528 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. CnAr. XIX. 
paid. To suppose that he would ever take upon him- 
self any responsibility in emergencies beyond the close 
letter of writt-en instructions, would have been flying 
against reason. I have since heard of several applica- 
tions made to him on most trivial subjects, which he 
declared he could not answer without referring them 
to Auckland. 
Captain Fitzroy re-opened the negotiations for the 
award of compensation to the natives ; calling upon 
Colonel Wakefield to be ready to pay whatever sums 
might be awarded for the disputed waste lands, with- 
out any relation to the reserved pas, cultivations, or 
burial-grounds. I last saw him under the lee of a 
garden-fence, listening to the renewed demands, more 
exorbitant than ever, of E Tako and other inferior chiefs, 
in a little ring of the discontented natives. Mr. Spain, 
Mr. Clarke junior, another Protector of Aborigines, 
and the Private Secretary, were also inside the ring. 
A few settlers were shrugging their" shoulders and 
scarcely restraining their laughter when they heard 
the Governor telling the natives they should have 
whatever they asked, but warning them not to ask too 
much. The day was windy and unpleasant, and the 
place bleak except where the little group were cowering 
under a fence ; so that few people observed the assem- 
blage, or had the least idea that this was a Governor 
conferring with that class of his subjects to whom he 
professed himself most attached. 
His Excellency had fixed his day of departure in a 
week from that time ; but declared, much to the 
surprise of everybody, including Mr. Spain, that he 
was determined to settle the land-claims before he 
went. 
For my part, I could stay no more in the country 
with comfort under this Government ; for so long as 
