SJIF ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XII. 
the stores, and teach them how to pilfer with secrecy 
and comfort. A meeting was held at night, as the 
natives returned to their settlements, for the division 
of booty ; and the Maori, unable to keep the secret any 
longer, bitterly complained that the young thieves 
invariably managed to cheat or rob them of all that 
they had stolen on joint account. The natives have 
probably become weary of getting so small a share of 
their own plunder ; as some of the Parkhurst seedlings 
have lately been caught breaking into the houses of 
the settlers, independently of their simple allies. 
A fifth newspaper, the Auckland ' Chronicle,' had 
started with the assistance of the Government print- 
ing-press. 
A very few farmers were said to be going out upon 
suburban allotments ; and the streets of the metro- 
polis, which had been long in an impassable state of 
mud and mire, were said now to reflect credit on the 
improved policy of the Acting Governor. 
A schooner, wrecked at Hokianga, had been totally 
plundered by the natives of that part ; and the crew 
of another, at Hawke's Bay, had been assisted in saving 
the cargo and their own lives by the natives. 
Two boys' schools were now established at Welling- 
ton ; one under the superintendence of the Mechanics' 
Institute, the other founded in opposition by a pri- 
vate individual. The two schools had about 150 
scholars. 
Picnics and balls began to multiply as the season of 
the anniversary approached. Among the most pleasing 
of these was a picnic given by Messrs. Clifford and 
Vavasour, who had set an excellent example by clearing 
away at their section, half a mile beyond Captain 
Daniell's farm on the Porirua road, immediately, that 
they arrived. They were in time to ask their fellow- 
