HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW ZEALAND. 



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warned the Company's servants not to occupy it. He stated that Mr. Thompson twice 

 ordered his party to fire on the natives, and when, after having been made a prison. -r, 

 he appealed to him to save his life, Rangihaeata made him remember his wife, Te 

 Ronga, and added, " A little while ago I wanted to talk to you in a friendly manner, 

 and you would not. Now you say, save me. I will not save you." 



When Rauparaha had concluded his narrative the Governor spent some half-hour in 

 consultation with the Europeans, after which he rose and said : " Hearken, O chiefs and 

 elder men, to my decision. ... In the first place the Pakehas were in the wrong; 



A CARVED HOUSE IN KING COUNTRY. 



they had no right to build houses upon the land, the sale of which you disputed, and 

 on which Mr. Spain had not decided ; they were wrong in trying to apprehend you 

 who had committed no crime. ... As they were greatly to blame, and as they 

 brought on and began the fight, and as you were hurried into crime by their miscon- 

 duct, I will not avenge their deaths." He further told them that a terrible crime had 

 been committed in murdering men who, relying on their honour, had surrendered. They 

 must live peaceably. He would do equal justice, and promised that no land should be 

 taken from them which they had not sold. 



The English Government had sent out a Mr. William Spain as a Commissioner to 

 hear evidence as to reputed purchases of land in New Zealand. He arrived in the 

 colony in December, 1841, but his court at Wellington was not opened until May 

 following. The Company averred that they had purchased some twenty millions of acres 

 a territory, in fact, as large as Ireland. Mr. Spain insisted that the Company, like 



