1MB ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XVI. 
This motion was seconded by Mr. James Coutts Craw- 
ford. 
Mr. Hanson appeared at the head of a more mode- 
rate party, who doubted the expediency of demanding 
the recall of Captain Hobson. They considered this 
to be a very likely means of exciting the hostility of the 
Colonial Office. He read an address, in the form of a 
petition to both Houses of Parliament, which exposed 
the grievances at greater length, and prayed, indefi- 
nitely, for redress. He then moved for the adoption of 
this address as an amendment to the motion for the 
original petition. Some discussion ensued. The prin- 
cipal question at issue between the two parties was 
that of being guided by expediency and caution, or by 
an unflinching and open-mouthed denouncing of the 
enemy. Among such an assemblage, there could be 
but little doubt of the result, and the original motion 
was finally carried amidst acclamation. 
The meeting concluded by carrying motions for the 
forwarding of the petition through Valparaiso to Eng- 
land, and for sending copies to Sir George Gipps and 
Lieutenant-Governor Hobson. Thus the supporters of 
the measure fell, through ignorance, into the error of 
neglecting a very stringent rule of the Colonial Office,' 
which requires all complaints against a Governor to be 
forwarded through him, in order that they may be 
accompanied by his defence. There was some reason, 
in this case, for a deviation from the rule, as such a 
course seemed likely to involve a dangerous delay to 
the petition, both by the length of the voyage hence 
to Auckland, and by the absence of any means of 
conveyance homewards from that place. Moreover, 
the people of Wellington had, virtually, no Governor 
through whom to transmit their statements, but only 
a distant enemy to complain against. And, as there 
