io/4 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



Detention Act, to two years' imprisonment. In November, the Maori fencers began to 

 substitute slip-rails for fences, and these the . Government allowed to remain. In the 

 March preceding, a Royal Commission, which had been investigating the native grievances, 

 reported " that the Plains will never be occupied in peace until proper reserves are 

 made and marked out upon the ground. . . . To do this is an imperative necessity." 

 This Royal Commission, which consisted of Sir W. Fox and Sir F. D. Bell, persevered 

 in its task ; and in a final report recommended that, of the one hundred and twenty 

 thousand acres enclosed between the Rivers Oeo and Waingongoro, twenty-five thousand 

 acres should be reserved for the Maoris, and that of the one hundred and twenty-five 

 thousand acres embraced by the Parihaka District, from twenty to twenty-five thousand 

 acres should be similarly reserved. The reserves were accordingly laid off ; and, to the 

 dissatisfaction of the Maoris, the Crown retained the seaward side of Parihaka. Te 

 Whiti maintained his inflexible attitude, which was from the first entirely one of almost 

 passive resistance, while the patience of the Government was being rapidly exhausted. 



A serious contributing cause to this was the resignation of the Native Minister, now 



O <J 



the Hon. John Bryce, owing to reluctance on the part of his colleagues to sanction the 

 arrest of the leading agitators. Matters were approaching a climax, when the Governor, 

 Sir A. Gordon, left on a visit to Fiji. In his absence, the Acting-Governor, Chief 

 Justice Prendergast, recalled Mr. Bryce to office, and issued a proclamation calling upon 

 Te Whiti and his adherents to signify within fourteen days whether or not they would 

 accept the proffered reserves, and intimating that in the event of non-assent they would 

 be withdrawn, and their settlement broken up. In the interim Mr. Bryce assembled an 

 .armed force of some two thousand five hundred volunteers and Constabulary under Colonel 

 Roberts, and held himself ready to march on Parihaka. The fortnight's grace expired 

 without any sign from Te Whiti, and on the 5th of November Mr. Bryce marched 

 with his forces to Parihaka, where, in the marac, or meeting-place, Te Whiti and his 

 henchman, Tohu, were found seated in the midst of two thousand men, women and 

 children, counselling peace and self-control. The leaders quietly allowed themselves to be 

 arrested, and Te Whiti, as he was led away, emphasized his extraordinary forbearance 

 by saying to his people : " Be of good heart and patient. This day's work is not my 

 doing. It comes from the heart of the Pakcha. On my fall the Pakeha builds his 

 work ; but be you steadfast in all that is peaceful." Fifteen hundred men, women and 

 children were taken into custody ; the settlement was broken up, the uliarcs (huts) 

 were dismantled, and the native population for sixty miles round were deprived of their 

 fire-arms. The charge against Te Whiti and Tohu was that of making use of seditious 

 language, but at the Supreme Court, to the expressed surprise of Mr. Justice Gillies, 

 the Crown Prosecutor entered a nolle proscqui, and Parliament passed a Bill authorizing 

 the detention of the prisoners without trial. Te Whiti and Tohu were consequently 

 retained until March, 1883, when they were deported back to Parihaka, and placed on 

 their reserves. In the meantime, the Crown lands had been sold and settled, and since 

 then, under the restraining influence of Te Whiti, the natives have given no trouble. 



Little remains to add to this narrative. The situation is at present one of profound 

 and settled repose ; the Queen's Writ runs uninterruptedly through the length and 

 breadth of the colony, and there is every assurance for the hope that native wars in 



