306 ADVENTtJRE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XII. 
have already stated that he was known to have acted 
the character throughout of a clever Government spy. 
And yet so numerous were his apparent good qualities, 
that this was one of the cases in which the indignation 
of society was mingled with regret. 
At this time, the Police Magistrate of Tf^anganui 
was labouring under a charge which prevented any 
man from sitting on the bench with him, and under 
the unrefuted imputation of which he has since been 
obliged to retire in utter ignominy and confusion. 
The Police Magistrate at New Plymouth appeared 
to have been selected from among the settlers on 
account of the thorough inaction of his character. 
The appointment of the late Mr. Thompson at 
Nelson was at least imprudent, on account of his known 
excitability of temperament. 
Such were the sole wielders of law and authority 
under whom the Cook's Strait settlers had been doomed 
to writhe and linger for three years. 
On the night of the 9th of November, a fire swept 
part of the beach at Wellington. The houses were 
chiefly roofed with thatch, and many of the walls of 
the same material. A smart N. W. breeze was blowing 
at the time, and the fire spread with fearful rapidity, 
the pieces of blazing thatch flying along to other houses 
100 yards oflF, and igniting them immediately. I formed 
one of a party who tried to save the fire from spreading 
by pulling down houses along the line ; but, though we 
began far to leeward, the house would frequently light 
under our hands, or sparks flew over our heads to 
houses still further off. Fortunately, a large number 
of sailors from the shipping acted well in concert under 
their commanders — several houses were torn or cut 
down, and the thatch carried bodily into the sea. The 
people, too, of the houses to the south of the Flag-staff 
