HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW ZEALAND. 



104; 



officials. Other districts had not received even that scant measure of attention. In a 

 memorandum, dated the 251)1 of May, 1861, Governor Gore Browne placed on record 

 the statement that "some of the most populous districts, such as Hokianga and Kaipara, 

 have no magistrates resident amongst them ; and many, such as Taupo, the Ngatiruanui. 

 Taraniki, and the' country about the East Cape, have never been visited by an officer 

 of the Government. The residents in these districts have never felt that they are the 

 subjects of the Queen of England, and have little reason to think that the Government 

 of the colony cares at all about their welfare." Sir George Grey bears similar testimony. 



Writing to the Secre- 

 tary of State on the 

 6th of December, 1861, 

 he says : " Ten years 

 since, the urgent neces- 

 sity of introducing 

 simple municipal insti- 

 tutions among them 

 (the Maoris) was 

 pointed out, and the 

 first step taken to in- 

 duce them to refer 

 their disputes to our 

 Courts. But, though 

 various proposals have 



been made for facilitating a further advance 

 towards these objects, the matter has been practi- 

 cally left nearly where it then was." In other 

 words, the obligations undertaken in the Treaty 

 of Waitangi had been quietly ignored. 



The Measure, spoken of by Sir George Grey as the first step taken to induce the 

 Maoris to refer their disputes to European Courts, was an Ordinance for appointing 

 resident magistrates to exercise jurisdiction in civil cases between Europeans and Maoris, 

 where the amount sued for did not exceed twenty pounds. But, then, no means were 

 provided for enforcing the magisterial decisions in cases where the Maori was the losing 

 party. For dealing with cases between the Maoris themselves, a number of chiefs were 

 appointed assessors, each party to the suit being at liberty to select one assessor to sit 

 in judgment conjointly with the magistrate. But unless the assessors concurred in their 

 opinion after the hearing, nothing could be done. Such a Measure was stamped from 

 the outset with the impress of failure. It says much for the Maoris' desire for some 

 kind of tribunal to settle their disputes, and it attests their inherent love even of the 

 semblance of justice, that the Measure did work after a fashion, though some of the 

 native methods of carrying out judicial functions were very ludicrous to the civilized 

 mind. Mr. (now Sir) J. E. Gorst relates several cases in point. For instance, Ti 

 Oriori, of Maungatautari, whose legal acumen would do credit to Lincoln's Inn, was 

 accustomed to assign an hour to the hearing of each case ; when time was up he 



THE MISSION STATION, 

 WAIKATO RIVER. 



