulling down the palisades; but the inner fence being unbroken, and two officers and half the men having gone down, the party fell back baffled from an impregnable stockade. The whole force then withdrew to a position four hundred yards from the pa.

Never did British troops pass a more dreadful night than the troops before Oheawai after this unsuccessful assault. Huddled together in constant expectation of an attack, they could not shut their ears to the groans of the dying, the moans of the wounded, and the shrieks of the captured soldier of the 99th Regiment, who was tortured every half hour inside the pa with burning kauri gum and red-hot irons. Unfortunately the night was still, not a leaf stirred in the forest, and his screams of "0 my Grod!" with the yells and roars of the war-dance, drove the soldiers frantic. None slept in the British camp that horrible night, and those around the camp-fires begged to be led to the rescue and revenge of their tortured comrade. There was a general feeling

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

REPULSE OF STORMING PARTY AT OHEAWAI
Vol.II page 116.

ENEMY EVACUATE THE PA.

that a retreat would be ordered, but Colonel Despard kept his ground, and both armies eyed each other for several days without firing a shot. Archdeacon Henry Williams approached the pa to bury the dead, and was warned off. On the 3rd of July the enemy hoisted a flag of truce, and called the English to come for their dead. When the slain and wounded were counted, the former amounted to thirty-four, the latter to sixty-six. Among the killed were Captain William Grrantof the 58th Regiment and Lieutenant Philpott, R.N. The body of the former officer could not be found, and the scalp of the latter was cut away. Lieutenant Beattie of the 99th Regiment, and several other soldiers, afterwards died of their wounds. The enemy's loss was not ascertained, it being a point of honour among the New Zealanders to carry off and conceal their dead.

On the 9th of July some more shot having arrived for the thirty-two pounder, a few were thrown into the pa; on the 11th a Pakeha Maori informed Colonel Despard that the enemy had left Oheawai during the previous night, and were now at Ikorangi, a position ten miles from Oheawai. They had concealed their retreat by tying up their howling dogs within the pa. Large stores of potatoes were found inside, and also two ship's guns, which had been fired several times loaded with iron nails and grape shot. The palisades were destroyed by the English. Careful search was made for Captain Grant's body, during which one of the enemy's dead was found with a well-read copy of the Gospel of Saint Matthew in his breast, and near it, under a slight layer of earth, lay Captain Grant's body, with part of the hip cut away. They were evidently ashamed of what they had done to the corpse, for the trowsers were drawn over the

VICTORY CLAIMED BY BOTH PARTIES.

denuded bones. The slain officers were, however, the only persons mutilated; and their bodies were chosen for the purpose as chiefs in the host. Such mutilations were perpetrated to propitiate the god of war, not for cannibal purposes. 75 In the churchyard at the beautiful mission station of Waimate are three wooden tombs, now covered with luxuriant vegetation, commemorating the names of the officers who fell at Oheawai; and in the old church at Paramatta, Australia, there is a tablet to Captain Grant of the 58th Regiment, raised by his brother officers to commemorate the loss of "a good soldier and a warm friend:" but the non-commissioned soldiers and sailors who fell all sleep together without a memorial in the wild forest before Oheawai.

On the 14th of July the troops returned to Waimate, and 200 men were detached to attack Aratoa's pa, but that wily chief fled on their approach.

Both parties claimed Oheawai as a victory, and both were right according to their different customs in war: the English obtained possession of the pa and lost most men; New Zealanders estimate victory by the numbers slain and captured – to them the loss of a fighting pa is no disgrace. Colonel Despard was justly blamed by soldiers and civilians for sacrificing men's lives in attacking a half-breached pa; and it was whispered in the military clubs in London that the Duke of Wellington, on reading the despatch, stated that distance alone prevented him bringing Colonel Despard to a court-martial. Our allies said the English leader was "an old fool;" and the enemy, imagining the storming party free agents, said they were drunk. It was asserted

HOSTILITIES STOPPED.

that if all the thirty-two pound shots had been fired at one part of the palisade, a practical breach might have been made, but some were thrown away in attempting to dislodge the foe. The enemy pretended to have had a revelation from their gods, taunting the English with defeat and irreligion at Oheawai, which they sung at their new position of Ikorangi during the war-dance.

"An attack! an attack, E ha!
A battle! a battle, E ha!
A fight on the banks of the river.
It is completely swept and emptied.
O you would fight, you would fight.
You had better stayed at home in Europe
Than have suffered a repulse from Whareahau.
He has driven you back to your god.
You may cast your book behind,
And leave your religion on the ground.
An attack! an attack, E ha!
A battle! a battle, E ha!"

At this critical juncture in the war, Mr. George Clarke, the chief protector of the aborigines, urged Governor Fitzroy to sheathe the sword and give the enemy time to sue for peace; Colonel Despard was therefore prohibited from further operations, and the troops were moved down to Kororareka, where they commenced forming a strong military post. The colonists opposed this armistice, and urged the Governor to conduct the war so as to make the enemy dread the English; and they stated that the British troops had now suffered in the eyes of the natives three signal defeats, that Heke was not subdued, that the settlers and the customs revenue were decreasing, that there was nothing but paper money in circulation, and that the expenditure greatly exceeded the revenue. Captain Fitzroy, irritated at these observations, accused the press

DEBATE IN HOUSE OF COMMONS.

of publishing what was false, and of injuring the cause of peace. 76

Meanwhile, the English public despaired of the colony, and in June 1845 the House of Commons was occupied for four days in discussing the state of New Zealand. The question was brought before parliament by Mr. Charles Buller, who moved that her Majesty's Government had inflicted on the New Zealand Company severe injury by violating their agreement. Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Mr. Shiel, Sir James Graham, Mr. Cardwell, and many other influential statesmen addressed the House; and on a division there was a majority of 51 against Mr. Buller's motion in a house of 395 members. The ignorance displayed by every speaker concerning the true state of New Zealand was great, though all agreed that only self-government could extricate the colony from its difficulties. 77 A petition from the Cook's Strait settlers attracted much attention at this time in England. It was drawn up by Mr. Domett, and detailed in eloquent language the miserable condition of the colonists and Captain Fitzroy's incompetency for his office. The directors of the New Zealand Company, ever fertile in expedients, proposed at this critical juncture to settle the country by establishing a proprietary government on the model of such governments in the early days of the North American colonies, but Lord Stanley said the difficulties of accomplishing this arrangement were insuperable. 78

NATIVE SYMPATHY FOR HEKE.

During the debate in the House of Commons, news arrived of the disturbances at the Bay of Islands; and when the destruction of Kororareka and the defeat of the troops became known, there was a feeling of anxiety lest the natives should forget ancient feuds and make common cause against the settlers. Troops, ammunition, ships of war, and money were immediately despatched; and the secretary of state, doubting Captain Fitzroy's fitness for his high office, directed Captain George Grey, the Governor of South Australia, to assume the reins.

Four months after the conflict of Oheawai, Heke and Kawiti had not been brought to terms: the former warrior, being fond of epistolary correspondence, employed himself in writing letters to the Governor; the latter was occupied in building pas. Heke's personal hatred to Europeans, Kawiti's ancient feuds with our allies, and Governor Fitzroy's stipulations, kept them hostile. To both chiefs death was preferable to relinquishing the lands of their fathers, – one of the governor's terms of pardon. They were still in high spirits, and all over the country they obtained much sympathy. Te Heu Heu, the great Taupo chief, told Mr. M'Lean he considered Heke in the right, and that the English were an insatiable people, desirous of conquering all nations. 79 The inhabitants of remote villages in the interior often sat up until daylight, in expectation of messages from the seat of war, and none of the conflicts lost anything in splendour from the distance the news was carried. Heke rose high in the estimation of his race: he was the first warrior who had fought against England's

FITZROY RECALLED. – HIS RULE

trained soldiery; he stood forth as the deliverer of his country, and his personal appearance and his connexions were not unworthy of his position.

Captain Fitzroy was about to renew the war when news arrived of his successor's appointment. The advent of so many ships of war and troops at Auckland in October 1845 terrified the natives in the neighbourhood, and they commenced strengthening their fortifications for the coming struggle, and preparing for the policy of Governor Grey, already represented by rumour as a man who would soon teach them to know their proper place.

Captain Fitzroy left behind him a curious character. In all colonies ruled by the Colonial Office there are two parties whose point of attack and defence is the Governor, and from one party his Excellency invariably receives abuse and from the other adulation. New Zealand was in this condition on Governor Fitzroy's recall: the advent of Captain Grey was therefore hailed by one set as a happy deliverance from a foolish sailor, by the other party Captain Fitzroy's departure was considered as the sacrifice of an able man to unavoidable misfortunes.

It was announced in Parliament that Captain Fitzroy was superseded for not reporting his proceedings, disobedience of orders, want of judgment and firmness, and hasty legislation. The task of ruling New Zealand when Captain Fitzroy arrived was beset with difficulties, not the least of which were the discontent among the natives, the want of money and troops, and the opposition of the directors of the New Zealand Company. To all men Captain Fitzroy seemed singularly fitted for the office; and this opinion would have continued had he not been unfortunately called to fill it.

AND POLICY.

Out of evil often comes good – Captain Fitzroy's bankrupt finances brought large grants of money, and the destruction of Kororareka large bodies of troops. It is not, therefore, singular that Captain Fitzroy has been described "as the man who lost Kororareka, but saved New Zealand." 80

A bad policy with perseverance will occasionally produce good fruits, but Governor Fitzroy gave none of his schemes time to ripen. His policy may be described as the policy of vacillation; a policy where failure is certain, success impossible.

59 Parl. Papers. Local Papers. Mr. Evans, Parl. Papers, 1844.

60 Parl. Papers. Wakefield's Adventures. Company's publications. Personal Inquiry.

61 Wakefield's Adventures.

62 Government Gazette, New Zealand, 1844.

63 Government Gazette, Oct. 1844.

64 Parl. Papers, 1844.

65 Condensed from MSS. Reports, Native Secretary's Office, Auckland.

66 Parl. Papers, 1845. Letter from Mr. Busby.

67 Letter from Bishop Pompellier, and article in Journal des Debats, Paris, 1845.

68 Brief Memorials of an only Son.

69 Parl. Papers, 1844.

70 Parl. Papers, No. 517, dated 15th July, 1845. Church in Colonies, No. xii.

71 Parl. Papers, 1844. Local Information.

72 Colonel Hulme's despatch, Parl. Papers. Private Information.

73 MS. letter, Colonial Secretary's Office.

74 Parl. Papers, 337, page 150.

75 Colonel Despard, in his despatch, states Captain Grant's body was not mutilated; this error was the result of haste.

76 Remarks on New Zealand, by R. Fitzroy. London.

77 Report of Debate. Murray, 1845.

78 Parl. Paper, June, 1845. There is a map, showing the extent of this proposed government. It included the whole of New Zealand, with the exception of what is now the province of Auckland, and that was to be left to the missionaries as a separate government.

79 Parl. Papers, 1846, No. 337.

80 Bishop Selwyn's speech at a farewell dinner to Sir George Grey at Auckland in December 1853. The New Zealander Newspaper.

CHAPTER IX. GOVERNOR GREY'S RULE, NOVEMBER 1845 TO DECEMBER 1853.

CHAP. IX.

GOVERNOR GREY'S RULE, NOVEMBER 1845 TO DECEMBER 1853.

Arrival of Captain Grey. – State of colony. – Advance against Ruapekapeka.- Description of pa. – Occupation of pa. – Enemy sue for peace. – War at Wellington. – Settlers murdered. – Troops surprised. – Rauparaha made prisoner. – Sensation produced by seizure. – Engagement in the Horokiwi valley. – Prisoner of war executed. – Soldiers and natives make roads. – Disturbances at Wanganui. – Wanganui war. – Peace proclaimed. – Feeling in England on the wars. – Officers rewarded. – Colonial opinion of troops' conduct. – Policy of war. – Usefulness of allies, – Native policy modified. – Accusations against missionaries. – Missionary land claims. – Charter granted to colony in 1846. – Charter causes excitement among natives. – Charter suspended. – Rauparaha released. – Settlement of Governor Fitzroy's land questions. – Military settlements formed. – Otago settlement formed. – Earthquake of 1848. – Discovery of gold in California. – English law among natives. – Family of settlers murdered. – Attempt to stop native murders. – Execution of a native by natives. – Peace nearly broken by carrying out English law. – Disturbances from delay in executing English law. – Life and death of Rauparaha. – Canterbury settlement formed. – Settlement at Hawke's Bay. – Class settlements – New Zealand Company relinquish their charter. – Census of 1851. – Discovery of gold. – Price of crown lands reduced. – Survey of coasts. – Deaths of Heke, Pomare, Kawiti, Taniwha, Rangihaeata. – Constitution of 1852. – General government. – Provincial government. – Municipal governments. – Settlers' opinion of charter. – Provinces, electoral districts proclaimed. – First elections. – Departure of Governor Grey. – Character of rule.

WHEN her Majesty's ministers announced in Parliament that Captain George Grey was appointed Governor of New Zealand, it was stated that Sir Henry Pottinger, who had just returned from China, was the most suitable

ARRIVAL OF CAPTAIN GREY.

person for the office; but Lord John Russell informed the House that Captain Grey was singularly well qualified to grapple with the New Zealand difficulties, because in the government of South Australia, which he then administered, he had solved a most intricate problem, and judging from his writings no man knew better how aborigines should be trained to civilised usages.

In November 1845, the Honourable East India Company's ship Elphinstone, which had been sent from Bombay to South Australia with despatches, arrived at Auckland with Captain Grey. After a personal interview with Governor Fitzroy the Auckland citizens were thrown into dismay by the publication of her Majesty's disallowance of the debenture ordinance, because it was opposed to instructions accompanying the colonial charter. Next day pound debentures fell to thirteen shillings, but confidence was soon restored by an official intimation that one-fourth of the debentures were to be paid in specie brought from Adelaide and the rest funded.

Captain Grey then proceeded to the Bay of Islands, where he found 700 trained soldiers entrenching themselves; and learned that the disaffected natives consisted of two classes, – those who were in active hostility and those who were neutral. He endeavoured to put an end to this state of things by stating that he would consider those who were not for us as against us; and he informed the allies that the Queen had instructed him to fulfil most scrupulously the treaty of Waitangi. He gave Heke and Kawiti a fixed time to decide on peace or war, and then returned to Auckland. Here he assembled the Legislative Council, put a stop to the penny an acre proclamation, and passed an ordinance to pre-

HOSTILITIES RENEWED.

vent the New Zealanders purchasing munitions of war. Papers were laid before the Council showing that the colony was 70,000l. in debt, that 37,OOOl. of debentures were issued, and that the expenditure exceeded the income by 23,000l.

The enemy were now more inclined for peace than they had been two months ago. The Oheawai excitement had been followed by depression, and both Heke and Kawiti saw that their followers' spirit was broken from want of food; for in preparing for war they had neglected cultivating the soil, and another such victory as Oheawai would ruin them. It was now also apparent to the New Zealanders that after every conflict the soldiers increased in numbers while their forces decreased. But as none of the enemy's letters were satisfactory to Governor Grey, Colonel Despard was ordered to renew hostilities.

After Oheawai the enemy divided their forces, Heke remaining at Ikorangi, while Kawiti garrisoned Ruapekapeka. On the 8th of December the troops stationed at Kororareka took the field against the latter stronghold, which was sixteen miles inland; and four days were spent in getting the army to Pukututu's friendly pa on the banks of the Kawa Kawa river, although most of the troops made the journey in boats. From this place Ruapekapeka could be seen nine miles off, standing on the side of a hill in a forest. But although the troops commenced advancing on the 22nd, it was the 31st before the whole army got into camp in front of Ruapekapeka; and it was not until the 9th of January that all the guns and ammunition were brought up. This delay was entirely caused by want of conveyances and the difficult nature of the country, for no annoyance was

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

SKETCH OF KAWITI'S PA, RUAPEKAPEKA

DESCRIPTION OF RUAPEKAPEKA.

given by the enemy on the line of march. Eight hundred yards from the pa, in an open space in the wood, the allies took up a position and the troops followed: here a good view was got of the fortification.

Ruapekapeka measured 170 yards by 70 and was much broken into flanks. It had two rows of palisades 3 feet apart, composed of timbers 12 to 20 inches in diameter, and 15 feet out of the ground; there was a ditch between the palisades, and the earth was thrown behind to form an inner parapet. In principle it resembled Oheawai, but was much stronger. Within the pa the enemy numbered 500. The English force before the pa consisted of 1173 Europeans and 450 natives. With the army there were three thirty-two pounders, one eighteen-pounder, two twelve-pounders, and seven brass guns and rocket tubes. The soldiers consisted of the 58th Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Wynyard, and detachments of the 99th Royal Artillery, Royal Marines, East India Company's Artillery, and volunteers from Auckland under Captain Atkyns. In the force were 280 seamen and 33 naval officers from her Majesty's ships Castor, North Star, Racehorse, and H.E.I.C.'s ship Elphinstone. The leading natives among the allies were Walker Nene, Repa, Moses Tawhai, and Macquarrie.

Like men in all ages, the native allies, judging the future by the past, expected the English would be repulsed from the fortification; but the soldiers of the 58th Regiment, some of whom now spoke Maori, told the allies Ruapekapeka would be a very different affair from all the other conflicts, and many soldiers were seen rubbing their hands with joy at the near prospect of terminating the war.

On the 31st of December the enemy hoisted their

FORTIFICATION TAKEN.

flag, to which the English replied by a general firing from all the guns in position: one shot cut down the flagstaff, which event drew forth the admiration of allies and enemies. The New Year was ushered in by a general salute from the English guns. On the 2nd of January a sally from the enemy within Ruapekapeka was driven back by our allies, with the loss of three men killed and several wounded; the allies requested the soldiers should remain spectators of this conflict, as they found the new portion of the English force could not distinguish friendly from hostile natives. On the 10th the guns, having been placed in batteries at different distances, commenced firing, and after cannonading all day made two small breaches in the stockade. That night the enemy began to retire. Next day being Sunday, the garrison expecting a cessation of strife on this sacred day, and being unable to cook within the pa from the firing, were occupied with prayers and cooking outside, when Walker Nene's brother Eruera Patuone, hearing no noise in the fort, crept up to the palisades with some allies, supported by a detachment of the 58th Regiment under Captain Denny, and pushed through the breaches. There they were received with a volley from a few natives left inside; but reinforcements following, the allies and the troops were soon defending the pa against the enemy, who were endeavouring to retake it. This continued until some soldiers and sailors rushed out at the opposite end, and then the enemy after a skirmish fled. The English lost thirteen men killed and thirty wounded.

The fort was destroyed, and it was found that the enemy's provisions were exhausted. Heke was kept from Ruapekapeka by a feigned attack which Macquarrie made on Ikorangi, but arrived the night before it was

ENEMY SUE FOR PEACE.

taken. The allies were delighted with the effective practice of the guns, but dreaded the shells from their crooked course. English engineers said a breach should have been made in the palisades of Ruapekapeka by exploding gunpowder close to them, as was done in bursting the gate of Ghuznee, but Ghuznee gate was one piece of workmanship, the palisades of Ruapekapeka were three independent works. From an inspection of Ruapekapeka, the troops saw that an assault would have been attended with severe loss, and it was universally admitted that the natives were becoming masters in the science of fortification. Okaihau was a weak place to an enemy with cannon; Oheawai was better adapted for resisting a cannonade; while Ruapekapeka was the strongest of the three, and afforded most shelter to the besieged.

In an English fort the ditch is deep, and outside the defences; in a New Zealand pa the ditch is shallow, and inside the palisades. In an English fort the ditch is made to obstruct the enemy; in a New Zealand pa the ditch is made to cover the defenders, who stand in it and fire at the besiegers. 81

A few days after the fall of Ruapekapeka Heke and Kawiti's followers dwindled away, and they were then made to feel that the surest way to receive support is not to require it. In consequence of this defection they wrote penitent letters to the Governor, promising to be as faithful in peace as they had been constant in war. Practising the Roman maxim of lenity to a submissive foe, the Governor gave Heke and Kawiti and all who had

WAR AT WELLINGTON.

been engaged an unconditional pardon; martial law was removed from the northern district; 200 soldiers were left to garrison the Bay of Islands, and the remainder of the force returned to Auckland. Thus ended the war in the north which commenced in July 1844 and terminated in January 1846.

The news of the fall of Ruapekapeka flew like lightning over the land, and had a powerful influence on the native race north of Rotorua. Solitary out-settlers felt the effect of the conflict before they heard of it; stolen property was given back, and apologies made for insulting words. Money payments and the large commissariat expenditure produced contentment among the natives and settlers around Auckland; and there was a general feeling of confidence in the wisdom of Captain Grey, which had never been reposed in previous governors. 82 Several of the enemy's wounded were cured by English surgeons, and sent home to their kindred; a mode of warfare which created a deep sensation in the native mind.

During the northern war an insurrection smouldered in the south. The disputes dimly shadowed forth in Mr. Commissioner Spain's reports still continued. The forbearance of the settlers since the affair in the Wairau had as yet prevented bloodshed, but three miles out of Wellington English law was despised, and ten miles from the town black mail was levied on the colonists. The great bone of contention was the Hutt valley, a singularly fertile spot, nine miles from Wellington, which Colonel Wakefield thought he had purchased; but the natives denied this, and cultivated a portion, to

HUTT SETTLERS MURDERED.

prevent the settlers from taking possession of the whole. Boundary disputes were engendered by this proximity, and the evil increased by delay. Captain Fitzroy paid 300l. to extinguish all native claims to the valley; but Rauparaha did not give Rangihaeata a fair share of this money; and the Government stood pledged to put the settlers, who were tolerated by the natives, although not recognised as proprietors, into possession of their lands.

Early in 1846, seventeen Hutt settlers were plundered by the natives, to revenge which Colonel Hulme marched 300 soldiers up the Hutt. The natives, on their approach, withdrew to a pa in the neighbouring hills, and, as the enemy's position was unassailable without heavy loss, 200 soldiers were left in the valley for protection. No agricultural district could prosper in this condition, and Governor Grey, with every disposable soldier, left Auckland in February 1846 for Wellington. On His Excellency's arrival, several chiefs tendered their allegiance to her Majesty, and offered to assist the troops, now numbering 680 men with two guns and two howitzers. The military in the Hutt were requested not to attack the enemy's position in the hills, but simply to prevent them drawing supplies of food from their cultivations.

This mode of warfare caused the enemy to abandon their fastness, and retire into the interior; but about the middle of April they returned, stole past the troops, murdered a boy and an old man named Gillespie, and announced that every settler occupying disputed lands on the Hutt would meet a similar fate. Rauparaha wrote to the Governor that the deed was done by a Wanganui native, who would be delivered up at

TROOPS SURPRISED.

Porirua if six policemen were sent to receive him; but when the policemen went to the appointed spot the murderer was not surrendered. As Rangihaeata was the assigned cause of this, 200 soldiers were sent to occupy a stockaded position at Porirua, a place seventeen miles from Wellington, and close to Rangihaeata's stronghold.

On the 16th of May, fifty soldiers of the 58th Regiment, under Lieutenant Page, stationed at Boulcott's Farm, in the valley of the Hutt, were surprised an hour before daylight by seventy natives under Mamaku, and six soldiers were slain and four wounded. A noble deed was done on this occasion. Allen, the bugler of the detachment, a mere lad, was struck on the right arm with a tomahawk while sounding the alarm; raising the bugle with his left, he blew a blast which roused his slumbering comrades, before another blow laid him dead; the bugle was carried away as a trophy, and subsequently recovered in one of Rangihaeata's deserted camps. This successful affair emboldened the enemy, and on the 16th of June forty soldiers of the 99th Regiment, under Captain Reed, were attacked while reconnoitring in the Hutt, when two men were slain, and one officer and five men wounded. Soon afterwards, another settler in the Hutt, named Rush, was murdered for cultivating disputed lands.

The alarm produced by these events was aggravated by rumours of intended attacks. Out-settlers fled to Wellington, and those who remained on their lands took up arms and erected stockades. In every affair which had yet occurred the insurgents were the assailants, and more soldiers were slain than natives; the enemy, confident in their strength, despised them, and Rangihaeata

RAUPARAHA SUSPECTED.

tapued a road near Porirua, to prevent friendly natives supplying the troops at that station with provisions, and thus superstition was united with physical force against the English. The enemy presented no point where an effective blow could be struck, and a doubtful victory would be worse than a state of inactivity. Still, it was evident that something must be done, as Rangihaeta's recent success was attracting followers; settlers were leaving the country; allies were losing confidence, and all men were asking what means could be taken to bring about peace.

During these troubles Rauparaha was outwardly our ally; the old settlers, who knew him well, doubted his fidelity, and represented to the Governor that his fear of the English, since the Wairau massacre, had degenerated into hatred; that he goaded the enemy on with extravagant hopes of success; and that he was always plotting, but his share in the conspiracies was, from dread of his vengeance, kept secret with wonderful skill. In proof of these grave accusations, they stated that "to dive into the projects of Rauparaha" was a proverb among his countrymen. Those of our allies who ventured to mention his name, said that his tongue was with Government but his heart was with Rangihaeata.

Captain Grey at last suspected his sincerity, and after inquiry became firmly convinced that he was secretly assisting the insurgents; the evidence of his guilt was circumstantial, not sufficient to convict him before a jury, but sufficient during war to justify his arrest.

A bold blow was now struck. Rauparaha was seized, and this was accomplished by turning his own weapons

SEIZURE OF RAUPARAHA.

against himself, and using dissimulation surpassing his own. The Governor, without informing him that the friendship which apparently existed between him and the Government was at an end, landed, an hour before daylight on the 23rd of July 1846, 130 soldiers, sailors, and police, near his residence at Porirua, from her Majesty's steam-ship Driver in the offing. The force secretly surrounded the old warrior's abode, seized him asleep in his bed, and conveyed him on board the ship. No blow was struck and no blood was shed, although Rauparaha bit and struggled lustily when captured, and until assured that he was not to be hung at the yard-arm his conduct was most undignified. Men whose whole lives are spent in attacking others generally show craven spirits when assailed themselves.

This bold and cunning seizure astonished the colony. Many officers of high honour said, in language of entire disapproval, that the affair was worse than Pomare's capture in the north under a flag of truce. On the other hand, several old and conscientious settlers highly commended the deed, and gave much credit to those who planned and executed it. No event during the English rule ever caused so much sensation among the natives. As the blow was unexpected, it was the more astounding; from Stewart's Island to Cape Maria Van Diemen the New Zealanders speculated on his probable fate, and it was whispered that the Governor was to hang Rauparaha, then dry his body and transmit it to the Queen at Windsor. 83

It is difficult to convey an accurate idea of the value

SENSATION PRODUCED BY.

of the man the Governor had now in custody. He was the most celebrated living warrior in the country, the leader of the Wairau conflict, and the man whom three years ago all desired, but none dared, to seize. His capture was not made in the hour of victory, but after British soldiers had been worsted, settlers murdered, and the spirit of our allies depressed. Some old men among neutral tribes were anxious to revenge his treacherous seizure; no one, they stated, was now safe; but the young recommended peace. Laments were composed and chanted about his imprisonment; one, for its beauty and political importance, has been preserved.

LAMENT OF RANGIHAEATA.

Addressed to Rauparaha, a Prisoner on board Her Majesty's ship Calliope. 84

The captured chief is compared to a war canoe which has been dashed to pieces in the surf: –

"My brave canoe!
In lordly decoration lordliest far,
My proud canoe!
Amid the fleet that fleetest flew,
How wert thou shattered by the surge of war?
'Tis but the fragments of the wreck
Of my renowned canoe
That lie, all crushed, on yonder war ship's deck."

In the following verses Rauparaha is addressed, under the short name of Raha, as a dead man; and the Ngatitoa and Ngatiraukawa, the tribes from which he was descended on father and mother's side, are taunted

THREATENS VENGEANCE.

by Rangihaeata for deserting their chief and siding with the English: –

"Raha! my chief, my friend,
Thy lonely journey wend;
Stand with thy wrongs before the God of Battles' face:
Bid him thy foes requite.
Ah me! Te Raukawa's foul desertion and disgrace.
Ah me! the English ruler's might.

"Raha! my chief of chiefs,
Ascend with all thy griefs
Up to the Lord of Peace; there stand before his face:
Let him thy fate requite.
Ah me! Te Toa's sad defection and disgrace,
Ah me! the English ruler's might."

Rangihaeata alludes to Rauparaha's foolishness in living at Porirua where he was captured, and the advice he gave him: –

"One counsel more, the first I gave:
'Break up thy forces, comrade brave;
Scatter them all about the land,
In many a predatory band.'
But Porirua's forest dense,
Ah! thou wouldst never stir from thence.
'There,' saidst thou, 'lies my best defence.'
Now, now, of such design ill starred
How grievously thou reap'st the full reward!"

Rangihaeata announces in the following verse that he will revenge Rauparaha's seizure: –

"Hence vain lamentings – hence away!
Hence all the brood of sorrow born!
There will be time enough to mourn
In the long days of summer, ere the food
Is cropped abundant for the work of blood.
Now I must marshal in compact array
Great thoughts that crowding come of an avenging day."

The charm which kept the enemy together was now dissolved, and every one began to think of his own

ENGAGEMENT IN THE HOROKIWI.

safety. As Rangihaeata's stronghold Pahautanui was only four miles from the English camp at Porirua, that chief dreaded a similar fate to Rauparaha. The settlers about Wellington were in a state of panic; they knew that Rangihaeata, uncontrolled by Rauparaha, would take some dreadful revenge for that warrior's seizure; none could foresee where he would strike, although all knew, what his Lament indicates, that he thirsted after blood. To prevent the blow falling on the defenceless, orders were issued to carry the war into Rangihaeata's own country, and a party of friendly natives were instructed to cut off his retreat. Alarmed at these proceedings, and dreading to be caught "like a fly in a spider's web," Rangihaeata suddenly left Pahautanui. On the 29th of July, when his flight became known, a party of militia, sailors, soldiers, and police, took possession of the pa, and Major Last of the 99th Regiment, who commanded the expedition, reported that the fortification owed nothing to skill, but was strong by nature; for, even without opposition, the troops had much difficulty in clambering up the rocks with their stocks and cross-belts.

It was now ascertained by our allies that he was encamped in a densely wooded valley or ravine close by, called the Horokiwi. On the 3rd of August a combined movement of the whole force, numbering 250 men, was made, and on the 5th it advanced six miles up the forest defiles of the Horokiwi. The enemy retired before the troops, who, on the 6th, ascended a hill, where they found the insurgents posted behind an invisible stockade flanked by steep ravines. A fire was opened on both sides, and continued till nightfall. Ensign Blackburn of the 99th, one soldier, and one sailor were slain, and

TROOPS RETIRE.

eight soldiers and militiamen wounded. None of the enemy were injured. Two small mortars were brought up on the 8th by Captain Henderson, Royal Artillery, but could not be used with effect because of the height and thickness of the trees. Major Last did not consider it expedient to storm the stockade, and the troops fell back to Pahautanui. Lieutenant Servantes of the 96th, who remained before the stockade with the native allies, reported that on the 13th, after a slight skirmish, the enemy left their position, broke up in parties, took different paths into the interior, and were dispersed by bodies of militia, natives, police, soldiers, and sailors.

Starvation was the chief instrument in producing this result, for Lieutenant Servantes found that they had been reduced to live on tree fern. The enemy were now routed. Rauparaha, their thinking man, was a prisoner; Rangihaeata, their fighting warrior, a fugitive; and Te Heu Heu, the only great chief who refused to acknowledge the Queen, and who sheltered the enemy in his inaccessible dominions around Taupo, was at this critical juncture buried alive with fifty-four followers by an immense land-slip. 85

When the troops returned from pursuing the enemy they brought back several prisoners, and these men were tried as rebels before a court-martial assembled at Porirua. One man escaped on the plea of insanity, seven were sentenced to transportation, and one to die. The fate of this prisoner requires notice. He was a Christian, a chief of some influence at Wanganui, and a blood connection of Rangihaeata; his native name was Wareaitu, his baptismal name Martin Luther; he was

PRISONER OF WAR HUNG.

arraigned for being engaged in attacking the troops on the 16th of June, for being in arms against the peace of the Queen, and for joining the rebels under Rangihaeata. To the latter count he pleaded guilty, and after the evidence of two native women he was sentenced to be hung. When his fate was interpreted to him, he betrayed a magnanimity of soul which would have touched the heart of generous adversaries. He said he was not afraid to die, but regretted with deep emotion that he was not killed when captured, in place of being reserved for a cruel and disgraceful death. A gallows was erected close to the military stockade at Porirua, and a purse of gold was required to get a hangman from among the soldiers. The Rev. Mr. Govett accompanied Luther to the scaffold, and he was launched into eternity with the word of God on his lips; he died with passive fortitude, and showed his executioners how the spirit of his race could triumph over an unjust death. Few natives came from the neighbouring village to see his struggling agonies, but most of them visited the body when the vital spark had fled; and some of our faithful allies, as they looked on the lifeless trunk, with its swollen agonised features, dangling in the air, doubted the necessity of such a tragedy.

These prisoners were tried at Porirua before a military tribunal, because martial law had been proclaimed, a law unknown in England since Monmouth's rebellion. Justice repudiates the name of rebels applied to the New Zealand prisoners. It was stated that they had murdered peaceable settlers, but this charge was not brought forward on the trial. English actors in this affair have insinuated that it is incorrect to reason about the execution of Luther on the abstract principles of

INJUSTICE OF EXECUTION.

right and wrong, but that it should be looked upon as a proclamation written in human blood, that henceforth no settler in New Zealand should be slain with impunity. Such casuistry, however suitable for the companions of Cortes in the sixteenth century, is not fit for the days nor for the subjects of Queen Victoria.

Evil is not to be done that good may come of it. Luther's death is a disgrace to Governor Grey's administration, and he probably thought so himself, as there is no published despatch on the subject, and as the transported prisoners in Tasmania were pardoned when the secretary of state announced that doubts existed about the legality of the tribunal which condemned them. Luther was tried with all the forms of military law, and with all the substance of injustice. The New Zealanders, as if to mark their regret for his death, have given, near to the spot where he was hung, a block of land upon which to erect a college to promote the union of the races; in the words of the deed, 86 "That they may grow up together as one people." Soon after his execution, Luther's wife gave birth to a child, which was named Rupeka, or the hung. The soldier bribed to put the rope round his neck was often upbraided by his comrades for acting as hangman on that occasion; and when he was accidentally drowned in shallow water eighteen months afterwards, they said it was an instance of retribution of Providence in this world, and a testimony that God was against him for the part he took in the murder.

It is pleasing to turn from this dark picture of war to one more agreeable. Idleness being the cause of

SOLDIERS AND NATIVES MAKE ROADS.

much discontent among the natives, Governor Grey soon after his arrival in the colony commenced the formation of roads by native labourers, and at Auckland and Wellington large bodies of friendly and hostile New Zealanders were employed in wielding picks and spades, and talking about wars and rumours of wars. When Rauparaha's fidelity was doubted, settlers murdered, and the troops surprised, a company of the 58th Regiment under Captain Russell, with a number of natives, were peaceably employed in cutting a road through the mountain forest between Wellington and Porirua. The native labourers received half a crown daily; and the chiefs, who acted as overseers, three shillings. Confidence was soon engendered between the labourers in this work; the soldiers taught the natives to speak English, and the natives gave the soldiers lessons in Maori. Both parties seemed to forget the conflict going on around them; they talked together as men of one race, and the nephew of Rauparaha, an overseer, instructed the soldiers in the native mode of warfare. When the road was completed, the natives parted from the soldiers with regret. One half-caste boy left his mother's tribe, and accompanied the troops to their head-quarters at Auckland; here he slept in the barrack-room beds of the men absent on guard, shared their meals, and was sent by them to the regimental school; and, after he had become a man, he often said that the soldiers saved him from being a Maori.

These native labourers learned from the soldiers several useful mechanical arts, and at Auckland they built a loop-holed stone wall twelve feet high round the barracks, under the superintendence of the Royal Engineer Department.

SETTLERS MURDERED AT WANGANUI,

But this is a glimpse of peace in the midst of strife. Rangihaeata's followers were scotched, not killed; they were dispersed, not subdued; and, sojourning among the Wanganui and Taupo tribes, they fanned the smouldering sparks of discontent. They talked of their expulsion from the Hutt, the seizure of Rauparaha, the execution of Luther, and the transportation of his fellow-prisoners; they knew that no such punishments had been inflicted on the northern insurgents, and drew the conclusion that with the English bloody conflicts led to easy terms of peace. Such events, and such modes of reasoning, roused the slumbering land disputes at Wanganui; and the colonists in that settlement were threatened and plundered by the natives. To check these proceedings a detachment of soldiers was sent to Wanganui in December 1846, and the natives construed the arrival of this force as the first step towards their expulsion from the district.

During the excitement arising from this cause, an unfortunate event precipitated the settlement into war. On the 16th of April 1847, a midshipman of her Majesty's ship Calliope accidentally shot a native through the cheek at Wanganui, which accident was magnified into a deliberate attempt at murder, and the New Zealanders demanded blood for blood. On the 18th, six natives attacked the house of Mr. Gilfillan, a solitary settler living six miles from Wanganui, and murdered his wife and four children. Five of the murderers were seized next day by friendly natives and delivered over to Captain Laye, 58th Regiment, who commanded the troops at Wanganui. 87 They were tried by a court-martial, after the coroner

NATIVES ATTACK WANGANUI.

had returned a verdict of wilful murder against them, and found guilty. Apparently none of the bitterness of death was tasted by any, when their fate was explained to them; and four, who were immediately executed, died as if death were nothing and nought after it, openly avowing the murders, and the manner in which they were perpetrated. One was pardoned on account of his youth. The day after the execution several native women who were living as wives with Europeans left the settlement, which certain indication of approaching hostilities was followed by the friends of the men hung proclaiming their intention to destroy it.

War at Wanganui commenced with the murder of a straggling soldier of the 58th Regiment, and at noon on the 19th of May the enemy attacked the settlement. The inhabitants retreated to several fortified houses in rear of the military position, and for five hours the enemy kept up a fire on the stockades from the shelter of the deserted town-houses, advanced several times to within thirty yards of them, and challenged the soldiers to open combat. From the stockades and a gun-boat in the river a constant fire of shot and shell was maintained without dislodging the enemy; and in the night they plundered the town, stole and killed cattle, and decamped. The British force in whose presence these scenes were enacted numbered 170 men quartered in three wooden stockades; the enemy was estimated at 600. No casualty occurred on the British side, but the enemy had two chiefs slain and ten wounded.

This attack on Wanganui was an imitation of the affair at Kororareka, but the troops and the settlers had acquired experience in the art of war since that fatal day. The enemy depressed by their loss retired to a

WANGANUI WAR.

distance of three miles. Five pounds were paid to a settler to carry a letter with an account of the conflict overland to Wellington, and the news of the insurrection brought Governor Grey, Lieutenant-Colonel M'Cleverty, Te Whero Whero, Walker Nene, Te Puni, and detachments of the 58th and 65th Regiments and the Royal Artillery, in her Majesty's ships Calliope and Inflexible, to Wanganui. The British force now exceeded 500 men.

Sixteen days after the first attack the enemy again appeared in force before Wanganui, and tried to draw the troops into an ambush capable of holding 300 men. On the 10th of June a small strongly supported reconnoitring party of the 65th Regiment was attacked, and the enemy, who were themselves surprised, lost several killed and wounded, while the English had no casualty. Every night their watch-fires were seen, and the sound of their morning and evening hymns was wafted to heaven over the English forces. After this conflict the enemy withdrew to a greater distance up the river, but on the 5th, 10th, and 17th of July they returned, and advanced in small parties, and in a most daring manner, near to the stockades. On the 19th the troops made a sally, and the enemy falling back into the bush defied them. On this occasion they lost three killed and ten wounded, and the British had an exactly similar loss. Several natives were slain, and several wounded with the bayonet; one of the English dead was carried off by the enemy and interred unmutilated. On the 22nd the enemy again appeared before the stockades, but retired after receiving a few shots which did no injury. Next day a small party bearing a flag of truce advanced to the

PEACE PROCLAIMED.

stockades, and, after a long conversation with our allies, stated that they were now for peace, being satisfied with the number of soldiers slain.

During these conflicts the Wanganui settlers who remained around their homes fought in company with the troops. One colonist was made prisoner, and liberated, on the intercession of several native women, for a quantity of tobacco and blankets; and the soldiers contrasted his treatment with that of Luther. Civilians whispered that it was disgraceful for five hundred trained soldiers to skulk behind stockades when challenged by savages to open combat; but the enemy afterwards said they were in hopes this mode of action would allure the soldiers into their ambuscade, and admitted that they had no weapons to cope with the bayonet in close conflict.

After hostilities had ceased peace was not proclaimed, as the natives would not humiliate themselves by asking directly for it. The blockade up and down the river was consequently continued, and as it prevented their receiving their usual supplies of pipes, tobacco, blankets, tea, and sugar, they became heartily sick of war conducted upon a system to which they could offer no effectual resistance. On two occasions, hearing the soldiers were anxious to have vegetables, canoes laden with potatoes and cabbages were sent down the river for sale, but to their amazement and vexation one canoe was ordered off from the stockade jetty and the other was fired at. This clearly showed them that nothing could be gained by continuing war conducted on such strange principles, and at the end of the year they wrote to the Governor, begging for peace. On the 21st of February, 1848, the principal chiefs met Captain Grey at Wanganui, and in presence of Major-General Pitt, com-

ENGLISH FEELING ABOUT THE WAR.

manding the troops in New Zealand, peace was ratified and a general pardon granted. Stolen cattle were restored, – the Government paid the natives a fair price for the disputed lands, – the native women returned to Wanganui, – and crowds of canoes were paddled down the river with articles for sale. It was then ascertained that they had, during the war, sown several hundred acres of wheat, and planted a large quantity of potatoes; and they related with amusing simplicity how much they had suffered from the want of blankets and tobacco, and that they were now glad the shots fired so often at Captain Balneavis of the 58th Regiment had missed that officer.

Peace delighted the soldiers, as there was no glory to be won in such a war, and because peace gave them more sleep and better food. Both races learned from this conflict how dependent they were on each other. Barracks were built at Wanganui, and a detachment of soldiers was left to garrison the place. The court-martial which had sentenced the Gilfillan' murderers to execution was illegal, in consequence of the president, a lieutenant, having been of inadequate rank. An act was therefore passed by the British Parliament to shield the members of the court; and in future mutiny acts it was made lawful for a lieutenant, under some circumstances, to be president of a general court-martial. At the commencement of the Wanganui outbreak the settlers numbered one hundred and fifty, at its close they had dwindled down to forty; but on the ratification of peace most of the refugees returned.

When the accounts of these disturbances reached England, men asked if it were possible to found a colony without destroying the aboriginal inhabitants. Is there

OFFICERS REWARDED.

such an instinctive hatred between different races as to prevent their amicable union? Does blood exercise such a mysterious influence over human passions, that no relation can exist between two nations of different origin, but either that of alien enemies or that of conquerors and subjects? Are we to have the history of the Spaniards in South America, and the English in India, acted over again in New Zealand? Time alone can answer these questions; if, however, a just policy be adopted towards the New Zealanders, the historians of that country will have a more pleasing task than the annalists of America and India. It will be found that the mysterious conditions of race, and the affinities or repulsions of blood, have all been forgotten when the governing party adopted the great Christian precept of doing unto others as they would be done by; a result which history tells us can only be completely brought about by the amalgamation of the conquerors with the conquered.

Meantime her Majesty, while lamenting the effusion of blood, was not insensible to the merits of her soldiers. Several of the senior officers were rewarded. Captain Graham, R.N.; Captain Sir Everard Home, R.N.; Colonel Despard, 99th Regiment; and Lieutenant-Colonel Wynyard, 58th Regiment, were made commanders of the Military Order of the Bath. Captains Denny and Matson, 58th Regiment; Captain Reed, 99th Regiment; Captain Marlow, Royal Engineers; Captain Langford, Royal Marines; and Captain Wilmot, Royal Artillery, were promoted to the rank of majors in the army. Captain Laye, 58th Regiment; Captain Russell, 58th Regiment; and Lieutenant Page, 58th Regiment, were subsequently promoted for their services. Other officers

SIR GEORGE GREY.

who had fought at Okaihau, Oheawai, and Wanganui, were overlooked; amongst whom Colonel Hulme of the 96th Regiment, Major Bridge of the 58th, and Major Last of the 99th were the most meritorious: and many will think that a medal might not ungracefully have adorned the breasts of the men who fought the battles of England in obscurity, and triumphed over unusual obstacles in an almost unknown corner of the earth, at the remote antipodes.

On the institution of a Civil Order of the Bath in 1848, Captain George Grey was made a Knight-Commander, and when invested with the star of the order at Auckland, Walker Nene, and Te Puni, were the chosen esquires of the new-made knight. Sir George Grey deserved both the civil and military decorations; for he accompanied the soldiers in all their expeditions against the natives, 88 he virtually commanded the troops, and was justly charged with carrying the spirit of peace into the councils of war; an honourable accusation, and a wise policy in conflicts between trained soldiers and savages.

But there were a few colonists who asserted that the military operations added no lustre to the British army. Clive's defence of Arcot first made known to the Hindoos that Englishmen could fight; the New Zealand conflicts lowered the soldiers in the eyes of the natives to the ranks of men. The troops were accused of never having gained a complete victory, and of having been on more than one occasion driven back. These remarks would have been just had the seat of war been in Europe; as it was, they were unjust; no regular

LAND GIVEN TO SOLDIERS.

troops will ever conquer savages fighting after their own manner. To combat the New Zealanders successfully, a body of irregular troops would be required, trained for fighting in forests and mountains, and like their foes independent of a commissariat. From the destruction of Kororareka in March 1845, till the action of Wanganui in July 1847, 85 soldiers, seamen, and militia-men were slain and 167 wounded, – a larger proportion of casualties than the enemy suffered.

Men, however, who had fought under Wellington in the Peninsula said that the troops performed their duty with great credit in New Zealand. They pointed out that the soldiers did the work of beasts of burden, in dragging guns and ammunition over mountains and through forests; carried on campaigns in winter with scanty clothing and without tents; rushed with the bayonet against fortifications known to be impregnable; lived for years in rude huts away from the civilised world; and, when peace was restored and the colony prospered, they stuck to their colours while all the labouring men around them were growing rich. There were deeds of heroism displayed during the New Zealand wars, which, had they been performed on a larger stage, would have covered the actors with much glory.

Eleven years afterwards, on the withdrawal of the 65th Regiment from Wellington and the embarkation of the 58th Regiment for England, that praise which the troops justly deserved during the war was nobly and generously lavished on them by the colonists, and grants of land were allotted to those engaged in suppressing the northern insurrection. The 58th Regiment, having served thirteen years in the colony, having been the first regiment of the line whose colours were unfurled

POLICY OF WAR NOT UNDERSTOOD.

in New Zealand, and having discharged from its ranks, to settle in the colony, 1100 men and 10 officers, was held in peculiar estimation. Before it left Auckland the officers and men were entertained at balls, the reoiment was publicly feasted, and crowds of Europeans and natives bade farewell to the 150 men who embarked with the regimental colours for England, in November 1858.

Men, however, who sneered at the manner the war was conducted, as unbecoming the English nation, knew not the merits of the case. In wars against savages, retaliation by torture is out of the question. Among the New Zealanders, every man slain left several living relatives, who were religiously bound by native law to have blood for blood, and massacres of innocent persons were considered by them in such cases lawful. Fighting against a race holding these principles, peace was more likely to be permanent when victory was gained by a small loss of life; the more men slain, the wider the gulf. Mercy, justice, and common sense, therefore, pointed out that the proper way to fight them was by constant war, war without intermission, but a war of delay rather than of activity. 89 Against a European power such warfare would be weak and cruel; against the New Zealanders it was merciful. To a people fond of military glory, defeat is mentally degrading, and excites a desire for revenge; but the New Zealanders have come out of the conflict with no ill feelings against the English. They admit that some of their positions were taken, but say these advantages were won more by the mind than the sword. Never was a war with a

NATIVE ALLIES.

savage race conducted with fewer excesses and less barbarity than this; and on the withdrawal of the troops from the Bay of Islands in the year 1858, the Ngapuhi tribe, as if to remove every vestige of defeat, erected the flagstaff at Kororareka which had been cut down by Heke in 1845.

The services performed by the native allies were not forgotten. It is true, Colonel Despard spoke disparagingly of their usefulness and fidelity; 90 that he doubted the judgment of Walker Nene, because he saw the old man dance the war dance in the full dress uniform coat and hat of a captain of the royal navy; and the good faith of the allies, because of their disobedience of orders, their custom of communicating with the enemy, and their eagerness for payment: but much of this unfavourable opinion arose from the colonel's ignorance of the character and customs of the natives. It is only necessary to state that the allies acted as guides, gave information about the nature of the country and the enemy's position, that they repulsed several sallies, and by their presence in the English camp preserved the soldiers from treacherous native modes of warfare. More than this could not be expected from men fighting with strangers against their countrymen, in a quarrel which did not concern themselves. Kawiti certainly accused Walker Nene of fighting on the English side to revenge old feuds, and that he was always "naming his dead of old times, and was not fighting for our English dead!" 91 but Walker Nene's history and his whole conduct show that the spirit of this accusation is

NATIVE POLICY ALTERED.

unjust. If Colonel Despard had a low opinion of the allies, they in return held his knowledge of war in little estimation; for they expressed before Ruapekapeka a wish that a younger man should be appointed to lead the troops to victory.

Governor Grey publicly acknowledged their usefulness by enrolling a number of them in the armed police. Walker Nene was given a pension of 100l. a year for "his zeal, courage, and loyalty," and several other chiefs had smaller sums. Patuone, Nene's brother, received forty acres of land on the north shore, near Auckland; and Te Whero Whero, the Waikato chief, 50l. per annum, a residence in the government domain, and an estate at Mangerei. Te Puni was presented with a silver cup by the Wellington settlers, and 50l. a year by Government; and gifts were bestowed on other chiefs.

High authority has asserted that civilised nations are not justified in employing savages in wars against savages, 92 the very mode which enabled the English to maintain their ground in New Zealand.

When peace was ratified the policy of Government was modified. Before the war, the natives had been ruled by the moral influence of the missionaries, and the sword was kept carefully sheathed. Sir George Grey now proposed to govern them by physical force, kindness, and good faith; education in one hand, and the sword in the other. The department for the protection of the Aborigines, over which Mr. Clarke, a missionary, presided, was consequently broken up, and a military officer was appointed native secretary, through whom all

RUMOURS AGAINST MISSIONARIES.

correspondence connected with them was ordered to pass. Several Church of England missionaries considered this change a reflection on themselves; and, as the wars had cost England nearly a million of money, insinuated that fighting savages was the most expensive mode of managing them.

From the circumstance of the enemy in the north having been, with some exceptions, followers of the Church of England, and our allies, with some exceptions, Wesleyans, an impression got abroad that the English Church missionaries were more with the enemy than with the Queen's soldiers. Several circumstances led to this idea, for it never assumed the form of an accusation. These were, the difficulty Colonel Despard had of gathering information from them about the enemy; their insinuation against himself for taking Ruapekapeka on Sunday, a day these holy men had taught the New Zealanders to regard as a day of rest; and the discovery in Ruapekapeka of a letter from Archdeacon Henry Williams to Kawiti. The missionaries, although not generally endowed with much worldly discretion, exhibited great propriety on this occasion, in not attempting to refute rumours, for all knew the painful position they were placed in as regards the enemy; and when Archdeacon Henry Williams, a man who in his early youth was an officer in the Royal Navy, and had fought under Nelson at Copenhagen, had a pamphlet printed to prove that he was not a "traitor," 93 every person felt that the publication was unnecessary, as the charge was so absurd that no one believed it.

MISSIONARIES' LAND CLAIMS.

An official correspondence between Government and Archdeacon Henry Williams, about land, led to a sort of personal quarrel between Sir George Grey and that dignitary. It is universally known that men so situated unintentionally discolour facts; and Governor Grey represented to the Secretary of State that the insurrection in the Bay of Islands was caused by the large land claims of the missionaries. 94 Walker Nene's speech, quoted by Governor Grey in support of this opinion, is ambiguous, and at a Wesleyan meeting that chief said that Sir George Grey misunderstood his words. 95 Heke, in his letter to the Queen after the war was over, did not state that the missionaries' land purchases had goaded him on to war; Governor Grey's accusation was therefore unjust, and the surprise with which it was received in the colony was to all men a proof of this.

It was the land-sharking of a few of the early members of the Church mission which indirectly led Governor Grey to make the foregoing accusation against the missionaries, and the story may be briefly told.

At an early date, it will be remembered, several of the English Church missionaries purchased land from the New Zealanders, and a statement of the quantity claimed, and the awards given, will be found in the subjoined table; where also will be seen the honoured names of Messrs. Maunsell, Ashwell, Chapman, Morgan, Colenso, and the early missionaries who resisted this worldly temptation.

NAMES OF CLAIMANTS.

Names.

Office.

Entered the
Mission.

Quantity
of Land
claimed in
Acres.

Quantity
granted
in Acres

Brown, Rev. Alfred N

Missionary

1829

See claim Wilson 96

Maunsell, Rev.

ditto

1835

None

Taylor, Rev. R.

ditto

50,000 97

1,704

Williams, Rev. Henry

ditto

1823

22,000

9,000

Williams, Rev. William

ditto

1826

890

890

Ashwell, Mr. Benjamin.

Catechist

1835

20

20

Baker, Mr. Charles

ditto

1828

6,242

2,560

Bedgood, Mr. John

Wheelwright

1836

250

60

Chapman, Mr. Thomas

Catechist

1830

None

Clarke, Mr. George

ditto

1824

19,000

5,500

Colenso, Mr. William

Printer

1834

None

Davis, Mr. Richard

Catechist

1824

6,000

3,500

Davis, Mr. James

Storekeeper

1824

1,015

335

Davis, Serena

Teacher

1824

None

Edmonds, Mr. John

Stonemason

1834

None

Fairburn, Mr. W. T.

Catechist

1819

20,000

2,560

Ford, Mr. S. H.

Surgeon

1837

8,400

1,757

Hamlin, Mr, James

Catechist

1826

6,774

3,937

Kemp, Mr. James

ditto

1819

18,552

5,276

King, Mr. John

ditto

1814

10,300

5,150

King. Mr. P. H.

ditto

1834

2,305

2,305

King, Mr. W.

Assistant

Born in N.Z.

None

Hadfield, Mr. Octavius

Catechist

1838

None

Knight, Mr. S. M.

ditto

1835

None

Mathews, Mr. Joseph

ditto

1832

2,200

2,200

Mathews, Mr. Richard

ditto

1837

3,000

4,792

Morgan, Mr. John

ditto

1833

None

Pilley, Mr. Henry W.

ditto

1834

None

Preece, Mr. James

ditto

1830

1,450

1,450

Puckey, Mr. W. G.

ditto

1821

4,800

2,300

Shepherd, Mr. James

ditto

1820

11,860

5,330

Stack, Mr. James

ditto

1834

None

Wade, Mr. W. R.

Sup. of Press

1834

None

Williams, Marianne

Teacher

Went out with father

None

Wilson, Mr. J.A.
& Brown

Catechist

1833

3,840

2,987

Church Missionary Soc.

11,665

Families of
Church
Missionaries

6,200

3100

Total

216,763

66,713

CONDUCT OF CLAIMANTS.

Two Wesleyan missionaries bought land from the natives, but the great majority of the clergy belonging to that church kept themselves aloof from land-sharking. The Roman Catholic missionaries arrived too late to take advantage of the trade; not that they would have done so, for the missionaries from this church in other countries have generally obeyed the spirit of the holy injunction to the first Christian missionaries in the world: "Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money, neither have two coats a-piece."

The Church of England missionaries claimed 216,000 acres of land, and the commissioners awarded 66,000. The foregoing statement shows the exact quantities claimed and awarded. The Bishop of Australia had, in 1840, some misgivings about these lands; and in 1845, Governor Grey, thinking some of the awards illegal and unjust towards the natives, asked the missionaries to relinquish certain portions without reference to the courts of law, and Bishop Selwyn used his influence to accomplish this object. The missionaries were told that their conduct was injuring the funds of the Society they belonged to, and affecting their own character; "Punch" suggested that Father Taylor should have his picture hung up in the Church Missionary Society's hall, with the words "fifty thousand acres" under it; the judicial board of the Privy Council declared against them; but all these modes of attack were used in vain. Archdeacon Henry Williams and others refused to relinquish a rood, unless the Governor withdrew some verbal accusations hurled against them.

Many persons thought the missionaries perfectly right in refusing to relinquish any of their lands when in-

MISSIONARIES.

sinuations were cast upon them, and that they were more entitled to have large grants of land given to them than lay settlers; others were of opinion that it was not proper for a few individuals, who were sent out to spread the gospel, to purchase large blocks of land from the natives, over whom they had acquired a religious influence, and then, by their manner of defending these purchases, to injure the usefulness of the Society which supported them.

There is much to be said on both sides. The conduct of the Church Missionary land-purchasers resembles the fable of the butcher's dog left in charge of his master's tray, who, finding he could not defend it from the avidity of a number of curs, cried, "Well, then, I may as well have my share of the meat;" and fell to accordingly. So it was with the land-sharking missionaries; they could not prevent the New Zealanders selling their lands, and seeing large tracts about to be purchased by strangers, they could not resist buying what they probably thought was their own share. As men of the world, their conduct was blameless, and the Supreme Court of Justice affirmed the legality of their claims. As missionaries, they were very censurable, for they indirectly violated the orders of the Society they served, and forgot, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, that "no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this world." 98

The Committee of the Church Missionary Society took this scriptural view of the case, and informed Archdeacon Henry Williams and some others, that they must either give up their excessive grants of land or

CHARTER OF 1846.

leave the service of the mission. The Archdeacon chose the latter course; one missionary was superannuated; the resignation of another accepted; and the others offered to relinquish their lands. When Archdeacon Williams had suffered suspension for five years he was restored. The treatment this venerable missionary received, – the man who had borne the burthen and heat of the day, "the father of the missionaries," – from a Society he had served with zeal for more than a quarter of a century, was severely stigmatised by several men in New Zealand; but other parts of the world and other times will without doubt affirm that the Archdeacon's suspension and restoration were alike creditable to the Church Missionary Society.

Such discussions between the Governor and certain Church missionaries, though irritating, are nevertheless indications of peace between the races. Before, indeed, the sword was fully sheathed, the settlers demanded and obtained from Parliament self-government, the remedy prescribed for New Zealand's wrongs by the House of Commons. In 1846, "an act to make further provision for the government of the New Zealand Islands " passed both Houses of Parliament. By this charter the colony was to have a Governor-in-Chief, and to be divided into two or more provinces, each having a Lieutenant-Governor, an Executive Council, and a House of Representatives. There was also to be a general assembly for the whole colony, which was to consist of the Governor-in-Chief, a Legislative Council, and a House of Representatives. The members of the Legislative and Executive Councils were to be nominated by the Governor; the members of the other houses were to be elected by the people. No New Zealander

CHARTER CAUSES DISCONTENT.

could exercise the elective franchise who was unable to read and write English. The charter was to commence in January 1848. The limits of the provinces of New Ulster and New Munster were defined. Governor Grey was appointed Governor-in-Chief; George Eyre, Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster; and Major General Pitt, K.H., Lieutenant-Governor of New Ulster. With the charter her Majesty granted a seal to the colony; it exhibits a New Zealander with his war dress and spear, and a European covered with a municipal robe. Religion and justice are represented by a cross and scales. The seal is very characteristic; but the spear in the New Zealander's hand has the wrong end upwards, perhaps to indicate that strife has ceased.

Accompanying the charter was a despatch from Lord Grey, in which it was asserted that the savage inhabitants of the islands have no right of property in land which they do not occupy, and which has remained unsubdued to the purposes of man. 99

On the publication of this despatch the natives were excited with a report that the Governor was on the eve of seizing all their uncultivated lands, and 410 of the most intelligent inhabitants of the colony, among whom were Bishop Selwyn and Chief Justice Martin, transmitted an address to her Majesty against this premeditated spoliation. Several influential chiefs wrote to the Queen on the same subject. The Bishop of New Zealand, as the head of the missionary body instrumental in getting the natives to sign the treaty of Waitangi, forwarded an intemperate protest to Lord Grey against the doctrine in his despatch, 100 the Chief Justice of the

PROTEST AGAINST CHARTER.

colony printed a pamphlet showing its illegality, 101 and the Wesleyan Missionary Society begged Lord Grey to reconsider the question.

The Secretary of State affected surprise on receiving these petitions and protests: he first informed the petitioners that Her Majesty had no intention of breaking a single article in the treaty of Waitangi, and then accused Bishop Selwyn of misrepresenting his meaning. Most men in the colony were of opinion that Lord Grey had hinted at a violation of the treaty of Waitangi, and his Lordship's connexion with the Parliamentary Committee, which reported that the treaty of Waitangi was an "injudicious proceeding," 102 was adduced as an indirect proof of this. If Bishop Selwyn misrepresented Lord Grey, the fault was his own, in using expressions of double meaning; and Lord Grey ought to have remembered how the House of Commons cheered when it was proposed that the following words of a New Zealander, addressed to her Majesty's representative in the colony, should be inscribed on the colonial office: "Speak your words openly, speak as you mean to act; do not speak one thing and mean another." 103

Constitutions in settled countries grow; this one for New Zealand was made by men little acquainted with the peculiarities of the country, and hence its unsuitableness. When the period approached, therefore, for electing representatives under the new charter, the inhabitants were surprised that no machinery was set in operation for this purpose. After some time it oozed out that the Governor did not intend to introduce the

CHARTER SUSPENDED.

charter; because it conferred representative rights on the Europeans and disfranchised the natives; because it gave to a small portion of her Majesty's subjects of one race the power of taxing and governing the majority of another race; and because he feared that the constitution would give rise to renewed disturbances. The disfranchisement of the natives arose from the fact that no one could exercise the elective franchise who could not read and write English, and it was well known that few natives could do so, although a large majority could read and write their own language.

Her Majesty's ministers acknowledged the justness of Governor Grey's objections to the charter, and with much regret invoked parliament to suspend for five years that part of the constitution which gave representative bodies the powers of general legislation. An act to effect this was passed in March 1848, and the Governor was intrusted with the power of granting or withholding representative institutions upon any basis suitable to the colony. In virtue of this law, he assembled the Legislative Council of 1840, and passed a Provincial Council's ordinance, which gave to the provinces of New Ulster and New Munster an Executive and Legislative Council, composed of officials and nominees.

This suspension of the charter of 1846 produced irritation, for by many settlers self-government was a cardinal point in colonial politics. A constitutional association was formed at Wellington, and at every settlement were got up public meetings, reform banquets, memorials, lectures, and petitions for representative government. The southern settlers complained that they lived under a rule more absolute than that

THE EFFECT OF PUBLIC OPINION.

of Norfolk Island, and entreated the Secretary of State to set aside the specious reasonings of Governor Grey for the postponement of the charter, because he only regarded the colony as a stepping-stone to his own ambitious views. Five hundred Auckland settlers petitioned for his recall, because his unfounded representations had deprived them of self-government. So unpopular had the administration now become, that it was difficult to procure independent men to sit as nominees in the respective councils.

Rulers are only powerful when able to crush opposition, and a Governor in a distant colony, unsupported by any party but those who are in Government pay, cannot resist public opinion, long continued and ably expressed. Besides, Sir George Grey could receive no political support from the natives, the party for whose sake he had suspended the charter. The agitation was therefore successful, and in November, 1848, the Governor wrote to the Colonial Secretary, suggesting the passing of an act for the purpose of giving self-government to New Zealand, and without waiting for a reply issued a provincial representative ordinance. This bill, which passed the Legislative Council, was described as a sham, because it did not give the people a control over the revenue; and was characterised as an ordinance for constituting provincial debating clubs. This provincial constitution was not confirmed by her Majesty, as parliament had under consideration another charter for New Zealand.

When this political agitation for self-government was going on, men forgot that Rauparaha was a prisoner. He was detained ten months on board her Majesty's ship Calliope, and then permited to occupy Te Whero

RAUPARAHA RELEASED.

Whero's house in the Auckland government domain. It was observed that his character in captivity underwent a change similar to that which occurs in wild beasts under similar circumstances; he was generally contented, but occasionally overpowered with grief, on reflecting that he held the position of a slave. There is no ruin in civilised life so hopless as Rauparaha's was; a towering spirit humiliated, and no prospect of again rising. Europeans and natives tried to lessen his sorrowful burden by kindness. In September 1847, 200 Hauraki chiefs paid Rauparaha a visit. All were familiar with his deeds; few had seen him. As they approached his abode, he advanced to meet them, and after rubbing noses with several of the principal visitors, all squatted in a semicircle, Rauparaha, who was dressed in a dog-skin mat and a forage cap with a gold band, spoke first; he recited with much dignity his warlike deeds, and how he was captured, after which Taraia, Te Whero Whero and several other chiefs, made long ceremonial speeches. Food was served to the visitors at two o'clock. Rauparaha, who was ill at ease, ate little, and soon returned to his house; two Maori women followed him in, and sang the heroic deeds of his own princely line in a lament, which brought tears to the old man's eyes.

"And he thought of the days that were long gone by,
When his limbs were strong, and his courage high."

This painful scene attracted much attention; it was an event which shadowed forth the greatness of the English, because it was a meeting between men who could never have met in this world but for the British Government.

Notwithstanding the care taken to make Rauparaha

SETTLEMENT OF

think he was not a prisoner, he felt his freedom but a name; and, after living several months in the hands of the English, he requested permission to return home. His request was granted, and in January 1848 he embarked on board her Majesty's steam-ship Inflexible, accompanied by the Governor, Te Whero Whero, Taraia, and other chiefs, and was landed at Otaki, where he was welcomed back by crowds of natives. On the occasion Rauparaha's son killed a bullock, and entertained the Governor in European style.

Colonel Wakefield and many Wellington and Nelson settlers denounced this clemency to Rauparaha as weakness, and with bitter jests made the old warrior feel more keenly the bitterness of his position. They likewise proclaimed that Governor Grey hung men of no mark, like Luther, but dreaded striking the blood-stained tiger of the forest.

These sarcasms indicate Governor Grey's political unpopularity; the mode in which he settled several land questions, inherited from Captain Fitzroy, rendered him personally disliked in Auckland. Upwards of one hundred persons purchased from the natives 92,000 acres of land in the neighbourhood of Auckland, in virtue of Governor Fitzroy's ten shillings and a penny an acre proclamations, and they claimed from Sir George Grey crown grants for the same; these he refused, but passed an ordinance granting them compensation. Few purchasers took the proffered compensation, from an impression that the deed of one Governor could not be set aside by the opinion of another. To remove this feeling the Governor brought one of these claims before the supreme court of justice in the colony, 104 and it was pronounced null and void, because the deed only bore

FITZROY'S LAND QUESTIONS.

the signature of the Colonial Secretary, which decision caused the purchasers to take any compensation offered. A small portion of the 92,000 acres became the purchasers' property, and the Government took possession of the remainder, because the native title to it was extinguished. The land thus obtained was sold by public auction, and it was not unusual to hear honest men at these auctions protesting against the honesty of Government.

Another class of settlers held crown grants from Governor Fitzroy, which Governor Grey thought were illegal, and he selected the following for trial as a specimen. Mr. Beattie purchased the island of Kauau from the natives previously to the establishment of the Government. The first land commissioners recommended that no grant should be given to him, which award was confirmed by competent authority. On Captain Fitzroy's arrival Mr. Beattie had his case reopened, and he obtained a crown grant for the whole.

The supreme court of the colony decided that the grant was legal, 105 and similar verdicts 106 were obtained at Wellington by the New Zealand Company.

These decisions established that a grant of land made by the Governor of a colony under the colonial seal, though in opposition to royal instructions, local ordinances, and charter, is valid and binding on the crown; it virtually admitted that a Governor's power was absolute over waste lands. Sir George accepted the decision of the supreme court as binding, and passed an ordinance for rendering all grants under the colonial seal valid;

MILITARY SETTLEMENTS FORMED.

but a decision involving such consequences was brought by him before the Queen in council, 107 and the judges reversed the finding of the New Zealand courts, only, however, as a point of law, not to be acted on in the colony.

In the midst of peace the Governor insisted the troops should not be reduced below the war establishment, as he had little confidence in the colonial militia, unless for defence of their immediate homesteads. England being unwilling to spare the requisite force from the troops of the line, a number of discharged soldiers were enrolled in Great Britain for seven years' service in New Zealand. This corps, named the New Zealand Fencibles, was stationed in four settlements, from seven to fourteen miles round Auckland. Each man had a cottage built on an acre of land, which became his own, with a claim for five acres more at a low price, on completing seven years' service. Officers had houses given to them, with forty acres of land, and the right of purchasing one hundred. The first detachment of this military colony arrived in October 1847, and in a few months the Fencibles mustered five hundred men, and with their wives and children they numbered two thousand souls. They were liable to be called out for garrison duty, for a few days' yearly drill, and to parade every Sunday for divine service. On one occasion the men were summoned to repel a native attack on the jail, and the rapidity of their march from Onehunga to Auckland surprised the young soldiers in the barracks.

These military settlements proved successful; many pensioners acquired cattle and good farms; one pen-

OTAGO SETTLEMENT.

sioner bought an officer's house on completing his service, and all purchased their five acres pre-emption land. When representative institutions were given to the colony, a pensioner, and a pensioner's son, were elected members of the first Provincial Council. When the muster-roll of the force was complete, the regular army was reduced from two thousand to fifteen hundred men. Many of the soldiers of the line received their discharge to settle in the colony, and thus five hundred settlers were obtained whose knowledge of arms might be depended on in the hour of need. It is pleasing to record that all those veterans who deserved success obtained it, the more so as old soldiers compete badly in the race for wealth with men born and bred to business.

The departure of these old soldiers from England attracted to New Zealand a few drops of that mighty stream of 258,000 emigrants which left Great Britain's shores in the year 1847 to better their condition beyond the seas. 108 The number attracted was small, but the most gigantic rivers spring from insignificant rivulets.

Ever since the unhappy Wairau massacre no true immigrants had arrived; and immigration only rightly recommenced in March 1848, on the advent of the ship John Wickliffe, with the first body of the Otago settlers. This colony was founded by a Scotch company, for the purpose of promoting the emigration of persons belonging to the free kirk. In 1843 the idea of this settlement originated; in 1844, an exploring party from Nelson selected Otago as a site for it; and an association, co-operating with the New Zealand Company, purchased

ARRIVAL OF SETTLERS.

at this place, through Government, 400,000 acres of land. For four years the colonial disturbances set the scheme at rest; but on the revival of confidence, by the embarkation of the pensioners, an influential meeting was held at Glasgow, to give publicity to the principles of the settlement. Here it was announced that each property at this intended colony was to consist of a quarter of an acre of town land, ten acres of suburban land, and fifty rural acres, which were to cost 120l. 10s. or 2l. an acre. Priority of selection was determined by priority of claim. Three eighths of the money realised was to be spent on emigration, two eighths on roads, one eighth for religion and education, and two eighths went to the New Zealand Company for the land.

In November 1847 the first ship of emigrants sailed from Greenock for Otago. This place, chosen for the settlement in place of the Canterbury plain, is near the southern extremity of the Middle Island, and on the east coast of it; the harbour is safe, but difficult of entrance; the land about Otago is hilly, but to the south of it there are large grassy plains, better adapted for pasturage than the land in any other part of New Zealand. There were few natives in the district, and all lived on a piece of ground which had been reserved for them. The leader of the colonists was Captain William Cargill, of the 74th regiment, an old soldier of the Peninsula, and a descendant of the celebrated Donald Cargill. Otago in his hands became Port Chalmers, the capital Dunedin, and the settlers Pilgrim fathers.

The first anniversary of the settlement was celebrated in March 1849 with horse and marine races; and it was then observed that there were in the town of Dunedin

FIRST ANNIVERSARY.

444 persons; in Port Chalmers 38; in the country districts 263; total population 745. There were 426 males and 319 females; 128 men were shepherds and servants; 36 were farmers; and 86 were merchants. Most of them could read and write. There were 3 doctors, 1 lawyer, 1 clergyman, 5 innkeepers, and 9 boatmen. There was a newspaper, a jail, a police magistrate, a jetty, a barrack for emigrants, and a quarry. Unskilled labourers' wages were 3s. and 4s. a day; beef 6d. a pound; bread lOd. the four-pound loaf; potatoes 4l. a ton. 476 persons were Presbyterians, 166 belonged to the Church of England, 8 were Methodists, 7 were Roman Catholics, 1 was an Independent, and 92 refused to say what religious creed they professed.

The Otago settlers found the natives useful in building and fencing, and in procuring them fish, firewood, pigs, and potatoes. The winter season, which commenced soon after their advent, proved unusually severe, and many dyspeptic grievances were generated, for all the emigrants had believed the rose-coloured descriptions of the climate of the North Island as applicable to the southern part of the Middle Island. Quarrels were already common among them, and the newspaper was filled with controversial epistles and religious disputes. 109 Scotchmen, by themselves, do not make such good settlers as Scotchmen amalgamated with Englishmen and Irishmen. There are several reasons for this, but it is sufficient to mention one; alone they quarrel, mingled with other nations they cling together. But this mixture was not complete in 1855, for an English traveller then compared Dunedin to a fenced enclosure,

EARTHQUAKE OF 1848.

within which unhappy and spiteful creatures, like strange cats, were endeavouring to tear each others' eyes out. 110

Immigrants were now flowing into New Zealand at five different points, and the old settlers beginning to talk of future prosperity, when a phenomenon occurred which for a time blasted their visions of wealth, and cast a gloom over the whole colony. On the 17th of October, 1848, exactly a month after the death of Colonel William Wakefield, the founder of Wellington, every wooden house in the town was rocked to and fro, all the stone and brick buildings were injured, and barrack-sergeant Lovell and his two children were killed. On the 16th and 19th there were also grand shocks, followed by minor vibrations. Settlers expected the earth to open; some slept in the bush, and all were panic-stricken; business was suspended, a solemn fast was ordered, and the churches were filled with penitent sinners. Men thought Wellington was ruined for ever. The Lieutenant-Governor laid an embargo on the ships in the harbour; one bark stole out with sixty-six colonists, but the vessel, as if to punish the law-breakers on board, was shipwrecked, and her passengers were thrown back on the shattered settlement. Chimneys left standing were taken down. During the earthquakes rumbling noises were heard, hurricanes of wind and rain preceded the shocks, and sulphurous gas escaped from the ground.

These earthquakes had for their centre the Wairau valley, at which place a fissure opened; and masses of rock, detached from the sides and summits of mountains, rolled with thundering crashes into the neighbouring valleys. At Nelson the shocks were less severe than at

GOLD IN CALIFORNIA.

Wellington; at Porirua and Wanganui they injured the stone barracks; at New Plymouth they were severe, but did no damage; at Kawhia one shock was felt; at Auckland the shock was not felt, but on the 19th a westerly gale blew, three and a half inches of rain fell, and the barometer sank to 28.96. On the west coast the shock was felt at Hawke's Bay, slightly at Akaroa, but not at Otago. The earthquake was therefore confined to a space of upwards of three hundred miles, or between Banks's Peninsula and White Island. Masses of bitumen were washed on shore along the west coast of the North Island after the earthquake. At Wellington property was destroyed to the amount of 14,000l. After the earth had settled, it was ascertained that these phenomena were common in Cook's Strait, and that the present shock was a severe one. On several occasions since the foundation of Wellington and Wanganui slight earthquakes had occurred, but none sufficient to produce alarm; the present shock proclaimed the unsettled foundation of Cook's Strait all over the world, and convinced the Company's settlers that they had been misled by the statement that there was no record of any earthquakes in New Zealand within the memory of man. 111 When the settlers were thinking that the earthquakes would entirely stop immigration, news arrived of the discovery of gold in California. Discontent, and a desire to acquire wealth more rapidly than by the usual modes of industry, suddenly seized the community like an epidemic; and nearly a thousand able-bodied settlers, and several ships laden with sawn timber, potatoes, and wooden houses, hastily left New Zealand for San Fran-

ENGLISH LAW

cisco. The potatoes rotted in the ships' holds crossing the tropics, California was glutted with wood from other quarters, and most of the adventurers returned, several in bad health, or as it was said, with more gold in their faces than their pockets, some poorer than they went, and all more satisfied with their southern home than they were before their departure.

During this efflux of labour, and when property was much reduced in value, a letter was received from the Secretary of State, offering to send out convict labourers; but notwithstanding the depressed condition of the labour market, and the large money expenditure convicts would cause in the colony, the native and European inhabitants with one voice expressed their abhorrence of the country becoming a receptacle for the dregs of Great Britain.

Various reasons were assigned for refusing to receive convicts under any name, not the least important of which was the difficulty of administering English law among the aborigines. The entire colony was subject to the laws of England; but in distant parts, and even among natives living in the immediate neighbourhood of the English settlements, the law was a shadow. Several attempts were made to induce the New Zealanders to resort to English courts of justice as a means of civilisation; and one act, called the Resident Magistrates' Ordinance, was formed by Mr. Grey especially for this purpose; in accordance with which several natives were appointed to sit on the bench with Resident Magistrates, and to have a certain amount of legal power over their own civil disputes; these men were called assessors, and some of them were paid by Government. This court was frequently referred to in civil disputes between

AMONG NATIVES.

Europeans and natives; eighty-four causes having been tried before the Resident Magistrates' court at Auckland during the thirteen months ending October 1847, 112 but submission to English law in purely native cases was rare.

Among the lower order of Europeans an oath and a blow are common occurrences; among the New Zealanders both are looked upon as degrading insults. The natives, when urged to resort to the English courts, asked the Governor to make it lawful for them to get a money compensation from settlers who cursed or struck them, which request developed the curious fact, that in the intercourse of savages there are conventional laws similar to those regulating society among gentlemen. Several guilty of pilfering in towns, being unable to give a four-fold payment of the value of the goods stolen, were incarcerated. 113 As these men carried the brand of their imprisonment to the grave, the Governor felt the necessity of using caution in introducing English law among the natives, because their custom of taking satisfaction for injuries might prove fatal to innocent persons. But dread of this danger was scouted as weakness until a family lost their lives.

The case was this. Early in 1849, a New Zealander called Maroro, convicted of robbery, was confined four months in the Wellington gaol; and three days after his release, in the recesses of a mind more than usually gloomy, he determined to have revenge for the insult inflicted upon him. He got an axe, and at nightfall went to the house of Mr. Branks, near the Porirua church, and killed him, his eldest son aged nine years, and his

NATIVE EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

youngest son aged two years; he left the axe, clotted with gore and hair, in the house, and returned to Wellington with a watch, some money, and clothes belonging to Mr. Branks, where his blood-stained blanket and trowsers led to his detection. When arrested he confessed to murdering the family; stated that he had never seen Branks before in his life, had no hatred to him, would have done the same to any man, and that no native or European knew anything about his intention of having "utu," or payment for his long imprisonment. Maroro was tried and sentenced to be hung. On the day previous to his execution he dictated letters to his sister, his tribe, and Lieutenant-Governor Eyre, and made some rude drawings of the locality of the murder, which, from their accuracy, proved his guilt. Five hundred persons assembled to see him strangled, a considerable portion of whom were natives. He acknowledged the justice of his sentence, and so did his countrymen; he prayed on his knees upon the scaffold with a Roman Catholic priest, and stared stupidly at the faces staring at him; but neither the prospect of the agony of a violent death, nor the uncertainty of a world to come, had any terrors for the unfortunate man, and he gave the signal for his executioner to launch him into eternity with the apathy of a Hindoo.

Every settler shuddered at the extermination of Branks's family, for in this world whatever may be our own case affects us most. It was known that murder was common among the natives, and that human life was held in low estimation by them; missionaries and laymen had, indeed, tried to instil into their minds the sacred nature of life, and the Government had been asked to assist them in the matter. Thus, in 1843, the

NATIVE MURDERS FREQUENT.

Rev. Mr. Buddle reported that people were frequently killed in the Waipa district. 114 In 1847 Dr. Logan Campbell enumerated six murders which had come to his notice: a father, he reported, murdered his son-in-law, because he was a slave; a chief killed a slave aged seventy years, because his wife had committed adultery with a man he dared not kill; a man slew his wife, because he suspected the child in her womb was another's; a chief murdered two old slaves, because he thought they had bewitched a person who died from natural causes; and a man ran his pregnant wife through the bowels, because she did not agree with his other wife. Captain Nugent, 58th Regiment, was sent by the Governor to investigate into these murders, and he reported that they had all occurred, and were indirectly caused by superstition. 115 For practical purposes it was important to ascertain that most of the sufferers were slaves, a class of persons without power to defend themselves, and without friends to help them. Men deeply versed in the native character were of opinion that to check the recurrence of such murders as that of Branks, and to show the New Zealanders the horror Englishmen have of the shedders of human blood, some of the natives guilty of murders like those now enumerated should be tried and executed.

The first selection was unhappy. In 1849, a native named Ratea was arrested in Wellington for killing another native who had seduced his wife; the murder was committed in 1843, and was done in strict accordance with native custom. The trial gave rise to much excitement among the natives, and a memorial in the

NATIVE HUNG BY NATIVES.

prisoner's favour was sent for them to the Governor. The uncertainty of the law saved the man. Ratea had slain his victim by two shots, and the attorney-general could not give evidence as to which had killed him, therefore the jury found him not guilty.

But although this case was a bad one for a public example, it produced a serious impression. In 1855, at Turanga, on the east coast, near Maroro's birthplace, a half crazy native woman of the name of Ana destroyed some baskets of seed-potatoes, and made off with an iron pot. Enraged at this, the wife of the owner threw her down near a stream, and held her head under the water until she was dead. Then the murderess wept with grief, and confessed what she had done, and a committee of natives sentenced her to die. Her husband, who loved her well, when asked if he would give her up, in the same breath said yes and no, and when he rose to take her away, the people surrounded them both. Then the murderess said to her husband, "Let me go, it is right I should die;" and she was immediately conducted to the spot where she had committed the murder and there hung.

This was the first native hung by a native tribunal, and the whole affair is a savage imitation of English law; they omitted the English custom of giving a short respite for repentance, and substituted the English mode of killing the body before the mind by strangulation for the more merciful New Zealand method of a blow on the head, which kills the mind before the body. 116

This singular execution, showing the government the

DANGER OF ENGLISH LAW.

necessity of not allowing ignorant men to administer English laws, led to the appointment of a resident magistrate at Turanga; and in 1858, when Watene, an insane man, murdered his wife at Nelson, he was seized, tried, and sentenced to imprisonment for life; a punishment the natives did not object to, although according to native law the murderer would have been slain by his wife's relations.

On one occasion, in 1851, the determination of the Governor to carry out English law nearly broke the peace of the colony. A native was taken into custody in the streets of Auckland for theft; a scuffle ensued, and an innocent chief was knocked down by a native policeman and lodged in jail, but liberated in an hour. The insulted warrior flew to his tribe, and whirling his musket in the air, related in fiery words how he had been struck by a slave and unjustly imprisoned. Three hundred armed natives landed at Auckland, and demanded that the offending native policeman should be delivered into their hands. The troops were turned out, the Fencibles marched in from Onehunga, the guns of her Majesty's ship Fly and those, of Fort Britomart were brought to bear on the mob, and the police magistrate told the insurgents they must leave the town in two hours. With shame and much sweating the warriors dragged their heavy war canoes over the soft sand to the low tide, and before an hour had elapsed the inhabitants of Auckland crowded to the heights to contemplate thirty-five canoes full of armed men sailing on the Waitemata. Two days afterwards, several chiefs from the insurgents laid at Governor Grey's feet meris and spears, emblems of submission; the native policeman was not punished, and the New Zealanders

SETTLERS KILL NATIVES.

were told that if they have a grievance they must present themselves to get redress in an attitude of peace, and not as an armed mob.

Delay in executing English law, like too much activity, nearly led to strife. On the Christmas-day of 1854, Huntly, a reformed Parkhurst prisoner, struck a native dead on the streets of Auckland, and the chiefs present at the coroner's inquest objected to a post mortem examination, as it was adding insult and injury to the dead. "What is the use," exclaimed old Wetere, "of there being any doubt of the man being killed by the blow? Did not several people see him drop dead after he was struck? And as he muttered these words he shook his tomahawk at the murderer, and cried that justice would only be done when he lay beside the man he had slain. The Waikato natives assembled in the neighbourhood, to consider what course should be taken, and some spoke of burning the town. In the midst of this excitement, Patuone's horse, New Zealander, won the maiden plate of 150l. at the Auckland races. This acted like a charm, and it was decided to let the English law take its course. Huntly's trial lasted six hours, and Chief-Justice Martin charged the jury to administer the law of England without fear of the natives, and without favour to the Europeans. When a verdict of manslaughter was returned, and the natives heard Huntly was not to be hung, some spoke of murdering a white man; at length, on seeing the criminal sentenced to imprisonment for life, they affected to be appeased, but they were inwardly dissatisfied.

A year had not elapsed before a settler, called Marsden, in a fit of delirium tremens, murdered a native woman; and after a long trial, during which the Court was sur-

EXECUTION OF MARSDEN.

rounded with soldiers, Marsden was sentenced to die. In consequence of the Governor's absence in the south, several weeks elapsed before the execution, which delay gave rise to a rumour that the life of a native was not of equal value with the life of a European; and this feeling grew stronger when another drunken settler slew a native at Ahuriri. Three hundred men of the woman's tribe came to Auckland, and said they would cut down the flag-staff if Marsden was not hung. Several out-settlers were robbed. Natives asked: "Do white men only think us cattle fit for slaughter?" Inflammatory letters were circulated over the country, and natives demanded to be allowed to sit on juries. New settlers, who were unacquainted with the natives, said New Zealand yet required the rough remedy of a Roman conquest, before a better state of things could be established. On the 12th of February 1856, Marsden was executed, and the excitement entirely subsided.

It was not revenge which created this movement, and made the whole race cry out for this human sacrifice. It was a wish to have a practical proof, – for none had been given since the foundation of the colony, – that the life-blood of a Maori was equal in the eyes of the law to that of an Englishman. Settlers saw from these murders, and the administration of English law among the natives, that the obscure villany of some ruffian might involve the colony in a war of races, a conflict thinking men shuddered to contemplate, as the hatred of countries at war with each other is as nothing compared with the hatred of races morally separated yet locally intermixed.

The erection of a gallows by the New Zealanders, a memorial from savages to the Governor of a civilised

LIFE OF RAUPARAHA.

community praying him to spare a human being's life, and occasional submission to English law, are characteristic proofs of progressive development among the natives. Rauparaha's last days and burial are equally so. This famous warrior, who survived his release from confinement eighteen months, was born between Maungatautari and Kawhia about 1769, and fled to the south with his tribe, in terror of Hongi, in 1822; here he conquered and drove the scattered population away from both sides of Cook's Straits, and purchased firearms, tobacco, and blankets from the sealers and whalers. But he never forgot Kawhia, and he composed the following lament, in which he regrets that the fleecy clouds are the only tie which connects him with his birthplace: –

"There far away is the tide of Honipaka. 117
Alas, thou (Honipaka") art divided from me.
The only tie which connects us
Is the fleecy cloud which drifts hither
Over the summit of the island,
Which stands clearly in sight.
Let me send a sigh afar to the tribe
Where the tide is now flowing;
The leaping, racing,
Skipping tide.
Oh, for the breeze, the land breeze,
The stiff breeze.
That is my bird,
A bird that hearkens to the call
Though concealed in the cage.
Oh, the wind of Matariki. 118
There Te Whareporutu,
And the great Atiawa,
Will sail swiftly hitherward.
So ends my song." 119

HIS CHARACTER.

Rauparaha was only known by Europeans when contaminated with the vices, and endowed with few of the virtues, of civilisation; he was distinguished for skill more than bravery in war, and success gave to most of his actions the characteristic of genius. No man knew better how to instigate others to desperate deeds without risking his own life; and such was his cunning that for fifty years he eluded every danger, and ultimately died in his blanket at home. To rule rather than govern was his ambition; the society of whalers had given him a flattering tongue, and songs are still chanted, showing how well the people knew Rauparaha's whole life was one long career of perfidious treachery: –

"Deceive, deceive the man.
Flatter, flatter the woman.
Work, work, it is done.
Sleep, the sleep, the object is
Spread out, it is manifest.

"Go, and find out the
Good of Rauparaha.
Is he good, or is he bad?
He is a deceiver.
Don't forget, don't forget."
120

Rauparaha's stature was small and wiry, his forehead broad and receding. After the Wairau massacre he became gloomy and reserved, and the last days of his life were embittered by a constant dread of his enemies. When released from confinement in 1848, he felt what his keen sagacity whispered, that times were changed, that a new generation was rising up, that much of his influence had gone, and that his worldly career was nearly over. With more wisdom than most great men, he expressed a wish to interpose some interval of rest

RAUPARAHA'S LAST DAYS.

between the battle of life and the grave, and he affected pleasure at hearing that the Canterbury plain, the scene of one of his blackest deeds, was soon to be peopled by a Christian colony; he renewed his pretensions to sanctity, took up his abode at the mission station of Otaki, was occasionally seen at prayers, and actually assisted in building a church. 121 Worldly men doubted the sincerity of his repentance. A few days before his death a settler called to see him; while there a neighbouring clergyman came in and offered him religious consolation. Rauparaha demeaned himself in a manner highly becoming such an occasion, and when the missionary had gone he turned to the other visitors and said, "What is the use of all that nonsense? it will do my belly no good." 122 He then changed the subject to the Wanganui races, where one of his guests was running a horse. Rauparaha viewed his approaching end with a composure not always found in those who face death with indifference in battle.

Rauparaha's son laid his body in a spot selected by his old companion in arms Rangihaeata, in front of the church of Otaki; the coffin was covered with green cloth, and on a brass plate were these words, "Te Rauparaha died on the 27th of November, 1849." Fifteen hundred mourners walked in procession to the grave; a lay European read the burial service over the body; no clergyman would do this Christian act, as Rauparaha died unbaptized. A bullock was slain, and other refreshments provided for the visitors, and two long tables were spread, at each of which fifty fresh guests sat down four different times.

CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT.

In his son's house at Otaki, in 1854, there hung a portrait of Rauparaha, and another of the great Duke of Wellington. The last three warriors of the race are symbols of their respective times. His grandfather killed and ate men, and was killed himself and eaten; his father killed and ate men, but died in his bed; the son, Thompson Rauparaha, has killed, but has not eaten men; has been presented at Queen Victoria's court, and has written his own life. 123

Rauparaha looked with dread, in 1841, on the arrival of the Nelson settlers; but expressed joy, eight years afterwards, at the rumoured advent of the Canterbury immigrants. The original plan of the Canterbury settlement was made in 1843, and Governor Fitzroy selected the Wairarapa valley site for it; for four years the colonial war laid the scheme to rest, and it was only again revived in 1847 by a religious commotion in the church of England. In that year the High-church movement had passed its zenith, and Newman's defection had cast a panic among its disciples. Like other baffled innovators, the Young-England party began to dream of a virgin soil, in which their scheme might bloom unblighted by the corruptions of older lands, Mr, Edward Gibbon Wakefield took advantage of this feeling, and with the aid of Mr, John Robert Godley revived the plan of establishing a church of England colony in New Zealand, and for this purpose obtained a ten years' charter of incorporation from her Majesty's Government. 124

The Canterbury Association, as it was now legally

SCHEME OF COLONY.

termed, consisted of noblemen, archbishops, clergymen, and gentlemen, whose objects were to found a colony in New Zealand upon high social and ecclesiastical principles, to carry out the religious and refined element, to transport from England a section of the people, to plant the church of England in New Zealand, and make the colony look like home. A bishop designate was chosen to accompany the settlers, magnificent plans of palaces and colleges were exhibited, land was purchased from the New Zealand Company, and the immigrants were promised roads, churches, and colleges. To enable the directors to accomplish this, land was to be sold in the settlement at 3l. an acre; 20s. of which were to be spent in churches and colleges, 20s. for emigration, 10s. for roads, and 10s. given to the Company for the land. Publications, 125 called the "Canterbury Papers," were circulated over the length and breadth of the land, with this motto:

"A land there lies
Now void; it fits thy people; thither bend
Thy course; there shalt thou find a lasting seat;
There to thy sons shall many Englands rise;
And states be born of thee."

20,000 acres of land were rapidly bought, and several purchasers were ready to emigrate, with labourers selected from the districts where they themselves were born and reared. These colonists, denominated Canterbury pilgrims, were likened unto the pilgrim fathers; but the name was their only point of resemblance, for the pilgrim fathers migrated to enjoy religious freedom, the Canterbury pilgrims to found a settlement where they alone should have religious freedom; the Canterbury

ARRIVAL OF SETTLERS.

colony in New Zealand was founded by a company with a charter, the American colonies by noblemen with charters.

The departure of the settlers created much interest in England, and the illustrated newspapers were filled with pictures of the ships they were to embark in. The spectacle of a British bishop going forth at the head of the inhabitants of his future diocese, and inculcating perfect reliance on their prayer-book and priest, was a rare event in these worldly days. It is true, the Otago settlement had a religious foundation, but as those settlers had taken their departure quietly, the originality of the idea was not diminished. Practical colonists treated the scheme as utopian. It was impossible, they said, to transplant an aged English oak, with all its rootlets, to the Antipodes, and it was equally so to make a colony in New Zealand look like a shire in Old England; others ridiculed it as a slice of England from bottom to top, from a bishop to a domestic fowl; and Low Churchmen called it a Puseyite descent on New Zealand.

On the 16th December, 1850, the first pilgrims arrived; and before the end of 1851 two thousand six hundred colonists had disembarked; twenty-four days from the advent of the first ship, the first number of the Lyttelton Times newspaper was published. Finer colonists never migrated from England's shores; they were the cream, and not the dregs, of the labouring classes; and among the upper ranks there were a bishop designate, priests, deacons, lords, baronets, doctors, lawyers, and men of high connexions. As the district was surveyed the settlers rapidly fell into their places.

The block of land purchased for the site of the Canterbury settlement is on the east coast of the Middle

CANTERBURY BLOCK.

Island, near Banks's Peninsula, and contains 2,500,000 acres; the harbour, of easy access, is called Victoria; the sea-port town, Lyttelton; and the capital, on a plain nine miles from the port, Christchurch. Between the former and the latter are hills upwards of a thousand feet high, at the sight of which several pilgrims wept when told they lay between them and their lands. But these tears of grief were turned into tears of joy, on contemplating from the top of the mountain range the grassy plain, the largest plateau in New Zealand, which lay at their feet, and on hearing that the whole of it was as fertile as the surrounding hills were rugged and bleak. Through this plain numerous cold streams flow from the snowy mountains in the interior to the sea, on approaching which they are navigable for a few miles, but are subject to rapid rises, and have shifting bars at their mouths. Except on the hills, there are no trees. The native population within the Canterbury block is small, and live on land reserved for them at Kaiapoi, and in sheltered bays around Banks's Peninsula.

Much less was done for the settlers than they had expected, and disappointment and discontent spread among the upper classes. The bishop designate returned home, and his place was not supplied until 1856; the lord fled to Sydney, and then to England; several priests migrated to other settlements; and Mr. Godley, the leader of the pilgrims, returned to England in 1853. 126 An old Australian squatter, who visited the Canterbury settlement in 1851, divided the inhabitants into pilgrims, shagruns, and prophets; the first were the original colonists, the second were people from other parts of

PROSPERITY OF CANTERBURY.

New Zealand, and the last were settlers from Australia. At the first anniversary of the settlement it was admitted that the original scheme had failed, but the place was prospering; 127 that the best shops were kept by Wellington settlers; that Australians had brought sheep and cattle, and that 6000 acres were under crops. Four years after the foundation of the settlement the deed of foundation of Christ's College was signed, 40,000l. worth of wool were exported, and the population numbered upwards of 5000 souls. In 1857 Mr. Fitzgerald, the superintendent, opened a road from Lyttelton to Christchurch, by driving a dog-cart over the hills, with two horses yoked tandem fashion; but most people felt that a tunnel and railway, estimated to cost half a million, would alone connect the plains with the sea-port properly. The charter of the Canterbury Association was wrested by Government from the directors in 1852, because they were unable to pay the New Zealand Company for the land. The Association's directors attributed their failure to the insufficient quantity sold, a source from which millions were expected and only thousands realised; and to overrating the ability of the upper and middle classes of the church party, to which they belonged, to form a perfect ecclesiastical organisation. Although the directors had promised more than they performed, they nevertheless founded one of the finest colonies in New Zealand; and the Provincial Council of Canterbury in 1855 took upon itself the debt of 18,000l. Lord Lyttelton had contracted in forming the settlement. This just act was gracefully acknowledged by the directors, in a letter to the superintendent of the

HAWKE'S BAY SETTLEMENT.

province, bearing the signatures of Lord Lyttelton, three dukes, three bishops, and twenty commoners. In this document it is stated that "the existence of the Canterbury Association, long scarcely more than a nominal one, has now terminated by an euthanasia such as they could not have ventured to hope for." 128 The Canterbury settlement is therefore an instance of a great fact being founded on a great fiction.

Few colonies have ever been planted with such a flourish as Canterbury. It is therefore satisfactory to know that many prosperous colonies grow without being publicly planted. At Ahuriri, in Hawke's Bay, on the east coastof the North Island, one of these settlements was now developing itself, and another at the Bluff in Foveaux's Straits was spoken about. Around Hawke's Bay, in 1850, a few Europeans leased lands from the aborigines, who were numerous and industrious, upon which they grazed flocks and herds. In 1853 the settlers had become so numerous that the Government purchased from the natives large blocks of land in the district; in 1855 Ahuriri was proclaimed a port of entry, at which in 1858 a vessel loaded with wool; and a township was laid out, which was called Napier, in honour of the hero of Scinde, and the younger Ahuriri settlers gloried in being characterised as Napier's boys.

It is a trifle, but it is worthy of notice, that the colonists, soon after the formation of all the settlements, acquired distinguishing epithets; thus there was an Auckland cove, a Wellington swell, a Nelson snob, a Taranaki exquisite, an Otago cockney, and a Canterbury pilgrim. These epithets, almost already forgotten, are

CLASS SETTLEMENTS.

too characteristic to be buried in oblivion, as each originated in some peculiarity of the leading colonists. The Otago settlers derived theirs from their ignorance of the country in which they lived; the Auckland people from their extensive Sydney connexions; and the origin of the other names are sufficiently obvious without explanation.

Eight settlements were now progressing; six started on the principle of monopoly, and two on free trade: the former were Wellington, Wanganui, Taranaki, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury; the latter were Auckland and Hawke's Bay. Otago and Canterbury were religious monopolies, and it is worthy of remark that religious colonies, however captivating to some minds, are apt to be conducted in a spirit which checks their prosperity. Thus soon after the formation of Otago, nearly 200 of the settlers complained that the very name of a class settlement produced disputes; 129 and in 1856 one party was for keeping Otago a pure Presbyterian settlement, while others thought an infusion of English blood would be better than an undoubted Scotch descent. The scheme of the Canterbury settlement shut up nearly 3,000,000 of acres of the finest land for the use of settlers belonging to the English Church, as no true Presbyterian, Wesleyan, or Roman Catholic, would purchase land in this district, and support a Church he believed to be wrong. The constitution act of 1852 happily put an end to the monopolies aimed at by these religious settlements, but some of the original leaven still remains. In 1854 one of the Canterbury members complained in the General Assembly of the colony, that the Provincial Council of Otago refused a piece of land upon which to erect an

NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

Episcopalian Church; while the Canterbury settlers drink their ale at the Mitre tavern, live in streets named in honour of English prelates, and Puseyism is seen in "a feeble attempt at intoning, and the glimmering of a pair of candles at noonday in a wooden church." 130 In 1858 this last characteristic of the original scheme of the colony had disappeared.

Had the New Zealand Company not broken up, there would have been formed, like Maryland in the United States, a Roman Catholic colony in New Zealand, for the directors were as fertile in colonial expedients as the Abbe Sieyes was in constitutions. But they gave their charter of incorporation back to the Crown in July 1850, and the causes which led to this result may be briefly related. In 1843 the directors of the company, finding the old plan of getting money by forming new settlements blasted by the Wairau massacre and the war, obtained a supplemental charter, empowering them to borrow 500,000l. upon the security of their subscribed capital. Being unable to raise this sum in the money-market, they reported to the Government in February 1844, that their funds were exhausted; and, as they had expensive establishments to support, the British Parliament passed two acts; one in 1846, granting to the Company a loan of 100,000l., and another in 1847, giving them an additional loan of 136,000l., with this proviso, that if they could not repay the money in 1850, they were to wipe it out by surrendering their charter and property to the Crown. The day of reckoning came, the money was gone, and the directors were obliged to give up their charter, after an existence of

RELINQUISH CHARTER.

scarcely ten years. Created to live for forty years, this premature death of the New Zealand Company indicates a bad constitution and much mismanagement.

No clear statement of the monetary affairs of the Company has been published, but from various reports the following rough outline of the receipts and expenditure, from May 1839 to July 1850 has been compiled.

Receipts.

Expenditure.

£

£

Lands sold

360,657

Home establishment

83,468

From shareholders

235,000

Emigration

259,944

Passage money of emigrants

118,225

Colonial

283,087

Parliamentary grants

236,000

Miscellaneous, interest, &c.

319,549

Miscellaneous

27,852

Total

977,734

Total

946,048

From the above table it appears that the Company received nearly a million of money, all of which was spent, save 30,000l.; that when the directors relinquished their charter they were indebted to shareholders and Government 492,852l., to meet which debt they stated that they had upwards of a million of acres of land in New Zealand, but the native title over much of it was not entirely extinguished, and districts were burdened with shareholders' claims.

In 1850, when the charter was relinquished, a New Zealand settlement bill passed Parliament, by which act the Government debt of 236,000l. was cancelled, and the directors were to have five shillings an acre for their property in the islands; in other words, 268,370l. In 1852, when a constitution with a representative government was given to New Zealand, one fourth of the price

CHARGES AGAINST DIRECTORS.

of all lands sold was appropriated for the payment of the capital and the interest of this debt.

Never was there a greater job than this. In and out of parliament, in England and in New Zealand, men were indignant at the arrangement. Lord Grey, the colonial secretary, was accused of having given the Company upwards of a quarter of a million of the public money, and of having imposed a debt of 268,000l. on the colony, not reckoning the lOO,OOOl. of scrip which the directors had issued as a burden on the land. In reply, Lord Grey hinted that Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield had proved a false guide to the Company. 131 Mr. J. W. Cowell, one of the Government commissioners, who was appointed to examine into the Company's affairs, asserted that the directors had obtained money from her Majesty's ministers under false pretences, 132 and that they had speculated in the Company's affairs. 133 Mr. C. A. Cox, the commissioner who suceeeded Mr. Cowell, denied these statements. 134 In the General Assembly of New Zealand, Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield said that the early directors were a very different class from those who succeeded them, and that the last were men of small souls and capacious pockets. 135 Several of the early directors were members of Parliament.

No opinion can be given as to the justice or injustice of these grave charges, in consequence of the complicated manner in which the Company's accounts were kept.

COMPANY'S DEBT PAID.

But in wasteful expenditure the New Zealand Company was not worse than other joint-stock emigration concerns; as the history of them all, from the days of the Darien and Hudson's Bay Companies down to the Canterbury Association, has shown. The reason is obvious. Such schemes generally originate with speculators, who in the end are intrusted with their management, and these men are seldom rich or scrupulous. Governor Fitzroy pointed out that the South Sea bubble and the New Zealand Company resembled each other in their lotteries and exaggerated statements.

As every settlement in the colony groaned under the Company's debt, the directors offered to cancel it on the immediate payment of 200,000l. In 1856 a bill passed the General Assembly of New Zealand, authorising the borrowing of this sum, which was to be paid off by the Middle Island provinces, on condition that their revenue was not taken to purchase native lands in the North Island. With the aid of the British Government the money was obtained in 1857, and at a meeting of the directors in London, in 1858, it was divided among them. Never was there a more satisfactory meeting, or more unanimity in complimenting each other on their usefulness, and denying the charges of rapacity so often urged against them. 136

The directors of the New Zealand Company got drunk with a theory, and the early colonists suffered the headache. As this has nearly worn off, the children of the sufferers, from their exaggerated statements and broken pledges, will relate how the Company prevented New Zealand from becoming a French colony;

CENSUS OF 1851.

and how the managers, directly and indirectly, laid the foundation of the fair settlements of Wellington, Wanganui, Taranaki, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury,

Five years of peace, a healthy climate, and a steady flow of immigrants, have increased the numbers of the people. In most of the colonies settlers diverge from one point, in New Zealand they were spreading out from several. The census of England's colonial empire in 1851 showed that there were 26,707 settlers in New Zealand, not reckoning as such the 2158 soldiers, their wives and children. The results are given in the Appendix. Auckland had the largest population, Taranaki the smallest. More than half the settlers professed their attachment to the English church, but there were men of all creeds, even in the settlements of Otago and Canterbury. No religion was fostered by the state, and clergymen were supported by their respective congregations. Sixty Jews had already taken up their abode in the colony, and all save one lived in Auckland and Wellington; the stray Jew was working his way among the Scotch in Otago. Seven Quakers were numbered among the inhabitants of Auckland,, and one at Canterbury. Auckland had most land under cultivation; Nelson was richest in sheep. Nearly all the population above ten years of age were able to read, and two-thirds could write. Otago was the best educated settlement, Auckland the worst. There were 15,035 males, and 11,672 females in the colony, or 43 females to every 57 males. There were fewer females in the Canterbury settlement than in any other. Comparatively speaking, old men were few. Out of 1000 of the enumerated population of England and New Zealand, in 1851, their respective ages were as follows: –

POOR GENTLEMEN.

Ages.

England.

New Zealand.

Under 20 years of age

490

529

Between 20 and 40

275

290

Between 40 and 60

159

138

Above 60 years of age

76

43

Total

1000

1000

Around the iron-bound coasts were rising up, in sheltered bays, a numerous race of daring sailors, a class almost unknown in Australasia. Many of these were half-castes, the progeny of men who had wedded the daughters of the land. No account was taken of the aboriginal native population; nor did the return include about a hundred settlers rarely found in other colonies: some of these were highly educated gentlemen and singularly minded working men, living in rude huts on the banks of rivers and lakes. Worldly misfortunes, intemperance, and other causes, had driven them to this life, and they chose New Zealand for their hermitage, in consequence of its distance from the civilised world. It is not my intention to drag them from their obscurity, but as a lesson to those in prosperity I might state, that I have purchased a shilling's worth of peaches from a French exile of rank; have been asked by a brother-in-law of a former Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland to prescribe for a sick native chief, whom he styled with much bitterness his best friend; have met gentlemen who kept horses at Melton, brothers of colonial governors, men once well known in the Oxford High-street, and the King's-parade, Cambridge; officers who have commanded battalions, priests without their gowns, and sons of men living in Relgravia. In some of their huts well-fin-

DISCOVERY OF GOLD.

gered copies of Virgil, Homer, or Horace, attested their intellectual capacity.

About the time the Government was numbering the people, gold was discovered in Australia, an event which had a powerful influence on the destinies of New Zealand. At first the report was disbelieved; but when ship after ship arrived with minute accounts of large masses of gold having been dug out of the earth by unskilled hands, 1500 able-bodied settlers and 50 natives left for the gold regions. Men who prophesied ruin to New Zealand from the discovery of gold in California now prophesied destruction from a similar event in Australia. But it was soon observed that many of the gold-diggers came back; that they went to Australia as Englishmen go to India, to get rich and return home. As these adventurers brought stories of diggers dying for want of food, with their pockets full of gold, the farmers began to see that if gold was not directly got in their own country, it was indirectly obtained by cultivating the soil. A famine, dreaded in the Northern Island, from the large exports of wheat to Australia, was prevented by the natives bringing into the market a supply of food the settlers were not aware of their possessing; and people said New Zealand would be to Sydney what Egypt was to ancient Rome, – that it would be the Sicily of the Pacific, and the granary of the future cities of Australia.

These distant prospects did not, however, satisfy all; gold dug in capricious masses from the earth has been in all ages more alluring to vulgar eyes, than the slow but certain produce of agricultural industry; and men washed the soil of rivers and mountains for the metal geologists proclaimed must exist in New Zealand, from

NATIVE GOLD TREATY.

its formation and proximity to Australia. Unfounded rumours of success came from Wanganui, Wellington, and Canterbury; the native mind became excited on the subject, and Iwikau, the successor of Te Heuheu, believed that a Mr. Dyson had discovered near the summit of Tongariro a mine of diamonds. At length, in 1852, Mr. Charles Ring detected gold forty miles from Auckland, in the bed of a mountain stream falling into the Coromandel harbour, 137 on the west side of a range 3000 feet high, composed of crystalline rocks, and terminating in Cape Colville. A microscope was required to see Mr. Ring's specimens, but they were sufficiently large to show that metal lay in the ground, and a rush was made to the spot.

As the golden land belonged to natives, Colonel Wynyard of the 58th Regiment, Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, dreading bloodshed, called a meeting of the proprietors, to make a treaty to enable the colonists to dig for gold. Te Taniwha, a chief who was a boy when Cook visited New Zealand, said at the meeting that this was the happiest day of his long life; that he did not value the gold, but was proud to think the precious metal was first found on the land of his ancestors, and concluded by giving each white man permission to dig gold over sixteen square miles for two shillings a month. The Coromandel gold-fields proved more productive of talking than of ore, for after a few months the place was deserted; 300 ounces, or 1100l. worth of gold having been got at an expense of 2000l. worth of labour. All were of opinion there was gold in the district, but Taraia and other chiefs refused to allow diggers to prospect on

LAND REDUCED IN PRICE.

their lands. In 1859 the natives sent forty ounces of gold collected here to the Sydney mint, and had it coined into sovereigns. The gold was found both in quartz fragments and scattered through clay and sand; the matrix was not detected in situ. Gold crushing, it was believed, would prove productive. Singular to relate, the gold-diggers discovered frogs in the mountain streams falling into Coromandel, an animal unknown to the aborigines. 138 Gold has since been detected at Nelson, Rotorua, Otago, and other places, in sufficient quantities to convince the most incredulous that the rocks in New Zealand are gold-bearing rocks.

For the purpose of attracting settlers from among the gold-diggers in Australia, Governor Grey reduced the price of Crown lands in 1853 from ll. to 10s. and 5s. an acre. This change was hailed with joy at Auckland; at Canterbury, Otago, and Wellington, it was looked on with regret. Cheap land was a blow to the high-price scheme of Canterbury, as few would pay sixty shillings for what they could get equally good for ten. Cheap land was injurious to the squatter system; as all who leased lands were uncomfortable until they bought them, and those not sufficiently rich to do this bought portions, to diminish the value of the remainder to any but themselves.

These new land regulations were opposed to Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield's celebrated pound-an-acre scheme, the realisation of which idea was now almost accomplished, and it was natural that he should be averse to them. This gentleman had lately arrived in the colony and settled at Wellington, and a case under his

SURVEY OF COASTS.

auspices was brought before the supreme court, for the purpose of stopping the sale of land at ten shillings an acre. Mr. Justice Stephen pronounced the cheap land proclamation illegal, a judgment his Excellency disregarded, as contrary to law, and in this opinion he was supported by the Secretary of State. 139

The great principle in Sir George Grey's regulations was, that land should be sold in quantities small enough to be within reach of every man desirous of becoming a cultivator. Within little more than a year after land was reduced in price, 300,000 acres were purchased from the Crown, much more than had been sold by Government during six previous years, and several capitalists and many settlers were attracted to New Zealand. The wisdom of reducing the price of land none but interested persons will gainsay, for the colony now wanted settlers and capital; and so long as people could be induced to cultivate the soil, the country would gain, even if the land were given for nothing. The foot of man carries with it fertility, and the poorest inhabited spot is superior to the waste in proportion to the length of time it has been cultivated.

Searching for gold and land disclosed the presence of alumina in several districts, and made men better acquainted with the face of the country. The great work of surveying the coasts, which Cook commenced in 1769, was completed by Drury in 1856. To D'Urville of the French marine, and Stokes and Drury of the Royal Navy, the world is indebted for a complete outline of the coast; and to Captain Richards, R. N., and Mr. Evans, R. N., for an excellent description of them. 140

SURVEYS OF INTERIOR.

The New Zealand coast-line is indeed better laid down than that of almost any country save Great Britain. It is worthy of remark, that all these officers bore testimony to the correctness of Captain Cook's early surveys, and were surprised that the great navigator could have obtained such accuracy with means so imperfect.

Every part of the North Island had now been visited by Europeans, but much of the interior of the Middle Island was yet unknown. Mr. Thomas Brunner received the Geographical Society's gold medal for a journey across it in 1846. 141 Dr. Monro drove the first flock of sheep from Nelson to the Wairau; Captain Mitchell and Mr. Dashwood discovered a tract from Nelson to Canterbury; cattle were driven from Otago to Canterbury in 1853; and in 1858 Mr. G. J. T. Thomson gave the first sketch of the province of Otago. Settlers had already ascended some of the highest mountains. Dr. Dieffenbach stood on the summit of Mount Egmont; Messrs. Bidwell and Dyson looked down the crater of Tongariro; and Lieutenant-Governor Eyre ascended ths Kaikora mountains in the Middle Island from the Wairau valley, but returned without reaching the highest pinnacle, in consequence of a panic seizing most of his party on one of them, a native, falling over an immense precipice.

Like wild beasts fleeing from the haunts of explorers and civilisation, many old New Zealanders were going to the next world, and death was dealing blows more particularly among those dexterous in battle.

Heke died in 1850 of consumption, aged forty-two years. This famous warrior, after making peace with

DEATH OF HEKE.

the English, ceased from physical strife, but kept up agitation by talking and writing. Twelve months before dying he wrote a letter to Queen Victoria, which was laid before her Majesty. He commenced the epistle by relating a conversation between his father-in-law Hongi and Gieorge the Fourth. The king asked Hongi what brought him to England, and he replied, "To get muskets and sixty soldiers." The king said, "I will not consent to send soldiers to your country, lest you should be deprived of it;" but I will send missionaries. Heke then writes that the missionaries asked for lands, which were given to them; that the disuse of the New Zealand flag, given to the country by king William the Fourth, led to war; and requests the Queen to withdraw the soldiers. The whole epistle shows that he possessed much of that wisdom which springs from shrewdness and insight into character. 142 Heke's last days were embittered by the thought that he had no son to inherit the magic of his name, and in the hope of obtaining one he contracted an illicit alliance, which was highly resented by his beautiful and attached wife. A few months before death, Heke wrote to Governor Grey that his sickness was great; but added in triumph, "This is not the everlasting abode of the spirit." Those who saw him said his mind brightened as his body decayed; that he was much depressed at the gloomy prospects he foresaw for his countrymen; and that before dying he had a vision, which told him they were drying up like a river when there is no rain, and that the missionaries would soon toll their bell, when there would be none to answer it.

LAST DAYS OF POMARE – KAWITI.

"I beheld, too, in that vision
All the secrets of the future.
All the land was full of people,
Restless, struggling, toiling, striving;
In the woodlands rang their axes,
Smoked their towns in all the valleys.
Over all the lakes and rivers,
Rushed their great canoes of thunder.

"Then a darker drearier vision
Passed before me, vague and cloudlike.
I beheld our nations scattered,
All forgetful of my counsels,
Weakened warring with each other.
Saw the remnants of our people
Sweeping westward, wild and woeful,
Like the cloud rack of a tempest,
Like the withered leaves in autumn." 143

Heke's dead body was treated after the ancient custom of his race, and on two occasions his bones were exposed at Hahungas, before they were finally laid in an immense, almost inaccessible, mountain cavern near Kaikohe.

Pomare died the same year as Heke, aged 75; his arrest by the English, under a flag of truce, made Europeans respect him more than he deserved. Pomare sprang from one of the noblest families in New Zealand, and in his youth was a distinguished warrior; but towards the end of his life he shrunk into that obscurity which gathers round a ruined man, became a pimp and a drunkard, and was frequently seen staggering speechless from spirits about the Kororareka beach.

Kawiti, in 1854, when he was about eighty years of age, fell a victim to the measles, a new disease in the country. Grief for the loss of his two sons, slain at Oheawai, embittered his latter years, and chilled his sympathies towards the English. During his long life

AND HOOKNOSE.

he was distinguished for sagacity in council and intrepidity in action. Two years before death he forsook heathenism, compared himself to a weed upon the waters, paid visits to all his dependents, and enjoined them to live at peace with the settlers. He often said, his body, like his pipe, was merely dust and ashes; and that although he had suffered from the artillery of the soldiers, he was subdued by the word of God.

Taniwha, or Hooknose, the last living contemporary of Cook, died in 1853. He was about nine years of age when the great navigator visited Mercury Bay; and took delight in relating that when Cook's ship hove in sight, the people took her for a whale with wings, and the men for gods with white skins.

"In the great canoe with pinions,
Came, he said, a hundred warriors,
Painted white were all their faces,
And with hair their skins were covered." 144

Taniwha said that when his countrymen beheld Cook's sailors pulling the boat towards the shore with their faces to the stern, they thought they had eyes in their backs; that they imagined salt pork was whale's flesh; that Captain Cook was very reserved compared with the others, and that he gave them a double handful of potatoes; that on landing he almost invariably walked about, waving his right hand to and fro, probably scattering the seeds of Europe in New Zealand. Taniwha was an old man when Major Cruise visited Coromandel harbour in 1821. At an early date this patriarch embraced Christianity, although only baptized six weeks before death. Bred up in the midst of strife, he was a sincere man of peace.

DEATH OF RANGIHAEATA.

Rangihaeata, which may be translated "the heavenly dawn," closed his worldly career in 1856, aged seventy; and he bore animosity to the English in his gloomy mind until his followers rose up against him. In 1848, at an assemblage of his countrymen at Otaki, Rangihaeata met Governor Grey; on which occasion he wore around his noble frame (he was upwards of six feet high) a dog-skin mat, and feathers in his hair; every part of his dress was studiously native, a circumstance characteristic of his position, as he was surrounded by men having little sympathy with him, who had given in their adherence to the Queen, and were all distinguished by some article of European dress. Rangihaeata with a proud mien told Governor Grey that he was not tired of war, but that the spirit of the times was for peace, and now men, like women, used their tongues for weapons. "I want nothing of the white men, I wear nothing of their work," were the concluding words of his defiant speech. The Governor in reply deprecated war, but said he would uphold the law by force; he good-humouredly alluded to that part of Rangihaeata's speech about his dress being purely native, by pointing to a peacock's feather in his hair, which Rangihaeata plucked out in scorn amidst the laughter of the assembly, threw on the ground, and said, "True, that is European."

Comparisons have been made between Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, two very dissimilar characters: for Rauparaha, who was infinitely superior to the latter in intellect, was followed without being respected; while Rangihaeata, from his greater sincerity, was respected without being followed. After Rauparaha's death Rangi's hatred towards the English lessened, and like his leader he became a church-goer, and endeavoured to prevent

CONSTITUTION OF 1852.

civil wars among his countrymen. Corroding sickness of the heart, more than conviction, probably produced these results, and quenched his fiery spirit. The times which created Heke, Kawiti, Pomare, Taniwha, Rauparaha, and Rangihaeata are now gone; and there is little danger of men of similar mark rising up to supply their places.

That self-government which these dead representative aboriginal New Zealanders furnished Governor Grey with an excuse for deferring for five years, was at last granted. In 1852 an act giving to the islands a representative constitution passed both houses of the Legislature, and the Queen in proroguing Parliament "trusted that the constitution might promote the welfare and contentment of that distant but interesting colony."

The act was as follows: – There was to be a general government conducted by a General Assembly, composed of a Governor appointed by the Crown; a Legislative Council of ten members, increased in 1857 to twenty members, 145 appointed by the Crown for life; and a House of Representatives, consisting of from twenty-four to forty members, elected for five years by the people. The franchise to include all British subjects twenty-one years old, having 50l. freehold estate, or 10l. per annum leasehold estate; 10l. household in towns, or 5l. household in the country. The General Assembly to have the power of making laws for the government of the colony, which must be in accordance with the laws of England. A civil list of 16,000l. to be provided for, without power of alteration except with the sovereign's sanction. The expense of collecting the revenue, and payments for land, to be first provided for; all the remaining re-

DIVISION OF COLONY INTO PROVINCES.

venue to be under the control of the General Government. All money votes to be brought forward by the Governor. The sovereign has the power of vetoing all acts within two years, and the Governor of reserving acts for her Majesty's approval. The natives to be under the laws of the colony, but the sovereign to have the power of appointing native districts which shall be exempt from those laws. The sovereign only to have the power of purchasing land from the natives. 7000l. of the 16,000l. on the civil list to be spent in native purposes, and the remainder in paying the salaries of the Governor and judges.

By the constitution act the colony was to be divided into six provinces: Auckland, Wellington, New Plymouth, Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury. Each province is to be ruled by a superintendent elected by the people; the Governor to have a veto on the election. There is to be a council for each province, composed of members elected for four years; the franchise to be the same as for the General Assembly. The Provincial Council to have the power of making all laws for the government of the province, with the exception of customs, high courts of law, currency, weights and measures, port duties, marriages, Crown and native lands, criminal law, and inheritance. The Governor to have the power of vetoing all laws within three months. The sovereign to have the power of establishing municipal corporations, subject to the approval of the Provincial Council.

That part of the constitution of 1846, which made it an obligation on the aboriginal native voter to read and write English was expunged, and both races were now equal in the eyes of the constitution.

SETTLERS' OPINION OF CHARTER.

Different opinions were held among the colonists as to the merit of this constitution; some said it was too liberal, others that it was too complicated, and that for years the machinery was too large for the ship. It was thought the provincial governments would soon monopolise all the powers of the general government, and that between the two there were elements of discord no management could avoid. Many colonists thought the superintendents should be nominated by the Crown, not elected by the people; while others felt gratified that the highest office of the province was open to the poorest man, and that the strongest motives to industry, enterprise, wealth, and fame existed. Those who wanted a precedent for an elected superintendent found that the Governor of Rhode Island was an elected officer by the charter granted in the time of Charles the Second; but the most thinking part of the community considered the election of such an officer a violation of the English system, and that if he were to be so chosen, it should be by a double election, as in the case of the President of the United States.

Time alone will determine how far these surmises are correct; and it is only necessary to add, that to Governor Grey the people of New Zealand are much indebted for the liberal constitution of 1852. 146

Early in 1853 the constitution was proclaimed in the colony, and the boundaries of the provinces and electoral districts defined. Stewart's Island and the Chatham Islands were not included. Otago is the largest province, New Plymouth the smallest. The house of representatives was to consist of 37 members; the provincial council of Auckland of 24; New Plymouth, 9; Wel-

FIRST ELECTIONS.

lington, 18; Nelson, 15; Canterbury, 12; and Otago, 9. What Governor Grey urged against the charter of 1846 was now, by his own act, made indirectly applicable to this; for in mapping out the electoral districts he ignored the native population, and gave, without any public explanation, to a minority of her Majesty's subjects of one race the power of taxing the majority of another.

To convey a clear idea of the state of New Zealand when the settlers took the management of the country into their own hands, Table IX. has been compiled.

The first elections under the constitution act took place in 1853, and thirteen years of irresponsible government had made the people doubly anxious to rule themselves. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that from the day it was proclaimed that superintendents and representatives were to be chosen for the different councils, until the day of election, the eight newspapers in the colony were filled with advertisements, editorial articles, and squibs, concerning the respective candidates. At Wellington and Auckland the virulent personality of some of these strictures led to actions for libel; and a controversy between two rival newspaper proprietors in Auckland, 147 both of whom afterwards rose to be superintendents, gave rise to much mirth and hatred. By general consent all settlers claiming the right of voting were permitted to register, and the franchise therefore became universal. Men who influenced elections in England by brick-bats were voters in New Zealand. One hundred natives were on the electoral roll.

All the elections were peaceably conducted. At Wellington and New Plymouth the revolution passed un-

HUSTINGS SCENES.

noticed among the aborigines; but at Auckland, the centre of the native population, where there was a severe contest for the office of superintendent, the New Zealanders became interested in the election, more particularly as both candidates were personally known to them – Colonel Wynyard of the 58th Regiment, from having held the office of Lieutenant-Governor of New Ulster; and Mr. William Brown, from his extensive commercial dealings with the natives. On nomination day, considerable bodies of natives congregated in the streets of Auckland to witness the ceremony. When they heard the shouts of the electors before the hustings, and saw the violent gesticulations of the speakers, they withdrew to a distance; but when roars of laughter were mingled with angry words, they looked perfectly amazed; suddenly, as if comprehending the spirit of the strange scene, so unlike anything they had ever seen before in the manners and customs of the English, they joined in laughing at the practical jokes played off on the occasion. One hustings orator made an allusion to the cannibal propensities of a portion of his audience, which ill-judged reference was received with yells of disapprobation by the English partisans of both candidates. When the hustings were vacated, several resident Maoris clambered into them, and with much merriment addressed the mob in a sort of monkey-like mimickry of the speakers. At Nelson the natives, in imitation of the settlers, proposed to elect a superintendent from among themselves; and one native elector at Otago asked the Scotch superintendent there how much he would give him for his vote.

Soon after election, the members of the six different provincial councils were assembled by their respective

DEPARTURE OF GOVERNOR GREY.

superintendents. It was scarcely to be expected that men unused to self-government should not commit mistakes, – and Sydney politicians said that their proceedings were conducted in a narrow spirit; but Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield replied that the people of Australia would soon take a lesson in political economy out of New Zealand's six little books. 148 Governor Grey did not call the General Assembly together, but directed that a certain portion of the revenue should be set aside for the general government, and the remainder given to the provinces. This arrangement was described by the superintendents of Wellington, Nelson, and Canterbury as illegal, although all appropriated the money thus placed at their disposal.

Sir George Grey had ruled New Zealand for eight years, when he obtained the Secretary of State's permission to return to England. It is hardly necessary to state that his approaching departure was viewed with different feelings at the several settlements, although from most of them he received some pleasing testimonial. The aborigines looked on his departure with regret. From tribes resident near the English settlements, from tribes at a distance, from chiefs who had fought for and against the English, addresses were sent to Governor Grey, breathing a spirit of confidence and attachment. Heitikis, and other ancestral ornaments almost never parted with, were freely given to him; songs were composed, and speeches full of eloquence delivered. Hone Te Paki said, "Let this meeting make known its unanimous wish to keep Governor Grey; the ashes of our fathers are in their tombs, and he has witnessed their deaths; Te Riepa is dead! Mare is dead! Hori Taki-

HIS RULE.

waru is dead! Wetere Te Pake is dead! and other chiefs of Waikato! Governor Grey, come back to us whom you have left in grief, or whom you leave in their grief." 149

Three days before his departure 170 inhabitants of Auckland entertained him at dinner. The room was decorated with the picturesque foliage of the tree fern, and among the assembled party there were representative men from all classes. Mr. Powditch, an old land-claimant, was in the chair; the Lord Bishop of New Zealand was there; the superintendent of the Wesleyan missionaries was there; and Dr. Pompallier, the Roman Catholic bishop, and Chief Justice Martin sent apologies for their absence. Patuone, the brother of Walker Nene, was there, with several chiefs from Waikato; the newly elected superintendent of the province was there, and also the speaker of the Council. On the last day of 1853 Sir George Grey left New Zealand.

With superstitious awe the natives pointed out to me the initials "G. G," which Sir George Grey cut in 1850 on a huge block of pumice-stone standing upright on the solitary path between the boiling lake of Rotomahana and Taupo; but Governor Grey requires no mural monument to keep his memory alive in New Zealand, for by the present generation of natives he will be spoken of as the capturer of Ruapekapeka and Rauparaha, and the subduer of Heke and Rangihaeata; they will also remember him for the schools and hospitals he established and endowed, for passing an ordinance which prevented them purchasing spirits and gunpowder, for friendly feelings towards them, for the resident magi-

RECEPTION IN ENGLAND.

strates' act, and for rescuing from oblivion some of their best ancient songs and legends. By the settlers he will be remembered as the last Governor who had despotic power, for the peace and prosperity his rule brought to the country, for his cheap land regulations, for retarding self-government for five years, and for laying the foundation of a constitution more liberal than that of the United States. He was not, however, very popular with the colonists; and no man armed with despotic power ever can be so among a community of Anglo-Saxons. Irresponsible rulers have, nevertheless, this satisfaction; if they do good, they invariably become popular after they have gone, for, like death, their departure "openeth the gate to good fame and extinguisheth envy."

On Sir George Grey's arrival in England he was made a D.C.L. by the University of Oxford; and the undergraduates, when the degree was conferred, gave three cheers for the "King of the Cannibal Islands." In the House of Lords, Lord Lyttelton, and in the House of Commons Sir John Pakington and Mr. Adderly, complained that Governor Grey, when in New Zealand, abused the power vested in him, by making regulations for the disposal of waste lands, by disregarding the injunction of the Supreme Court, by delaying to convene the General Assembly, and by appropriating the revenue of the country without the authority of law. 150 Mr. F. Peel in the House of Commons, and the Duke of Newcastle in the House of Lords, warmly vindicated him from these charges, and announced that her Majesty had appointed him Governor of that difficult dependency, the Cape of Good Hope.

81 A model of Ruapekapeka made by Captain Balneavis, 58th Regiment was exhibited in the Great Exhibition, and there is another made by Colonel Wynyard in the United Service Museum.

82 Times' Correspondent.

83 Dr. Johnson's visit to the hot springs in the North Island in 1846.

84 Parl. Papers, 1851. Translation made by Mr. Domett, Civil Secretary.

85 See Vol. I. p. 320.

86 Pastoral Letter of Bishop Selwyn to the Settlement of New Plymouth, 1855.

87 Parl. Papers, 1847.

88 Parl. Papers.

89 Parl. Papers. Earl Grey's Colonial Policy.

90 United Service Journal, 1846, 1847.

91 Parl. Papers. Letter to the Government.

92 Lord Chatham's speech on American war.

93 Plain Facts relative to the War in the North, 1847.

94 Papers laid before Parliament in 1848, in continuation of those in 1847.

95 Parl. Papers, 1849. New Zealander newspaper. Walker Nene's letter to Archdeacon Williams. Busby's First Settlers in New Zealand.

96 Vide Government Gazette of New Zealand, 1849. Names of Missionaries, Parl. Paper, 1838.

97 The assigned cause of this purchase was to put an end to a tribal war.

98 2 Tim. ii. 4.

99 Parl. Papers, 1847 and 1848.

100 Parl. Papers. Hansard's Debates, 1848.

101 England and the New Zealanders, 1848. (Private circulation.)

102 Parl. Papers, 1844, p. 12.

103 The Art of Colonization. London, 1849.

104 Regina v. M'Intosh, Parl. Paper, 1847.

105 Queen v. Taylor, Parl. Paper, 1850.

106 Scott v. Grace, Scott v. M'Donald, and Queen v. Clarke. Parl. Paper. Local Papers.

107 Queen v. Clarke. Moore's Cases before the Privy Council, vol. vii. part i. p. 77.

108 Porter's Parl. Tables.

109 Local papers. Parl. Papers. Government Gazette. Personal Inquiry.

110 The Progress of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. By an Englishman. London, 1847.

111 Information relative to New Zealand, 1839.

112 Parl. Papers. Government Gazette, 1848.

113 Governor Fitzroy's Rule, page 87, supra.

114 Parl. Papers, 1844.

115 Parl. Papers, 1848.

116 MS. letter from Bishop William Williams, Colonial Secretary's office.

117 Hill near Kawhia.

118 A star, denoting the new year.

119 Shortland.

120 Taylor.

121 Bishop Selwyn's Visitation Tour, 1848.

122 Fox's Six Colonies in New Zealand.

123 Church Missionary Society's Gleaner, from September to December, 1852.

124 Eighth Report, New Zealand Company.

125 Two pamphlets were written by Mr. Godley.

126 Now Assistant Under-Secretary of State for War.

127 Lyttelton Times.

128 Papers laid before Parliament. Local and personal information. Canterbury Papers.

129 Parl. Papers, May 1852.

130 The Rev. Mr. Taylor's New Zealand and its Inhabitants, p. 264.

131 Colonial Policy, 2 vols. Speech, House of Lords.

132 Correspondence with Governor Grey, 1854. Examiner Newspaper.

133 Examiner Newspaper, Nov. 12, 1853.

134 Lord Grey's Colonial Policy.

135 Session, 1854.

136 Report in Times.

137 So named after a ship which loaded there with spars in 1821.

138 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, July 1853. There is a specimen in the Auckland Museum.

139 March, 1853.

140 Maps published by Admiralty. – The New Zealand Pilot.

141 Geographical Society's Transactions.

142 Parl. Papers, 1850.

143 Longfellow's Hiawatha.

144 Longfellow's Hiawatha.

145 Royal instructions.

146 Parl. Papers connected with Constitution. Hansard's Debates.

147 Brown v. Williamson. Local papers.

148 Sydney Morning Herald, 1853.

149 Maori Messenger, December 29, 1853.

150 Hansard's Debates. Memoranda by Sir G. Grey on Lord Lyttelton's Letter, 1854.

CHAPTER X. COLONEL WYNYARD'S RULE, JANUARY 1854 TO SEPTEMBER 1855.

CHAP. X.

COLONEL WYNYARD'S RULE, JANUARY 1854 TO SEPTEMBER 1855.

Colonel Wynyard. – Measles break out. – Political condition of colony. – First meeting of General Assembly. – First mixed responsible ministry. – Irresponsible executive conduct affairs. – Cause of failure of mixed responsible ministers. – Two parties in colony. – Native feud at Taranaki. – Settlers oppose the league. – Love of land. – Education of settlers. – Earthquake of 1855. – General Assembly of 1855. – Colonel Wynyard's rule.

ON the departure of Sir George Grey, Colonel Wynyard, C. B. of the 58th Regiment, senior military officer in the colony, and newly elected superintendent of the province of Auckland, assumed the administration. The framers of the Constitution Act never anticipated the combination of governor and superintendent in one person, consequently there was no legal enactment to meet such a contingency; but the Secretary of State declared the union incompatible with its spirit, and that Colonel Wynyard should have resigned the Superintendency when the governor's mantle fell upon his shoulders. 151

The regret of the aborigines for Governor Grey was aggravated by the appearance of measles in the country, which superstition led them to connect with his departure. This malady was introduced from Tasmania in an American vessel, and commenced at the Bay of

MEASLES BREAK OUT.

Islands in March 1854, spreading rapidly from hamlet to hamlet all over the country. Directly and indirectly the disease carried off 4000 natives, and most of its victims were selected from the ranks of the young and the aged. Few settlers perished. Strange to say, scarlet fever made its appearance in several natives on the recession of the measles. It was melancholy to see the inhabitants of a whole village, the aged and the newly born, prostrate under this malady; and to hear mothers, covered with the eruption themselves, abusing the settlers for the misery these new diseases inflicted upon their children. Often have I seen on these occasions the poor mother

"Bent o'er her babe, her eye dissolved in dew,
The big drop mingling with the milk it drew."

In 1838 measles destroyed many of the natives about Otago, but the inhabitants of the North Island escaped from its ravages at that time. It would seem that the Polynesian race are peculiarly susceptible of this malady, for it was measles which proved fatal to the king and queen of the Sandwich Islands during their residence in London in 1824, and most of the New Zealanders who have visited England have been attacked by them.

Colonel Wynyard summoned the General Assembly to meet at Auckland in May; and this drew attention to the condition of the country, which, like Sicily, had been colonised by distinct bands of settlers: politicians skilled in classic lore said New Zealand resembled ancient Greece, in being divided by nature into districts almost unconnected with each other, and calculated to be the seats of small communities and states; in possessing an extent of coast which must convert the country into a commercial and maritime power; and in

POLITICAL CONDITION OF COLONY.

having a happy combination of sea and mountain, peculiarities which tend to make the people bold and free. Modern politicians regarded the Constitution Act as an imitation of the United States form of government, and many traced a resemblance between the early condition of the settlers in the respective lands. In both countries the colonists were permitted to dispose of their own waste lands, and in both they were surrounded by the original owners of the soil, who after disposing of their lands remembered the bargain with regret. The upper classes in New Zealand, although boasting of having in their ranks thirty-seven persons who had written books and pamphlets in England, 152 were not unlike the same classes in the "old dominion," while some of the lower order of settlers differed little from the Kentucky variety of the Anglo-Saxon race.

It was observed that from whatever rank emigrants had sprung at home, in New Zealand they soon began to deprecate hereditary law-makers, and asserted, some in whispers and others openly, that all who were equal in mind and muscle were alike useful to the community. The idea of laying the foundation of feudal tenures, the law of primogeniture, or a state religion, or of leading a life of idleness, was unknown. Money could not command obsequious servants, and the spirit of the colonists was proved by their precipitating themselves into an untried state of existence, known to be beset with difficulties. They were almost all energetic men; the timid, the lazy, and the sickly having remained in the old country.

Each New Zealand settlement carried on an indepen-

FIRST MEETING OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

dent trade with England and Australia; all produced nearly the same commodities, and required similar supplies; while most of the settlers were occupied in getting money, few in spending it. The character of the country precluded overland communication except by footpaths, and steam communication did not exist. There was no central town in the colony, and individuals in one province rarely had property in another. Colonised under opposite circumstances, there was little personal acquaintance between the settlers in the different provinces, and few men had leisure for senatorial duties. Most of the representatives of the people in the General Assembly told their constituents that New Zealand was their home; but it was not so in their hearts, for the graves of their fathers were not in the land. The possibility of forming a general legislature for such a group, capable of representing the various interests of all, was a problem yet to be solved.

On the 24th of May, her Majesty's birthday, Colonel Wynyard opened the first New Zealand parliament with an excellent address, in which he urged upon the assembly the necessity of forming a strong general government. Mr. Clifford of Wellington was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives. After some opposition to a form of daily prayer to be read by the Speaker, the members found there was no representative among them officially connected with government, and no means of communication between the house and the executive, but by the tedious and circuitous mode of addresses. This gave Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield a happy opportunity of showing the necessity of having the system of government established in New Zealand which has existed in England since 1696, and in Canada

FIRST MIXED MINISTRY.

since 1840: in other words, the formation of a parliamentary government, or a ministry responsible for the conduct of public affairs to the General Assembly, a system in which the Governor reigns over the colony, while the ministers rule it. After a three days' debate, during which twenty-four members spoke out of thirty present, the House with one dissentient voice passed an address, urging the Governor to establish responsible government. His Excellency replied that the constitution act made no provision for this change; nor did he conceive himself justified in dismissing the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, and the Colonial Treasurer from their patent offices without reference to England, and to give these appointments to members of the House; but he would add to the executive council, which corresponds to the cabinet, three gentlemen enjoying the confidence of the General Assembly, with a view to the introduction of responsible government. This message was received with applause, and subsequently a correspondence was laid before the House in which the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, and the Colonial Treasurer promised to retire from office at the request of the governor, on a suitable pension being given to them for past services.

In a few days Messrs. Fitzgerald and Sewell of Canterbury and Mr. Weld of Nelson were sworn in members of the executive council, and presented themselves before the House as the Governor's responsible advisers. Subsequently Mr. Bartley of Auckland was nominated to the Legislative Council, for the purpose of representing the ministry in that branch of the legislature. The majority of the cabinet were now responsible to the Assembly.

RESPONSIBLE MINISTERS RESIGN.

On the 15th of June, Mr. Fitzgerald, who was styled Prime Minister, enunciated his policy, and stated that bills were to be introduced for fixing the form of the Executive Council, for granting pensions to the old executive officers, for consolidating the administration of the Government so as to put an end to conflicting provincial authorities, for regulating the waste lands, and for altering the constitution act. Several of these bills were carried through the House of Representatives by large majorities, when on the 2nd of August Mr. Fitzgerald unexpectedly informed the House, with ridiculous solemnity, that he and his colleagues had ceased to be the Governor's responsible advisers, because the Colonial Treasurer and the Attorney-General refused to resign their appointments, and the Governor declined requesting them to do so. After this announcement, the standing orders were suspended, and a vote of thanks passed to the ex-ministers, who, heated by debate, hinted on returning thanks that the Governor, the Attorney-General, and the Colonial Treasurer had broken faith with them. On the 5th of August, the Governor sent a message to both Houses, in which he showed by documentary evidence 153 that the ex-ministers had caused their own fall by not passing a pension bill; to which the ex-ministers replied, that the proof of their case rested on verbal communications. It accidentally became known that this able message was written by Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield, and a resolution of want of confidence in that gentleman was immediately passed by the House of Representatives; after which, the matter and manner of the speeches delivered

SCENE IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

in that assembly grew every day more violent; at length an insulting answer, coupled with threats of impending evil, was given to the Governor's message announcing the retirement of the Fitzgerald ministry.

During these proceedings great forbearance was shown by the Governor; this spirit of conciliation, however, being productive of no good, a message was sent on the 17th of August, proroguing the Assembly for a fortnight. When the Speaker received this message, the contents of which were by some means known, it was not read according to the custom of the House, but the standing orders were suspended to enable members to pass a series of resolutions, stopping the supplies, and calling on the Governor to dismiss Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield from his councils. Several members were leaving the house, to escape from these overt acts of rebellion, when the Sergeant-at-arms was ordered to lock the door. Foiled at this point, the fugitives commenced clambering into the strangers' gallery, but Mr. ex-minister Sewell, seeing their object, bounded into the gallery at a running jump, and turned the key in the door. Some discussion then arose concerning the lawfulness of locking the members in, and the doors were reopened; upon which, Mr. Mackay of Nelson entered, and threw on the table of the House a copy of the Government Gazette, containing the Governor's unread message proroguing the Assembly. Mr. Mackay, under the impression that there was no legal House, refused to take off his hat; whereupon Mr. ex-minister Sewell punched his ribs, and other honourable members hustled him; at length he managed to escape into the strangers' gallery, the people in which were on the eve of coming to the rescue. The House then passed a vote of cen-

SECOND MIXED MINISTRY.

sure on Mr. Mackay, after which the Speaker read the Governor's message. In it His Excellency regretted that the differences between him and the House were then irreconcilable; prorogued the Assembly until the 31st of August, and promised to add to his Executive Council certain members of the legislature representing the interests of all the provinces.

Dignity and good sense characterised the Legislative Council's acts during these unseemly scenes in the House of Representatives. It simply passed a resolution approving of responsible government, and it stated that the Acting-Governor had conferred on the colony the greatest amount of such government his authority would allow.

The second session of the General Assembly was opened on the 31st of August. During the recess Mr. T. S. Forsaith of Auckland, Mr. E. Jerningham Wakefield of Canterbury, Mr. Travers of Nelson, and Mr. M'Andrew of Otago had become responsible ministers. With their advice, and the unanimous approval of the old executive officers, 154 His Excellency read an address, in which he proposed to render the Legislative Council elective, to appoint a Lieutenant-Governor for the province of Auckland, to enable the superintendents to dissolve their provincial councils, to form a federal convention apart from the General Assembly, and to introduce a bill establishing responsible government. These schemes, described as the popular policy of the ministry, were universally ascribed to Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield; their wildness, varying from simple illegality to the destruction of the fundamental law of the con-

IRRESPONSIBLE EXECUTIVE.

stitution, was readily detected by the ex-ministers, the justness of whose strictures on this occasion was afterwards confirmed by a despatch from the Secretary of State. 155 Mr. Forsaith moved a reply to the Governor's address; but an amendment, embodying a vote of want of confidence in the present mixed executive form of government, was carried by 22 to 11. The ministers then resigned; and thus fell the second mixed responsible government, called in derision the "clean-shirt ministry," because Mr. Forsaith announced to the House in his ministerial explanation, that he changed his shirt when summoned from his shop to the Governor's presence.

The prorogation of the assembly and the formation of the Forsaith ministry produced two good results; the former cooled the angry passions of the ex-ministers, the latter indicated to all the Governor's anxiety to forward public business. An address was therefore passed, expressing a willingness on the part of the House to grant supplies to a Government conducted by the old executive council, and to pass certain urgent measures. Previous debates had made members acquainted with each other's views; and on the 16th of September, when parliament was prorogued, twelve bills were assented to in her Majesty's name by the acting Governor, the most important of which gave to the provincial councils the entire management of their waste lands. In the estimates the members of the House of Representatives from Wellington, Canterbury, Otago, Nelson, and New Plymouth, and four from Auckland, appropriated nearly 4000l. of the public money to pay their parliamentary

CAUSE OF MINISTERIAL FAILURES.

expenses, but they refused money for similar services to the members of the Legislative Council. During both sessions of the General Assembly there was much secret discussion and excitement among the members regarding the proper place for the seat of government.

This meeting of the General Assembly developed the character and genius of the representatives. It showed their inconsistency in putting Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield forward as their leader in the cause of responsible government, while many objected to him as a minister; it disclosed the excitable temper of some of the members, and proved that several were well acquainted with the tactics of party, the arts of debate, and the influence of the press. No Australian House of Representatives equal in ability to the New Zealand parliament had yet assembled. All admitted that the members from Wellington, Canterbury, and Nelson were infinitely superior in political knowledge to those from Auckland, but they were over-confident, a failing probably caused by successful sheep-farming, which requires but little mental exertion to ensure success; while the Auckland members, in their humility, admitted that Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield had taught them what was meant by responsible government.

From public documents it is clear that the Fitzgerald ministry failed because it did not fulfil its promise of passing a pension bill for the old executive officers; and that the Forsaith ministers were turned out because they proposed the introduction of measures clashing with the constitution. There is, however, a secret history connected with the downfall of the Fitzgerald ministry, some blaming the Acting-Governor, others Mr. Fitzgerald; but the failure sprang from several causes, the most

TWO POLITICAL PARTIES.

important being the misleading impressions of private conversations; the Machiavellian policy of Mr. Attorney-General Swainson, the Governor's confidential adviser; the intriguing propensities of Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield and Mr. Carleton; and the flightiness and want of tact of Mr. Fitzgerald. Infinite ridicule was caused in Australia by the Sewell and Mackay scene; while English politicians, not entirely absorbed in watching the Crimean conflict, laughed at the strange turn a ministerial crisis had taken at the antipodes.

Two parties were now developed in the colony; one was called Centralists, the other Provincialists. The former aimed at the incorporation of the provincial governments, with a view to their ultimate absorption, and maintained the right of the General Assembly to intermeddle in all provincial affairs. The latter, on the other hand, insisted that the Imperial Parliament had established two independent governments in New Zealand, each for its own sphere, the provinces having exclusive jurisdiction in all provincial matters, and only under the control of the General Assembly on matters of general concern. Each settlement, according to the Provincialists, was a species of republic; and the province in which they lived, not New Zealand, was their home. In their eyes, prosperity or adversity in one province had little influence upon the others. They were anxious to be Wellingtonists or Aucklanders, not New Zealanders, and asked of the General Government for their respective provinces what Burke asked for the colonies, "a wise and salutary neglect."

While Parliament was sitting without alarm at Auckland, in the centre of the native population, the Taranaki settlers were petitioning the throne for military protec-

NATIVE FEUD AT TARANAKI.

tion. This movement sprang from a remote cause. After Governor Fitzroy's supposed settlement of the Taranaki native disputes of 1844, 156 the fugitives from that district scattered over New Zealand knew that their inherited lands which had been lost by conquest were now restored to them by the British Government. Single families paddled in their canoes, with children and pigs, from Cook's Strait, to occupy their fatherland; others came in ships from the Chatham Islands; and in 1848 William King, the Ngatiawa chief, and 600 souls, migrated from Otaki to Taranaki, and took quiet possession of their ancestral domains on the south bank of the Waitara river, ten miles from the English settlement of New Plymouth. Governor Grey, foreseeing how this migration complicated the land question, urged without success her Majesty's Government to locate a corps of pensioners in the district. These returned fugitives soon grew rich, from the excellence of the soil, and the ready market furnished by the settlers for their surplus produce. Thus William King's tribe in 1854 possessed 150 horses, 300 head of cattle, 40 carts, 35 ploughs, 20 pairs of harrows, 3 winnowing machines, and 10 wooden houses.

The natives placed a high value on the land from which this wealth had been extracted, and refused to dispose of it. In 1853 five millions of acres were purchased from the Otago natives for 2600l., two millions of acres were bought from those in the province of Wellington for 24,000l., and 16,000l. were spent on buying land in the Auckland province; but the Crown could not purchase a rood in the neighbourhood of New

CAUSE OF FEUD.

Plymouth. Here the aborigines said, "The money we receive for our land is soon gone, but the land remains with the Europeans for ever." To keep this spirit alive, an Anti-landselling League was formed among some of the Taranaki tribes; and, in order to give solemnity to their proceedings, a Bible was buried in the earth, and a cairn of stones raised over the spot. 157 One tribe, not belonging to this League, was induced by the indiscreet zeal of a Government officer to offer a quantity of land for sale in 1854, and Rawiri Waiaua, the chief of this party, accompanied by twenty-six followers, commenced cutting the boundary line. Katatore, one of the most active chiefs of the League, with sixty armed men, requested Rawiri to desist, because the land was not his to sell. As Rawiri refused to stop, Katatore fired a volley at the workmen, which killed seven and wounded ten; among the former was Rawiri. This horrible massacre occurred within sound of the church bells of New Plymouth, and the English and native friends of the slain called upon Government to assert the majesty of the law, and hang Katatore, seeing that Rawiri was an assessor and a faithful ally of Queen Victoria's. Before the scars of the wounded had cicatrised, a conflict occurred between the party of Arama Karaka, the successor of Rawiri, and Katatore's followers, in which twelve men were slain and sixteen wounded. Indirectly the conflict arose out of Rawiri's murder, although its immediate cause was an act of adultery. A general dispute was now engendered, distant tribes became embroiled in it and congregated about New Plymouth, fortifications were strengthened, natives went about armed, and intercourse

GOVERNMENT MEDIATES.

was cut off by the tapu between tribes living north of the Bell block and the English settlement. New Plymouth shopkeepers complained free trade was at an end when bargaining with armed savages; a panic seized the settlers, and, to prevent the town from sharing the fate of Kororareka, an imaginary danger, they prayed for the presence of the Queen's soldiers.

At this juncture both the contending parties proclaimed their anxiety not to embroil the settlers; both dreaded the English power, both felt they could preserve their lives against trained soldiers, but both saw the impossibility of preserving their horses, herds, and agricultural implements. These protestations were distrusted; and, in August 1855, 450 soldiers of the 58th and 65th Regiments, with two 24-pounders, under Major Nugent of the former corps, landed at New Plymouth. This powerful force terrified all parties. Arama Karaka beheld in silent amazement their disembarkation in the midst of the rolling surf; Katatore fled to the bush; and William King, dreading Rauparaha's fate, requested the Governor to fight by day and not by night, so that the conflict might be a battle and not a murder. 158 The officer administering the Government followed this force, accompanied by Walker Nene, Te Whero Whero, and Te Puni. On careful inquiry Colonel Wynyard adopted a neutral policy, and refused to avenge Rawiri Waiaua's murder, because that chief was killed for offering to sell land which did not belong to him. After several conflicts between the natives, in which sixty were slain and one hundred wounded, a truce was made in December 1856. Two

SETTLERS OPPOSE LAND-LEAGUE.

hundred and fifty soldiers of the 65th Regiment were left at New Plymouth to protect the settlers, not to take part with either of the combatants, to the great joy of the settlers and natives, as both races were sensibly alive to the advantages of a commissariat chest. The soldiers called the Taranaki expedition the beef and mutton campaign; the excellence of which told on their coats, and gave the regimental tailors constant work in enlarging them.

It is worthy of remark, that Arama Karaka's party were Wesleyans, and Katatore and William King's were Episcopalians. The Rev. Mr. Turton countenanced the former, Bishop Selwyn the latter; each thought his own people in the right, while both exerted themselves to stop strife and promote peace. Arama Karaka, worn out with anxiety, died in January 1857.

Notwithstanding this cessation of hostilities, no land was sold by the aborigines to the Government, and the settlers declared that the Anti-landselling League should be put down by physical force. Anonymous placards were stuck on the New Plymouth bridge, urging upon the Governor this insane and unjust policy, and they accused the chief actors of high treason. Political motives and patriotism bound the League together; for the New Zealanders consider that until they surrender their territorial rights they only partially become British subjects, and they know that native customs are not to be followed on the Queen's land. Advancing civilisation made them feel very acutely what it is to be a subject caste; that with a few exceptions they rarely visited settlers' houses on equal terms; that, like oil and water, the two races did not blend, the English oil being the richer kept at the top; and that, if they alienated all

LOVE OF LAND.

their inherited estates, their children would degenerate into hewers of wood and drawers of water to the white men. Equality of condition between men living in houses and men living in kennels, and speaking different tongues, was impossible, but little was done on the English side to narrow the gulf. While the colonists admitted the justness of these observations, they stated that although the New Zealanders held much the same relation to the settlers which the Irish did to the English colonists in Ireland, the Saxons to the Normans, and the Indians to the followers of Cortes, they were universally treated with much greater kindness and forbearance.

Actual attachment to the soil itself also supported the League, for the natives love even their uncultivated lands more than the settlers are aware of. Scarcely an acre is relinquished without regret, as almost every hill, mountain, valley, and bay is linked to the tribe by some ancestral tradition. No heir of entail ever sold an estate which had come into his possession through ten generations of ancestors with keener pangs of sorrow than the New Zealanders give up their lands. Trifling events daily occurred which bore evidence of the existence of this feeling. Ropoama, in April 1857, when the last unbought section of land in the Middle Island was purchased by Government at an assembly of the people held near the spot where Tasman first sighted New Zealand, struck a greenstone adze with a powerful blow deeply into the ground at Mr. Commissioner M'Lean's feet, and cried aloud in the metaphorical language used on such occasions: "Now that we have for ever launched this land into the sea, we hereby make over to you, as a lasting evidence of its surrender, this adze named

EDUCATION OF SETTLERS.

Paiwhenua, which we have always highly prized from having gained it in battle, after it had been used by our enemies to kill two of our most celebrated chiefs, Te Pehi and Pokaitara. Money vanishes and disappears, but this greenstone will endure; as durable a witness of our act, as the land itself which we have now under the shining sun of this day transferred to you for ever." 159

Soon after the constitution began to work, the necessity of educating the people, to enable them to use and not abuse self-government, agitated every province. Intelligent settlers saw their children growing up, smart in the way of making money, but in a wild state of intellectual degradation; and that the soil was highly favourable for the development of colonial manners the very opposite of that species of feeling which weighs insults rather than injuries. One party was for religious schools, the other for secular schools; the former were the more numerous, but their unanimity was broken the minute they attempted to define what system of religion should be taught. The provincial councils of Nelson and Otago passed ordinances taxing all classes for the support of schools in which the Protestant Bible was daily read. At Otago, where there are only twenty Roman Catholics, no opposition was organised against the bill; but at Nelson several hundred Catholics petitioned against the introduction of a system of education which gave rise to sectarian jealousies. Other provinces adopted more liberal schemes.

Educated settlers found these schools useful for reading, writing, and arithmetic; but there was no place in the colony where their children could obtain an education

"SYDNEY CORN-STALKS."

similar to that they themselves had received. A university of the highest order is urgently required in New Zealand. Such an establishment would draw within its walls large numbers of the Australian aristocracy, as Anglo-Saxons born and reared on that continent are occasionally destitute of the bodily energy requisite for the full development of the mind. Two generations in Australia change the children of the broad-shouldered emigrants into a lithe race more nervous than muscular. "Sydney corn-stalks," as the youth of that city are denominated, are no match in intellect against men brought up in colder countries. For this reason Australian settlers will strive to give their children a few years' residence in climates more invigorating than that in which they are born; and it is already discovered that the best period for this is on the approach of maturity, when youth is rising into manhood, and the mind is developing itself for the future battle of life. Whichever province in New Zealand, therefore, can found a university, where youth can be taught as the youth of England are taught, will acquire a name and an influence in the Southern hemisphere not to be measured by money or the figures of the statist.

Six years and two months had now elapsed since the earthquake of 1848; one half of the present settlers were not then in the colony, and those who were, began to think such convulsions had ceased in New Zealand, because five years and four months intervened between the Lisbon earthquakes of the last century. But on this subject men reasoned as they wished, for the fifteenth anniversary of the foundation of Wellington was celebrated with an earthquake more disastrous than that of 1848.

EARTHQUAKE OF 1855.

On the 23rd of January 1855, at eleven minutes past nine P.M., the first shock, which lasted a minute and a half, occurred. It was accompanied by a rumbling noise sufficiently loud to prevent people hearing their chimneys fall, and not unlike a feu de pie under ground. The sailors on board the ships in the harbour thought their anchors were running out, many buildings were thrown down, Baron von Alzdorf was killed, and three persons dangerously wounded. In the midst of this convulsion, the sentinel of the 65th Regiment, guarding the ruins of Government House, shouted "All's well!" As the earth shook during the whole night, people were panic-stricken. Many expected to be engulfed; men who had sojourned in South America lay on long poles, lest a fissure in the earth should open; women and children were stretched on beds in the streets in agonies of terror; dogs howled; stabled horses were covered with sweat; and ducks, hens, and pigs cried piteously. The beach was swept by a tidal wave; and for eight hours subsequent to the first and greatest shock the tide receded from the shore every twenty minutes, rising two feet higher, and falling four feet lower, than at spring tides; next day there was no ordinary tide in the harbour. 160 When daylight came it was found that 53 per cent of the brick chimneys were down and 39 much injured, 161 that 16,000l. worth of property was destroyed, that the country around Wellington was elevated two feet, that the Hutt river bridge was swept away, that several fissures had opened in the earth, that the air stunk with the immense quantity of dead fish cast on shore, and that the low-water mark had become the limit of high water.

DESCRIPTION OF EARTHQUAKE.

The earth's motion was from north-west to east, and for fourteen hours the town trembled like a shaken jelly. In the Wairau valley in the Middle Island the earthquake was more severe than at Wellington; there several fissures in the earth, four feet deep, and sufficient to admit a man, yawned, and tidal waves swept both sides of Cook's Strait. At Nelson brick buildings were injured, and some were thrown down; at Wanganui several substantial buildings were levelled with the ground; at New Plymouth a few chimneys were destroyed. In Hawke's Bay and the Bay of Plenty the shock was severe; one of the Taupo geysers dried up, part of the lip of the Tongariro crater fell in, another cone called Ketetahi burst forth, 162 and at one time Lake Roto-iti appeared, to the natives living on its banks, as if it were sinking into the earth. At Auckland the earthquake was felt by some persons and not by others, at the Bay of Islands it was not felt, at Canterbury the earthquake set bells ringing, and at Otago it was felt by some persons and not by others. The captain of a ship 150 miles out at sea, westward of Cook's Strait, felt the shock. The motion of the earth was greater on the plains than on the hills.

Like the earthquake of 1848, this one was chiefly felt between Banks's Peninsula and White Island. Had Wellington been a stone-built town, hundreds of its inhabitants would have perished, and the farmers in the valley of the Hutt now saw in what peril they reaped their luxuriant harvests. This second severe convulsion rendered the Cook's Strait settlers very miserable, and many would have left Wellington next

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1855.

day, if they had not been chained to the soil by their circumstances. Fortunately dangers of rare occurrence are soon forgotten, and no kind of terror subsides sooner than an earthquake panic. New Zealand geologists prophesied the earth would now be at rest for centuries; and people in Australia facetiously stated that Macaulay's prediction 163 would be falsified, that instead of a New Zealander gazing hereafter on the ruins of London, when that modern Babylon shall have shared the ancient one's fate, a cockney would more likely stand on the poop of the vessel which brought him to New Zealand, and look on the ruins of Wellington, a settlement the directors of the New Zealand Company prophesied would soon rival New York.

People had not ceased talking of the earthquake when the third session of the General Assembly opened at Auckland. All the Auckland and New Plymouth representatives were in their places; but Messrs. Travers and Macky from Nelson, Clifford and Hart from Wellington, and Sewell from Canterbury were the only Southern members present. Dr. Richardson was the only Southern member of the Legislative Council in attendance. The officer administering the Government informed the Assembly that her Majesty's ministers had no objection to the establishment of a responsible government; provided the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Attorney-General got pensions; that no legislative enactment was required for the formation of a responsible government, as the system now adopted in England rests solely on usage; and that legislation on the subject would probably stand in the way of various changes, which might be necessary in the details of a system in its nature liable to modification.

PROCEEDINGS OF ASSEMBLY.

Two causes kept members away from their parliamentary duties; one a circular from the Governor, which stated that, after passing the estimates and pensioning the old executive officers, the House of Representatives would be dissolved, to enable the people to elect members from whom responsible ministers might be chosen; the other was a desire, on the part of the Southern members, that there should be no House, no third session of the Assembly at Auckland. Mr. Sewell was the leader of the House of Representatives. A pension bill was rejected, because the members objected paying for responsible government until they got it; the principle of religious freedom was affirmed by a refusal to grant, on the recommendation of the Secretary of State, 600l. to Bishop Selwyn of the English Church. A financial committee reported that the finances of the colony were unintelligible to them, but they nevertheless passed all the estimates. Just as the session was closing, Colonel Gore Browne, the newly appointed Governor, arrived, and laid before the Assembly a despatch from the Secretary of State, intimating that her Majesty was ready to change the seat of Government, and appoint a Governor for Auckland, on a vote of the General Assembly. On the 15th of September 1855, Colonel Browne prorogued the Assembly, stating that it was his intention to carry on the government by responsible advisers and in no other way; after which it was dissolved by proclamation.

Colonel Wynyard governed New Zealand for twenty months, during which his judicious policy at Taranaki prevented the colony being embroiled in a native war, and his representations assisted in obtaining responsible

WYNYARD'S RULE.

government. The temporary nature of the Acting-Governor's office, and the transition state of things, rendered his administration one of great difficulty. He was the first ruler who could not stamp his own qualities on his government, and he was in the singular position of having a parliament chosen from among the people, and irresponsible advisers, who, from long habits of implicit obedience to Governors Fitzroy and Grey, held colonial public opinion and the principles of self-government in little esteem. On Mr. Attorney-General Swainson's recommendation, he took into council Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a man who had managed speculators and outwitted Secretaries of State; and under that gentleman's indirect guidance, and with the advice of the Executive Council, he enunciated a policy which was in principle destructive of the fundamental law of the constitution. 164 But New Zealand never was more prosperous than it was under Colonel Wynyard's government; beggars and bankrupts were unknown, hundreds were heaping up money from the large exports to Australia, and every settler could purchase butcher's meat and wheaten flour daily. On his departure in November 1858, a piece of plate was presented to him by the inhabitants of Auckland, and a public embarkation awarded him by Governor Browne and the settlers.

151 Hansard's Debates, 1854.

152 Judge Chapman's lecture at the Wellington Mechanics' Institute, 1853.

153 Government Gazette, vol. ii. No. 18, 1854. Parl. Papers, No. 160, March 1855, contains some of the papers.

154 Government Gazette, 1854. Proceedings of the House.

155 New Zealand Government Gazette, 1st June, 1855.

156 See Vol. II. p. 92.

157 Mr. Commissioner Cooper's Report to Government, 1854.

158 MS. letter from William King to Major Nugent.

159 MS. papers, Native Secretary's Office, Auckland.

160 Captain Drury's Report, Government Gazette.

161 Captain Chesney's Official Report, MSS. Royal Engineer Office.

162 Dr. Hochstetter, Geological Report. Government Gazette, July 1859.

163 Review of Ranke's History of the Popes.

164 Parl. Papers. Despatch from Secretary of State, New Zealand Government Gazette, June 1855.

CHAPTER XI. GOVERNOR BROWNE'S RULE, FROM OCTOBER 1855 TO JUNE 1859.

CHAP. XI.

GOVERNOR BROWNE'S RULE, FROM OCTOBER 1855 TO JUNE 1859.

Colonel Browne. – Statistics of colony in 1856. – General Assembly of 1856. – Strife for office. – Stafford ministry. – Results of session. – Seat of government. – Colonial press. – Responsible government and natives. – Consistent Christians and Christians. – Maori king. – Arms Act relaxed. – Native feud at Hawke's Bay. – Renewal of native feud at Taranaki. – New Zealand flax. – Gold at Nelson. – Representation of colonies in Parliament. – Church of England in colony. – General Assembly of 1858. – New Provinces bill. – Legislation for natives. – Discovery of coal. – Census of natives. – Comparative progress of provinces. – General progress of colony.

COLONEL GORE BROWNE, C. B., was administering the government of St. Helena when appointed to that of New Zealand. This officer was not unknown to fame, having commanded the 41st Regiment with much honour during the Affghan campaign of 1842. On the 6th of Sept. 1855, His Excellency landed at Auckland. Before leaving England Colonel Browne had an interview with Lord Elgin, the ex-Governor-General of Canada, who impressed upon him the easy life a governor leads who reigns over a colony and leaves the ruling part of it to responsible ministers; and, being aware of the strong desire already manifested in New Zealand for a government of this description, he openly expressed on landing his anxiety to have responsible advisers by his side.

The Governor then visited the settlements of New

STATISTICS OF COLONY IN 1856.

Plymouth, Nelson, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago, at all of which he found the inhabitants busily occupied in provincial politics and worldly occupations. The European population had increased by births and immigration, during the last five years, 70 per cent, and now numbered 45,000 souls. Auckland, the most populous province, contained 15,335 souls; New Plymouth, the least so, 2488. Out of 600 settlers there were 44 females for 56 males. 61 per cent of the entire population could read and write. 336 ships, with a tonnage of 85,748 tons, arrived in the colony, and 323 with a tonnage of 82,991 left it. The imports were valued at 710,868l., and the exports'at 318,000l. Grain, flour, and bran, kauri gum, oil, potatoes, timber, and wool were the chief exports. All were increasing; but wool, chiefly exported from the provinces of the Middle Island, was the most steadily progressive. In 1853 only 66,507l. worth of wool was exported, whereas in 1856 the export of this article was valued at 146,072l. During the four years ending 1856 the province of Auckland exported on an average 1071 tons of kauri gum, valued at 16,985l., annually. This article is only exported from the northern provinces. Upwards of 200,000 letters and 400,000 newspapers passed through the post-offices. During five years the horses had increased four-fold, cattle three-fold, and sheep four-fold; there being in the colony in 1856, 9443 horses, 91,928 cattle, and 990,988 sheep. One pound of wheaten bread cost 4d at Wellington and 3 1/2d. at the other provinces. Beef was 8 1/2d. a pound at Nelson and 6d. a pound at Wellington. Mutton was 8d a pound at Auckland and 6d at Canterbury. The total revenue of the colony was 185,000l.; while ten years ago, in 1846, it was only 26,645l.;

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT.

an indication of prosperity no words can gainsay. 165 The administration of justice was creditably conducted: 28 persons were convicted of crimes before the supreme court, or one conviction in 1721 of the population. In the resident magistrates' courts 2005 Europeans were convicted, one half of drunkenness. 86 natives were convicted before the same tribunal; of whom 12 were convicted of assaults, 38 of drunkenness, and 25 of felony. 519 civil cases occurred between natives and Europeans, in most of which the Europeans sued the natives for payment of goods given on credit, 66 cases occurred between Maoris alone.

New Zealand in 1856 was a widely different place from what it was in 1842. The child had become a man proud of his increasing strength, and confident of a splendid future. Self-government had already diffused a spirit of enterprise, and almost extinguished that despicable class of politicians who obtained notoriety by virulent personal abuse of her Majesty's representative. No publication indicative of high intellectual cultivation or industry had yet issued from the colonial press, classics and mathematics were cultivated by few, and children reared in the colony possessed little grace and no refinement. Only one or two good pictures were to be found, and few colonists laid out parks or pleasure-grounds. The colonies, more frequently than England, were referred to by politicians; and Bancroft's history of the United States always brought a good price at book auctions. That civilisation which steam communication produces was yet unknown, few settlers had seen any other place but their own province, and many were

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1856.

completely ignorant of the development of the noble cities of Sydney and Melbourne.

On the Governor's return from an examination into the condition of the colony, he convened the General Assembly at Auckland; and opened the first session of the second parliament of New Zealand in April, with an address in which any definite indication of policy was studiously avoided. Only sixteen members of the present House of Representatives had seats in the last parliament, and all the six provincial superintendents were members of the present House, 23 were Englishmen, 8 were Irishmen, and 6 were Scotchmen; 14 were sheep-farmers and agriculturists, 7 were lawyers, 5 were merchants and traders, 2 were newspaper proprietors, 2 were resident magistrates, 4 were medical men and settlers, 1 was a crown-land commissioner, and 1 was a brigade-major. 17 of the representatives held appointments for which they received 8000l. annually from the colonial funds, 4 were in easy circumstances, the rest were men battling with the world for a livelihood. Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the tutor of New Zealand politicians, was not in the House, in consequence of severe indisposition.

Mr. Clifford of Wellington was again chosen speaker. Mr. Sewell of Canterbury, who had been sent for by the Governor previously to the meeting of the Assembly, carried through both houses a pension bill, giving to Dr. Sinclair, colonial secretary, Mr. Shepherd, colonial treasurer, and Mr. Swainson, attorney-general, two thirds of their salaries; after which he formed a responsible ministry, consisting of Mr. Dillon Bell of Wellington and Mr. Whitaker of Auckland. Mr. Sewell explained to the House that the policy of his ministry was to make

STRIFE FOR OFFICE.

New Zealand one colony, and prevent the provincial hexarchy becoming six weak republics. Dr. Campbell of Auckland moved an amendment condemning the ministerial policy as ignoring local self-government, the great principle of the Constitution Act, and substituting a central administration, which being carried by two votes, the ministers tendered their resignations; but the opposition could not find men to supply their places. In order to widen the breach and prevent the recurrence of such a strange state of things as the present, Mr. Fox of Wellington, the leader of the Provincialists, moved that two thirds of the customs revenue should be secured to the provinces, and that the general Government should receive 2s. 6d. for every acre of land sold, and no more. This being carried, the Sewell ministry resigned; and Mr. Fox took office as attorney-general and premier, Mr. John Hall of Canterbury as colonial secretary, and Mr. Charles Brown of Taranaki as colonial treasurer. Mr. Daldy of Auckland and Dr. Richardson of Nelson became ministers without office. Mr. Fox laid before parliament his policy, which differed very little from Mr. Sewell's. He stated that only a few urgent measures would be brought forward this session, and that next session, which would be held in twelve months, the real business of the country would be entered upon. But several members doubted the sincerity and the ability of this ministry; and Mr. Fox's ultra-provincial Wanganui hustings harangues were adduced in proof of the former of these propositions, and Mr. Treasurer Brown's financial statement of the latter. Two members having taken their seats since the last ministerial crisis, Mr. Stafford of Nelson moved an indirect vote of want of confidence in the ministry, which was carried by a

STAFFORD MINISTRY.

majority of one in a House of thirty-five members, and thus, after an eleven days' existence, died the Fox ministry.

Six weeks had been occupied in party warfare when Mr. E. W. Stafford formed a ministry without holding office himself. It consisted of Dr. Campbell of Auckland, like the premier, without office; Mr. Sewell, colonial treasurer; Mr. Whitaker, attorney-general; and Mr. E. W. Richmond of New Plymouth, colonial secretary. All the office-holders were lawyers; and Wellington, the province which had done most to obtain self-government for the colony, was not represented in the Stafford ministry. It was the policy of the present Government to leave to each province the largest amount of revenue raised in it, and to settle those financial difficulties which were tearing the colony asunder. To accomplish this Mr. Sewell proposed to negotiate three loans in England with the aid of the Imperial Government, the aggregate not exceeding 500,000l., to be paid off in thirty years; and a provisional loan of 100,000l. in the colony for immediate use, to be paid off in one or two years out of the other loans. The first loan was to be 200,000l., for the redemption of the New Zealand Company's debt; the second loan was to be 180,000l., to purchase native lands; and the third was 120,000l., for the liquidation of outstanding debts. Security was to be given for these loans on the general and territorial revenues. The Middle Island provinces were to be charged with the interest and payment of the first loan, in the following proportions: Nelson, 45,000l.; Canterbury, 77,000l.; Otago, 77,000l. The provinces of the North Island were burthened with the interest and payment of the second loan, and the third loan was

RESULTS OF SESSION.

to be paid out of the ordinary revenue. Four per cent was to be given for the money, and six per cent was to be paid annually to liquidate the interest and principal. 166

This financial scheme received much attention, and different opinions were held respecting it; perhaps the strongest evidence of its general fairness was afforded in the circumstance that men of opposite parties, and from different and the same provinces, were at issue among themselves concerning its advantages and disadvantages. It gradually however obtained the confidence of the public, passed the Assembly, and firmly established the Stafford ministry.

On the 16th of August 1856, after a session of 123 days, during which thirty-six bills were passed out of fifty-three discussed, parliament was prorogued. The most important of these acts were the Loan act; the Native Reserves act, which was a step towards the individualisation of property among the natives; the Counties act, a precursor of the counties, hundreds, and townships of Old England; the Bank Currency act, which unfettered monetary transactions; the Local Posts act, which encouraged social intercourse; the Land Claims act, which was an attempt to settle the grievances of the early land-claimants; and the Customs act, which, with some exceptions, affirmed the principle of taxing luxuries, and of admitting duty free most things difficult to estimate or tending to develope the resources of the country. Power was likewise asked to alter certain provisions of the Constitution Act. The Governor's salary was raised from 2500l. to 3500l. Money was voted for the promotion of steam communication. A

CHARACTER OF DEBATES.

honorarium of ll. a day was voted to the members of the General Assembly, who left their homes to attend their senatorial duties; which honorarium, with the members' passages to and from Auckland and other parliamentary expenses, cost the colony nearly 6000l.

An address was sent from the General Assembly congratulating her Majesty on the fall of Sebastopol, which the Queen received most graciously "from her most distant colony;" and the Secretary of State intimated that the Speakers of both Houses of the General Assembly were entitled to be styled "Honourable." But the settlers had already expressed their feelings towards the Crimean war by contributing to the Patriotic Fund the sum of 9000l., a subscription which amounted to four shillings from every white settler.

Such are the results of a session in which victory was won by the Centralists, while wearisome debates and provincial bickerings led the people to imagine their representatives spoke against time. Some members derived pleasure from political agitation, and others were affected with that mania for differing from every body which besets certain minds. Newspaper reporters condensed long speeches into a few lines, and when accused of not reporting fairly they confidently asserted that every fact stated was given; but Mr. Fitzherbert of Wellington said the condensed statements were coloured to suit party purposes, and asked the Government to pay people to furnish correct reports of the Assembly's proceedings. As lawyers abounded in the House, it was apparent that for some years these men would directly or indirectly rule the country. From the small number of members, some measures were settled out of doors and others by whispering within.

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT.

No subject could be mentioned without giving rise to debate. Nearly an entire day was wasted in discussing how two servants should be dressed; one party was for red cuffs and collars, which dress Mr. Fox characterised as a badge of domestic serfdom, insulting to a man who might be elected superintendent, and moved that the servants wear black suits with white ribands in one button-hole. The Speaker said, if this livery were adopted, the servants would be better dressed than the members; and a majority ultimately decided for red cuffs and collars, after the debate had cost the colony many suits.

From the limited number of members there were not materials for the formation of two ministries, and from the composition of the House a general feeling existed that it was ill fitted for the voting of public money; an opinion which the division among themselves of a large sum of money as a honorarium did not tend to remove. It was the payment of wages for attendance on the senate of ancient Athens, and the increase of petty paid officers, which changed a pure democracy into a corrupt faction; it is the payment of members in the United States Congress which has led to the insinuation that politicians who will receive money for one political service can be bribed to vote on other occasions. None of the Australian parliaments pay their members, and in America the payment is only given for 100 days.

The proper place for the seat of Government produced long debates in the Assembly of 1856. It was the policy of the United States to have the seat of Government where it would not be disturbed by the turmoil of commerce, or overawed by violence, but such considerations could have no weight in New Zealand. A

COLONIAL PRESS.

majority of the House of Representatives voted, either that Auckland should be the seat of Government, or that Auckland should have a Lieutenant-Governor, with alternate sittings of the General Assembly at Auckland, Wellington, and Nelson. The Auckland members opposed the Assembly meeting in the south, on the principle that where the parliament sat, there would the seat of Government actually be, and Auckland frequently asked for total separation from the other provinces. This is a question which can never be settled to the satisfaction of local interests; although, for many years to come, Auckland must continue to be the actual seat of Government, on account of its situation in the centre of the largest portion of the native population. By the aid of steam, its distance from the centre of the islands will soon become less apparent than it is now. Few European capitals stand in the centre of their respective countries, and Auckland holds nearly the same geographical position with regard to New Zealand which London holds to the United Kingdom.

The charge against the Auckland press of giving a partisan colouring to its reports was equally applicable to the whole press of New Zealand. If self-government had increased the circulation of these newspapers in the colony and in the United Kingdom, to which 50,000 were sent in 1857, it had also modified their tactics. Before the Constitution Act came in force the Governor was the centre of all praise and abuse; now each party abused the other, and the Governor sat enthroned in the midst in ease and dignity. In 1858 there were 15 newspapers published in the colony: two semi-weekly, and two weekly, at Auckland; two semi-weekly, at Wellington and Nelson; two weekly, at Canterbury and Otago; and

ENGLISH AND COLONIAL PRESS.

one weekly, at Taranaki, Wanganui, and Napier. It was observed that two papers in one settlement increased political agitation, and lessened hatred; while, in settlements where there was only one paper, the pent up feelings of the unrepresented portion of the community were with difficulty restrained, for politics in New Zealand are very differently managed from politics in England. In the old country, men give and take; in New Zealand, politics tear the community asunder, as most papers are worked at high pressure, and blows are struck at the tenderest parts of men's characters. Nevertheless the press abounds in talent, but it does not represent the mind of the colony so well as the English press does the people of England. There are several reasons for this. In England a proprietor of a newspaper is unknown out of his immediate circle of friends, and the articles in the paper express the sentiments of a section of the community, while in New Zealand a newspaper is always linked with its proprietor, and expresses his sentiments. The very independence of the press is injured by the articles not being sufficiently anonymous. Articles on mercantile, financial, and scientific affairs may be written by others, but the political leader expresses the mind of the proprietor. This gentleman is well known, is an important political character, and often a successful candidate for public honours. Thus in 1856 the six provincial superintendents were either directly or indirectly connected with the press; and it is absolutely necessary for all political aspirants, if they would achieve success, to connect themselves directly or indirectly with the fourth estate. It may be a mistake, but there is an impression on my mind that editors of newspapers hold

GOVERNMENT AND NATIVES.

a higher social position in England than in New Zealand, a result which is probably produced by the prominence of their position in the latter country, and the impossibility of preserving an incognito. An anonymous article like a leader in the Times, which cannot be interfered with by any disturbing personal feeling, carries conviction from the intrinsic force of the writing; but the power of an anonymous article in a New Zealand paper is seriously diminished, if not totally destroyed, by the impossibility of concealing the writer's name. The press is, however, the only literature in the colony. Two attempts were made to get up a Review at Wellington, but the articles lacked fire, variety, and originality; besides the settlers are yet too busy cutting roads, bridging gullies, and tending cattle and sheep, to find literature a necessary of life, and good literature only flourishes in the shade of luxury and opulence.

The management of the natives, like the seat of Government, was a subject frequently discussed by the press and the parliament of 1856. When responsible government was established, the Governor agreed to be guided in all public affairs by ministers, except in the purchase of land and the making of laws affecting the aboriginal native inhabitants. These subjects Governor Browne considered imperial questions, seeing they might lead to war. Several representatives, even after the ratification of this ministerial agreement, were for declining responsible government clogged with what they called unconstitutional restrictions; but others pointed out that the aborigines were not represented in the House, and that it was the very essence of responsible government for the ministers to represent those to

REPORT ON NATIVE AFFAIRS.

whom they were responsible. It was urged by persons who were for having the Governor supreme in native affairs, that the aborigines only knew the Governor, and that the native ministerial policy might change with every change of ministry; to which it was replied, that even if the ministers were supreme, the Governor would still be the executive officer, that hitherto the native policy had been changed by every Governor, and that there was more chance of permanency in a system in which five persons were concerned, than in one in which only a single person was concerned.

The difficulty was only got over by referring the question to the Secretary of State, who decided that the ministerial arrangement already made should be adhered to. But men not engaged in party strife treated the whole of this dispute as an idle quibble; because nothing could now be done in the colony for good or evil to the aborigines without money, and the ministers, not the Governor, held the colonial purse-strings. Had the Governor demanded 30,000l. annually for native purposes, before granting responsible government, then the restrictions he asked for might have had some practical meaning. The fact was, Governor Browne did not yet properly perceive that a Governor with responsible ministers is like the hinge of a door, and that the colonial office expected such governors to do their work without creaking.

It was now seen that the management of the natives was the great colonial difficulty, and Governor Browne assembled a Board soon after his arrival to inquire and report on native affairs. Before the Board men of both races were examined, but the strongly expressed evidence of several missionaries produced the most lively impres-

CONSISTENT CHRISTIANS.

sion on its members. 167 The consequence was that the Board, among other things, reported that "there had been a great falling away of the natives from the missionaries; that the people were divided into heathens, Christians, and consistent Christians; and that the Government should take upon itself the office of instructor, where the efforts of the missionaries necessarily ceased." Religion and labour, the religion of every-day life, according to this opinion were incompatible.

It is difficult to describe how consistent New Zealand Christians differed from Christians, in any other way than by the following sketch drawn up from nature. Tamihana, in the eyes of the resident missionary, was a consistent Christian, and happy man before commerce penetrated into his native district. His happiness was, however, more negative than positive. He rose with the sun, shook the fleas out of his mat, and joined the consistent Christians in prayer and praise. After a slight breakfast he squatted on his heels with his knees under his chin (an attitude which few Europeans can imitate), amongst others on the sunny side of his hut; and here he whiled away time in smoking, talking, and chewing the bituminous quid, until the sun and the flatness of his stomach whispered that the most important event of the day was near, before his slaves announced that the mid-day meal was ready. At this repast Tamihana eat like a serpent, and generally declared, with an expression of serene enjoyment when the food was finished, that his belly was full. Then he lit his pipe, and feeling like a gorged boa constrictor dropped insensibly into a

NATIVE LIFE BEFORE COMMERCE.

profound sleep. Awakened by the coolness of the evening, he strolled about the village, looking mournfully, for his clergyman told him it was wrong, at the young men and maidens dancing on the land or gamboling in the water; and admiring the gourds, melons, and sweet potatoes in the cultivations; until the broken pot used as a bell proclaimed that the hour for evening prayer had come, which summons never sounded in his ears in vain. Then supper was got ready, and Tamihana again stuffed himself to the gullet. As night closed in, he had a fire kindled on the mud floor of his hut, and the neighbours, like fleas, congregated about it. The door was shut, and the air became a vapour bath; pipes were set going, and the conversation flowed. They talked of the missionary who was the lord of the village, of religious matters, the probability of strife with their Roman Catholic neighbours, and other things called gossip, until the night was far gone. Gradually conversation subsided, visitor after visitor disappeared to his home, and Tamihana pulling his threadbare blanket over his head, and rolling himself up like a hedgehog, slept the sleep of infancy until morning.

This smoking, gorging, and ruminating existence Tamihana would have continued until he died, had not the English trader introduced clothes, shirts, sugar, tea, and various other articles, into the village. There were two ways of getting possession of these luxuries, one was selling land, the other was working, and Tamihana, like most of his countrymen, disliked both; but pride, and anxiety to be like the natives near the English settlements, forced Tamihana and others to cultivate more food than they could eat, for the purpose of purchasing these luxuries with the surplus. Every year Tamihana

NATIVE LIFE AFTER COMMERCE.

finds his wants increasing. The canoe is set aside for a schooner; a mill is required to grind the wheat; the wheat stubble cuts his feet and legs, and obliges him to wear shoes and trowsers when reaping; he finds that a compass enables him to shorten the passage to Auckland by sailing straight across the Bay of Plenty out of sight of land, that the excitement of a glass of grog is pleasant, and that a shirt next the skin generated fewer fleas than a blanket. Tamihana is now working hard between the handles of his plough, and he finds what were luxuries a few years ago are now necessaries; his wife never gives him peace if he returns from Auckland without several dresses for herself, and shoes, rice, and sugar for the children. Tamihana has less time for sleeping, ruminating, and gossiping than he had; he still continues his evening parties, but the conversation is not scandal now, but about the appearance of the crops, and the price of potatoes and wheat in the market. The old plan of seeing his guests' faces by the light of the fire is superseded by the brilliant glare of a tallow candle, and occasionally spirits are drunk. The missionary complains that Tamihana is not a consistent Christian, because he does not worship God publicly twice daily; although, like the white settlers, he goes to church on Sunday, and like them he probably feels religion in the stir and distraction of the field, the farm, and the sea.

Tamihana's dislike to sell land was now almost universal. Natives at Poverty Bay bought back from an Englishman for 400l. a piece of land sold to him long before for a trifle; and the Anti-landselling League, formed in 1854, had acquired extensive ramifications. At a meeting of several influential chiefs of the League near the residence of Iwikau on the Taupo lake, in December

MAORI KING ELECTED.

1856, it was decided, not however without opposition, that Tongariro should be the centre of a district in which no land was to be sold to the Government, and Hauraki, Waikato, Kawhia, Mokau, Ngatiruinui, Wanganui, Rangitikei, and Titio Kura the circumference; that the Queen should not be prayed for, that roads should not be made within this district, and that a king should be elected to rule over the New Zealanders as the Queen and Governor did over the settlers. In imitation of the Constitution Act, this meeting was called the Maori General Assembly, and was to be held annually.

In May 1857, the second session of the Maori parliament met on the banks of the Waikato river, and was attended by 2000 natives and several settlers. The flag given by King William IV. to the united tribes at the Bay of Islands was hoisted by one party, with the inscription, "Potatau, King of New Zealand," and the union jack by another party. Several days were spent in discussion, during which Iwikau Te Heu Heu demanded total separation between the two races, the erection of a native custom-house at Kawhia, and the ultimate expulsion of the settlers from New Zealand. Old Potatau Te Whero Whero, a pensioner of the British Government, was asked to accept the purple; and, although he declined the high office, he was hailed King of the Maori; prayers were offered up for his safe guidance, arms were presented in his honour by a body of drilled men, his flag was sent over the land to obtain the allegiance of distant tribes, 57l. were collected for him to uphold his dignity, and 100l. to establish a printing-press.

These political movements alarmed the Governor; an embankment was thrown up in front of the Govern-

UNEASINESS PRODUCED.

ment House, the 58th Regiment, on the eve of embarking for England, was detained in the colony, the colonial militia was put on a permanent footing, and the Governor was urged to seize Te Whero Whero. But the powerful Ngapuhi nation, and several old chiefs and settlers, described the movement as an enemy Don Quixote would alone enter the lists against, and that the best weapon was neglect. By some it was considered an indication of a falling back of the natives into barbarism, others hailed it as an impulse which, if properly directed, would promote progressive civilisation, and if injudiciously managed might engender strife, while all admitted it to be an attempt to revive the declining influence of the Maori race in the eyes of the Government. Colonel Browne, wisely acting on this advice, paddled up the Waikato river, where he was waited on by King Te Whero Whero, received several loyal addresses, and many requests for the enactment of some laws similar to those in force among the English, so as to put down several social feuds which were rending the people asunder, and which might ultimately terminate in bloodshed.

At this critical juncture four successful attempts by Europeans at smuggling fire-arms for native use became known to the Government, and from the island of Kauau several tons of gunpowder were stolen by the natives living near Coromandel, and only restored after much entreaty. It was now represented that Governor Grey's Arms Ordinance, which prevented the purchase of fire-arms by the aborigines, was not only useless but injurious, in consequence of which Governor Browne, with the advice of his ministers, relaxed it, and gave the natives permission, under certain circumstances, to buy

ARMS ACT RELAXED.

guns and powder. 168 Immediately on the promulgation of this proclamation gun-shops were opened by Europeans in different settlements, and before the expiration of six months several thousand stand of arms and much powder were sold to the aborigines. Every vessel from Australia brought cheap guns for the Maori trade, and Government was deceived as to the quantity actually sold.

While this arming of the natives was going on, an uneasy feeling spread among the white settlers in remote districts; old colonists remembering the conflicts at the Wairau, Kororareka, and Wanganui, begged the Governor not to forget their defenceless position and the recent Sepoy massacres in India; and politicians pointed out the inconsistency of keeping up a large military force in the colony and permitting the natives to arm. These just representations had no influence on the Governor and his ministers; but one of the money-making gun-smiths purchased a large stock of old militia muskets, and after repairing the locks, offered them for sale at a cheap rate to the out-settlers. 169 At the meeting of the General Assembly of 1858 a committee of the House of Representatives was appointed to inquire into the propriety of relaxing the Arms Ordinance, which after much conflicting evidence reported that it would now be unwise to stop the sale, but that no further relaxation should be granted. The duty on fire-arms was increased, and difficulties thrown in the way of native purchase, but before these steps were taken many thousand pounds were spent on guns by the aborigines,

IMPOLICY OF RELAXATION.

which but for the relaxation would have been spent on implements of agriculture.

During the early days of New Zealand the introduction of fire-arms promoted peace and civilisation, in its present state, the natives would be better subjects, and the Queen's law would run better through the land, if they were entirely without them, a consummation Governor Grey's Act was doing much to promote. Men differ about their civilisation, but all agree that, away from the settlements, the New Zealanders of the present day resemble, in obedience to England, the ancient dwellers on the Scottish border and the Welsh marches. In Algeria, the French found it necessary to disarm the Arabs, before they became quiet and turned to husbandry. The first step to civilise turbulent men is to deprive them of the means of injuring others. We who disarmed Ireland directly should never hesitate to disarm the New Zealanders indirectly, when the smell of powder is associated among them with legends of rapine and murder. No country can prosper with a few petty armed tyrants; and there must always exist a feeling of insecurity, so long as a hundred natives possess more fire-arms than ten thousand settlers.

As if to show the evil of letting the natives acquire fire-arms, two subdivisions of the Ngati Kahungunu nation, in August 1857, fought a battle in which eight men were slain and sixteen wounded. The remote cause of strife was a dispute relative to the division of money paid by Government for land, the immediate cause was a foul speech. One party alluding to this bargain said, "as Te Hapuku has sold the forest, he must in future cook his food with his ancestors' bones." When that intelligent warrior was reasoned with on the impropriety

NATIVE FEUD AT HAWKE'S BAY.

of shedding blood for idle words, he replied, "A blow is soon forgotten, but an insulting speech lives for ever." He then built a pa on land to which he had a doubtful right.

Moanui, the leader of the opposing party, now declared that "either Te Hapuku must be killed, or he must retire to his own land up the country;" after which he besieged Te Hapuku. During the war both parties professed friendship for the white settlers; and Moanui addressed a letter to the Hawke's Bay Herald in reply to some remarks on the probable effects of the conflict on the settlers, in which occurred the following remarkable passage: "Hear us, you have nothing to fear from us. Do you suppose that we are so fond of fighting that we are anxious to have two enemies, the Pakeha as well as Te Hapuku? No, our own quarrel is sufficient; let the settlers remain in peace amongst us. We would not act treacherously towards the people who have brought good to our country; were we to turn on them we should be shutting up the road by which we receive many advantages."

For several months the siege continued, and various skirmishes occurred. At length it became obvious that Te Hapuku and his people would be massacred, to prevent which calamity the Governor, in February 1858, despatched 280 men of the 65th Regiment, under Colonel Wyatt, to Port Napier. The landing of this force in the immediate neighbourhood of the combatants moderated Moanui's demands, and at the intercession of Mr. Donald M'Lean a fortnight's armistice was agreed on, during which it was arranged Te Hapuku was to march out of his pa with the honours of war. Then the bones of the dead were dug up, the goods and chattels

RENEWAL OF FEUD AT TARANAKI.

of the people put on board canoes, and the pa fired. During the conflagration guns were discharged, women and children wept at leaving their homes, and Moanui in a chivalrous spirit set part of his fortifications on fire. Te Hapuku, surrounded with his tribe, paddled up the river, and took possession of his hereditary lands at Pukawa. Subsequently a formal declaration of peace was made, at which thirty stand of arms and a large quantity of ammunition were presented by one party in exchange for some horses, in token of mutual sincerity. Towards the termination of the contest in Hawke's Bay, hostilities were renewed at Taranaki from the following cause. Katatore felt that the peace of 1856 was made with his tribe and not with him, that he was an outlaw in the eyes of many of his own race, and in consequence he never ventured out of his village unarmed. To alter this unhappy position he tried to obtain the friendship of Government by offering to sell the land which had caused the war in 1854; and with this object he visited the town of New Plymouth unarmed. When returning home he and his half-brother were shot, tomahawked, and murdered on the high road by Ihaia, Arama Karaka's successor. In revenge Katatore's friends murdered two of Ihaia's tribe, and Ihaia, dreading a more bloody revenge, fled from his village and intrenched himself in a naturally strong post called Karaka, on the north bank of the Waitara river. Boundless was the rage of Katatore's tribe at Ihaia's escape, and in their fury they burned his deserted village, bullock-carts, ploughs, and farming implements, tomahawked his pigs, and carried away his horses. Then William King, their leader, besieged Ihaia's stockade, and proclaimed that "Ihaia, Nikorima, and Pukere, when caught, should be

TACTICS DURING FEUD.

suspended over a slow fire, like the three men of old whom Nebuchadnezzar commanded to be cast into the fiery furnace; even as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall it be with Ihaia, Nikorima, and Pukere."

Government was roused by these proceedings, more particularly as Katatore was slain on Queen's land, and in the immediate neighbourhood of settlers' houses. A proclamation was issued denouncing all natives assembled in arms within a certain distance of New Plymouth as Queen's enemies; 300 militiamen were drilled, and all the troops in the colony held in readiness to move on New Plymouth, not to mingle in the strife, but to prevent the shedding of blood on the Queen's land.

The settlers in New Plymouth accused the Government of pusillanimity in not putting an end to the strife by force, but the Governor adopted the neutral policy so wisely commenced by Colonel Wynyard. Meanwhile William King's party kept up a close blockade of Ihaia's stockade at Karaka; and, being unable to form a breach, he collected fire-wood to set it on fire; Ihaia and sixteen other men of valour, seeing escape almost hopeless, offered to surrender themselves into the hands of the British Government, if the soldiers would protect their women and children; but when he was told that he would probably be hung by the English for murdering Katatore on the Queen's land, his tribe determined to die like warriors with arms in their hands and not like dogs. In despair he now tried a stratagem. In the darkness of night he and his people fled to the bush, whence the warriors returned silently one by one into the pa, concealing themselves there, and into this trap William King would assuredly have fallen had it not been for a European who told him of it.

NEW ZEALAND FLAX.

William King, however, learned wisdom from this escape; he saw that despair had rendered his enemy powerful, and he abated his demands. Both parties were now tired of strife; and as Ihaia saw there was no hope of obtaining aid from the English, he left his pa on the Waitara river, and, accompanied by his kindred, settled on land near Mokau, where they now live unmolested. The feud, however, is not settled; the cessation of hostilities is more an armistice than a peace, and its permanence will only be secured by the Government purchasing the disputed lands.

These native feuds exercised little influence on the prosperity or happiness of the settlers. But a commercial depression which spread over the North Island in 1856, in consequence of a portion of the Australian gold-diggers having turned farmers, did. In 1855 nearly 91,000l. worth of potatoes were exported from New Zealand, while in 1856 there were only 19,000l. 170 Farmers who expected to realise handsome fortunes after the harvest of 1856, were now left with large stores of potatoes worth 3l. a ton. Other exports were now required by the settlers, and England's war with Russia again drew attention to the celebrated New Zealand flax plant. All the plans hitherto tried for extracting the gum without injuring the fibre had failed, and these experiments were not made in one locality or by inexperienced men. Before the nineteenth century had commenced, the flax was cultivated and experimented upon in Ireland, France, and New South Wales, and in 1831, a manufactory was unsuccessfully established in Yorkshire, for converting it into cloth. Professor

ONLY ONE SPECIES OF FLAX.

Lindley gives the comparative strength of its fibres as follows: –

Silk.....34
New Zealand flax . . . .23
European hemp . . . .16
European flax . . . .11

This long period of ill success damped but did not quench the ardour of experimentalists, and when the Russian flax rose in value in the English market, several enthusiastic men announced that they had discovered the true plan of cleaning the flax. As none of them would make their plans known, the Government offered a reward of 4000l. to the discoverer of a method of clearing the flax of its gum; but in 1859, no person had yet come forward to claim the reward, and as a proof that none of their plans were very successful, but little was exported.

One thing is now clear, men who intend to manufacture flax must not trust to the wild plant, but must cultivate it themselves. The natives state there are ten different varieties, each of which was formerly celebrated for making different kinds of mats: but it is important to notice that eight of these supposed varieties are merely alterations produced by soil and culture. There is in reality only one species, and of this there are two varieties; one of these has a yellow, the other a red flower. The flax obtained from the yellow-flowered plant, most frequently found in the southern parts of the North Island, is firmer than that yielded by the larger red-flowered plant so common at the Bay of Islands, although both plants flourish best in the northern parts of the North Island. It is worthy of remark, that the plant is indigenous in Norfolk Island, and that it does

GOLD AT NELSON.

not grow in New Zealand further south than the 47th degree of latitude. 171

The sudden demand for Kauri gum in the English market in 1856, diminished somewhat the commercial depression in the province of Auckland; and the discovery of gold at Nelson had a similar result in that province. It was in 1854 that the first specks of gold were seen at Nelson, and it was in 1857 that several ounces were found in the bed of the Aorere river, nearly opposite to the spot where Tasman anchored his vessels. Almost coincident with this great discovery, gold was likewise detected at the other extremity of the Middle Island, in what is called the Bluff district in the province of Otago. In both places the precious metal was deposited in the beds of rivers, generally in grains, and occasionally in small nuggets. It was only, however, at Nelson, that it was successfully worked, and during the year ending December 1858, 92,104l. worth of gold was exported, besides a considerable quantity sent away privately. 172

From all the other settlements in the colony, and from Australia, a small stream of emigration set into Nelson, in consequence of this gold discovery. The province of Wellington, which had spent several thousands of pounds in paying the passage of emigrants from England, was deprived of many of them on their arrival by the attraction of the Nelson gold fields; and the Provincial Council of that province, in a spirit worthy of the most despotic ages, passed an act, which was disallowed by the Governor, for the purpose of preventing certain

REPRESENTATIVES IN PARLIAMENT.

settlers leaving the province without the superintendent's sanction.

As indications of gold existed along the whole of the western coast of the Middle Island, the previous extinction of the native title to the land, so ably managed by Mr. M'Lean, was a subject of congratulation to the Government and the settlers at this critical period.

Several successful colonists from New Zealand had now returned to England, where they met richer and greater men similarly situated from Australia, and readily joined them in acknowledging their uncomfortable position in the mother-country; without influence, and as solitary in the streets of London as if they were counting their sheep in the Wairau, or dragging the giant Kauri trees out of the magnificent forests around Mahurangi. To remove this unpleasant state of things several schemes suggested themselves; one was representation of the colonies in parliament, another the creation of a colonial peerage and the establishment of colonial clubs.

The first of these plans for giving a position and a name to men of colonial influence and wealth in England was tried, and at the opening of the new parliament of 1857 at Westminster, several petitions were presented from men of Australian fame for representation of the colonies in the English Parliament. Various arguments were adduced in favour of the scheme, but among those against it one appeared to all sensible men insurmountable. Representation for the colonies in the English Parliament was opposed to that self-government they had so long and so anxiously demanded; and the settlers were not likely, merely to gratify the pride of a few wealthy colonists, to become integral

COLONIAL PEERAGE – CLUBS.

parts of the empire at the price of bearing a part in its defence.

The second plan was the creation of a colonial peerage, which was not without precedent, as the Governor of Maryland had been empowered to grant patents of nobility: 173 but the history of the Nova Scotia baronets and other circumstances led to the conclusion that her Majesty's Government is not likely to adopt this scheme. Ministers seem to have no objection to confer personal, not hereditary, distinctions on colonists, provided they live where they have made their money. Already twenty or thirty colonists have been knighted, and some have been made baronets; one of the last knights gazetted being Charles Clifford, Esq., the popular speaker of the House of Representatives of New Zealand.

The formation of colonial clubs in London was unsuccessfully tried twenty years ago, but now that the colonists settled in and resorting to England are more numerous and rich, this scheme may succeed in giving a local habitation and a name to men who, having fought the battle of life successfully at the antipodes, now find themselves in the autumn of life, unconsidered strangers in the land of their birth.

The Church of England, that strongest link in the chain which binds the colonist to his mother country, had not yet taken firm root in the new soil. It existed, was served by bishops, archdeacons, and priests of mark and promise, and possessed a laity which in numbers, wealth, and social influence exceeded that of all the other churches put together; still it was without

CHURCH OF ENGLAND IN COLONY.

efficient organisation in the midst of the well managed Roman Catholic, Wesleyan, and Scotch churches. Bishop Selwyn, sensible of the weakness produced by this state of things, complained with deep emotion of his flock's lukewarmness, and they whispered in extenuation of their conduct that they objected to exclusive clerical rule in church management.

The members of the Roman Catholic church in New Zealand, although strong advocates of political freedom, bowed to the authority of a priesthood they revered, and with whom they regarded it wrong to dispute; the Church of Scotland, from the democracy of its constitution, found there a congenial soil; 174 while the Wesleyan Church, from its admirable system of government suited for home or abroad, had achieved conspicuous success, and rode in advance of the wave of civilisation. But the English Church did not flourish, and the reason was obvious. At home it is supported by endowments and dignities which enable the clergy to rule, and make them leaders rather than servants of the laity; in New Zealand there are few dignities and endowments; and, as the lay members have no faith in the infallibility of their priesthood, they wished to have some share in the management of a church they as yet chiefly supported.

The bishop, perceiving this feeling, purchased and procured grants of land in the colony for endowments, which will enable unborn priests to revel in luxuries he voluntarily denied himself; and in 1854 he visited England to obtain from her Majesty a government for the Church in New Zealand. But the Secretary of

CHURCH CONVENTION – BISHOPS.

State informed him that the settlers had now the law in their own hands, and that a church constitution, if necessary, must originate with the colonial parliament. 175

In May 1857, after Bishop Selwyn's return, a convention of the English Church was held at Auckland for the purpose of settling what should be done. The assembly, presided over by Bishop Selwyn, and composed of the Bishop of Christchurch, five archdeacons, two priests, and seven laymen, met in a private chapel in Judge's Bay. No interest was taken in its proceedings by the public; and the future rule of the spiritual class was indicated by a monkish-looking French lamp suspended from the ceiling of the chapel, and boldly declared by a resolution that in all questions the bishops should vote in one order, the clergy in another, and the laity in a third, and that a majority of the orders was required to carry any question. After much discussion various resolutions were affirmed, and a question was mooted, unexpected from such a body, regarding the proper course in the event of a separation of New Zealand from England. It was likewise decided that a general convention of the representatives for the English Church should meet at Wellington in 1859, and that application should be made to the General Assembly to legalise a constitution.

In 1858 New Zealand was erected into a province with four bishops, over which Bishop Selwyn presided as metropolitan; and at the meeting of the General Assembly in 1858 a bill was passed enabling the Church of England to hold property. 176 No legislation, the Assembly affirmed, was required to enable the members

GENERAL ASSEMBLY, 1858.

of that Church to meet and form laws for their own government, like the members of other churches. It was evident, from some circumstances which occurred during the debate, and the alterations made in the bill, that Bishop Selwyn aimed at the reproduction of the English system in New Zealand. But sensible and religious men pointed out that this was impossible; doctrine and polity are transferable, old customs are not. No new colony has yet formed an established church, and it is a general feeling among the settlers that the less a church has to do with the state the better.

On the 10th of April 1858, the second session of the second parliament was opened at Auckland, after two adjournments in consequence of the non-arrival of the Speaker of the House of Representatives and several of the southern members. There were only sixteen members of the House of Representatives and the Speaker present at its opening, just enough to form a quorum; nine were from Auckland, one from Nelson, two from New Plymouth, one from Wellington, three from Canterbury, and one from Otago. Fourteen of the absent members sent in their resignations, a movement made on the part of some of the southern members for the purpose of showing the necessity of holding the General Assembly at Wellington or Nelson. The Legislative Council mustered thirteen members. Colonel Wynyard, C.B., and Chief Justice Arney had seats in this chamber.

The Governor, with his hat on, read the opening speech, which for the first time was admitted to be the speech of the ministry. It was in length and character between a Queen's speech and an American President's message, and stated that the loan of 500,000l. had been

BILLS PASSED.

obtained in the English money market through the instrumentality of the imperial guarantee and Mr. Sewell; that all the acts of the last session, but the Scrip Act and the Waste Lands Act, had been approved of by her Majesty; that the presence of gold at Nelson was a fact; that 1,000,000 acres of land had been purchased from the aborigines since last session; that the natives were quiet, although a movement relating to their social organisation was prevalent among them; and that steam communication would soon be established between the colony and Australia, and between the respective provinces.

In both houses friendly addresses were carried, and during the first four weeks public business was conducted without dividing, as the absence of a single member at a division caused a count out. On the arrival of several additional representatives from the southern provinces, and thence till the end of the session, the debates were chiefly conspicuous for verbose speeches, unadorned with wit or eloquence, and occasionally painfully devoid of wisdom. In consequence of the continued absence of all the Wellington members, save Mr. Clifford, the speaker, the session was distinguished by entire freedom from party strife; and ministers, knowing their places could not be supplied from among the members present, pettishly declared they would resign if their measures were not passed. But the Stafford ministry deserved political confidence, for every member of it did his best for the public good and the welfare of both races; and some idea of their industry may be formed from the fact that in the General Assembly of 1858 eighty-eight bills were initiated, seventy assented to by the Governor, ten reserved for her Majesty's assent, three lapsed in the

NATURE OF LEGISLATION.

Legislative Council, one lapsed in the House of Representatives, two were withdrawn, and one negatived.

Although several of these bills require amendment, all were necessary; and the united legislation of the session indicates a breadth and sagacity of mind highly creditable to colonial statesmen. The bill making each province bear its own burthens, will prevent unseemly scrambles for money. Vote by ballot was thrown out after a well-sustained debate. Several office-holders were rendered unfit to hold seats in the House of Representatives and Provincial Councils, to get rid of the unconstitutional spectacle of members voting money for themselves. The Waste Lands Act of 1858 was required in consequence of the disallowance of that of 1856. By it the Provincial Councils are prohibited from altering their land regulations without the consent of the Greneral Assembly; a necessary enactment, as one of the candidates for the office of superintendent in Wellington in 1857 had proposed, if elected, to give every male adult in the province forty acres of land, and run-holders the right of purchasing 5000 acres, with twenty years' credit. A commissioner of waste lands was appointed, with a seat in the ministry. The Waste Lands Act of 1858 was also disallowed by her Majesty, because some of the provinces gave land away for nothing, thus lessening according to the colonial minister the security upon which the Government raised half a million for the colony, – a narrow-sighted view of a truly conservative land code, which it is hoped may yet be preserved in the colony. The number of representatives was increased from thirty-seven to forty-one. The difficulty of defining the functions of the General and Provincial Governments forced the General Assembly to take upon themselves the settlement of several important ques-

CONDUCT OF SUPERINTENDENTS.

tions, upon which it was essential that legislation should be uniform; the chief of these were, the administration of justice, and postal communication. The electoral laws were revised and new electoral districts constituted, to afford the increasing wealth and population of the districts that share in the government of the colony to which they were entitled. The name of the province of New Plymouth was changed to that of Taranaki; and the estimates were passed for two years.

One of the most useful measures of the session was the New Provinces Bill, which enabled the Governor to create new provinces by dividing the old ones. Several circumstances in the working of the provincial governments had already converted provincialists into centralists. Some of these peculiarities referred to the conduct of the superintendents, others to their councils.

The superintendents' failings were neither few nor small. In the larger provinces these gentlemen, in order to obtain their position, made profuse promises, which they were utterly unable to fulfil, and hence the hour of victory was frequently the beginning of defeat. The acrimony with which these contests were carried on was intense, and at Wellington politics were carried up to the magistrates' bench; one gentleman having been dismissed from the commission of the peace for this disgraceful practice. 177 Besides, several superintendents comported themselves very unlike sensible men; for example, one had the presumption to address his council seated, others spent money without an appropriation act, others set law at defiance to serve a political purpose, and all, surrounded with an executive council, mocked royalty, and assumed airs few independent men could tolerate.

CONDUCT OF PROVINCIAL COUNCILS.

The provincial councils were not blameless. Each mimicked the House of Commons, each included an opposition more personal than political, and in all common sense was occasionally forgotten in party strife. Thus, in 1857, the Auckland Council sat one day with locked doors for twenty-four hours, and consumed thirty-six hours at the next sitting, for the purpose of forcing the speaker to put a question he considered illegal. At first the public laughed at their representatives in council assembled playing cards, smoking, and preventing each other by monkey tricks from sleeping; but they afterwards contemptuously insulted them by pitching cats and dogs through the windows, and some they might have tarred and feathered had not the superintendent wisely prorogued the council. From these disturbances the provincial governments always freed themselves after an election; still the community was torn asunder with politics before they did free themselves; and portions of the funds were indirectly spent for political purposes in the immediate neighbourhood of towns, and petitions came up to the general Government from Hawke's Bay and the Bluff, for separation from the provinces of Wellington and Otago; and one of the reasons assigned for this request was, that the settlers had not a proper share of the expenditure.

Provincial governments were unable to check these backslidings of the superintendents and the councils, as both derived their power directly from the people – each could impede public business, and both were independent of each other. These governments, in short, were like masts with one stay, and the best men were withdrawing from the political arena, from unwillingness to scramble for office amidst abuse and slanderous insinuations.

Various schemes were proposed to alter this condition

NEW PROVINCES BILL.

of things; one was the nomination of the superintendents by the Crown., another the reduction of their powers, and a third that the superintendents should sit as speakers in their own councils. The Stafford ministry, acting on the constitutional principle of giving to distant localities that local self-government the people claimed, and which was indirectly denied them, carried through the General Assembly the Provinces Bill, which effectually diminished the power of the superintendents by increasing the number of provinces. In that bill it is enacted that 1000 inhabitants on an area of 500,000 acres, with no part of its boundary within sixty miles of any of the present provincial capitals (this does not apply to Nelson nor New Plymouth), and having a port through which the bulk of its exports and imports are carried, shall, on the petition of two thirds of the registered electors, be formed into a province; that the superintendent of the new province is to be elected by the council instead of by the electors, and that he is not to have the power of assenting to bills, but must refer them to the Government.

In November 1858, Hawke's Bay, in virtue of this bill, was declared the seventh province of New Zealand; and already the provincial council of Auckland have petitioned that their superintendent shall be elected out of the council, and not by the people.

Four acts passed the General Assembly of 1858 for the purpose of extending English law, self-government, and civilisation among the aborigines; and 14,000l. were appropriated for schools and other purely native purposes.

Two of these acts were connected with jurisprudence; for it was universally observed that progressive civilisation and Christianity had almost destroyed the tapu, or that native code by which chiefs formerly ruled their

LEGISLATION FOR NATIVES.

tribes; and, as the Queen's law did not run in purely native districts, feuds, indirectly caused by this absence of all legislative restraint, were smouldering among the people and engendering strife.

Over the whole country, save a small portion around Taupo, the natives wished in their hearts to have the law of England brought to their doors; nevertheless, in the opinion of ministers, it was, though advancing, making but slow progress. In 1854, thirty-one purely native cases were tried by the resident magistrates' courts in the colony, and in 1856 the numbers had risen to sixty-six. Governor Grey's friends, forming the great part of the missionary body, said that one generation was a short period in a people's history in which to effect a change in their laws; and that the Government had not worked the Resident Magistrates Act, by appointing magistrates and assessors over the length and breadth of the land. Ministers, on the other hand, asserted that the slow diffusion of English law arose from the fact that the proper mode of twining it about the people's hearts had never been adopted.

Trial by jury, that great institution which materially assisted in transforming the Saxon hordes into civilised communities, was the plan Mr. Richmond proposed as a means of elevating the New Zealanders. The Native Circuits' Court Act was therefore passed for establishing among the aborigines this noble English usage, while the Native Districts Regulation Act, in which trial by jury was also included, gave the Government the power of making laws in native districts on matters relating to the social economy and special wants of communities. In no part of the colony were these acts to be forced upon the natives, they were only to be pro-

TRIAL BY JURY.

claimed lawful when a majority of the people consented to receive them.

In spirit these two acts are admirable, whether they are practicable, white men long acquainted with the natives doubt. Administered by calm intelligent Englishmen, golden harvests may be reaped from them; in the hands of irritable and tactless magistrates the law of England may be brought into discredit and the peace of the colony imperilled. There are two great imperfections in the bills. Hitherto the New Zealanders have looked up to the English for religious instruction and English law; now a jury composed of men who may have been slaves can be called on to decide trifling matters indirectly affecting the honour and property of chiefs. It is to be hoped, however, the Queen's law, on the most trifling affair, will not be interpreted for some years by a native assessor without the aid of a European magistrate. Again, these acts savour of class legislation, a mischievous sort of government which tends to perpetuate distinctions between the races. In purely local affairs hereditary and local divisions will impede the usefulness and safety of trial by jury for at least one generation; but for the sake of justice and peace I trust that many years will not elapse before New Zealanders are found on all supreme court juries, when cases affecting the lives and property of natives are under trial. It is in such cases, and on this great stage, that the future battle of the races will be fought. Whether the settler who has slain the native, or the native who has murdered the settler, is to be hung, is the one great touchstone of the impartiality of the law; and until New Zealanders form part of the tribunals before which such cases are brought, it is apparent that the trial by jury awarded to

OPPOSITION TO NATIVE BILLS.

the aborigines in the Native Circuits' Court Act will be deemed by some analogous to the worthless beads navigators pitch to savages.

The other two native bills which passed the General Assembly of 1858 were solely brought forward for the civilisation of the aborigines. One, the Territorial Rights Bill, was intended to further the individualisation of property; the other, the Bay of Islands Settlement Bill, was an attempt to induce the natives to take lands with crown letters, in lieu of lands now in their common possession elsewhere. Both aim at eradicating that community of property which checks the energies of the active, and encourages the idleness of the lazy. The Governor opposed these bills on account of the doubtful legality of some of their provisions, and they were consequently reserved for her Majesty's assent. This was given to the latter, but the royal assent was withheld from the Territorial Rights Bill, because, among other reasons, it endangered the peace of the colony; 178 an objection equally applicable to the whole native legislation.

These four bills passed unanimously through the House of Representatives; in the Legislative Council they were violently opposed, because the "Governor in Council" was invested with powers which, in the opinion of the Legislative Council, the Governor should alone exercise, and the bills were only carried by ministers threatening to resign if they were rejected. Mr. Swainson and Colonel Wynyard thought these bills endangered the peace of the colony; to which the ministers replied that they were only permissive. It is highly creditable to

DISCOVERY OF COAL.

the philanthropy of this ministry that they laboured to initiate a civilising native policy which threatened their own political existence, for a race of men by whose hands the prime minister had a relative slain in the fatal Wairau massacre. During the whole session perfect harmony existed between both Houses on every subject save native questions; and an illegal and ungenerous attempt on the part of ministers, though prompted by good motives, to disfranchise all natives, unless they held land under crown grants, was defeated in the Legislative Council by the firmness of Major Kenny and Mr. Swainson.

On the 21st of August, after the session had extended over 133 days, the Governor prorogued the Assembly, and it was stated that the next meeting was to be held in Wellington in 1860.

More important for New Zealand than the detection of gold in its rocks and rivers was the discovery of coal at Nelson, Otago, and Auckland, the extremities and the middle of the colony. At the two former of these localities, it had been known to exist for some time; at Auckland coal was discovered in 1858, just when steam communication between the colony and Australia, and between the different provinces, was on the eve of commencing: and in sufficient time to accompany the people of Sydney's magnificent offer of 50,000l. a year for steam communication with England via Panama. The latter route must soon triumph, unless the Great Eastern should render it unnecessary; and it is difficult to foretell the advantages New Zealand and steam navigation will derive from these intermediate coaling stations.

Practical engineers have tested the coal, and pro-

CENSUS OF NATIVES.

nounced it highly valuable for steam and manufacturing purposes, and steamers have already successfully used it. All the specimens yet raised have been surface coal, and belong to what geologists call the tertiary formation. In the province of Auckland veins extend from the Waikato heads to Cape Rodney. 179

Although several enumerations of the European population of the colony had been made, no census, except local ones, had yet been taken of the natives, from fear of exciting their suspicions. Dr. Forster, in 1770, estimated them at 100,000; the early missionaries at 150,000; Governor Grey, in 1849, at 105,000; and Mr. M'Lean, in 1853, at 60,000. Observant travellers pronounced all these estimates, save the last, exaggerations; and the natives, when appealed to for information, admitted their ignorance, and stated that, when they did count themselves, they, like the Israelites of old, never reckoned the women and children, only men able to bear arms.

In 1858 an estimated census of the native population was made by intelligent European and native enumerators, at the request of Governor Browne, and the conclusion arrived at was that it amounts to 56,049, thus distributed: –

In the Province of Auckland there are 38,269 natives.
" " Wellington " 7,983 "
" " Taranaki " 3,015 "
" " Hawke's Bay " 3,789 "
" " Nelson " 1,120 "
" " Canterbury " 638 "
" " Otago " . . 525 "
" " Stewart's Island " 200 "
" " Chatham Island " 510 "

PROGRESS OF PROVINCES.

It will be seen from this census that only 2283 natives live in the Middle Island, 710 in Stewart's and Chatham Islands, and all the rest in the North Island; and that upwards of two thirds of them reside in the northern half of the North Island. Most of the villages are situated on the sea coast, on the banks of rivers, and around the margins of lakes; and each village has a population varying from twenty souls up to 1500. According to the census a great disproportion of the sexes exists; there being 31,667 males to 24,303 females; 180 in other words, in every 100 of the population there are 57 males and only 43 females. The census also shows a great increase of social wealth among the people.

Rivalry conduces to exertion, and the rivalry amongst the settlements has materially tended to promote their mutual prosperity; a statistical comparative description of the progress of each during the last few years cannot fail, therefore, of proving both useful and interesting.

With regard to population, it will be seen, Table XVI. in the Appendix, that during the seven years ending December 1858, the increase in each province has been as follows: –

Auckland has increased . . . 8747 persons.
Taranaki " . . .1120 "
Wellington " ... 6833 "
Nelson " ... 4985 "
Canterbury " ... 5694 "
Otago " . . .5168 "

Over the whole colony the increase has been 32,547, or 121 per cent, equivalent to a doubling of the people every five years. Auckland still continues to attract most emigrants to its shores.

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS.

The commercial prosperity of the provinces may be drawn from the value of their imports and exports, and these are well shown in Table X.

Political economists, who draw conclusions concerning the prosperity of countries from the amount of money the people expend on articles of usefulness and gratification, will be pleased to observe how steadily the imports are increasing, and that in 1857 they amounted to nearly 1,000,000l. The province of Auckland takes one third of the imports, next comes Wellington, and then Canterbury; Taranaki takes least. Reckoning the European and Native population at 100,000, each person consumes 9l. worth of foreign commodities. The chief articles imported are apparel, sugar, tobacco, spirits, cattle, sheep, and almost everything, save potatoes, flour, and fuel, required by civilised men.

The exports present materials for reflection. Auckland takes the lead, and exports upwards of 100,000l. worth of articles; Otago exports the least. Agricultural produce, timber, and Kauri gum are Auckland's chief exports; and in 1854, these amounted to nearly 200,000l. worth, consequent on the sudden influx of population to the newly discovered gold regions in Australia. The rapid strides Canterbury, Nelson, and Otago are making in sheep farming will soon place the exports from these provinces far above their present amount; while Nelson, in addition to wool, will export gold.

With what rapidity the settlers are increasing in social wealth may be inferred from Table XVII. Canterbury and Wellington present the greatest increase in sheep and cattle, Auckland and Taranaki the least.

The agricultural prosperity of each province is shown

GENERAL PROGRESS OF COLONY.

in Table XVIII. There the number of acres under cultivation by settlers during the seven years ending 1858 is given; and a better idea of the progress of each settlement in this respect will be formed from the fact that the total cultivated acres increased during seven years

In the Province of Auckland

47,058 acres

" " Wellington

21,127 "

" " Taranaki

8,397 "

" " Canterbury

13,133 "

" " Otago

8,305 "

" " Nelson

12,455 "

Auckland, according to this return, is far in advance of all the other provinces. Sheep and cattle may die, but a desert converted into a cultivated field seldom relapses into a waste if the foot of man continues to tread upon it.

In most colonies few think of education, all are bent on wealth, and the instruction given to the young consists almost entirely in the knowledge which conduces to its acquisition. It is pleasing to gather from Table XIX. that a great advance in the instruction of the people has been made since 1851. In 1857, Nelson, Taranaki, and Canterbury, were the best educated provinces; Otago and Wellington the least.

In the whole colony in 1857: –

25 persons out of a hundred . cannot read.
13 " " . can read only.
62 " " . can read and write.

Enough has been written concerning the general progress of the colony, and more may be learned by consulting the statistical tables in the Appendix. It will be seen that its growth, although slow in comparison with some

FUTURE GREATNESS.

other colonies, has nevertheless been steadily progressive sirice its formation in 1840. Everything durable in this world is tardily developed. The seven noble English settlements now firmly rooted in the land, and others struggling into existence around its wave-worn coasts, will in a few years materially aid in spreading Christianity, freedom, and civilisation over the Southern Hemisphere; and New Zealand, England's most distant colony, will in a few generations cast a lustre over Queen Victoria's reign which men absorbed in the turmoil of European politics cannot fully comprehend.

165 See Table XI., showing the revenue and expenditure of New Zealand as a British colony, in the Appendix.

166 Loan Act, 1856, and alterations.

167 Condensed Report printed in the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, vol. ii. 1856. MS. complete in Colonial Secretary's Office.

168 New Zealand Government Gazette, 1857.

169 Advertisement, New Zealander and Southern Cross Newspapers, 1858.

170 Statistics of New Zealand, 1858.

171 Hooker's Flora. Personal observation.

172 Government Gazette, April 1859.

173 Frazer's Magazine, 1858.

174 Otago press. Acts of the Presbytery of Auckland, New Zealand.

175 New Zealand Church Almanac, 1857.

176 Bishop of New Zealand's Trust Act, 1858.

177 New Zealand Government Gazette, 1858.

178 New Zealand Government Gazette, July, 1859.

179 General Government Gazette, January 15, 1859.

180 See Table XXII.

PART III.

PART III.

ON THE DECREASE OF THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

THEIR PROGRESS IN CIVILISATION, WITH HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.

[Page 282 is blank]

CHAPTER I. ARE THE NEW ZEALANDERS DECREASING IN NUMBERS?

CHAPTER I.

ARE THE NEW ZEALANDERS DECREASING IN NUMBERS?

Disappearance of savages before civilisation. – Proof of decrease among natives. – Causes of decrease. – Inattention to the sick. – Infanticide. – Sterility. – New habits. – New diseases. – Breeding in and in. – Rate of decrease.

DURING the discussions on native affairs in the General Assembly of New Zealand in 1858, different opinions were expressed regarding the increase or decrease of the aborigines, and their progress in civilisation. As such questions affect the honour of England and the character of the settlers, it is highly important that some definite information should be given on these two difficult and interesting subjects. To the former question this chapter is devoted.

Hitherto the colonisation of countries within the temperate zone by Europeans, it is painful to state, has invariably produced the partial or total destruction of the aborignes, when these have not belonged to the Caucasian branch of the human family. There are certain mournful facts which lead to the inference that the New Zealanders will furnish another example of the blight of colonisation on savage races, and already men given to prophecy have proclaimed, that before half a century has elapsed the natives will not be a tithe of what they are at present.

PROOFS OF DECREASE.

This extinction of aboriginal races has been often caused by evil treatment. The hands of the early settlers in America, the West Indies, Tasmania, Australia, and Africa, are not clean from this imputation; but, as far as the story of New Zealand has yet been unrolled, the pioneers of civilisation, and the majority of the English, Irish, and Scotch settlers in the islands have, with some few exceptions, acted towards the natives in a spirit of Christianity unknown to the Saxon colonists in Ireland, the Norman invaders of England, and the Spanish conquerors of America.

An examination into the social state of the New Zealanders possesses, in this regard, a painful interest. The idea of a couple of human beings giving origin to a nation is natural and exhilarating; the contemplation of a nation decreasing first to a tribe, then to a family, and lastly, becoming extinct, is solemn and depressing.

No satisfactory numerical evidence can be adduced to prove that the New Zealanders in 1770 were more numerous than they are in 1859, but it is the opinion of every European who has lived in a place suitable for observation, and it is the opinion of the natives themselves, that they are fast decreasing; which surmises acquire the force of facts when it is found that in a portion of the Waikato country, where the people were numbered in the years 1844 and 1858, a decrease of 19 per cent has occurred; 181 that there are only about 27 persons under 14 years of age out of every hundred, whereas in England 40 per cent of the population is under that period of life; and that the male population exceeds the females by about one third. Table

CAUSE OF DECREASE.

XXII., which gives the census of the whole aboriginal inhabitants of the colony in 1858, confirms these views, but I have not drawn conclusions from this source, because the enumeration was merely an estimate, and the data from which my opinion is formed are name-censuses of districts in widely different parts of the country.

The causes which are now secretly and silently at work in producing this decay are: 1st, Inattention to the sick; 2ndly, Infanticide; 3rdly, Sterility; 4thly, New habits; 5thly, New diseases; and, lastly, the evil effects arising among men from intermarrying with scrofulous blood-connections, or what is better expressed by the term "breeding in and in."

The first two of these deteriorating causes have somewhat impeded the increase of the New Zealanders ever since their arrival in the country, and are more or less peculiar to the Malay race, wherever they live; all the others have come into unhealthy operation within the last seventy years.

It is among infants that inattention to the sick, the first of these causes of decay, is most injurious. Thus, Dr. Rees, colonial surgeon at Wanganui, ascertained that out of 433 children born alive 229 died before their mothers; 182 that out of 230 married women, 124 either had no children or their children had died. 183 Mr. Fenton discovered that out of 289 mothers in the Waikato district in 1858, 68 had lost all their offspring from disease; and out of 18 children born in 1844, only 2 were alive in 1858. 184

No stronger proof can be given of the bad social

INFANTICIDE.

condition of the natives than these facts; for the strength of a people depends not on the number of children born but of those who attain a useful age. Neglect of the sick, if that can be called neglect which arises from ignorance of the means of cure, is one of the evils of the ancient superstitions which still linger amongst them, and teach them to place their sole dependence in cases of internal disease on magical incantations. All the evidence I could collect from the present generation leads to the inference that this excessive infant mortality is, however, of recent occurrence.

Infanticide is the second cause of the people's decay, but the evidence of the existence of this horrid custom is chiefly circumstantial.

In all civilised communities, uninfluenced by immigration or emigration, the female population is more numerous than the male, whereas in every New Zealand village there is an excess of males. 185 How is this disparity of the sexes to be explained? It is no satisfactory solution of the difficulty to say that female infants are more delicate than males, and die in greater numbers during childhood, for such delicacy does not exist. The disproportion does not arise from an excess of male children born, as such a disparity has never occurred in any country. Nor can it be explained away as an error in the census, for Bishop Williams, and all who have numbered the people, have arrived at similar results. There is therefore no way of avoiding the conclusion but that the deficiency of females is either produced by actual murder or want of suitable care.

Among all races of men in a low state of civilisation women undergo much labour; the task of rearing a child

STERILITY.

is therefore a heavy addition to their other duties, and to avoid this they in former times destroyed occasionally their offspring: but among the present generation, from the sinfulness of child-murder in the eyes of Christians, the love New Zealand women bear towards their children, and the intense desire they have for them, they are rarely destroyed directly; but they often perish indirectly from want of suitable care, and girls being less valuable than boys suffer most from this cause, and die more frequently in infancy. Missionaries who have spent their lives in the country indignantly deny that direct child-murder lurks among the people, while the Rev. Mr. Buddle and a few others believe that it does exist. 186

That sterility is a powerful cause of the decay of the natives none can doubt, for in several districts (see Table XX.) out of ninety-two married women, thirty-two, or one third, were unfruitful; whereas in England, according to the census of 1851, only one fifth of the married women are barren. In the Waikato district, according to Mr. Fenton, out of 444 married women, 153, or about one third, were sterile. Ten years ago Bishop Williams informed me that at Poverty Bay and Table Cape the number of barren women is unusually great; 187 and Dr. Wilson, the colonial surgeon at Taranaki, reported to the Government that among the settlers sterile and childless couples were rare, while among the natives they were very common. 188

According to the evidence of the present generation, this great increase of female sterility is of recent occurrence; it is indeed universally admitted that their

NEW HABITS.

ancestors were blessed with prolific wives, and not seldom with several producing simultaneously.

It would be out of place to enter here on the causes of this sterility, but Count Strzlecki, in his Physical History of New South Wales, has suggested a reason at once unphilosophical and incorrect, which is quoted by the settlers, and also by medical jurists. 189 In the work referred to, the count states, "that in all cases of fruitful intercourse between an aboriginal female and a European male, the power of conception on the renewal of intercourse with the male of her own species is lost." But this statement has been found wrong even in Australia, 190 and I know it is incorrect as regards New Zealand.

Several injurious habits have been introduced by the settlers, and one of the most hurtful to the health of the aborigines dates from the beginning of the century. This is the universal consumption of potatoes in different modes of preparation, to the neglect of the more nutritious food of their ancestors. How hurtful this low species of human nutriment has proved, may be seen in a preceding chapter. 191 Spirit-drinking may ultimately prove pernicious, but with regard to the present generation the fire-water of the American Indians cannot be enumerated among the causes of decay; nor can tobacco-smoking, although practised all over the country. The extensive use of putrid maize, an unwholesome article of food, commenced soon after the introduction of this plant towards the end of the last century. 192 During the thirty years before the arrival of the British Government, the new habit of conducting war by fire-

NEW DISEASES. – BREEDING IN AND IN.

arms proved fatal, directly and indirectly, to 20,000 natives.

Eight new diseases, the result of contact with civilised men, have tended to depopulate the country. Scrofula, the curse of the race, which appeared amongst them about the beginning of the present century, has increased the mortality of every disease, and the prevalence of pulmonary consumption. 193 Several fatal epidemics spread over the land, after the arrival of some English ships about the end of the last century. Measles destroyed a large number of the Middle Island natives in 1838, and 4000 of the North Island natives in 1854, while other diseases have had baneful effects. 194

Intermarriage with blood-connected scrofulous persons, in other words, breeding in and in, is the last and most intractable cause of decay. It is the most painful to mention, because any allusion to it is like sounding the death-knell of the people as a pure race.

Twenty generations back, the aboriginal settlers were under 1000 souls; in seventeen generations they multiplied to 100,000, during which period cousins married cousins, uncles nieces, nephews aunts, and other blood-connected kindred. The result is, that the whole of the present generation are closely intermingled; chiefs living widely apart, and formerly hostile, can trace without difficulty blood-connections with each other, while among the lower orders of the people this breeding in and in is still more apparent; and, as women decrease in number, intermarriage between scrofulous kindred will become every year more frequent.

Breeders of dogs, horses, sheep, and fowls, know that

EVILS OF. – RATE OF DECREASE

these animals, after several generations of close intermixture, degenerate in those physical qualities for which they had been originally celebrated, and unless crossed with a new breed die out. The same result has been observed in man, when families have confined their alliances within limited circles. Look at the royal and noble houses in Europe. Few of the historic families which influenced the destinies of England in the Norman times have descended to the present day; while the ancient noble races of Spain, among whom it was disgraceful to introduce a plebeian wife, have nearly disappeared.

Breeding in and in among the human species indirectly produces scrofula and sterility, and aggravates the intensity and frequency of all other diseases. Such indeed are the natural punishments resulting from the violation of natural laws; and no stronger proof can be given of the baneful effects of such violation on the whole New Zealand race, than the fact that one out of every three native couples are barren, and the children of the fruitful are sickly and scrofulous, while only one in five of the unions of native women and European men are barren, and the half-caste offspring of the prolific are numerous, singularly healthy, and seldom scrofulous.

It is my opinion, drawn from statistical and other evidence, that the New Zealanders have, from the causes enumerated, sustained during the last thirty years a continuous decrease of one per cent per annum, a rate of mortality which, if it goes on unchecked, must soon blot out the race from the land. Peace, trade, civilisation, and the use of animal food and wheaten flour, have during the last ten years lessened the tendency to

ONE PER CENT. ANNUALLY.

scrofula and other diseases, 195 and may also have some influence in lessening the evils which breeding in and in produces on the human system, – the blight prevalent in every New Zealand hamlet, from Cape Maria Van Diemen to Stewart's Island.

181 See Table XXIII. Appendix.

182 Private communication.

183 Table XXI.

184 Observations on the state of the aboriginal inhabitants.

185 See Tables XX. XXIII. XXIV. Appendix.

186 The Aborigines in New Zealand, 1851.

187 Private communication.

188 New Ulster Government Gazette, 1850.

189 Taylor's Medical Jurisprudence, 1846.

190 Edinburgh Monthly Journal, 1847.

191 Vol.1, p. 216.

192 Vol. I. p. 158.

193 Vol.1, p. 212 – 215.

194 See Chap. XL Vol. I. p. 211.

195 Personal observation.

CHAPTER II. PROGRESS OF CIVILISATION AMONG THE NEW ZEALANDERS...

CHAP. II.

PROGRESS OF CIVILISATION AMONG THE NEW ZEALANDERS, AND MEANS REQUISITE TO PROMOTE IT.

False and true proofs of civilisation. – Proofs of progressive civilisation. – Measure of progressive civilisation. – Intellectual civilisation. – Imaginary evils of civilisation. – Means requisite to promote civilisation. – Necessity of teaching Christianity and English. – Individualisation of property. – English settlements and roads. – Introduction of English law. – Prevention of disease. – Amalgamation of races.

THE progress of civilisation in communities, like geological changes on the earth's surface, is noiseless, and unheeded by men busied with their daily cares. It resembles the flowing tide; we look on the waves for a little while, and doubt whether the sea is really advancing, but by and by we plainly perceive that the land is disappearing; so with civilisation, by extending our researches over several years we distinctly detect what escaped our narrower investigation. It is not therefore singular that certain writers, and some members of the General Assembly, should consider the New Zealanders to have made great advances in civilisation, 196 while others say their progress is inappreciable, 197 and some think they are retrograding. 198

FALSE PROOFS OF CIVILISATION.

Such opposite opinions are caused by drawing conclusions from erroneous premises and limited observation. Sir Fowell Buxton thought the plough furnished the best test of civilisation; others deduce their proofs from the conduct of men towards women, or from the proportion of the population able to read and write or show the power of mind over matter. It is, however, utterly impossible to convey a true idea of the state of civilisation among the New Zealanders by any of these fanciful methods. Such tests could only have suggested themselves to men who had never studied a savage nation in a transition state: for there cannot be a greater error than that of drawing from a few things, or from the advancement of a small number of energetic men, conclusions as to the simultaneous progress of a whole people. There are New Zealanders who have a good knowledge of geography, arithmetic, and history; are deeply read in the Bible; are in holy orders; lend money, and keep running accounts at banks; treat women with consideration; can read and write, and act as interpreters between settlers and their own race; can calculate the cubic contents of a heap of firewood, the area of a plot of ground so as to sow two bushels of wheat to the acre, or the live weight of a pig, and its value, at threepence a pound, deducting one fifth as offal; are conversant with the principle of striking for higher wages; can make gunpowder, hew stones, plough, and navigate ships with the compass; can play chess tolerably and drafts inimitably; can train and ride racehorses, and have attempted the mystery of jockeyism by changing a horse for the second heat; can build wooden houses; prefer sitting on chairs to squatting on the ground, and the wearing of spectacles to seeing imper-

TRUE PROOFS OF CIVILISATION.

fectly; dance quadrilles, dress well, and compose songs and stories.

Such men are, however, exceptions to the general rule, and no correct idea can be formed from them. True civilisation only exists in countries where the mass of the people are suitably clothed for the climate, have abundance of food in winter and summer, live in proper houses, have a knowledge of the art of war, are increasing in numbers, treat women with consideration, can read and write, have property individualised, believe in a future state, have some knowledge of medicine, and definite laws in harmony with the golden rule. But this is not all. Men cannot, like instinctive animals, remain stationary; nations go back in knowledge, if they do not advance. It is therefore a necessary element of true civilisation, that one generation have more of this physical and moral wealth than that which preceded it. In other words, the best test of civilisation is progress; and such progress can only be measured by the amount of free labour the people exchange in purchasing articles of usefulness and gratification. Let us apply these tests to the New Zealanders.

Chronological Statement showing the progressive Civilisation now going on among the New Zealanders.

State of the New Zealanders in

1770.

1836.

1859.

1. Cannibals.

Cannibalism practised.

No instance of cannibalism since 1843.

2. Wars frequent.

Wars frequent.

No general civil war for eighteen years.

3. Knowledge of the art of war without fire-arms.

Knowledge of the art of war with firearms.

Knowledge of the art of war to resist Europeans.

PROGRESSIVE CIVILISATION.

State of the New Zealanders in

1770.

1836.

1859.

4. Murders frequent from superstition.

Murders less frequent than in 1770.

Murders less frequent than in 1836.

5. Child-murder common.

Child-murder less frequent than in 1770.

Child-murder less frequent than in 1836.

6. Strangers not tolerated.

Strangers tolerated.

Anxiety to have English settlements near villages.

7. One tenth of the people slaves.

One tenth of the people slaves.

Slavery extinct.

8. Population estimated at 100,000.

Population variously estimated.

Population estimated at 56,000.

9. Language unwritten.

Language written, portions of Scriptures translated.

All the Scriptures translated, several books printed in Maori.

10. Not protected from small pox.

Not protected from small-pox.

Two thirds of the people vaccinated.

11. No potatoes, pigs, or cattle.

Potatoes and pigs abound, few cattle.

Potatoes, pigs, and cattle numerous.

12. Plough unknown.

Plough unused.

Plough in frequent use.

13. Wheat unknown.

Wheat rarely cultivated.

Extensive wheat cultivations.

14. No commerce.

Trade limited to ships.

Extensive trade with English settlements.

15. Native laws in force.

Native laws in force.

Occasional reference to English Courts, anxiety for English laws.

16. Huts badly ventilated.

Huts badly ventilated.

Huts badly ventilated, a few wooden houses.

17. Native dress in use.

Blankets in occasional use.

Blankets and imperfect European dress common.

18. Native food.

Native food, with pigs and potatoes.

Native food, with pigs, potatoes, and wheat.

19. Dead not interred.

Dead occasionally interred.

Dead almost always interred.

20. No half-castes.

A few half-castes.

Nearly 2000 half-castes.

21. No fire-arms.

Fire-arms and ammunition abundant.

Double-barrellcd guns and ammunition abundant.

22. Tea and sugar unknown.

Tea and sugar never used.

Tea and sugar ia frequent use.

23. No European settlers.

About 1000 Europeans in the country.

Nearly 60,000 Europeans in the country.

PROGRESSIVE CIVILISATION.

State of the New Zealanders in

1770.

1836.

1859.

24. European ships plundered.

Ships occasionally plundered.

Ships never plundered.

25. Tobacco and spirits unknown.

Tobacco-smoking in use, spirits rarely used.

Tobacco-smoking universal, spirits occasionally drunk.

26. Iron, nails, and coloured clothes taken as payment for curiosities.

Gunpowder, tobacco, and blankets, taken in exchange for flax, pigs, and potatoes.

Money alone an article of exchange, no idea of interest for money.

27. Women subjected to much labour.

Women lead lives of labour.

Women do much labour.

28. Native cookery in use.

Native cookery in use.

Pots, pans, and native cookery in use.

29. Christianity unknown.

1500 Christians.

35,000 Christians.

30. Believed in a future state

Believed in a future state.

Believed in a future state.

31. Property in common.

Property in common.

Movable property individualised, land occasionally.

32. Wars, tapus, feasts, subjects of conversation.

Wars, fire-arms, selling land, Christianity, the subjects of conversation.

Trade, ships, land, flour, laws, ploughs, horses, wheat, &c. the subjects.

33. Tribes kept apart by ancient feuds.

Tribes kept apart by ancient feuds.

Union of some ancient foes for mutual protection.

34. Stimulated to work by hunger.

Stimulated to work by hunger and the wish for fire-arms, &c.

Stimulated to work by hunger, and to obtain various articles of use and luxury.

35. The people distrusted each other.

The people distrusted each other.

With few exceptions the people trust each other.

36. "Come on shore, and we will kill and eat you all," were the defiant words addressed to some of the early navigators.

Several chiefs dying about this time exhorted their followers to protect the missionaries, even if they waged war against the traders.

"Were we to turn against the settlers, we should be shutting up the road by which we receive many advantages," said Moanui, in his letter to the Hawke's Bay Journal, in 1857.

From the foregoing chronological statement it will be seen that the skill with which the Romans inoculated

STATE OF NATIVES IN 1859.

their dependencies with Roman ideas cannot be numbered among the lost arts. The aboriginal population of Lombardy in the fourth generation surveyed with curious affright the portraits of their savage forefathers, and, when the same number of years have passed over the New Zealanders, it is possible in this respect they will resemble the Lombards. Already allusions to cannibalism are disagreeable, and natives living among Europeans laugh when reminded of their having used pumpkins for drinking-cups, shells for knives, and rivers for looking-glasses.

In order to show that the "state of the New Zealanders in 1859" just given, is not seen through the haze of exaggeration, I refer to Table XXIV. in the Appendix, which, although drawn from a local source, conveys a good idea of the condition of the natives over the whole country. In it the misery and happiness of the present generation are well displayed; the former being seen in the disproportion of the sexes, the latter in their flocks, herds, cultivated lands, implements, and furniture. One half of the adult population can read their own language; one third can write, add up figures, subtract, and multiply; 48 per cent are Christians of the Church of England, 13 per cent are Wesleyans, 3 per cent are Roman Catholics, and 36 per cent are heathens. Twenty-nine weather-boarded houses stand out from among a thousand huts; and several large churches have been built. Sixty-four half-castes are counted under the head of miscellaneous. Horses, cattle, tame pigs, and sheep are numbered by hundreds; and two thousand adults were owners of 7000l. worth of cattle. Two hundred acres of land under wheat attest that the plough is in frequent use. One hundred

STATE OF NATIVES IN 1859.

and thirty war canoes startle the eye, but they are so only in name, as these vessels, admirably adapted for the navigation of creeks, are now used for mercantile purposes; and some idea of their value may be inferred from Patuone having sold a new war canoe to Katipa at Auckland, in 1854, for 450l. The return conveys no idea of the number of the trading vessels, of from ten to forty tons burden, used by the New Zealanders along the coast for conveying their produce to the English markets, nor of their number of flour mills; but some inference as to the latter may be drawn from the fact, that 6000l. were invested in flour mills in 1853, by the natives living within fifty miles round Auckland. In 1848 William King migrated, with 600 natives and sixty horses, from Cook's Straits to Taranaki; in 1854 he possessed 150 horses, 300 head of cattle, 40 carts, 35 ploughs, 20 pairs of harrows, 3 winnowing-machines, and 10 wooden houses.

The census of 1858 shows, although with less accuracy than these local returns, the great increase of wealth among the New Zealanders; and the European traveller who thinks that with the last settler's homestead he bids adieu to the exertion of man to subdue the waste, is agreeably surprised to find the natives still the most important cultivators of the soil, and the prices of wheat, pork, potatoes, kauri gum, their closest questions. Here tattooed natives are seen between the plough handles, and men congregate around the evening fire to talk about the appearance of the crops. The sound of the flail is heard in the huts; and beggars, the constant attendants of the enlightened civilisation of Europe, are unknown. The most engrossing subjects of conversation are the relative value of mills, vessels,

MEASURE OF CIVILISATION.

horses, and bullocks, with the best means of raising money for purchasing these articles. Visitors to the fine settlement of Rangiawhia are shown two pictures given to the natives by her Majesty in 1849, in return for a present of wheat, to the excellence of which the commissioners of the Great Exhibition bore testimony.

But the amount of free-labour produce exchanged for articles of usefulness and gratification is the best measure of this progressive civilisation, and Table XXV. shows that idleness, the besetting sin of savages and the root of all evil, is fast giving way to industry. 16,000l. worth of produce is annually brought to the Auckland market by the neighbouring natives, and all spent in purchases of this description. In 1850 Mr. Kemp calculated that every native around Wellington spent twenty-five shillings in buying European articles; and it has been estimated that in 1858 upwards of 40,000l. of the customs revenue was paid by the natives.

Associated with this outward civilisation there is an inward working of the mind. Christianity is now considered above the tapu; priests and sacred chiefs mingle among the people, and are not supposed to draw inspiration from the gods, or to monopolise what was anciently considered learning. Reason and judgment, the two faculties least cultivated in former times, are every day becoming more developed by commercial transactions. A new species of learning has appeared. Thirty years ago the ideas of the New Zealanders were limited to their own existence, now the minds of the majority range through wider spheres; formerly the memory was the only storehouse for facts, now they are preserved on paper. In many instances the people yield mental obedience to the English laws they affect to repudiate.

INTELLECTUAL CIVILISATION.

A spirit of inquiry and a freedom of the understanding are abroad. Sometimes the people reason falsely, but any reasoning is better than not reasoning at all; one example will explain this. When the colony advanced in prosperity, potatoes, pigs, and other produce rose in value, and the natives attributed this change to their own increased commercial ability. "We were fools," they said, "when we sold pigs for old pots, and baskets of potatoes for sticks of tobacco." Ten years ago they could not comprehend why a pig forty miles from an English settlement was worth less than one close to it; now they are conversant with the market-price of things, and are beginning to perceive the connection between demand and supply.

The ability of the people to write has likewise tended to promote their intellectual civilisation. In 1854 Wiremu Maihi was asked to return to Rotorua to attend a meeting convened to settle the ownership of a disputed piece of land, and he sent a letter in reply, declining to be present, in which he pointed out that in such disputes they should take a lesson from the white men. "Here," said he, "at Auckland are several thousand inhabitants and one magistrate; whenever a dispute about property occurs in the town all the people do not stop working and become judges, the disputed question is referred to the magistrate, whose decision is binding on all."

Some real evils attend the settlement of civilised men among savages, and fanciful writers have conjured up imaginary ones. It is asserted that savages, when they contemplate the great gulf between themselves and civilised men, brood in silence over their inferior condition; and that when roused they bedeck themselves with the ornaments of the warrior, and endeavour to shame

MEANS TO PROMOTE CIVILISATION.

by barbaric splendour the plainness of enlightened industry, but the great ships in the harbours, the display of military force, and other things, all declare in language not to be misunderstood that their greatness has passed away. It is then affirmed that these savages, imagining no energy or exertion on their parts can ever elevate them to an equality with the new race, wait in idleness till their appointed time arrives to die.

There is not a vestige of this painful feeling among the New Zealanders; they know they cannot make ploughs, carts, or mills, but they also know that such articles are to be purchased; and we must remember that, after four centuries of Roman civilisation, the Britons were unable to build a wall, or to make arms without patterns. They say that they are agriculturists, not mechanics; and support this by asking whether they are not better judges of productive land than settlers are. They likewise console themselves for their mechanical inferiority by asking if white men can scoop out canoes, catch fish, or weave mats, like Maoris. Vanity also whispers that they could equal the settlers in everything, provided they would take the trouble to exert themselves; and, so long as this feeling exists among them, there can be no mental self-degradation, no brooding in silence over their inferior condition.

Their civilisation is however still in its infancy, and before it can reach maturity the Government must endeavour to teach them Christianity and the English tongue, individualise property, form roads and English settlements, make the Queen's law run over the land, prevent disease, and promote the amalgamation of the races. The importance of each of these great points will now be briefly noticed.

TEACHING THE NATIVES ENGLISH.

The civilising influence of Christianity has been already pointed out, 199 and as 36 per cent of the New Zealanders are still heathens, it is highly necessary that some means should be adopted to keep alive and extend its blessings. It is a mistake to imagine that the efforts of the missionaries cease when worldly instruction begins.

Before the natives can advance more than they have done, before they can rise above the hewers of wood and drawers of water, they must acquire some farther knowledge of the settlers' language; for few of them have made any progress in speaking English beyond what is sufficient for simple commercial purposes; and the present mode of education tends rather to perpetuate than to remove the impediment. Harmony and co-operation may exist between races ignorant of each other's language, but community of feeling is impossible; and so sensible were the Romans of the influence of language on national manners, that with the progress of their arms they endeavoured to extend the use of the Latin tongue.

Governor Grey was the first who saw the necessity of teaching the New Zealanders English, and of making language a bond of union between the two races. In 1849 schools were established, and endowments granted "for the use and towards the maintenance of the said schools, so long as religious education and industrial training and instruction in the English language shall be given to the youth educated therein and maintained thereat." In 1858 a bill was passed by the General Assembly appropriating 7,000l. annually for these schools, for a period of seven years.

INDIVIDUALISATION OF PROPERTY.

At these schools every sort of education, save Christianity, should be subordinate to the speaking and reading of English, and these might be promoted by mixing the children of the settlers and the aborigines. Greater care should be bestowed on the education of boys than on that of girls, as the former have most influence in altering national manners among uncivilised races; hitherto the reverse of this has been adopted by the missionaries.

Equally important with the English language in developing civilisation is the individualisation of property; and until much of the land now held in common is bought up, and the present system of conjoint native reserves discontinued, it will drag slowly along. The natives must individually hold land with crown grants before they will labour like Englishmen. The common-property system now in force among them paralyses their minds; causes disputes, and occasionally bloodshed; checks the industry of the active, and encourages the idleness of the lazy. Men labour for others, not for themselves; exclusive possession, the great and universal motive for industry, does not exist among them; as they are born, so must they die. Even the energetic settlers in Virginia, and the pilgrim fathers in New Plymouth, found the common-property system an insurmountable barrier to their progress, and the most civilised New Zealanders are those holding land with crown titles.

Great difficulties surround the individualisation of property, but none which management and judicious legislation might not overcome; more particularly as the minds of the natives are alive to this important question, and many of them see its necessity.

TOWNS. – PREVENTION OF DISEASE.

The New Zealanders being an imitative race, the formation of roads and English settlements over the country would tend materially to promote the objects now enumerated. Townships should therefore be laid out, each with its school, its hospital, and its magistrate, around which settlers would congregate. Every village would stimulate native industry, and diffuse the English language over the land. Tauranga, Opotiki, Rotorua, Rangiawhia, Mokau, Taupo, Waipa, Turanga, Whaingaroa, Monganui, Otaki, Hokianga, Kaipara, and the Bay of Islands present good sites for such villages.

These villages and magistrates would promote another element of civilisation, the introduction of English law into every hamlet; for so long as the natives are permitted to exercise their own customs in this regard, there is a strong barrier against progress, and until the Queen's law runs from one extremity of the colony to the other, the natives cannot properly be called her Majesty's subjects. Several schemes have been proposed to accomplish this object, and Governor Grey's Resident Magistrates'ordinance and the native legislation of 1858 somewhat modified is probably the best. On no account, for some years, should the natives be permitted to interpret the Queen's law in the most trifling cases without the aid of an English magistrate.

While, however, we are endeavouring to civilise the people, it is absolutely necessary that means should be adopted to check, if possible, their decrease. At present the deaths outnumber the births, and adults and children die by preventible diseases. 200 Peace, commerce, better food, and civilisation are beginning to check the plague,

AMALGAMATION OF RACES.

but this is not enough; as there is little spring of life among the New Zealanders, it is requisite to urge them to do what is for their good. "To rescue the inhabitants of New Zealand from the calamities of which the approach of civilised men to barbarous tribes has hitherto been the almost universal herald is a duty too sacred and important to be neglected, whatever may be the discouragements under which they may be undertaken," are noble words, addressed by Lord John Russell to the first Governor of New Zealand.

In all conquests, whether by the mind or the sword, which have terminated in good to the weaker party, the conquerors have invariably amalgamated with the conquered; and this is most necessary among the New Zealanders, as their rapid decrease is much aggravated by breeding in and in. 201 It is therefore satisfactory to find that Caucasian blood already flows in the veins of two thousand of the native population The late Rev. Mr. Lawry, the venerable superintendent of the Wesleyan missions in the South Seas, states that "the New Zealanders are melting away;" but, he observes, "they are not lost, they are merging into another and a better class. In this process there lacketh not sin, but Providence will overrule this, and bring forth a fine new race of civilised mixed people, which shall be better for the world, better for the Church, aud better for the new race." 202 A large proportion of these half-castes are New Zealanders in language and manners, and they are singularly free from scrofula, the diseased taint in the Maori blood. Physically they are a noble and beautiful race, and they only require education to develope the

LAW OF AMALGAMATION.

force and power of their minds. In the third generation, the nut-brown skin, the black eye, and the raven hair generally disappear. To promote this union of races, the English laws regarding inheritance to native land should be altered, for, as the law now stands, concubinage is indirectly encouraged, and legal unions between European males and native females are discouraged.

This amalgamation is solely due to European men and Maori women, only five European women having had children by Maori men. Such, however, is the custom in all countries where two races come together in different degrees of civilisation; the Franks in Gaul and the Normans in England wedded the daughters of the conquered, but few of the daughters of the invaders condescended to merge into the class of the vanquished.

With regard to physical appearance, the law of amalgamation is that the type of the less numerous shall be lost in that of the greater number. Thus the Franks and Normans, although they gave names to Gaul and England, did not materially alter the character of the people; the Lombards impressed their name on a portion of Italy, but the aboriginal population has remained unaltered in blood and features. As the Anglo-Saxon settlers in New Zealand must soon outnumber the aborigines, the features of the Maori race will disappear from among the half-castes, although traces of their blood will occasionally be seen in families after many generations.

Haughty Spaniards in South America boast of their descent from the Incas; two of Montezuma's children founded noble Spanish houses; Garcilaso the historian's epitaph at Cordova records that his mother was sister to the last native emperor of Peru; and respectable Vir-

[Inserted unpaginated illustration]

NEW ZEALAND GIRL WITH HER HALF-CASTE NEPHEW AND NIECE
From a photograph.
Vol.II page 306.

REALISATION OF GIBBON'S HOPE.

ginian families are proud in tracing a connection with the ancient rulers of the country. The same feeling in a few generations will develope itself in New Zealand, and settlers will yet boast of having in their veins the blood of Hongi, Potatau, Rauparaha, Heke, Walker Nene, Rangihaeata, Te Heu Heu, Kawiti, and other Maori warriors. It may savour of romance, but it is every day becoming more probable that the once visionary hope of the illustrious Gibbon will be realised, and the Hume of the Southern Hemisphere spring from among the cannibal races of New Zealand. 203

196 Sir George Grey; Parl. Papers, 1846 to 1853.

197 Fox's Six Colonies in New Zealand.

198 The Rev. Mr. Taylor.

199 See Chap. IV. Part II. Vol. I.

200 See Chap. XI. Vol. I. Part I.

201 Vol. II. p. 289.

202 Lawry's Missionary Visits.

203 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Milman's edition. Chap. XXV.

CHAPTER III. HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.

CHAP. III.

HINTS TO EMIGRANTS.

The best colony. – Drawbacks to New Zealand. – Attachment to New Zealand. – The best settlers. – Choice of province. – Season to arrive.

"He that by the plough would thrive,
Himself must either hold or drive."
Poor Robin.

IT is not my intention to furnish a settlers guide, still, to write a book about New Zealand at a time when ships laden with energetic men are constantly leaving for the colony, and omit all advice to intending emigrants, the bone and muscle of its future greatness, might perhaps subject me to the imputation of want of affection for the country whose story I have endeavoured to write, and in which it was my happiness to live so long. When persons intend to emigrate, the first and difficult question arises: Which is the best colony to emigrate to? In consequence of that principle which nature has implanted so strongly in the human breast, people almost invariably think their native land superior to every other.

"The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone,
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own; . . .
The naked negro, panting at the line,
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine."

Little confidence has therefore been placed in the rose-coloured descriptions published by settlers, as it is

THE BEST COLONY.

well known every colony has its peculiar advantages and drawbacks. Canada, the land of promise, as the Settler's Guide calls it, has dreary winters and burning summers; Newfoundland and Nova Scotia have fogs, damps, and long winters; the Cape of Good Hope and the Mauritius have scorching heats; Britons are converted into long-legged Yankees in the United States; tropical colonies extinguish the Anglo-Saxon race before the fourth generation; and the antipodeal colonies, separated by half the globe from England, are tainted with convictism and cannibalism, and, except New Zealand and Tasmania, have a climate in which, from its heat, it is already apparent that Anglo-Saxons and Celts in a few generations must deteriorate both physically and mentally.

There is no practical use in weighing one colony against another, as that country is the best for the true emigrant where food grows fast, the climate is healthy and pleasant, and the race does not degenerate; where good land is cheap, and the people govern themselves; where life and property are safe, fuel and water abundant, and competence follows moderate industry.

It is my own conviction that all these requisites are found more developed in New Zealand than in any other English colony. There are several proofs of this now before me, but the following indirect evidence appears the most forcible. In 1853, a vessel freighted with men, women, and children, descendants of those Scotch Highlanders who settled in Nova Scotia about the beginning of the century, arrived in the harbour of Auckland. These emigrants spoke the language of the Gael, and had preserved unadulterated among them customs long since neglected in their fatherland. In 1851, they migrated from Nova Scotia and Canada to

IMAGINARY DRAWBACKS.

Australia, but finding the summer-heat in that continent harder to bear than the seven months of winter in North America, they left it for New Zealand, and settled in one of the beautiful inlet harbours on the eastern shores of the North Island, where they now sojourn prosperous and happy. Since that year other ships laden with emigrants have arrived at Auckland from North America, and a stream of emigration is pouring in from that country.

I have in my possession an emigrant's poetic farewell to Prince Edward's Island, in 1859. After regretting that he has spent his youth and prime in a country which for seven long months is annually covered with frost and snow, checking commerce, and rendering men half torpid, he embarks for the southern hemisphere, and hopes no danger will befall the ship: –

"Until New Zealand shall be seen,
In Oriental pride, –
Those lovely islands evergreen,
Reposing side by side.
Pair Summer, on the farmer there,
Almost perennial smiles,
And yields him plenty and to spare,
To recompense his toils."

There are several apparent drawbacks to New Zealand, some of which are imaginary, others real. Among the former is the expense and duration of the voyage. An emigrant from Great Britain cannot put his foot on New Zealand much under 25l., and for one-third of that sum he can be landed in the United States or Canada. In both these latter countries, however, the voyage is not completed on touching the land, as emigrants have frequently long inland journeys before reaching available lands, whereas in New Zealand settlers are put on shore close to their lands.

ATTACHMENT TO COLONY.

Another imaginary evil is the native population. It is no use combating the superstition which Captain Cook's popular voyages have left on people's minds about the cannibalism of the natives, as for many years to come this now extinct custom will keep many timid settlers from the colony. Time alone will render it manifest that the natives, if treated in a firm Christian spirit, are a blessing, and not a curse, to the colony, and that at present Europeans can travel with more safety in New Zealand than in Yorkshire. Emigrants who cannot, however, banish this distrust from their minds, had better take up their abode in the Middle Island, where the natives are few in number and are rarely seen.

The third objection to the colony is found in the earthquakes. On reference to the historical part of this work, it will be seen that the earthquake region extends about 140 miles north and south of Cook's Strait; that since the year 1840 but two severe shocks have occurred, and although these phenomena produced alarm for twenty-four hours, they were soon forgotten. It would be foolish to build substantial stone houses around the towns of Wellington and Nelson, but I have met no settler who has left the province on account of these perturbations. In the provinces of Auckland and Otago earthquakes are unknown.

One of the most agreeable circumstances connected with the country is the attachment settlers acquire for it after a few years' residence, and the ease with which they come to regard it as their future island home. This attachment may be attributed to several causes, not the least prominent of which is the mountainous

AN EMIGRANT'S PLEASURES.

character of the country, as few become similarly attached to the broad and arid plains of Australia.

It is true they are invariably reminded of their distance from Old England by the unknown firmament over their heads. On arriving in the colony, the large space of extreme blackness in the sky produces on their minds a strange feeling of existenceless immensity, but custom wears it off; and those whose occupation takes them abroad at night soon learn that the position of the beautiful Southern Cross proclaims, like a sun-dial in the heavens, when the midnight hour has passed; whils for ten days in December an occasional glimpse of a portion of the Greater Bear, and of Orion's Belt during the whole year, connects the new heavens bending over the settler's head with the spangled vault beneath which he was born.

Every man loves the spot of ground he reclaims from the wilderness better than the place of his birth, and consequently the moral tie which binds the emigrant's heart to his native soil is annually weakened. The prosperous colonist who dies in the midst of his rural occupations is happier than he who begins and ends the race of life at the winning-post. Life without exertion always lacks interest, and that exertion which produces lasting fruit is ever productive of the greatest enjoyment. The spring and summer of life with the settler in New Zealand is preparatory to the repose of winter; every season to him is consequently sweet, and the last is the happiest of all, because it is the richest in recollections and the brightest in hope.

These remarks are totally inapplicable to persons who migrate for the purpose of making money and returning, as these men, like those who go to either Indies, are not

THE WORST SETTLERS.

true colonists; they are intended for such as prefer colonial abundance to indigenous penury, who select New Zealand as their future homes, and are thankful if in their adopted land they have plenty of food, health, some worldly comforts, and good prospects.

The last requisite, being an intellectual one, may seem over-refined, but it is not so, for it is hope which renders colonial life so agreeable to working men. England has no future for most of the present generation. Thirty years hence, in Great Britain, the value of property and other things which affect domestic life will have varied little from what it is at present, and the working man, from the cradle to the grave lives little above starvation, and has nothing to hope for; whereas, in New Zealand, there is a great future for him within thirty years, room for enterprise and many chances of success. Prizes in life's lottery are now and then uncertain, even there, but an uncertain future is better than no future at all.

Men in the middle ranks of life in England, with a little capital, find themselves in the first rank in New Zealand. To hold this position, sobriety, intelligence, and industry, the only talents which stand the test of time, are indispensable; without these gentlemen's sons descend into the ranks of the working classes, with them mechanics' sons become gentlemen. Since the establishment of responsible government every post of honour, save that of governor, is in the people's hands, and men born to drag the constitution coach in England become drivers of the vehicle in New Zealand.

Men ambitious of keeping gigs, genteel settlers lacking strong muscles and stout hearts, haters of manual labour, and unused or unwilling, as the expressive colonial phrase goes, to "rough it," were better at home if they

THE BEST SETTLERS.

can live at all; while married women, more deeply versed in ball-room gossip than in the arts of boiling and frying, should set their faces against emigration unless they intend to turn over a new leaf. Unmarried girls may migrate, but they must condescend to become useful as well greeable; many good honest settlers have been ruined by having fine ladies for wives. Old gentlemen in easy circumstances, who have never lived out of Great Britain, rarely like New Zealand, as there is too much freshness and bustle there for men descending into the vale of years.

It is difficult to describe which class of persons benefit most by emigration, as success depends so much on individual qualifications. Labourers, ditchers, ploughmen, carpenters, boat-builders, and all sober men with strong arms, do well. Workmen skilled in fashioning iron are more valuable than workers in gold and silver. Persons wishing to live as clerks, or by what are called genteel occupations, bring their accomplishments to an overstocked market, where the labour of the brain is less valuable than the work of the hands. Ditchers are more esteemed than poets, and those sciences alone are thought worth attention which confer immediate benefit. People in easy circumstances suffering from disease of the lungs, and Englishmen long resident in the tropics, will find Nelson and the North Island well suited for the prolongation of their lives. Money is, with some exceptions, the best commodity for taking out, as almost every article, save those bordering on luxury, can be purchased in the colony. A box of well-selected books ought always to be taken out.

Hitherto New Zealand has been a favourite retreat for broken-down young gentlemen, who never prosper.

CHOICE OF PROVINCE.

While their money lasts they hang about hotels, when it is gone they disappear. Some die of the drunkard's fever; others, who have not yet exhausted the kindness of rich relations, return home, where they abuse the land they have left as a fine colony only in books; a few wander into the interior, and lead an idle independent life, trading with the natives. Professional men, unsuccessful in England from the number of competitors for public favour, occasionally prosper, but industry and application to business are as requisite in New Zealand as in England. High authority declares that "the poor shall never cease from the land;" but in New Zealand those only are poor who from sickness cannot, or from idleness and intemperance will not work.

Families can easily obtain ten per cent for money, but servants' wages, and necessary daily expenditure, soon convince them that a pound in England is only worth about twelve shillings in New Zealand.

Every province has its own peculiar advantages. At present the North Island is most suitable for agriculture, and the Middle Island for sheep-farming. In every province save one, country lands can be purchased for ten shillings an acre, and in Auckland credit is given. Within the Canterbury block land is 2l. an acre. Settlers must remember that it is easier to purchase land than to cultivate it. The nearer the town good land can be got the better; retired officers of the Queen's and Company's service get a certain portion of land in the provinces of Nelson and New Plymouth, and those who serve in the colony at Auckland. But the land regulations are constantly undergoing alterations. Emigrants having relations in any province should join them. Persons intending to establish manufactures requiring

SEASON TO ARRIVE – WARNING.

stone buildings should select Auckland or Otago to settle in, as both extremities of the colony have hitherto been free from earthquakes.

November, December, and January are the best months for arriving, as the days are long, the season dry, the roads good, and labour in demand; besides, settlers arriving in summer can build huts and have a portion of land ready for cropping in the ensuing spring. The plough can penetrate the soil at all seasons; the summer fallow is, however, the only fallow which sweetens fern land.

Much ignorance still exists as to what plants will prove productive when labour becomes more abundant. Practical men are of opinion that olives, mulberries, cotton, hops, mustard, flax, basket willows, and various other products yet unthought of, will furnish cultivators with rich returns.

One word in conclusion. Emigrants must not be deluded by the glowing descriptions of enthusiastic settlers into the idea that the soil is easily cultivated; much of it is not worth breaking up at the present rate of labour, and the most fertile acre in the colony, in a wild state, requires the expenditure of much labour and sweat before it is converted into a garden. But every true emigrant will find that New Zealand is in the words of Scripture, 204 "a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil, olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass."

204 Deut. viii. 7-9.

APPENDIX

APPENDIX.

[PAGE 318 IS BLANK]

TABLE I. shows some of the Elements of the Climate of New Zealand at seven Settlements,- to which are added, for the sake of comparison, similar Data for several other Places.

TABLE I. shows some of the Elements of the Climate of New Zealand at seven Settlements,- to which are added, for the sake of comparison, similar Data for several other Places.

[Footnotes to Table]

Monthly Observations given. Statistics of New Zealand. 1858.
Observations, Royal Engineers. London, 1855.
Strzelecki's Physical History of New South Wales. 1845.
Royal Observatory, fourteen years' observation. 1842 – 1856.
Statistical Register, Victoria. 1854. Five years' observation. Strzelecki's Physical History of New South Wales.
Meteorological Observatory, one year. June, 1858.
Drs. Heinekin and Renton, six years' observation.
Metropolitan Encyclopedia.
Clark on Climate.
Poitevin.
Howard.

TABLE II. – Showing the Strength, Sickness, and Mortality which occurred among the Troops serving in New Zealand during the six-Years ending March, 1858.

TABLE II. – Showing the Strength, Sickness, and Mortality which occurred among the Troops serving in New Zealand during the six-Years ending March, 1858.

TABLE III. – Showing the Principal Diseases by which Sickness and Mortality among the Troops in New Zealand have been occasioned, during the six Years ending March, 1858.

TABLE III. – Showing the Principal Diseases by which Sickness and Mortality among the Troops in New Zealand have been occasioned, during the six Years ending March, 1858.

TABLE IV. – Showing the Relative Admissions Annually per 1000 into Hospital for different Diseases among Infantry Soldiers stationed in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

TABLE IV. – Showing the Relative Admissions Annually per 1000 into Hospital for different Diseases among Infantry Soldiers stationed in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

This Table is thus read: Out of every 1000 soldiers in the United Kingdom 73 were annually admitted into hospital with fevers, and out of every 1000 soldiers in New Zealand, only 4 were admitted with fevers.

TABLE V. – Showing the Comparative Relative Mortality Annually from Disease among 1000 Infantry Soldiers in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

TABLE V. – Showing the Comparative Relative Mortality Annually from Disease among 1000 Infantry Soldiers in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

This Table is thus read: Out of 1000 infantry soldiers in the United Kingdom 2-4 men die annually from fevers, while in New Zealand it is only 0.1, or 1 man in 10,000.

TABLE VI. – Showing the Annual Mortality from all Diseases, and the Number of Admissions into Hospital and Deaths from Diseases of the Lungs, out of 1000 British Infantry Soldiers stactioned in the following Countries.

TABLE VI. – Showing the Annual Mortality from all Diseases, and the Number of Admissions into Hospital and Deaths from Diseases of the Lungs, out of 1000 British Infantry Soldiers stactioned in the following Countries.

This Table is thus read: Out of every 1000 soldiers at Bermuda 30 died annually from disease, 134 were admitted into hospital on account of diseases of the lungs, of which 8.3 died.

[Footnotes to table]
Medical statistics of the army, laid before Parliament.
Furnished by Staff-surgeon Shanks, P.M.O., New South Wales. Seven years observation, ending March, 1850.
Principal medical officer, office, New Zealand.

TABLE VII. – Showing the Comparative Frequency of different Classes of Diseases among the Inhabitants of a large Town in England, 205 and among the Natives of New Zealand. 206

TABLE VII. – Showing the Comparative Frequency of different Classes of Diseases among the Inhabitants of a large Town in England, and among the Natives of New Zealand.

TABLE VIII. – Showing the Trade between New South Wales and New Zealand, from 1826 to 1842.

TABLE VIII. – Showing the Trade between New South Wales and New Zealand, from 1826 to 1842.

Before the establishment of the British Government at New Zealand, the chief trade was with New South Wales.

The above returns are taken from statistical returns printed by the Legislative Council of New South Wales on the 5th June, 1844

TABLE IX. – Statistics of the Provinces of New Zealand in 1853, compiled from Official Documents published in the Colony.

TABLE IX. – Statistics of the Provinces of New Zealand in 1853, compiled from Official Documents published in the Colony.

TABLE X. – Comparative Table, showing the Total Value of the Imports and Exports of New Zealand into and from the different Provinces, during the Years 1853-1854, 1855-1856, and 1857.

TABLE X. – Comparative Table, showing the Total Value of the Imports and Exports of New Zealand into and from the different Provinces, during the Years 1853-1854, 1855-1856, and 1857.

TABLE XI. – Showing the Revenue and Expenditure of New Zealand as a British Colony. Compiled from Official Sources in the Colony.

TABLE XI. – Showing the Revenue and Expenditure of New Zealand as a British Colony. Compiled from Official Sources in the Colony.

[Footnotes to table]

Raised by debentures at different issues.
The troops were increased in 1857 to 1693 men, not including officers: free rations were given to the men, and 5s. a day to the officers on account of the expense of living.
This increase of territorial revenue was consequent on Governor Grey's land regulations.
The data is drawn from several official sources, and is only approximative.

TABLE XII. – Showing the Gross Revenue of Customs collected at the Ports of New Zealand in the under-mentioned Years, compiled from Official Sources.

TABLE XII. – Showing the Gross Revenue of Customs collected at the Ports of New Zealand in the under-mentioned Years, compiled from Official Sources.

[Footnotes to table]

Includes the revenue at the Bay of Islands, Hokianga, Kaiwhia, Kaipara, Wangarei.
Includes the revenue at Wanganui and Napier.
Includes the revenue at Akaroa.
The shillings have been omitted, which causes the slight difference between the total and the items.

TABLE XIII. – Comparative Statement of the European Population in New Zealand during the following Years. Compiled from Official Sources published in the Colony.

TABLE XIII. – Comparative Statement of the European Population in New Zealand during the following Years. Compiled from Official Sources published in the Colony.

[Footnotes to table]

After this date the population of the provinces is given; the Bay of Islands and Hokianga are included in Auckland, Akaroa in Canterbury, and Wanganui in Wellington.
The returns for 1856, 1857, and 1858 indicate the population on the 31st of December. The military and their families, amounting to 2,653 on the 31st of December 1856, are not included in any of these returns; nor is the European population of the Chatham Islands, which amounted in 1857 to 64 souls.

TABLE XIV. – Statement showing the Value of the Exports and Imports from and into the Colony of New Zealand during the following Years, compiled from Official Sources.

TABLE XIV. – Statement showing the Value of the Exports and Imports from and into the Colony of New Zealand during the following Years, compiled from Official Sources.

TABLE XV. – Return showing the Number of Persons of European Origin belonging to the different Religious Denominations in the several Provinces of New Zealand, in 1851.

TABLE XV. – Return showing the Number of Persons of European Origin belonging to the different Religious Denominations in the several Provinces of New Zealand, in 1851.

[Words from table
Protestants, Church of England, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, Independents, Baptists, Unitarians, Lutherans, Quakers, Protestant Dissenters, Roman Catholics, Jews, Refusing to state]

TABLE XVI. – Showing the Number of the Male and Female Population in the Provinces of New Zealand during the Years 1851 and 1858, compiled from the Government Statistics published in the Colony.

TABLE XVI. – Showing the Number of the Male and Female Population in the Provinces of New Zealand during the Years 1851 and 1858, compiled from the Government Statistics published in the Colony.

TABLE XVII. – Showing the Number of Live Stock in the Possession of Europeans in New Zealand during the Years 1851 and 1858, compiled from the Statistics of the Colony.

TABLE XVII. – Showing the Number of Live Stock in the Possession of Europeans in New Zealand during the Years 1851 and 1858, compiled from the Statistics of the Colony.

[Words from the table
Horses, Mules and asses, Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Pigs]

TABLE XVIII. – Showing the Number of Acres of Land in Cultivation by Europeans in New Zealand, during the Years 1851 and 1858, from Statistical Data published in the Colony.

TABLE XVIII. – Showing the Number of Acres of Land in Cultivation by Europeans in New Zealand, during the Years 1851 and 1858, from Statistical Data published in the Colony.

[Words from the table
Wheat, Barley, Oats, Maize, Potatoes, Grass, Gardens or Orchards, Other Crops, Acres Fenced]

TABLE XlX.-Showing the Number of Persons of European Origin in New Zealand able or not able to Read and Write during the Years ending 1851 207and 1857. 208

TABLE XlX.-Showing the Number of Persons of European Origin in New Zealand able or not able to Read and Write during the Years ending 1851 and 1857.

TABLE XX. – Shouting the Total Number of Souls in the undermentioned Pas near the Bay of Islands in 1851, and their respective Conditions, together with the Number of Married Women who have no Children, and the Number Barren. Computed from a nominal Census of all the Inhabitants, made by Mr. Duncan, Government Native Interpreter, Bay of Islands.

Name of Pa.

Total
Number
of Souls

Number of
Married Men.

Number of
Married Women.

Bach-
elors.

Spin-
sters.

Wido-
wers

Widows

Children
under 14
Years of Age.
Males

Children
under 14
Years of Age.
Females

Number of
Married Women
who have had
no Children,
or the
Children are dead.

Number of
Married Women
who never
had Children.

Waikari

114

30

32

8

11

5

-

17

11

1

6

Whangaruru

147

32

34

25

5

4

12

23

12

5

11

Momi Whangota

70

16

17

3

-

3

6

12

13

1

8

Tutu Kaka

36

9

9

9

2

2

1

3

1

-

7

Total

367

87

92

45

18

14

19

55

37

7

32

Some men have more than one wife, which is the cause of the number of married women exceeding the number of married men.

TABLE XXI. – Showing the Total Number of Souls in the undermentioned Pas, near the Bay of Islands in 1851, and their respective Conditions, together with the Number of Married Women who have no Children. Compiled from a nominal Return of all the Inhabitants made by Mr. Duncan, Government Interpreter, Bay of Islands.

Name of Pa.

Total Number
of Souls.

Number
of
Married
Men.

Number
of
Married
Women. 209

Bach-
elors.

Spin-
sters.

Wid-
owers. 210

Widows. 211

Children
under 14
Years of Age
Males. 212

Children
under 14
Years of Age
Females.

Number of
Married Women
who have had
no Children, or
whose Children
are Dead.

Paihia

41

10

10

6

-

4

4

4

3

5

Whangai

42

8

9

9

2

3

3

8

0

4

Kawa Kawa

149

33

37

15

9

7

8

22

18

17

Waiomio

333

61

64

128

28

11

8

27

6

40

Waikino

60

15

16

8

2

3

2

7

7

11

Hauatupiri

44

11

12

2

3

4

3

6

3

5

Hauatapiri
(Matarua)

55

10

10

9

4

2

6

8

6

5

Tirohanga

80

19

22

5

5

4

4

14

7

10

Rawhiti, &c.

186

40

42

20

18

10

14

26

16

21

Paroa

36

8

8

8

4

1

3

2

2

6

Total

1026

215

230

210

75

49

55

124

68

124

TABLE XXII. – Showing the Numbers of the Aboriginal Native Population of the Colony of New Zealand in 1858. 213

TABLE XXII. – Showing the Numbers of the Aboriginal Native Population of the Colony of New Zealand in 1858.

[Notes from the table]

The age of the males and females is not returned in so many cases that I have considered it useless to insert them. In 79 persons the sexes are not given.
In 97 persons the ages are not given, which accounts for the difference between the totals.
Estimated.

TABLE XXIII. – Showing the State of the Population of certain Tribes in the Waikato District in the Years 1844 and 1858. Extracted from a Census made by F. D. Fenton, Esq., Resident Magistrate.

Table XXIII. – Showing the State of the Population of certain Tribes in the Waikato District in the Years 1844 and 1858. Extracted from a Census made by F. D. Fenton, Esq., Resident Magistrate.

Table XXIV. – Showing the Native Population in the undermentioned Districts near Wellington, New Zealand, in the Year 1850. 214

Port Nicholson.

Waikanai
and Porirua.

Otaki,
Manawatu,
Rangitikei.

Wairarapa.

Total.

Population: –

Male adults

359

407

998

289

2,053

Female adults

241

335

846

174

1,596

Male children

67

83

364

52

566

Female children

78

63

337[?]

48

496

Total population

745

888

2515

563

4,711

Religion: –

Church of England

391

518

947

404

2,260

Wesleyan

223

223

68

20

534

Roman Catholic

1

147

13

161

Total religion

615

741

1,162

437

2,955

Moral condition: –

Married,
European custom

24

25

42

30

121

Married,
native custom

179

140

539

110

968

Can read and write.

220

237

587

104

1,148

Can read only

39

93

202

80

414

Buildings: –

Churches or chapels

11

9

15

4

39

Weather-boarded houses

9

6

14

0

29

Huts

204

206

507

85

1,002

Stock: –

Horses

85

72

143

49

349

Cattle

66

76

115

5

262

Sheep

20

2

20

42

Crops: –

Wheat ... acres

27

21

177

15

240

Maize ...

22

52

129

32

235

Potatoes ...

95

117

334

102

648

Kumera ...

15

22

41

78

Other garden produce

9

8

38

12

67

Miscellaneous: –

War canoes

41

53

36

130

Hand mills

2

23

16

41

Tame pigs

91

329

1,921

349

2,690

Boats

3

4

7

Goats

77

47

3

127

Daily scholars

32

33

218

283

Bee hives

2

19

21

Half castes

3

17

44

64

Water mills

1

2

3

Flax, prepared ... tons

1

4

26

31

Carts

8

8

Vessels ... tons

35

24

59

Rents received ... £

137

53

25

588

803

TABLE XXV. – Showing the Number of Canoes which arrived at Auckland and Onehunga, together with the Crews, Native Produce, &c., &c. during the Years 1852, 1853, 1854, and 1855, compiled from the Provincial Government Gazette.

1852.

1853.

1854.

1855.

Number of canoes

2,016

2,149

1,866

1,958

Crews: –

Males

7,330

7,287

5,569

6,649

Females.

2,949

2,854

2,385

3,718

Total

10,279

10,141

7,954

10,367

Quantity and species
of produce: –

Kits of potatoes.

7,042

8,450

2,501

6,340

" onions.

1,440

1,042

456

784

" maize.

2,157

4,139

123

1,398

" kumaras

675

369

86

132

" cabbages

807

1,027

872

2,106

" peaches

1,247

1,674

653

5,281

" flax.

426

157

9

187

Bundles of grass

5,797

5,279

4,027

9,217

Tons of wood.

1,565

2,320

1,951

1,853

" fish.

52

67

81

90

Pigs

1,771

1,366

961

722

Goats

45

16

3

22

Ducks

194

97

26

37

Fowls

1,392

585

634

750

Tons of flour.

65

132

–

44

Geese

2

8

–

–

Turkeys

–

16

–

–

Kits of pumpkins

7

154

170

319

" melons

7

26

67

181

" grapes

–

132

–

191

" apples

–

17

–

–

" quinces

–

3

–

–

Bushels of wheat

1,674

2,456

3,715

1,372

Bundles of straw

–

69

–

408

Kits of raupo

–

17

–

–

Tons of Kauri gum

–

249

376

49

Kits of pipi

3

10

19

–

" oysters

–

60

148

361

Bushels of bran

71

–

–

–

Amount valued at

£6,460

£12,879

£16,180

£12,377

205 Compiled from a synopsis of cases admitted into the Sheffield Infirmary during twenty-two years, by R. Ernest, M.D. Farr's "Annals of Medicine, 1837."

206 Compiled from returns obtained from Dr. Ford, Bay of Islands; Dr. Davies, Auckland; Dr. Fitzgerald, Wellington; Dr. Rees, Wanganui; and Dr. Wilson, New Plymouth.

207 New Zealand Government Gazette

208 Statistics of New Zealand, 1858.

209 Several men have more than one wife, which accounts for the excess of the married women over the married men.

210 The number of widowers and widows is an indirect evidence of the high rate of mortality above 14 years of age.

211 The number of widowers and widows is an indirect evidence of the high rate of mortality above 14 years of age.

212 Out of 192 children 22 were half-caste.

213 Observations on the State and Statistics of the Maori Population, by F. D. Fenton. Auckland. Blue Book. 1859. The enumeration is an estimate.

214 Vide Parl. Papers; and local Government Gazette, 1850.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

[Page 340 is blank]

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Chronological Catalogue of Publications relative to New Zealand, several of which have been used as authorities, though not particularly referred to.

1642.

Harris's Collection of Voyages. Campbell's Edition, vol. i. p. 325.

1663.

Memoires touchant l'Etablissement d'uneMission Chretienne dans Ia Terre Australe. By F. D. C. P. Pretre Indien. Paris, Cramorsy.

1696.

Thevenot's Voyages.

1722.

Bernard Amsterdam. 12mo. French Translation of Tasman's Journal.

1766.

Terra Australis Cognita; or, Voyages to the Southern Hemisphere. Edit. 1766. 3 vols. Vol. i. p. 65.

1770 – 1780.

Cook's Voyages. London.

1777-1778

Forsters' (father and son) Observations made during a Voyage round the World. London.

1779.

Dodsley's Annual Register for this year contains a proposition for civilising the New Zealanders.

1784.

An Act for the Transportation of Felons. George III.

1787.

Parliamentary Debates, relative to the formation of a penal settlement in Botany Bay. In the Royal Commission given to the first Governor, New Zealand is not named, but the geographical boundaries of his authority comprehend it.

1787.

Act to establish a Court on the Eastern Coast of New South Wales.

1791.

Rochon's Voyages aux Indes Orientales. 3 vols. Paris. Contains a Narrative of De Surville's Voyage to New Zealand.

Burney's History of the Discoveries in the South Seas.

London. The third edition contains a Translation of Tasman's Voyage to New Zealand, by Sir Joseph Banks.

Balbi's Introduction a l'Atlas Ethnographique. Paris. Contains remarks on the dialects of Tahiti and New Zealand.

Nouveau Voyage a la Mer du Sud, by M. Crozet. Paris. Crozet was first lieutenant in one of Marion de Fresne's ships.

1783.

Rochon's Account of the Voyage of Marion de Fresne. Paris. Was republished with additions in 1791 and 1802.

1795.

An Account of New Zealand and its Inhabitants, as communicated by two Natives to Captain King in 1793. Pamphlet. Republished in Cook's Geography, 1802. London. Captain King was Governor of Norfolk Island, and kidnapped two Natives from New Zealand, to instruct the settlers in Norfolk Island in the mode of preparing flax.

Vancouver's Voyages. London.

1804.

Some Account of New Zealand, by John Savage, Surgeon. He visited the Bay of Islands, and conveyed a New Zealander to England.

1806.

Turnbull's Voyage round the World. London: reprinted at Philadelphia. Contains an account of a European who lived among the New Zealanders early in the century; which account is republished in Nicholas's Narrative in 1817. Turnbull was supercargo to an English ship.

1810.

The Sydney Government Gazette and the Sydney newspapers from this date, contain occasional notices relative to New Zealand.

1813.

Act for the More Easy Recovery of Debts in New South Wales.

1814.

The Church Missionary Society's publications, and the transactions of the same society from this date, give religious information about New Zealand.

1817.

Act for the Punishment of Murders not within His Majesty's dominions.

1817.

Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand, performed in the years 1814 and 1815, in company with the Rev. Samuel Marsden. By John L. Nicholas, Esq. 2 vols. London. Good and original.

Berry's Narrative of the Massacre of the Boyd. Vol. iv. Constable's Miscellany, Edinburgh. Good.

1820.

In the Wesleyan Missionary Reports from this date, in the publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and of the London Missonary Society, and of the Aborigines' Protection Society will be found information relative to New Zealand.

1820.

Grammar of the Language of New Zealand. London. 8vo. Compiled by Professor Lee of Cambridge, aided by Hongi, Waikato, and Mr. Kendall. This was the first attempt to reduce the language to writing.

1822.

The Rev. Mr. Marsden's Journal of a Visit to New Zealand in 1820. London.

1823.

An Act to Repress Outrages in New Zealand. 4 Geo. IV. c. 97.

1824.

Ten Months' Residence in New Zealand. By Major Cruise, 84th Regt. London. He commanded the convict guard on board the Dromedary store-ship, which visited the country in 1820, to procure spars. This work is reviewed in the sixty-first number of the Quarterly.

1825-1826

Various notices in the English papers about the formation of a colony in New Zealand.

Captain Dillon's Successful Voyage in quest of La Perouse's Relics. Paris.

1828.

Missionary Gazetteer. By C. Williams. London. Contains an account of the mission stations in New Zealand.

1828.

An Act to Provide for the Administration of Justice in New South Wales. 9 Geo. IV. c. 83.

1830.

The New Zealanders. Library of Useful Knowledge. Knight, London. This excellent work was revised and parts written by Lord Brougham.

1830.

One himdred pages of selections from the Scriptures, liturgy, catechisms, and spelling books were printed at Sydney, in Maori, this year.

1831.

Polynesian Researches. By William Ellis. 5 vols. Fisher, London.

1831.

Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, from 1825 to 1829. By Captain F. W. Beechey, R. N. London.

1832.

Authentic Information relative to New Zealand. By James Busby, Esq. Cross, London. Mr. Busby was afterwards British Resident in the country.

1832.

Several portions of the New Testament were printed at Sydney, in Maori, this year. By the Rev. Mr. Yate.

1832.

Narrative of a Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand in' 1827, by A. Earl, Esq., draughtsman to H. M. S. Beagle. London.

1833.

Dumont D'Urville. Voyages dans l'Astrolabe. Paris. The botanical plates of this work of New Zealand plants are excellent.

1834.

Origin and Migration of Polynesian Nations. By John D. Lang, D.D., Senior Minister, Scotch Church, Sydney. London.

1834.

Voyage de la Favorite dans l'anne'e 1830-33, par M. Laplace. Paris. This vessel visited the Bay of Islands, and assisted in giving origin to the rumour that the French Government were to occupy New Zealand.

1834.

Excursions in New South Wales, &c. By F. Breton.

1835.

Marshall's Travels in New Zealand. Pamphlet printed either at Sydney or Hobart Town. Mr. Marshall was assistant surgeon of the Alligator, and witnessed the massacre of the natives near Taranaki.

1835.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 585. Contains correspondence relative to an expedition to recover British subjects detained by the New Zealanders near Taranaki.

1835.

St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians and Philippians, in Maori. Printed at Paihia, New Zealand.

1835.

An Account of New Zealand, and of the formation of the Church Missionary Society's Mission in the North Island. By the Rev. W. Yate. Seeley, London. He was a missionary in the Colony from 1824 to 1834.

1836.

Parliamentary Paper. Report of Select Committee on disposal of lands in British Colonies.

1836.

Parliamentary Paper. Report of Select Committee on Aborigines.

1836.

An Account of Phormium tenax. New Zealand Flax. Pamphlet. London.

1837.

Parliamentary Paper. Report of Select Committee on Aborigines.

1837.

The British Colonisation of New Zealand. Parker, London. Published by the New Zealand Association.

1837.

Principles of New Zealand Association. Pamphlet. London.

1837.

Principles of New Zealand Association examined. By D. Coates, Esq. Pamphlet. London.

1837.

Answer to Mr. Coates. By E. G. Wakefield. Pamphlet. London.

1838.

Official Documents relative to New Zealand Association. By Dr. Hinds, D.D. London. The above three pamphlets contain the first controversy on the colonisation of New Zealand.

1838.

Remarks on the Association for the Colonisation of New Zealand. By John Beecham, Lay Secretary, Wesleyan Missionary Society. Hatchards, London.

1838.

On the Colonisation of New Zealand. Article. Dublin Review. Dublin.

1838.

Remarks on latest Official Documents about New Zealand. By John Beecham. London.

1838.

Parliamentary Paper. Report of the Committee of the House of Lords on the state of New Zealand.

1838.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 122. Correspondence relative to Captain Hobson's visit to New Zealand in 1837.

1838.

Florae insularum Novae Zelandiae. By Allan Cunningham. London. Published in the Annals of Natural History for this and the following year.

1838.

A Collection of Admiralty Charts. London.

1838.

Polack's Residence in New Zealand from 1831 to 1837. 2 vols. Madden, London.

1838.

A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands. By John Williams, of the London Missionary Society. 8th edition. London. Mr. Williams was slain at the Island of Erromango in 1839.

1838.

Parliamentary Paper. Bill for Provisional Government of British Settlements in New Zealand.

1839.

Geographical Society's Transactions for November. London. Contains the voyage of H. M. S. Pelorus in New Zealand.

1839.

A Collection of Lithographical Drawings of New Zealand. By Earl. London.

1839.

Important Information about New Zealand. By a gentleman who was fourteen years at Hokianga. Ppt. Sydney.

1839.

Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle. By Captain Fitzroy. London. He was afterwards Governor of New Zealand.

1839.

Ward's information on New Zealand, 8vo. Parker, London. Mr. Ward was Secretary to the New Zealand Company.

1839.

New Zealand in 1839, in four letters to Lord Durham. By J. D. Lang, D. D. Smith and Elder, London.

1839.

Speech of Alison (the historian) at Glasgow, on New Zealand. Effingham, London.

1839.

Popular Account of New Zealand. Ppt. Lumsden, Glasgow.

1839.

Emigration Fields, by Patrick Mathew. Ppt. Longman. London.

1839.

Walton's Twelve Months' Residence in New Zealand. Ppt. Glasgow.

1839.

The Colonial Gazette commenced this year.

1839.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 409. Treasury Minute sanctioning the payment of the New Zealand Consul out of the revenues of New South Wales.

1839.

Zoological Society's Transactions. London. – Contains Professor Owen's first paper on the Moa. Subsequent numbers contain other papers on the same subject.

1840.

An Act, to continue until Dec. 1841, for the Administration of Justice in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land.

1840.

The New Zealand Journal. London. Commenced this year, conducted by H. S. Chapman, afterwards Judge at Wellington.

1840.

The New Zealand Government Gazette, and four newspapers were published in the Colony this year.

1840.

Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders. By J. S. Polack, Esq. 2 vols. Madden, London. Has many characteristic wood cuts.

1840.

The Rev. Mr. Hawtrey's Address to New Zealand Colonists. Ppt. London. Very good.

1840.

The Climate of New Zealand. By W. Swainson, Esq. Smith and Elder, London. He was afterwards fifteen years Attorney-General of the Colony.

1840.

A Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield on the New Zealand Mission. By a Clergyman. London.

1840.

Brief Reply. By a Member. London.

1840.

Second Letter to a Clergyman, containing a curious exposure of land jobbing. London.

1840.

Colonisation of New Zealand. Two articles republished from Dublin Review. Dublin.

1840.

New Zealand described. By W. C. Young. Ppt. London.

1840.

The Prayer-Book in Maori. London.

1840.

Journal du Havre, 15 Fevrier. Shows the efforts made in France for the foundation of a French colony and penal settlement in New Zealand.

1840.

The New Testament in Maori. London.

1840.

An Address to Emigrants to New Zealand. By Dr. Rudge. London.

1840.

Present State and Prospects of New Zealand. By G. E. Campbell. Ppt. Smith, London.

1840.

The Bishop of London to the Archbishop of Canterbury on Colonial Bishoprics. London.

1840.

Instructions to Agents of New Zealand Company. Ppt. London.

1840.

Penny New Zealand Magazine. Clarke.

1840.

Johnson's Plain Truths on New Zealand. Smith and Elder.

1840.

Regulations of the New Zealand Court of Directors. London.

1840.

Speech of Sir George Gipps, Governor of New South Wales, on New Zealand Land Bill. Sydney. Also printed in Parliamentary Papers.

1840.

An Act to provide for the Administration of Justice in New South Wales. 3 & 4 Vict. c. 62.

1840.

Parliamentary Paper. Appointment of Colonial and Emigration Commissioners.

1840.

Parliamentary Paper. Vessels cleared out for New Zealand in 1838-39.

1840.

Parliamentary Paper, July. Despatches from Government of New South Wales relative to New Zealand.

1840.

Parliamentary Paper. Report of Committee of House of Commons on Colonisation of New Zealand. Lord Elliot in the chair.

1840.

Parliamentary Paper. Report of Colonial Land Commissioners.

1840.

Parliamentary Paper, 8th April. Correspondence relative to New Zealand.

1840.

The Bishop of Australia's Visit to New Zealand in 1838. Ppt. Sydney.

1840.

Print of Port Nicholson. Wellington.

1840.

Arrowsmith's Map of New Zealand.

1840.

This year the New Zealand Company commenced their Reports, and they published thirty-five, the last in 1858. The twelfth report is five inches thick. Palmer and Clayton, London.

1841.

Parliamentary Paper. Correspondence relative to New Zealand Colonisation.

1841.

Knight's Quarterly Colonisation Circular commenced.

1841.

Two Maps of New Zealand. By Wyld. London.

1841.

Chart of Cook's Straits. London.

1841.

Plans of Auckland and Wellington.

1841.

Map of country round Auckland.

1841.

Two Views of Wellington.

1841.

Encyclopaedia Britannica. Seventh edition. Edinburgh. Article, New Zealand. By Mr. Chapman.

1841.

Carpenter's Relief for the Unemployed. Ppt. Strange, Lond.

1841.

Hodgskin's Eight Months in New Zealand. Ppt. London.

1841.

New Zealand and its Native Lnhabitants. By E. Dieffenbach. Ppt. London.

1841.

Letters from Emigrants, two sets. London. Published by New Zealand Company.

1841.

Information relative to New Plymouth Settlement. London.

1841.

Westminster Review. London. Article on New Zealand.

1841.

Bright's Hand-Book for New Zealand Emigrants. Hooper, London.

1841.

Sir John Ross's Voyage in the Pacific. London.

1842.

The Hon. H. W. Petre's Account of Company's Settlements. Smith and Elder, London.

1842.

Bidwill's Rambles in New Zealand. London. He ascended Tongariro, and made a valuable collection of plants.

1842.

Heaphy's New Zealand. Ppt. Smith and Elder, London. Refers to the Company's settlements.

1842.

Penny Magazine. Article, New Zealand.

1842.

Chapman's New Zealand Portfolio. London.

1842.

Bell and Young on New Zealand Flax. Ppt. Smith and Elder, London.

1842.

How to Colonise. By G. R. Mangles, M.P. Ppt. London.

1842.

Fox's Colonisation of New Zealand. Ppt. Smith and Elder, London.

1842.

Latest Information relative to New Plymouth. Smith and Elder. London.

1842.

Hay's Notices on New Zealand. Vol. ii. London. Geographical Society.

1842.

Translation of Professor Ritter's Colonisation of New Zealand. Ppt. Smith and Elder, London.

1842.

New Zealand, its Advantages and Prospects. By Charles Terry, Esq., F.R.S. Boone, London. Refers to Auckland, near which the writer had a flax factory.

1842.

Jameson's New Zealand. London. He was a surgeon of the Royal Navy.

1842.

New Zealand and the New Zealand Company. By T. Heale, Esq. London.

1842.

Letter to J. Somes, Esq., about the Capital of New Zealand. London.

1842.

An Index Reference to the Plan of New Zealand. London.

1842.

An Account of Nelson. By Kappa. Smith and Elder, London.

1842.

Emigration and Colonisation of Chatham Islands. By J. N. Birt, a German. London.

1842.

Beaven's Narrative of a Voyage to New Zealand. London.

1842.

New Zealand, a Poem. By an Etonian. London.

1842.

A newspaper was commenced this year by the New Zealand Government, printed in Maori. Auckland.

1842.

New Zealand in 1842. By Dr. Martin. Ppt. London.

1842.

Two Views of Taranaki. London.

1842.

Tasmanian Journal, vol. i. Hobart Town. Contains two papers on the Mythology of the New Zealanders. By James Hamlin, Missionary.

1842.

View of the site of Nelson. London.

1842.

Parliamentary Paper. General Report of Land and Emigration Commissioners.

1842.

Moody's Almanack. Auckland.

1842.

Grammar of the New Zealand Language. By the Rev. R. Maunsell, A.B., T. C. D. Missionary. Auckland.

1842.

Chart of Blind Bay. London.

1842.

Parliamentary Papers, July and August. Numbers 61, 408, 493, 568. Estimated Revenue and Expenditure of New Zealand for One Year.

1842.

Map of Coast Line, Taranaki. London.

1842.

An Act to regulate the Sale of Waste Lands in the Australian Colonies, 5 & 6 Victoria, c. 36.

1842.

An Act for regulating the Conveyance of Passengers, 5 & 6 Victoria.

1842.

Parliamentary Paper, July. Respecting Debt due by the New Zealand Government to New South Wales.

1842.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 569. Correspondence relative to New Zealand, with Plans.

1842.

Parliamentary Paper. Receipts and Expenditure of New Zealand from May to December, 1841.

1842.

Parliamentary Paper. Laws and Ordinances of New Zealand passed by Governor and Council.

1843.

Speech of Charles Buller, M.P., on Colonisation. Murray, London.

1843.

He Puka Puka ki te reo Pakeha. New Zealand. Instruction book of the English Tongue for the use of the New Zealanders.

1843.

Randall's Address on New Zealand Emigration. London.

1843.

New Zealand Colonisation, by J. Jennings. Ppt. Richardson, London.

1843.

Information for the use of the Missionary Deputation to Lord Stanley. London.

1843.

First Annual Report of Agricultural Society of Auckland. Auckland. The second was published in 1844.

1843.

Colonial Land Emigration Commissioners' Circulars commenced this year.

1843.

The first of the Bishop of New Zealand's Letters was published this year by Riving-ton, London. Continuation of in the Church in the Colonies.

1843.

View of Auckland. London.

1843.

Map of Country round Wellington. London.

1843.

Map of Manawatu River and Sections. London.

1843.

Map of Wanganui River. London.

1843.

Travels in New Zealand by E. Dieffenbach, M.D. 2 vols. Murray, London. Dr. Dieffenbach was Naturalist to the New Zealand Company. In the Appendix a Fauna of the country, by J. G. Gray, Esq., British Museum.

1843.

Lieut. Woods, New Zealand. Ppt. London.

1843.

Letters from Settlers. Smith and Elder, London.

1843.

The culture of the Grape Vine and the Orange in Australia and New Zealand, by G. Suttor, F.L.S. Smith, Elder, and Co., London. He had no personal experience of the culture of either in New Zealand.

1843.

Parliamentary Paper, March. Correspondence relative to New Zealand Estimates.

1843.

Parliamentary Paper. Correspondence relative to Emigration.

1843.

Parliamentary Paper. General Report of Land Commissioners.

1844.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 61. Laws and Ordinances passed by Governor and Council of New Zealand in 1841-42. 5 Victoria.

1844.

Narrative of United States Exploring Expedition, by C. Wilkes. Washington. Republished in England by Whittaker.

1844.

Parliamentary Paper, April. Report of Colonial Land Emigration Commissioners.

1844.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 328. Income and Expenditure of New Zealand from 1840 to 1842, Also population of.

1844.

Dictionary and Grammar of the New Zealand Language, by William Williams, Missionary. Auckland. A second edition, much improved, was published in London by Williams and Norgate in 1852. This dictionary, although the best, scarcely contains one half of the words in the language.

1844.

Parliamentary Paper. Abstract of Colonial Blue Books from 1842, and Military Colonial Expenditure.

1844.

Small Map of New Zealand. Smith, Elder, and Co., London.

1844.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 556. Report of Select Committee on New Zealand. Lord Howick in the chair. Weighs nearly eight pounds.

1844.

Parliamentary Paper. Letter from the Secretary of the Church Missionary Society to Lord Stanley relative to New Zealand.

1844.

Stokes' Letter on the Wairau Massacre. Longman, London.

1844.

Christian Remembrancer, No. 40. Burns, London.

1844.

The New Zealanders and their Lands. By D. Coates, Esq. Ppt. Hatchards, London.

1844.

Donlan's Letter to Absentee Landlords. Aird, London.

1844.

Journal des Debats gives a debate in the Chamber of Deputies in May, showing the former intention of the French Government to form a Penal Settlement in New Zealand.

1844.

Nelson Examiner Newspaper, No. 06, for January. Contains a full, although partial account of the Wairau Massacre.

1846.

The Claims of the New Zealand Company to Compensation considered. London.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper. Bill to Amend the Australian Waste Land's Bill.

1845.

Correct Report of the Three Days' Debate in June in the House of Commons on New Zealand and the New Zealand Company. Murray, London.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper. Despatches from Governor Fitzroy to Governor Gipps.

1845.

Letters from Wanganui. Churton.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, March. Letters from Mr. W. Shortland, Acting Governor of New Zealand, and Mr. J. Busby, formerly British Resident.

1845.

The Colonies and the Colonial Government. By Sir E. Cust. Hatchards, London.

1845.

London Spectator Newspaper. Supplement of in January, exclusively devoted to New Zealand.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 129. Relative to Paper Currency.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper. Return of the date each Colony became a British possession.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper. Letter from Lord Ingestre to Lord Stanley, with Reply about New Zealand.

1845.

Scheme of the proposed Free Church Colony to be founded at Otago. Glasgow.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper. Correspondence respecting Debentures and Land Sales by Natives.

1845.

Missionary Almanack. London. Contains information about New Zealand, but more particularly in 1843, 1844, and 1845.

1845.

New Zealand, with Historical Remarks. By S. M. D. Martin, M.D. Simmonds and Ward, London.

1845.

Darwin's Voyage of a Naturalist. Murray, London.

1845.

Cook's Straits Almanack. Stokes, Wellington.

1845.

Statement of the Church Missionary Society in reference to the land purchased by their missionaries. London.

1845.

Lieut. Wood's New Zealand and its Claims. Richardson, London. This gentleman was one of the Company's original settlers, who returned home disappointed.

1845.

Remarks on the Past and Present State of New Zealand. By Walter Brodie. Whittaker, London.

1845.

New Zealand and its Aborigines. By William Brown. Darling, London.

1845.

Adventures in New Zealand. By E. Jerningham Wakefield. 2 vols. Murray, London.

1845.

Views in New Zealand, illustrating the above work. Smith and Elder, London.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper moved by Sir R. Inglis and Mr. Aglionby. Return of Missing Land Claimants.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 601. Correspondence between Lord Stanley and the New Zealand Company, relative to New Zealand Affairs.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper. Correspondence relative to Manukau Company.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, April. Despatches from Governor of New Zealand from April to September, 1844.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper moved by Sir R. Inglis. Corre-

spondence between Lord Stanley and the New Zealand Company relative to the establishment of a Proprietary Government in New Zealand.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, June. Despatches from Governor of New Zealand from September to December, 1844.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 131. Returns relating to Land Claims, Pre-emption, &c.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 517. – 1. Correspondence between Government and New Zealand Company from June to July, 1845.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 517. – 2. Correspondence relative to the Attack on Kororareka.

1845.

Parliamentary Paper. Correspondence relative to the Original Constitution of the Legislative Council.

1846.

On the British Colonisation of New Zealand by the Committee of the Aborigines Society. Ppt. London.

1846.

Remarks on New Zealand. By Robert Fitzroy. White, London. Was published after Governor Fitzroy's return to England, and contains a defence of his policy.

1846.

Westminster Review for March. Has an Article on New Zealand.

1846.

Pictorial Illustrations of New Zealand. By S. C. Brees, Surveyor to the New Zealand Company. Williams, London.

1846.

Angas's Savage Scenes in Australia and New Zealand. London.

1846.

Travels in New Zealand. By A. Marjoribanks. Smith and Elder. London.

1846.

Selection of New Zealand Plants. Par M. E. Raoul, Chirurgien de la Marine. Paris. Plates good.

1846.

An Act to grant certain Powers to the New Zealand Company. 9 & 10 Victoria, c. 382.

1846.

An Act to amend the above Act. 9 & 10 Victoria, c. 82.

1846.

An Act to make further Provision for the Government of New Zealand. 9 & 10 Victoria, c. 103.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper. Sixth General Report, Colonial Land Commissioners.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper. Bill to authorise New Zealand Loan.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper. Bill to make further provision for New Zealand Government.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper. New Zealand Loan Act Amendment Bill.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper. Respecting H. S. Chapman, Esq., Judge, New Zealand.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 203. Respecting New Zealand Land Claims. With Plans.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 271. Correspondence relative to Loan in aid of New Zealand Company.

1846.

Parliamentary Papers, Nos. 337, 448, 690, relative to New Zealand Affairs.

1846.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 722. Correspondence respecting Mr. Halswell. New Zealand.

1846.

United Service Magazine. London. Contains an Account of the Campaign in the North of New Zealand, evidently written by Colonel Despard, 99th Regiment.

1846.

Brunner's Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of the Middle Island of New Zealand. Mr. Brunner was awarded a gold medal for this expedition, by the Geographical Society. The Journal is also published in that Society's proceedings.

1847.

The New Zealanders. Illustrated by G. F. Angas. M'Lean, London. Large folio. Very good. Colouring gaudy.

1847.

The Otago Journal. Was commenced in Edinburgh.

1847.

Plain Facts relative to the War in the North of New Zealand. Ppt. Auckland.

1847.

Statistics of the Southern Settlements. By S. E. Grimstone, Esq. Wellington.

1847.

The Universal Destruction of Aboriginal Races. Smith and Elder, London. Several valuable suggestions in this work for the civilisation of the New Zealanders.

1847.

An Act to Amend the Passengers Act. 10 & 11 Victoria, c. 103.

1847.

An Act to promote Colonisation to New Zealand, and to authorise a Loan to the New Zealand Company. 10 & 11 Vict., c. 112.

1847.

Parliamentary Paper. Seventh General Report of Colonial Land Commissioners.

1847.

Parliamentary Papers, Nos. 763 – 837. Correspondence between Secretary of State and Governor Grey, relative to New Zealand Affairs.

1847.

Further Parliamentary Papers presented in June and December, relative to New Zealand Affairs.

1848.

Further Parliamentary Papers, published in February and August, relative to New Zealand, Nos. 641, 899, 1002.

1848.

Pocket Vocabulary of Colloquial Maori and English. By Lacy Kemp, Esq. Wellington.

1848.

Sidney's Emigrant's Guide. Orr & Co. London.

1848.

Parliamentary Paper. Eighth General Report of Colonial Land Commissioners.

1848.

An Act to suspend for Five Years the Constitution of New Zealand, passed in 1840, and to make further Provision in lieu.

1848.

The Emigrant's Guide to New Zealand. Stewart and Murray, London.

1848.

The Handbook of New Zealand, by a late Magistrate (Mr. E. Jerningham Wakefield) of the Colony. Parker, London.

1848.

Leaf from the Natural Historv of New Zealand. By the Rev. Mr. Taylor, F. G. S. Wellington.

1848.

Arrangements for the Adjustment of Questions relating to Land in the Settlements of the New Zealand Company. Ppt. Stewart and Murray, London.

1848.

Regulations for the Sale of Land and Pasturage in the Southern Provinces of New Zealand. Ppt. Published by the New Zealand Company.

1848.

England and the New Zealanders. Ppt. Printed at St. John's College Press. Auckland. The writer was Chief Justice Martin. Governor Grey drew the attention of the Secretary of State to this production.

1848.

Two pamphlets were published this year by J. R. Godley, Esq., in London, suggesting the formation of the Canterbury Settlement.

1848.

Canterbury Papers. London. The Association commenced this year the publication of the above papers.

1848.

Te Karere Maori, or Maori Messenger newspaper was commenced by Government this year. It was printed in English and Maori, and circulated gratis among the natives.

1848.

The New Zealand Question and the Rights of the Aborigines. By Louis Alexis Chamerovzou. Newby, London. Good.

1848.

Twelve Years' Wanderings in the British Colonies, from 1835 to 1847. By J. C. Byrne, Esq. 2 vols. Bentley, Smith. Information about New Zealand not good.

1848.

St. John's College Almanack. Auckland. Bishop Selwyn's Itinerary.

1848.

Charge addressed to the Clergy of New Zealand. By Bishop Selwyn. Rivington, London.

1848.

Manual for New Zealand Bee Keepers. By W. C. Cotton, St. John's College. Pamphlet. Wellington.

1849.

Handbook for Intending Emigrants to New Zealand. Orr and Co.

1849.

Sketches of New Zealand. By W. T. Power, D. A Commissary General. Longman.

1849.

Parliamentary Papers relative to Earthquake at Wellington in 1848.

1849.

An Account of the New Plymouth Settlement. By C. Hursthouse, Esq. Jun., London.

1849.

Papers laid before Parliament in May and July regarding New Zealand.

1849.

Act to facilitate Conveyances on behalf of New Zealand Company.

1849.

Emigrants' Manual. Chambers, Edinburgh.

1849.

The British Colonies. By R. M. Martin.

1849.

Notes Grammaticales sur la langue Maorie ou Neo Zelandaire. Par Mgr. Pompallier. Lyons. Bishop Pompallier informed me that he presented in person a copy of this work to the celebrated linguist Cardinal Mezzofante, who on looking at it for a moment said the New Zealand language was the same as that of Tahiti and the Sandwich Islands.

1849.

The Act of Colonisation. By Edward Gibbon Wakefield. Parker, London.

1849.

Parliamentary Paper. Statistics of the Province of New Munster, New Zealand. Wellington. Compiled by Mr. Domett, Civil Secretary.

1850.

Journal of an Overland Expedition from Auckland to Taranaki made by Governor Grey. Auckland. Printed in English and Maori.

1850.

Taranaki, or New Plymouth, the Garden of New Zealand. Stanford.

1850.

Colonisation Circular. By Her Majesty's Land Commissioners. Knight, London.

1850.

Letter to the Earl Chichester in defence of Archdeacon Henry, Williams, and other Missionaries of the Church Missionary Society. By James Busby, Esq. Auckland, Williamson and Wilson.

1850.

An Act to Empower the Canterbury Association to dispose of Lands in New Zealand.

1850.

Letter to the Bishop of New Zealand from the Members of the Church of England in the Colony. Auckland.

1850.

The New Zealand Magazine. Wellington. Two numbers were published.

1850.

The Ordinances of New Zealand from 1841 to 1849. Wellington.

1850.

The Australian and New Zealand Gazette commenced this year.

1850.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 128. Additional Instructions to George Grey relative to the sale of land.

1850.

Parliamentary Papers, 14th of August, in continuation of those of July, 1849.

1850.

Parliamentary Papers, in continuation of those presented in August.

1851.

Parliamentary Papers, 22nd and 29th July, relative to New Zealand Aflairs, and surrender of Company's Charter. Otago.

1851.

Further Parliamentary Papers, 7th August.

1851.

Montgomery Martin's Colonies. Tallis, London.

1851.

Hints to intending Sheep Farmers in New Zealand. By F. A. Weld, Esq. Stanford, London.

1851.

Moore's Reports of Cases in the Privy Council. Vol. vii. part 1. Stevens, London. Contains the appeal in the case Queen v. Clarke.

1851.

Six Colonies in New Zealand. By W. Fox. Parker, London.

1851.

Two Lectures on the Aborigines of New Zealand. By W. Buddle, Wesleyan Minister. Williamson, Auckland.

1851.

The Southern Districts in New Zealand. By E. Shortland, M.A. London.

1851.

Letter to Sir George Grey in reply to his attack on the Canterbury Association. By E. Jerningham Wakefield. Lyttelton.

1851.

The Canterbury Settlement. By J. Knowles. Stanford.

1851.

Act to alter an Act empowering the Canterbury Association to dispose of lands.

1851.

Report of Committee for Improving the Communication between the Port and Plains of Canterbury. Lyttelton.

1851.

Journal Statistical Society. London. Contains an account of Auckland in 1848.

1851.

Rovings in the Pacific from 1837 to 1849. By a Merchant long resident in Tahiti. 2 vols. Longman, London.

1851.

Mantell's Fossils of the British Museum. Bohn, London.

1851.

Robinson Crusoe in Maori, with three engravings. Wellington.

1851.

Archbishop Whately's Easy Letters on Money Matters in Maori. Wellington.

1851.

An Act to Amend the Canterbury Association Act of 1850.

1851.

Church Missionary Gleaner. London. Contains a memoir of the great Rauparaha's son. By himself.

1852.

Lithographic Drawings from Sketches in New Zealand. By R. A. Oliver, Commander, R. N. Dickinson, London. The picture of Rangihaeata good.

1852.

Our Antipodes. By Lieut.-Colonel Mundy. 3 vols. Bentley, London. One volume is devoted to New Zealand.

1852.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 179. Correspondence with Mr. Fox relative to the Political Institutions of the Colony.

1852.

Parliamentary Papers, 3rd, 14th, and 20th May, relative to the Proposed Constitution and the Surrender of the Company's Charter.

1852.

An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand.

1852.

Parliamentary Paper, No. 570, regarding New Zealand Company's Affairs.

1852.

An Act to enable Colonial and other Bishops to perform certain episcopal functions under commission from English and Irish Bishops.

1852.

An Act to remove doubts about the Bishopric of Christ Church, and to enable Her Majesty to constitute and subdivide the Diocese of New Zealand.

1852.

Report of Commissioners appointed by Sir George Grey to form a system of procedure suited to the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Stokes, Wellington.

1853.

Canterbury Almanack. Lyttelton.

1853.

Professional Papers, Royal Engineers. Weale, London. Containing Captain Collinson's remarks on the Military Operations in New Zealand.

1853.

Auckland the Capital of New Zealand. Smith and Elder, London. By Mr. Swainson, Attorney-General.

1853.

Journal of a Cruise among the Islands in the Western Pacific. By Captain J. E. Erskine, R.N. Murray, London.

1853.

Florae Novae Zelandiae. By J. D. Hooker, M.D., with plates.

Murray, London. Published by the Admiralty. The most complete work on the subject.

1853.

Parliamentary Paper. Correspondence between Colonial Office and Canterbury Association, No. 200.

1853.

Ko nga moteatea me nga Hakirara O nga Maori. Poems, Traditions, and Chaunts of the Maories. By Sir George Grey, K.C.B. Wellington. Valuable. Translations of some of the traditions were published in London in 1854.

1853.

Map of the Colony of New Zealand. By Arrowsmith. London.

1853.

The Mutual Relation between the Canterbury Association and the Purchasers of Lands in the Settlement. Ppt. London.

1853.

Letter to the Duke of Newcastle in behalf of the Melanesian Mission of the Bishop of New Zealand. By L. M. Hogg, Rector of Crawford. London.

1853.

A Spring in the Canterbury Settlement. London.

1853.

Parliamentary Paper, relative to the Gold in Australia and New Zealand.

1853.

The Colonial Policy of Lord J. Russell's Administration. By Earl Grey. 2 vols. Bentley. London.

1854.

A Page from the History of New Zealand. By Metoikos Auckland.

1854.

Correspondence relating to the Bishop of New Zealand, No. 372.

1854.

Parliamentary Papers, 10th April, relative to New Zealand, in continuation of those of May 1852.

1854.

Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for April. Contains a description of two caves containing Moas' bones.

1854.

Medico-Chirurgical Review for April and July. London. Paper on the diseases of the New Zealanders.

1854.

The Happy Colony. By Robert Pemberton. Saunders and Otley, London. The author suggests a colony in New Zealand, where each individual is to undergo a 21 years' process of education.

1854.

Malone's Three Years in the Australian Colonies. Bentley, London.

1854.

Ultima Thule, or Thoughts suggested by a Residence in New Zealand. By F. Cholmondeley. Chapman, London.

1854.

Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders, with illustrations of their Manners and Customs. By Edward Shortland, M. A. Longman, London.

1854.

Memorandum upon a Letter addressed to Lord Lyttelton to Sir George Grey, Secretary of State. By Governor Grey. Norman, London. A defence of Governor Grey's policy by himself.

1854.

An Account of the Canterbury Settlement. By R. B. Paul. Rivington.

1854.

Quarterly Review. Murray, London. Article on New Zealand Missions.

1855.

Polynesian Mythology, with Traditions of the New Zealanders. By Sir George Grey, K.C.B., late Governor of New Zealand. Murray, London.

1855.

Dublin University Magazine for July.

1855.

A Summer Excursion in New Zealand, with Gleanings from other Writers. Kirby & Sons, London.

1855.

Maori Mementoes, being a series of Addresses by the Natives to Governor Grey. By C. 0. Davis. Williamson and Wilson, Auckland.

1855.

Parliamentary Paper. Correspondence on the subject of Responsible Government.

1855.

Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives of New Zealand. Williamson and Wilson, Auckland. Published after each session.

1855.

The renowned Chief Kawiti, and other New Zealand Warriors. By C. 0. Davis, Government Interpreter. Auckland.

1855.

The Southern Cross and the Southern Crown, or the early History of the Gospel in New Zealand. By Miss Tucker. Nesbit, London.

1855.

New Zealand and its Six Colonies. Ppt. Craddock, London.

1856.

New Zealand. By Edward Brown Fitton. Stanford, London.

1856.

Maori Superstitions. By John White, Interpreter to the Land Purchase Department. Ppt. Auckland.

1856.

Letter to the Electors of Lyttelton. By James Edward Fitzgerald. Lyttelton.

1856.

Statistics of the Province of Nelson for 1855. Nelson, New Zealand.

1856.

The First Settlers in New Zealand, and their Treatment. By James Busby, Esq. Ppt. Williamson, Auckland.

1856.

Acts of the Presbytery of Auckland. New Zealand.

1856.

New Zealand, the Substance of Lectures on the Colonisation of. By W. Swainson, Esq., Attorney-General. Smith and Elder, London.

1856.

The New Zealand Pilot. London. Published by the Admiralty, and completed from the Surveys of Captains Stokes and Drury. By Captain Richards and Mr. F. J. Evans, R.N.

1856.

Sketches of Colonial Constitutions. By Arthur Mills. Murray, London.

1856.

The Rise and Progress of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. By an Englishman. Saunders and Otley. London.

1856.

New Zealand and its Inhabitants. By the Rev. Mr. Taylor, F. G. S. 1 vol. London. Original.

1857.

The Messenger of Port Nicholson, a native weekly newspaper, published by private enterprise for the benefit of the natives.

1857.

Letters from Canterbury, New Zealand. By R. B. Paul, M.A., Archdeacon of Waimea. London.

1857.

Annals of the Colonial Church in New Zealand. Selections from the Bishop's Letters.

1857.

New Zealand or Zealandia, the Britain of the South. 2 vols. By Charles Hursthouse, a New Zealand Colonist. Stanford, London. Good.

1857.

The New Zealand Settler's Guide. By I. Rhodes Cooper, Captain, 58th Regiment. Stanford, London. 8vo.

1857.

Letter to Governor Browne. By James Busby, Esq. On Responsible Government. Auckland.

1857.

New Zealand compared with Great Britain in its Physical and Social Aspects. A Lecture by the Rev. A. Baker, M.A. Wellington.

1857.

William's New Zealand Dictionary. Stanford, London.

1857.

Weld's Hints to Sheep Farmers.

1857.

Parliamentary Paper. Report of Select Committee on New Zealand Affairs, having reference to guaranteeing the Loan of £500,000.

1857.

Act to Guarantee a Loan for the Service of New Zealand.

1857.

Act for discharging Claims of New Zealand Company on the Proceeds of Sales of Land in New Zealand.

1857.

Act to amend an Act for granting a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand.

1858.

Statistics of New Zealand for 1853, 1854, 1855, and 1856. Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by command of His Excellency. Wilson, Auckland. This valuable work was compiled by Dr. John B. Bennett, Registrar-General.

1858.

Sketch of the Province of Otago. By J. T. Thomson, Esq., F. R. G. S., C.E., Chief Surveyor. Ppt. Otago. Reprinted in the Geographical Society's Transactions. London. 1859.

1858.

The Laws of England, Compiled and Translated into the Maori Language. By Desire of Governor Browne, C.B. Auckland.

1858.

The New Zealand Emigrant's Bradshaw. Stanford, London.

1858.

Description of the Province of Wellington. Kent and Co.

1858.

Description of the Province of Nelson. Kent and Co.

1858.

Description of the Province of Otago. By G. J. Adam. Bell and Bradshaw.

1858.

Description of the Province of Canterbury. By G. S. Hodgkinson, M.Ii.C.S. Kent and Co.

1858.

Rise, Progress, and Present Condition of Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. By D. G. Pusely. E. Wilson.

1858.

Despatch respecting the Military Force, No. 100.

1858.

An Appeal to endow a Free Church for the people in St. Heliers, Jersey, by Sheep Farming in New Zealand. Le Lievre Brothers, Jersey. Ppt.

1858.

Statistics of New Zealand for 1857. Auckland. Wilson. By Dr. Bennett, Registrar-General.

1858.

New Zealand, the Land of Promise, and its Resources. By William Stones. London, Algar and Strut. Ppt.

1859.

New Zealand and its Colonisation. By W. Swainson, Esq., upwards of 15 years Her Majesty's Attorney-General of the Colony. Smith and Elder.

1859.

Papers laid before Parliament relative to Waste Lands in New Zealand. Hansard.

1859.

The Colonial Administration of Great Britain. By S. S. Bell, Judge of the Cape of Good Hope. Longman.

1859.

Five Years' Residence in New Zealand. By Francis Fuller, Esq., late Captain, 59th Regiment. London, Williams and Norgate. A Canterbury Settler.

1859.

Observations on the State of the Aboriginal Inhabitants in New Zealand. By F. D. Fenton. Ppt. Wilson, Auckland.

INDEX

INDEX.

ABORIGINES.
Aborigines,their immigration into New Zealand, i. 51 – 59.
Act, Scrip, ii. 192.
Acts, Waste lands of 1856 and 1858, ii. 268.
Agnes, massacre of crew of the, i. 253.
Ahuriri, ii. 188.
Akaroa harbour, i. 9.
Albatross (Toroa), i. 28.
Allen the bugler, ii. 132.
Alzdorf, Baron, killed by earthquake, ii. 231.
Aorere river, gold discovered at, ii. 261.
Aotea harbour, i. 9.
Arawa canoe burnt by settlers, i. 122.
Arney, Chief Justice, ii. 266.
Association, Canterbury, ii. 184.
Atkyns, Captain, commands Auckland volunteers, ii. 127.
Atua, the Maori gods, i. 108.
Auckland harbour, i. 8; town of, ii. 27.
Aurora Australis, i. 44.
Balneavis, Captain, ii. 146.
Banks, Sir Joseph, i. 20.
Baring, Mr. Francis, chairman of New Zealand Association, ii. 4.
Bartley, Mr., ii. 217.
Bay of Islands, i. 6 – 8.
Bay of Plenty, i. 6.
Beattie, Mr., his purchase of island of Kanan, ii. 165.
Beattie, Lieutenant, ii. 117.
Beecham, Mr. John, ii. 6.
Beechy, Captain, his account of modern Polynesian immigration, i. 64,
Belligny, M. de, agent of French Immigration Company, ii. 10.
Bible translated into Maori, i. 311.
CHALMERS.
Blackburn, Ensign, killed at Horokiwi, ii. 137.
Bluff harbour, i. 9.
Bontius, i. 34.
Boulcott's farm, surprise at, ii. 132.
Bourke, Sir Richard, i. 272.
Boyd, massacre of crew of the, i. 249.
Branks, Mr., assassination of, ii. 173.
Bridge, Major, ii. 108.
Brodie, Mr., his importation of pheasants and sparrows, i. 31.
Brooke, Sir James, i. 57.
Brown, Rev. A. N , his description of a New Zealand battle-field, i. 145.
Brown, Mr. William, ii. 209.
Browne, Colonel Gore, Governor of New Zealand, ii. 234.
Bruce, George, one of the first settlers in New Zealand, i. 244; carried off by Captain Dalrymple, 245.
Brunner, Mr. Thomas, ii. 200.
Buddie, Rev. Mr., ii. 175.
Buller, Mr. Charles, M. P., his motion on New Zealand affairs, ii. 120.
Bunbury, Major, ii. 21.
Burial feasts (Hahungas), i. 188.
Busby, Mr. James, first British Resident in New Zealand, i. 270; his declaration of independence, 278.
Caladium Esculentum (Taro), i. 156.
Campbell, Dr. Logan, ii. 175.
Cannibalism, i. 141; anecdote of, 142.
Canterbury, history of, settlement, ii. 183.
Cape Campbell, i. 9.
Cape Colville, i. 8.
Cape Farewell, i. 9.
Cargill, Captain, ii. 168.
Census of 1851, ii. 194; of 1858, 276.
Chalmers, Port, ii. 168.

CHATHAM.
Chatham Islands, ii. 35.
Christchurch, ii. 186, 205.
Churches in colony, ii. 264.
Clark, Mr. George, ii. 119.
Clifford, Mr., speaker of House of Representatives, ii. 216, 239; knighted, 263.
Coal, discovery of, ii. 275.
Coates, Mr. Dandeson, ii. 5.
Company, New Zealand, its dissolution, ii. 190.
Constitution Act of 1846, ii. 158; 1852, 189.
Cook, Captain, his discovery and exploration of New Zealand, i. 230.
Cook's Straits, i. 4,
Cordyline Australis, i. 157.
Coromandel, gold-fields at i. 197.
Cowell, Mr. J. W., his charge against the New Zealand Company, ii. 192.
Darling, Governor, his proclamation against the sale of heads, i. 263.
Dashwood, Mr., ii. 200.
Denny, Captain, ii. 128.
D'Entrecasteaux, Admiral, i. 242.
Despard, Colonel, commands expedition against Oheawai, ii. 113.
D'Harcourt, Captain, i. 236.
Diplomatic feasts (Hakaries), i. 189.
Duff, ship missionary expedition to Tahiti, i. 305.
Dunedin, ii. 168.
Durham, Lord, member of New Zealand Company, i. 269.
D'Urville, Captain, i. 270.
Durville Island, i. 4.
Dusky Bay, i. 33.
Eaheinomawe, ancient name of North Island, i. 4.
Earthquakes, noticed by Captain Cook, Mr. Stephens, and Judge Chapman, i. 10; of 1848, ii. 170; of 1852, 231.
East Cape, i. 8.
Egmont, Mount, i. 6.
Eyre, Mr. George, Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster, ii. 159.
Fairburn, Rev. William, his land purchases, i. 262.
HEKE.
Fencibles, New Zealand, ii, 166.
Ferns, number of, i. 15; edible, 154.
Fernandez, Juan, i. 226.
Fitzgerald, Mr. Edward, ii. 187; member of Executive Council, 217; his proceedings in that capacity, 218.
Fitzroy, Captain Robert, Governor of New Zealand, ii. 82; superseded, 122.
Flaxplant, i. 157; ii. 260.
Foveaux Straits, i. 4.
French, the, their attempt to settle in New Zealand, ii. 30.
Fresne, Marion de, i. 233; his assassination, 234.
Frogs found in New Zealand, i. 29.
Fungi eaten by Maoris, i. 19.
Furniture woods, i. 20.
Gilfillan, Mr., assassinated by natives, ii. 142.
Gipps, Sir George, Governor of New South Wales, i. 278.
Godley, Mr. John Robert, ii. 183.
Gold discoveries, ii. 197, 198.
Gonneville, Binct Pauhnier de, i. 225.
Gore, Lieutenant, i. 231.
Grant, Captain, killed at Oheawai, ii. 117.
Great Barrier Island, i. 4.
Grey, Captain George, governor of South Australia, ii. 121; governor of New Zealand, 124.; his exertions during the war, 148; asserts right of Crown to waste lands, 159; returns home, 210.
Hahungas, or burial feasts, i. 188.
Hakaries, or diplomatic feasts, i. 189.
Hale, Horatio, on Polynesian Migrations, i. 52.
Hapuku, a large saltwater fish, i. 30.
Harriet, massacre of crew of the, i. 272.
Hawaiki, i. 57.
Hawke's Bay, i. 8; ii. 188.
Hawkesworth, Dr., his Narrative of Cook's Voyage, i. 231.
Heke, Hone, i. 328, ii. 95; abducts Mrs. Lord, 97; his outrages at Ko-

HENDERSON.
rorareke, 97; his warfare against the settlers, 102; his letter to Governor Fitzroy, 113; his death, 200.
Henderson, Captain, R.A., engaged at Horokiwi, ii. 138.
Herd, Captain, agent of the New Zealand Company, i. 269.
Heu Heu, a Maori chief, ii. 121.
Hinau berries, i. 156.
Hine Moa, legend of, i. 179
Hobson, Captain, of H.M S. Rattlesnake, protects settlers at Kororareke, and appointed governor of New Zealand, i. 288, ii. 9; his death, 58.
Hoiho, a wingless waterfowl, i. 28.
Home, Captain Sir E., ii. 111.
Hongi, Hika, a Maori chief, i. 134, 143, 255.
Hongi, a Maori mode of salutation, i.200.
Horokiwi, fortifications at, ii. 137.
Horton, Mr. Wilmot, his emigration movement at, i. 268.
Huia, a small bird, i. 24.
Hulme, Colonel, commanding expedition against Hone Heke, ii. 108.
Huntley, his trial, i. 178.
Hutt River, i. 6.
Ikorangi, ii. 111.
Inanga, a small lake fish, i. 30.
Iririi, or Rohi, the Maori ceremony of baptism, i. 188.
Jackson's Bay, i. 9.
Johnston, commander, ii. 115.
Kahu, a bird of the falcon family, i. 23.
Kaiapoi, ii. 186.
Kaikohe, i. 37.
Kaipara harbour, i. 8.
Kaitaia, chief settlement of Rarewa tribe, i. 88.
Kaka, a brown parrot, i. 23, 25.
Kakapo, or night parrot, i. 26.
Karaka fruit, i. 157.
Karewarewa, or sparrowhawk, i. 23.
Kataitai, or groundlark, i. 25.
Kauau, Island of, i. 4.
Kauri tree,i. 17, 19; gum, 20.
MAORIS.
Kawhia harbour, i. 9.
Kawiti, a Maori chief, ii. 103, 107, 110, 121, 126, 153,202.
Kiekie, a New Zealand fruit, i. 20.
Kiki, a celebrated sorcerer, i. 118.
King, Captain, i. 243.
Kiwis, a family of wingless and tailless birds, i. 27.
Kohoperoa, a small cuckoo, i. 26.
Kokoromaka, or bellbird, i. 24.
Kopare, i. 117.
Koroni, a seabird, i. 23, 28.
Kororareke, history and progress of, i. 284; association, i. 286; assault and conflagration of, ii. 183.
Kotaretare, or kingfisher, i. 24.
Kotihe, a species of honeysucker, i. 24.
Kotoku, or white craw, i. 27.
Kotou, an edible clay, i. 157.
Kou-kou, or owl, i. 23.
Kukupa, or pigeon, i. 23.
Land-sharks, ii. 31.
Last, Major, commands expedition against Horokiwi, ii. 137.
Lavaud, Captain, ii. 30.
Laye, Captain, commands troops at Wanganui, ii, 142.
League, anti-landselling, ii. 225, 251.
Liancourt, La Rochefoucauld, i. 270.
Luther, Martin, alias Wareaitu, hanged at Porirua, ii. 139.
Lyttelton, ii. 186.
Lyttelton, Lord, ii. 187.
Macpherson, Major, ii. 116.
Mahi, a dish of putrid potatoes, i. 158.
Maketu, a Maori, executed for murdering Mrs. Roberton, ii. 51.
Manaia, the first man-eater, i. 142.
Manawatu, harbour of, i. 9.
Mantell, Mr. W., his Account of Extinct Quadrupeds, i. 21; discovers human and animal remains, 22.
Manukau, harbour of, i. 8; settlement of, ii. 39.
Maoris, origin of the name, i. 59; tradition of their immigration, i. 60; its probable date, 67; their personal appearance, 69; their orna-

MAORI.
ments, 78; their language, 80; their character and capacities, 81-87; their tribes, 88; their castes, 94; their tenure of land, 96; their self-government, 98; their cosmogony and mythology, 107; their superstitions, 115-120; their feuds, 120-132; their vendettas, 124; their war dances and war-paint, 126; their cannibalism, 129; their fortifications, 132; their war-canoes, 135; their weapons, 139; their food and cookery, 152-159; their chants, 163; their legends, 167-170; their fables and proverbs, 171; their marriages and burials, 176-185; their musical instruments, 195; their games, 196; their mode of salutation, 200; their costume, 204; their huts, 208; their diseases, 211; their civil wars under Rauparahe and Te Whero Whero, 260; their parliament, ii. 252; their decline, 285; their progress in knowledge, 293; their progress in civilisation, 300; their amalgamation, 305.
Maori King movement, ii. 252.
Harlow, Captain, R. E., ii. 116.
Maroro, a Maori, hanged for murder, ii. 174.
Marsden, hanged for murder, ii. 179.
Marsden, Rev. Samuel, i. 306, 307.
Martin, Chief Justice, ii. 159.
Matakitaki, fall of, i. 135.
Matamata. Waharoa's pa at, i. 134; battle of, i. 261.
Matata, a small bird, i. 25.
Mats, various sorts of, i. 206.
Maui, analogy between Noah and, i. 120.
Maunsell, Rev. Mr., i. 66.
M'Cleverty, Lieutenant-Colonel, ii. 144.
Measles, ii. 213.
Mercury Bay, i. 8.
Middle Island, extent of, i. 3.
Milford Haven, i. 9.
Milne, Mr. Alexander, murdered near Wellington, ii. 44.
Missionaries, civil wars on account of, i. 319; their opposition to immigration, ii. 6; land claims, 154.
NGATIPORU.
Mission stations, their history and progress, i. 308-310.
Mitchell, Captain, ii. 200.
Moa, a gigantic bird, i. 32.
Mocking birds (Tui), i. 24.
Mohanger, his voyage to London, i. 246.
Mokau river, i. 5; harbour, 9.
Mongonui harbour, i. 8; battle at, ii. 91.
Monro, Dr.. ii. 200.
Mosquitos, frequent in North Island, i. 30.
Mount Egmont, i. 6.
Napier, town of, ii. 188, 226.
Nayti, a Maori, his adventures in England, i. 282.
Nelson, settlement of, ii. 40; disputes with natives of, 48.
Nene, Thomas Walker, a Maori chief, ii. 20.
New Leinster, i. 4.
New Munster, i. 4.
New Plymouth Company, ii. 38.
New River, i. 9.
New Ulster, i. 4.
New Zealand, geographical description of, i. 3; coastline of, 4; geological features of, 11-13; flora of, 14; forests of, 17; fauna of, 20-32; absence of indigenous quadrupeds in, 31; climate of, 36; seasons in, 44; salubrity of, 48; ethnology of inhabitants of, 52; whaling establishments in, 292.
New Zealand Land Company, list of members of, ii. 8; its prospectus and operations, 12.
Ngarara, Maori term for reptiles, i. 29.
Ngapuhi, a Maori tribe, i. 89; its petition for British protection, i. 270.
Ngati, Maori term for offspring, i. 93.
Ngatiawa, a Maori tribe, i. 89.
Ngatihau, a Maori tribe, i. 91.
Ngaitahu, a Maori tribe, i. 92.
Ngatikahungunu, a Maori tribe, i. 90.
Ngatimaniopototo, a Maori tribe, i. 89.
Ngatimamoe, a Maori tribe, i. 92.
Ngatimaru, a Maori tribe, i. 89.
Ngatipaoa, a Maori tribe, i. 19.
Ngatiporu, a Maori tribe, i. 90.

NGATIRAUKAUA.
Ngatiraukatia, a Maori tribe, i. 91.
Ngatinuarui, a Maori tribe, i. 91.
Ngatitoa, a Maori tribe, i. 92.
Ngatiwhakaue, a Maori tribe, i. 90.
Ngatituwharetoa, a Maori tribe, i. 91.
Ngatiwhatua, a Maori tribe, i. 89.
North Cape, i. 8.
North Island, extent and population of, i. 3.
Nugent, Captain, ii. 175; Major, commanding expedition to New Plymouth, 226.
Oheawai, ii. 113; fortifications of, 115.
Okaihau, ii. 108; siege of, 110.
Ordinance,resident magistrate's, ii. 172.
Otago, harbour of, i. 9; settlement of, ii. 167.
Page, Lieutenant, attacked by Maoris, ii. 132.
Pahautanui, fortifications at, ii. 139.
Pakeha Maoris, i. 289.
Papa, the earth, i. 102.
Paptupuna, obituary records, i, 67.
Patupaiarehe, Maori fairies, i. 114.
Philpott, Lieutenant, captured by Hone Heke, ii. 102; killed at Oheawai, ii. 116, 117.
Piopio, a small bird, i. 25.
Pipiharau, the lamprey, i. 30.
Pitt, Major-General, commanding forces in New Zealand, ii. 145; Lieutenant-Governor of New Ulster, 159.
Pohutukaua tree, i. 17.
Pokokatea, a small bird, i. 25.
Porirua, harbour of, i. 9; court-martial at, ii. 138.
Port Napier, or Hawke's Bay, i. 8.
Port Victoria, i. 9
Potatau, the Maori king, ii. 252.
Potatoes, sweet, their culture, i. 156.
Priests, i. 115.
Puriri tree, i. 20.
Rakiura, Maori name of South Island, i. 4.
Rangi, the heavens, i. 107.
Rangihaeata, a Maori chief, ii. 131; defeated at Horokiwi, ii. 138.
Rangitikei harbour, i. 9; river, i. 5.
STEPHEN.
Rarewa, a Maori tribe, i. 88.
Rauparaha, a Maori chief, i. 160; arrested, ii. 133; his biography, ii. 183; his death and burial, ii. 180.
Reed, Captain, attacked in the Hutt valley, ii. 132.
Representatives, House of, ii. 219.
Responsible government, ii. 216.
Richards, Captain, R..N., ii. 199.
Richardson, Dr., ii. 233.
Richmond, Major, ii. 85.
Rimu tree, i. 17.
Ring, Mr. Charles, his gold discoveries, ii. 197.
Riro, the smallest bird in New Zealand, i. 25.
Robertson, Captain, attacked by Heke, ii. 103.
Robertson, Mrs., murdered, ii. 50.
Rotomahana lake, i. 5.
Rotorua war, i. 133.
Ruapahu Mountain, i 5; snowcapped, i. 39.
Ruapekapeka, ii. 126; fortifications of, ii. 127; carried by assault, ii. 128.
Rule, Mr., i. 32.
Runutunu, i. 117.
Russell, Captain, ii. 141.
Russell, Lord John, ii. 42.
Savage, Mr., i. 246.
Sea-shells, i. 31.
Selwyn, Bishop, his opinion of whalers, i. 297; his dispute with Lord Grey, ii. 159.
Servantes, Lieutenant, i. 138.
Sewell, Mr., member of Executive Council, ii. 217.
Shortland, Lieutenant, ii. 29, 71.
Sinclair, Dr. A., colonial secretary, ii. 83.
Slaves, i. 148.
Society, Church Missionary, its labours in New Zealand, i. 266; its opposition to immigration, 283.
Sorcerers, i. 116.
South Island, extent and population of, i. 3.
Southern Alps, i. 7.
Spain, Mr., ii. 91.
Stafford Ministry, ii. 241.
Stanley, Captain Owen, ii. 30.
Stephen, Mr. Justice, ii. 199.

STEWART.
Stewart, a Pakeha Maori, i. 291.
Stewart's, or South Island, i. 5, 8.
Strzlecki, Count, ii. 288.
St. Vincent, Bory, i. 29.
Surville, De, i. 232.
Swainson, Attorney-general, ii. 72.
Tamihana, the consistent Christian, ii. 249.
Tamure, a celebrated sorcerer, i. 118.
Taniwha, a mythic sea-monster, i. 113.
Tapu, origin and law of, i. 101.
Tara Wera river, i. 5.
Taranaki, the, campaign, i. 274; settlement of, or New Plymouth, ii. 38; disputes with Maoris of, 47.
Taro (Caladium Esculentum), i. 156.
Tasman, i. 227-229.
Tattooing, i. 74.
Taupo lake, i. 6.
Tauranga, harbour of, i. 8; fortifications at, 133.
Tawhero, i. 157.
Tewai Poenammo, ancient name of Middle Island, i. 4.
Te Pehi, a Maori, his visit to England, i. 281.
Te Kapa, village of, i. 320.
Te Tere, a Maori, his visit to England, i. 280.
Te Toka, massacre of, i. 133, 319.
Te Wai Pounamu, Lake, i. 7.
Te Whero Whero, a Maori chief, i. 260.
Thames River, i. 5.
Thierry, Baron Charles Hyppolitus de, his land purchases, i. 267; his kingship, 275-279.
Ti, or a Whanake (Cordyline Australis), i. 157.
Tides, i. 10.
Titi, or muttonbird, i. 28.
Ti-tree, i. 19.
Tongariro mountain, i. 5.
Tooi, a Maori, his visit to England, i. 280.
Toroa, or Albatross, i. 28.
Totara tree, i. 19.
Traill, Dr., i. 28.
Tuatara, a lizard, i. 29.
Tui, or mocking bird, i. 24.
WYATT.
Tumu, fortifications at, i. 133.
Turner, Rev. Mr., his account of, Hongi, i. 257.
Tutu berries, 19.
Vancouver, Captain, i. 242.
Victoria harbour, ii. 186.
Waikato river, i. 5; a tribe of Maoris, 89.
Wairau, battle of, ii. 74.
Waipa river, i. 5.
Waitangi, treaty of, ii. 79.
Waitara harbour, i. 9.
Wakari, or White Island, i. 14.
Wakefield, Colonel, ii. 8, 15.
Wakefield, Mr. Edward Gibbon, ii. 4; his connection with the Canterbury settlement, 183, 218.
Wakefield, Captain Arthur, ii. 40; killed at the Wairau, 75.
Wanganui, harbour of, i. 9; river of, 5; court-martial at, ii. 143; attack on, 143; peace of, 145.
Wangarei harbour, i. 9.
Wellington, harbour of, i. 8; town of, ii. 24; riots at, 43; constitutional association of, 161; suffers from earthquake. 170, 231.
Wellington. Duke of, ii. 5.
Whaingaroa harbour, i. 9.
Whaling stations, i. 294; their influence on the Maoris, 295.
Whare Kura, i. 116.
Whakatowhea, a tribe of Maoris, i. 90.
Whiro, a Maori devil, i. 113.
White Island (Wakari), i. 6.
Whiwhiotaraue, i. 117.
Wilks, Commodore, i. 264.
Williams, Archdeacon Henry, anecdote of, i. 326, ii. 21; his letter to Kawiti, 153; suspended, 158.
Williams, John, his voyage to the Navigators' Islands, i. 54.
Wynyard, Colonel, ii. 127; governor after Sir G. Grey, 213; opens the first New Zealand parliament, 217
Wyatt, Colonel, commands expedition to Port Napier, ii. 256.

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