Chap. XII. RIOTS OF NATIVES AT THE BAY OF ISLANDS. 363 
Constitution had been hailed in great measure as a 
safeguard against such an event. The negotiations 
which took place at the Bay of Islands between the cap- 
tain of the French frigate and the Lieutenant-Governor 
had ended in the dispatching of her Majesty's brig Bri- 
tomart, then lying in the Bay of Islands, to the harbour 
oi Akaroa in Banks's Peninsula, with two Magistrates, 
who were to establish British authority and be in 
readiness to warn the French settlers on their arrival 
that they would land on British territory. The brig 
was then to come on to Port Nicholson, one of the 
Magistrates having been appointed Police Magistrate 
for this place. 
On the 3rd of June it had been necessary to make 
a second display of the military at the Bay of Islands, 
in order to quiet some menacing natives. The quarrel 
had arisen in some dispute about a boat between the 
natives of the 'pa at Kororareka and the crew of an 
American ship, and some serious attack on the W^hite 
settlement was at one time apprehended. The mere 
appearance of the military had restored order ; and 
the Governor had subsequently received the thanks of 
both natives and W^hite people for their prompt inter- 
ference. 
An account of this affair was contained in an early 
number of a newspaper, printed at the Bay of Islands, 
and principally supported by the insertion of the Go- 
vernment notices, which were made official in that 
paper. The first copies I saw were on very bad paper, 
printed in almost illegible print with the worst de- 
scription of type. 
I have already observed that, since the efforts of Mr. 
Tod, and the arrival of the Government authorities, the 
natives of the Te Aro and Pipiteapaa had become more 
and more suspicious and distant towards the colonists. 
