HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW ZEALAND. 



1043 



chiefs laid at Governor Grey's feet meres and spears as symbols of their submission. 



Three years later, some discontent, which for a time threatened to culminate in a 



rising, was caused by the alleged inadequate punishment of a man named Huntly, who 



struck a Maori woman dead in the town of Auckland. The jury brought in a verdict 



of manslaughter, but the 

 natives clamoured for the 

 execution of the criminal, 

 on the old principle of 

 blood for blood. How- 

 ever, the Authorities were 

 inflexible, and the Maori 

 feeling gradually sub- 

 sided. Next year a more- 

 turbulent demonstration, 

 caused by a somewhat 

 similar crime, was only 

 allayed by the criminal 

 paying the extreme 

 penalty. In a fit of 



MOUNT KUAl'EHU. 



delirium trcmcns, a settler named 

 Marsden murdered a native 

 woman, and the prisoner was con- 

 victed on trial and duly sentenced KOTO AIRA. 

 to death. Unusual delay in carry- 

 ing out the sentence gave rise to a report that the life of a Maori was not 

 regarded as of equal value with that of a European ; and the native mind becoming 

 inflamed by another murder of a Maori at the hands of a drunken settler, three 

 hundred men belonging to the tribe of the murdered woman came to Auckland, and 

 threatened to cut down the flag-staff which carried the British ensign. In February, 

 1856, Marsclen was hanged, and the natives were satisfied. 



Meanwhile, native land troubles, originating in official disregard of immemorial 

 custom among the Maoris, and destined to end in bloodshed and devastation, had 

 begun to attract attention at Taranaki, on the west coast of the North Island. 



