506 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XIX. 
been appointed to keep the ingress through the French 
window of the large room in the hotel free ; and I 
got jostled in by the eager crowd, along with two 
or three other settlers, to a spot nearly under his Ex- 
cellency's nose. He had just done thanking the mem- 
bers of a deputation from a public meeting for their 
congratulatory address on the safe arrival of himself 
and his family. He was proceeding to enlarge upon 
some other topics as I got within hearing ; and a 
general stillness, a sort of chill or damp, seemed 
to creep over the noisy bustle of the crowd as his 
opinions were gradually made known. He said that 
all parties might rely on receiving justice, and nothing 
but justice at his hands. He then deprecated, in the 
strongest terms, the feelings displayed by the settlers 
at Wellington against the native population, of which 
he judged by what appeared in their newspapers. He 
stated that he considered the opposition to the natives 
to have emanated from young, indiscreet men ; but he 
trusted that as they had years before them, they would 
yet learn experience. One of the first measures to 
which he would turn his attention, would be the settle- 
ment of the land question, which ought to have been 
settled two years ago. He would send for the Com- 
pany's Agent at ten o'clock on Monday morning, and 
go into the question. Having so lately left England, 
he could not be ignorant of the intentions of people 
there ; none would emigrate to New Zealand unless 
they believed there was a good understanding between 
the settlers and the natives, and unless the settlers 
did all in their power to conciliate the natives, to 
forgive them, and to make allowances for them be- 
cause they were natives, even if they were in the 
wrong. He had great cause of complaint against 
the Editor of ' The New Zealand Gazette ' (the Wel- 
lington newspaper), which he had carefully read for a 
