THE TARANAKI QUESTION.

63

E—No. 2

sponsibility of undertaking to give effect to decisions made by any one not immediately responsible to the Crown. The Colonial Legislature, therefore, and the Imperial Government, both decided against an independent Court. It has been shown in Note No. 48, that Archdeacon Hhdfield recommended that all transactions with Natives in reference to the purchase of land should be entrusted to those only who were directly amenable to the General Government. It may also be added that during the many years Sir William Martin held the office of Chief Justice there is no record of his having taken any steps towards the establishment of such a tribunal as that which he speaks of in his pamphlet. It was hardly just, then, to blame the Governor for not establishing an independent tribunal in which the conflicting Claims of Wiremu Kingi and Te Teira could be determined. It was hardly fair to leave altogether out of consideration the state of internecine war in which the sections of the Ngatiawa concerned in those conflicting claims were at that very time involved.— [See also Notes Nos. 48, 62.]

Note 56. " William King's refusal to attend the Governor." (P a g e 17)' Whatever may be the surprise felt at the apology offered for the insolvent refusal of Wiremu Kingi to attend the summons of the Queen's Governor, protected as he was by a safe conduct, it may at once be said that Bir W. Martin is perfectly correct in his quotation as to the Governor's determination "not to permit him to defy the Government" if he had come. William King, if he had come only to repeat the pretensions of the land league, would not for a moment have shaken the Governor's determination. But if he had even at that eleventh hour chosen to advance for the first time a proprietary claim, it would forthwith have been entertained, and all further proceedings suspended till it was enquired into. It is quite plain that all the excuses made for William King in this and the succeeding passage are based on the proclamation of martial law. "Those persons," says Sir W. Martin, " who find in this " conduct of William King a justification for resorting to force, appear to overlook the fact that the " resort to force had been already determined on." But what Bir W. Martin avoids saying is that the "resort to force" had been already determined on by William King himself, and notified to the section of his tribeat Waikanae ten days before martial law was proclaimed.— [See Note 41.] " Was he safe wiihovt arms? , {P a g c 17) William King admitted to Mr. Whiteley that he did not doubt his safety. " Was their land to be taken because William King was uncivil?" (Page 18) It has been already shown that no man's land was taken or proposed to be taken without his full and free consent.

Note 57. "Either to stay its hand for a time-" i^ a g e 18) The land was offered for sale by Teira in March, 1859, and the survey was not attempted until February, 1860.

Note 58. " 2he party which soughtto disturb the existing order of things." '(Page 19) The question, however, is what was the party which sought to disturb the existing order of things? It has been shown that Governor Fitzßoy and Governor Grey laid down certain rules which formed and form the extreme limit of the claims of any section of the Ngatiawa Tribe. In soliciting the permission of Governor Grey to return to Waitara, Wiremu Kingi admitted his obligation to abide by those rules. He agreed to the conditions on which Governor Grey granted that permission, and then broke them. Every block of land had been acquired in the New Plymouth settlement in accordance with the rules so laid down. Wiremu Kingi admitted the rules when he put in a claim to compensation for the Bell Block, which claim was disallowed by the Puketapu section of the tribe. When he sought to establish in Tarauaki the mandates of the Land League, which prohibited the further sale of territory under penalty of death, he attempted a new system wholly at variance with the precedents of many years. It was Wiremu Kingi, therefore, and not the Governor, who " sought to disturb the existing order of things." In one sense the Governor may be said to have disturbed it. The " existing order of things " among the Ngatiawa at New Plymouth was a desperate feud, in which the most horrible cruelties had been practised and threatened on both sides. This Sir W. Martin quite forgets, when he says " The " first wrong was not on the part of the Natives, it was on the part of the Colonial Government," and urges that " the party which sought to disturb the existing order of things was the party which needed "to justify itself by some legal warrant for so doing," The Governor was undoubtedly determined to '"disturb " that " order of things."