either a treacherous, bloodthirsty rebel, second only to that other arch-rebel Hongi Hika in villainy, or as a nuisance and a trouble-maker with a wanton compulsion to cut down flagstaff's and burn out towns. We may well decide after re-reading evidence, that Heke emerges as a tragic figure of certain heroic proportions. He had a burning conviction that British sovereignty was synonymous with European alienation of Maori land. It was no easy road that he chose, to maintain militant defiance in the face of threatened punitive confiscation of his lands, to suffer the systematic destruction of his undefended pas, to fight at the same time a frontal attack against one enemy and a rearguard action against his own tribal kinsman. Accounts of the engagements at Ohaeawai and at Ruapekapeka stir the imagination about the generalship of this man. Our history books were hazy too about details of the sacking of Kororareka. They neglected to tell us that British warships bombarded the deserted town of Kororareka while Maori troops watched impassively from the surrounding hills, that these vital shots did appreciable damage and actually precipitated the sacking of the town, that Heke carefully excluded the missionaries and the settlers' families from attack, that he gave orders for the preservation of the church, and that he sent Signalman Tapper's wife and child down to safety when the blockhouse was taken. The petulance, instability and treachery attributed to Heke by the government might as easily have been applied to Waka Nene by Heke. Kawiti claimed that Waka Nene's loyalty to the government sprang from private differences with Heke and that he constantly exploited the situation to wipe out old scores and grudges. Hostilities in the North subsided into an uneasy peace after the battle at Ruapekapeka and the military detachments could now be utilized in the already explosive situation in Wellington. Whereas British sovereignty vested in the government had been the opposition in the Northern disputes, conflict in Wellington was almost entirely between Wakefield's Land Company settlers and the Maori occupants of the area. British troops were used to protect Company interests and support their claims. Fitzroy's irksome halter of the Company's unrestricted acquisition of Maori land had been removed with the arrival of a new governor, and new horizons of hope had opened up for the settlers. The involved situation of Maori land tenure in the Wellington district resulted largely from Te Rauparaha's movements in the area. The reader should be familiar with the ancestral lands of the tribes involved in the hostilities before trying to follow the land negotiations. The interplay of reference to Ngati Toa, Ngatiawa, Ngati Raukawa etc., may be confusing. There was no unity of action among the tribes, a factor that lessened chances of success and hastened European occupation. Te Rangihaeata was the Hone Heke of the south. Te Rauparaha, more or less quiescent at this period, plays a relatively small part. Devious man that he was, Grey was always suspicious of the guile in anyone else, and it was the astute move of a very astute man when he made the ageing warrior his prisoner. But whether or not it was a wise move depends upon whether the following wave of mistrust that permeated Maori attitudes to any European move can be sheeted home to this particular incident. The most distasteful aftermath of the Wellington conflict was the courts martial of captured Maori prisoners and their punishment by hanging and transportation. That did its part in intensifying Maori opposition and bitterness in Wanganui. Tribal fragmentation in Wanganui was complex, and troubles arose when areas of Maori and European occupation were neither understood nor clearlv defined by either side. Many of the chiefs had taken part in the Wellington disputes and bitterness over the courts martial still rankled. The Christian mission was firmly established among the river tribes and in the midst of hostile preparations on both sides, a Christmas Day service for 2,000 Maoris brought 382 to receive the sacrament. The sporadic guerilla nature of Maori warfare was frustrating to the stockaded British troops. An even greater annoyance was the Maori resourcefulness in ‘living off the land’. Their strategy was to send two or three men out to show themselves and goad the soldiers into firing at them. The decoys then sprang on the unexploded shells, gathered them up and made for