HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW ZEALAND. 1017 



of the country, and the building up of laws and institutions suited to the novel circum- 

 stances existing in the young colony. 



Immediately on his first arrival at Wanganui, the Governor, while skirmishing was 

 going on between the forces and the natives, received certain official despatches from 

 the Home Government, by which he obtained the first intelligence that Parliament had 

 bestowed a new Constitution on New Zealand, and that new modes of dealing with 

 native land were to be adopted concurrently with the new institutions. The despatches, 

 which had been already published in the London Gazette, contained language regarding 

 the rights of the natives to their lands that was liable to be misunderstood, and similar 

 language it appeared had been used during the debate in Parliament on the new 

 Constitution, and had been republished in newspapers which arrived in the colony at 

 the same time as the despatches. It seemed quite possible to the Governor, therefore, 

 that the intention to deprive the natives of their lands, which appeared to be the new 

 line of policy proposed for adoption, was, in the unsettled state of the country, likely to 

 give rise to a general national combination among all the native tribes, and thus to 

 result in a long-continued, destructive and costly war. For these, and possibly other 

 reasons, the Governor thought it his duty to return to the Home Government the 

 despatches, and the Charter which accompanied them, in order that the subject might be 

 further considered in England, and also that delay should be obtained in the promulga- 

 tion and enforcement of documents, which, it was to be feared, would, in their present 

 unsuitable form, give rise to such serious calamities. 



There were many thousands of armed men residing in the centre of the North 

 Island, who were generically known as the Waikato tribes. At irregular distances along 

 the sea-coasts were isolated and defenceless ^European settlements. The Tamaki District 

 and the shores of the Manukau formed the road by which the northern and southern 

 tribes went to wage war with one another, and the Governor resolved to occupy this 

 highway of armed men, which was close to the seat of Government. When Kororareka 

 was destroyed, Auckland became panic-stricken at its defenceless condition, and now in 

 the time of peace the occasion seemed opportune to make provision for its permanent 

 safety against attacks from the south. To ensure this purpose the Governor obtained a 

 number of discharged soldiers in England, who were enrolled for seven years' service in 

 New Zealand, and stationed in four settlements around Auckland. The new force became 

 known as the " New Zealand Fencibles," and it has been stated by a competent witness 

 that all the old veterans thus humanely provided for who deserved success obtained it. 

 Each man had a cottage built on an acre of land, which became his own, with a claim 

 for five acres more on completing seven years' service. 



The first detachment arrived in October, 1847, and in a few months this military 

 colony, with the wives and children, numbered two thousand souls. On the 26th of 

 February, 1848, Lord Grey writing to the Governor said: "I have very great pleasure 

 in communicating to you the information that Her Majesty has been pleased to approve 

 of your being a Knight Commander in the. civil division of the Order of the Bath, for 

 the great ability and success with which you have administered the affairs, both of 

 South Australia and of New Zealand." Two native chiefs, Waka Nene and Te Puni, 

 were the squires on the occasion of the investiture. In April, 1848, the Ngatiawa tribe, 



