Chap. XVIII. STAGNATION IN GOVERNMENT SETTLEMENTS. 477 
party, hoping to find at least the remains of his bro- 
ther. I furnished him with letters in Maori to Hiko 
and other chiefs of that part of the coast, begging 
them to assist him in this object, and also in that of 
preventing the disgraceful plunder and the bloodshed 
which might ensue. 
An anonymous writer in the Wellington newspaper 
complained of the social state of Tf^anganui, and com- 
mented on the " debauchery of the settlers." I pub- 
lished a letter attributing this vice, and, moreover, the 
frequent robberies and outrages committed by the 
runaway convicts and other ruffians who had congre- 
gated there, to the improper conduct of the Govern- 
ment in licensing two grog-shops, without providing 
any officer for the maintenance of law or order of any 
sort. 
An answer was received from Sir George Gipps to 
the remonstrance against the official jobbing in allot- 
ments at Auckland. His Excellency had signalized 
the end of his rule over New Zealand by disap- 
proving, in the strongest terms, of the whole pro- 
ceeding. 
Some chance arrivals from Auckland and the Bay 
of Islands about this time furnished a doleful account 
of the stagnation and despondency produced there by 
the various experiments in founding and governing 
cities. The people of Auckland, consisting of a iew 
mere land-sharks or hangers-on, attracted from Sydney 
and the Bay of Islands by the expenditure of the Go- 
vernor and his suite, and the approaching land-sale, 
vented their ill-temper at the disappointment of their 
hopes, by the expression of undisguised hostility and 
vulgar jealousy towards the thriving settlers of Wel- 
lington. The news concluded, as usual, with a report 
that Captain Hobson was about to visit us. 
