THE GOVERNOR'S DECLARATION TO THE WAIKATOS.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 6, 1 June 1861, Page 1

THE GOVERNOR'S DECLARATION TO THE WAIKATOS.

"LET THE PAKEHA AND THE MAORI BE UNITED."

Thomas Gore Browne, Governor. In order to avoid misapprehension, the Governor directs the attention of the Chiefs and people, assembled at Ngaruawahia, to the present condition of affairs in New Zealand, and states distinctly the course necessary to be taken in order to avert the calamities that threaten the country. In the year ISSS a portion of the Maori people, resident in Waikato, pretended to set up a King, and Potatau was chosen for the office, 'lie

was installed at" Rangiawhia in the month of June in that year. On Potatau's death, in 1860, Matutaera his son was nominated his successor. Diversity of opinion existed from the commencement as to what would result from this movement. Some were led to believe that its supporters desired only the establishment of order, and a governing authority amongst themselves; while others viewed with apprehension a confederacy which they deemed fraught with danger to the peace of the Colony. The Governor at first inclined towards the more favourable view of the movement, but soon felt misgivings, which have been justified by the event. The Governor however has not interfered to put down the Maori King by force. He has been unwilling to relinquish the hope that the Maoris themselves, seeing the danger of the course they were pursuing, and that the institution of an independent authority must prove inefficient for all purposes of good, would of their own accord, abandon that course. The Governor can now only look with sorrow amd displeasure on what has been done in the name, and by the adherents, of the Native King:— . 1. An authority has been set up inconsistent with allegiance to the Queen, and in violation of the Treaty of Waitangi. 2. A large number of the adherents of the Native King have interfered between the' Governor and other Native tribes in matters with

which they had no concern; have levied war against the Queen, fought against her troops, and burnt and destroyed the property of her peaceful subjects. 3. Other adherents of the King have assisted, encouraged, and harboured the men who have committed these outrages. 4. A war party of several hundred men some time since assembled, and advanced to within forty miles of Auckland, for the purpose of interfering with the due course of the administration of Justice. 5. Her Majesty's Mail has been stopped: jurisdiction has been usurped over her Majesty's European subjects ; and other offences nave been committed to the subversion of Her Majesty's sovereignty, and of the authority of Law. At this very time the adherents of the Native King are using the most strenuous efforts to possess themselves of arms and ammunition for the purpose of effecting their objects by intimidation and violence. The Governor cannot permit the present state of things to continue. No option now rests with him; he has been commanded by Her Majesty the Queen to suppress unlawful combinations, and to maintain Her Majesty's sovereignty in New Zealand. Submission to Her Majesty's Sovereignty requires—1. That every man yield implicit obedience to what the Law (which

is the same for all) prescribes for the public welfare. But while the law exacts what is essential for the object, it confers, great benefits and guarantees freedom and security to the weak . as well as to the strong. j 2. That rights be sought and protected through the Law, and not by a man's own. will and strength. No man in the Queen's dominions I is permitted to enforce rights, or j redress wrongs, by force: he i must appeal to the law. 3. That men do not enter into combinations for the purpose of preventing other men from acting, or from dealing with their own property as they think fit. This is against the law. 4. That every man, European or Native, under the Queen's Sovereignty, submit to have roads and bridges made on his land, wherever the public convenience requires them. But land can only be taken for these purposes under lawful authority, and on payment of reasonable compensation. On the other hand, Her Majesty's Sovereignty secures "to the Chiefs and " Tribes of New Zealand, and to the "respective families and individuals " thereof, the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and ' estates, forests, fisheries and other "properties, which they may collectively * r or individually possess, so long as it is

" their wish and desire to retain the " same in their possession." This is the Maori's safeguard for their lands, and it has never been violated. The Governor has been falsely accused of desiring to introduce a new system in dealing with Native Lands. This he has never attempted, or has he the power to do so. The Queen's promise in the Treaty of Waitangi cannot be set aside by the Governor. By that Treaty, the Queen's name has become a protecting shade for the Maoris' land, and will remain such, so long as the Maoris yield allegiance to Her Majesty and live under Her Sovereignty, but no longer. Whenever the Maoris forfeit this protection, by setting aside the authority of the Queen and the Law, the land will remain their own so long only as they are strong enough to keep it:—might and not right will become their sole Title to possession. The Governor sincerely hopes that a correct appreciation of the real interests of the Maori race will induce the adherents of the Native King to conform to Her Majesty's declared wishes, and! to abandon the baneful and dangerous j course they are pursuing. i Her Majesty has an earnest solicitude for the welfare of her Native people, and it will be the duty of the Governor to give the fullest effect to measures calculated to secure that end. The Maoris cannot be more anxious than the Queen and her Governor for the complete establishment of law and order amongst the Maori people, and that the institutions of the Government should be, as far as practicable, in accordance with their interests and wishes; but the Maoris must not

forget that these objects are unattainable without their own cordial co-operation. The Governor last year convened a meeting of Chiefs to consult -with him upon Native Affairs and has declared his intention again to assemble Chiefs from all parts of these Islands, for the same purpose. Her Majesty has been pleased to approve of these proceedings. It is the Governor's wish that the coming Conference should devise measures tor the introduction of law and order, and the establishment of useful institutions in Native districts, and it will be his earnest desire to give effect to any measures approved by the Conference, which appear likely to promote the welfare of the Native People, and to bring all Her Majesty's subjects in these Islands, both European and Maori, under one law, upon terms of equality. The Governor earnestly hopes that the Chiefs and people, who are adherents of the Maori King, will abandon their present perilous position: they will then receive the same invitation as the other Natives in.New Zealand to choose some of their most respected and influential Chiefs to represent them in the approaching Conference, and to afford assistance in its deliberations. The Governor now states specifically what his demands are: 1. From all, —Submission without reserve to the Queen's Sovereignty, and to the authority of the law. 2. From those who are in possession of plunder, taken from Her Majesty's European or Native subjects,^—Restoration* of that plunder.

3. From those who have destroyed or made away will) property belong ing to Her Majesty's subjects, European or Native, —Compensation for the losses sustained. Compliance with these demends will satisfy the Queen and Her Governor, no other demand will be made on "YVaikato, —the past will be forgiven, and for the future the well conducted will be protected, offenders punished, and the rights and privileges of all maintained by the Queen and her Laws. Government House, Auckland, gist May, 1861.