ftlft ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XVI. 
Clarke, the Chief Protector of Aborigines, to the 
natives. It began by metaphors and figures about 
the horizon l)eing dark ; and conveyed the informa- 
tion already received by the Government as to a " con- 
" flict between the natives and the Europeans." 
He went on to say, " with us both parties are wrong, 
*• according to the laws both of God and man." And 
directly afterwards, " let us wait to hear the correct- 
** ness and truth of this matter ; until which do not 
" let us prejudge." 
Then he professed to analyze the evidence of both 
parties ; and, in so doing, stated that the fact of Rafi- 
gihaeata having slaughtered the prisoners rested upon 
the evidence of the White people ! 
And his whole analysis was tainted with the same 
colour as Mr. Macdonogh's retracted invention and 
Lord Stanley's pathetic episode. 
A proclamation from the Acting Governor to the 
White people forbade them from exercising rights of 
ownership upon any land of which the title was dis- 
puted by any native. 
And the answer of his Excel lencyto the address of 
the Committee of Public Safety was in the same spirit ; 
treating the dead and the survivors of the " contest " 
as the real criminals in the affair. 
The resistance to the Queen's warrant, and the 
accompanying massacre of a Police Magistrate, two 
Justices of the Peace, a Crown Prosecutor, and several 
constables, seemed to call for an active exercise of 
authority in apprehending the murderers and investi- 
gating the whole affair. 
We were met by the assertion that it was a dispute 
about land, in which the White people were the 
aggressors and in the wrong. 
We were accused of prejudging the case as regards 
