FINDING A WAY
The favour of Ministerial selection for the onerous task of bringing
New Zealand within the realms of Britain fell upon Captain Hobson,
because his record in the Navy had justified the opinion expressed of
him by Sir Richard Bourke, that he was an experienced and judicious
officer. Moreover, his visit to the country in the _Rattlesnake_
had given him a local knowledge of which few men of eminence and
character were at that time possessed. There is no reason to suppose
that the appointment was in any way a party one, and except that the
new Consul was the victim of indifferent health, it was probably the
best that could have been made at the time, its greatest justification
being the complete success which attended his mission up to the time
of his early decease.[40] Captain Hobson left England in the H.M.S.
_Druid_ commanded by Lord John Churchill. He went out fortified
for his task by a series of instructions which left little doubt that
if Ministers had been slow to move, they had at least endeavoured to
take a statesman-like view of the position when circumstances
compelled them to act, the breadth of which can be best understood
from the instructions themselves. After adverting to the social
conditions existing in New Zealand, with which Captain Hobson was
perfectly cognisant and which Lord Normanby assured him the Government
had watched with attention and solicitude, the Colonial Secretary
proceeded to explain the attitude which the Government had adopted in
regard to this branch of Imperial policy.
We have not been insensible to the importance of New Zealand to the
interests of Great Britain in Australia, nor unaware of the great
natural resources by which that country is distinguished, or that its
geographical position must in seasons, either of peace or war, enable
it in the hands of civilised men to exercise a paramount influence in
that quarter of the globe. There is probably no part of the earth in
which colonisation could be effected with a greater or surer prospect
of national advantage.
On the other hand, the Ministers of the Crown have been restrained by
still higher motives from engaging in such an enterprise. They have
deferred to the advice of the Committee of the House of Commons in
the year 1836 to enquire into the state of the Aborigines residing in
the vicinity of our colonial settlements, and have concurred with
that Committee in thinking that the increase in national wealth and
power, promised by the acquisition of New Zealand, would be a most
inadequate compensation for the injury which must be inflicted on
this kingdom itself by embarking in a measure essentially unjust, and
but too certainly fraught with calamity to a numerous and inoffensive
people whose title to the soil and to the sovereignty of New Zealand
is undisputable and has been solemnly recognised by the British
Government. We retain these opinions in unimpaired force, and though
circumstances entirely beyond our control have at length compelled us
to alter our course, I do not scruple to avow that we depart from it
with extreme reluctance.
The necessity for the interposition of the Government has, however,
become too evident to admit of any further inaction. The reports
which have reached this office within the last few months establish
the facts that about the commencement of 1838 a body of not less than
two thousand British subjects had become permanent inhabitants of New
Zealand, that amongst them were many persons of bad and doubtful
character,--convicts who had fled from our penal settlements, or
seamen who had deserted their ships,--and that these people,
unrestrained by any law and amenable to no tribunals, were
alternately the authors and victims of every species of crime and
outrage. It further appears that extensive cessions of land have been
obtained from the natives, and that several hundred persons have
recently sailed from this country to occupy and cultivate these
lands. The spirit of adventure having been effectually roused it can
be no longer doubted that an extensive settlement of British subjects
will be rapidly established in New Zealand, and that unless protected
and restrained by necessary loans and institutions they will repeat
unchecked in that quarter of the Globe the same process of war and
spoliation under which uncivilised tribes have almost invariably
disappeared, as often as they have been brought into the immediate
vicinity of emigrants from the nations of Christendom. To mitigate,
and if possible to avert these disasters, and to rescue the emigrants
themselves from the evils of a lawless state of society, it has been
resolved to adopt the most effective measures for establishing
amongst them a settled form of Government. To accomplish this design
is the principal object of your mission.
I have already stated that we acknowledge New Zealand as a sovereign
and independent state so far at least as it is possible to make that
acknowledgment in favour of a people composed of numerous dispersed
and petty tribes, who possess few political relations to each other,
and are incompetent to act or even deliberate in concert. But the
admission of their rights, though inevitably qualified by this
consideration, is binding on the faith of the British Crown. The
Queen, in common with Her Majesty's predecessor, disclaims for herself
and her subjects every pretension to seize on the Islands of New
Zealand, or to govern them as a part of the Dominions of Great Britain
unless the free intelligent consent of the natives, expressed
according to their established usages, shall be first obtained.
Believing, however, that their own welfare would, under the
circumstances I have mentioned, be best promoted by the surrender to
Her Majesty of a right now so precarious, and little more than
nominal, and persuaded that the benefits of British protection and of
laws administered by British judges would far more than compensate for
the sacrifice by the natives of a national independence which they are
no longer able to maintain, Her Majesty's Government have resolved to
authorise you to treat with the aborigines of New Zealand for the
recognition of Her Majesty's sovereign authority over the whole or any
part of those Islands which they may be willing to place under Her
Majesty's dominion. I am not unaware of the difficulties by which such
a treaty may be encountered. The motives by which it is recommended
are, of course, open to suspicion. The natives may probably regard
with distrust a proposal which may carry on the face of it the
appearance of humiliation on their side, and of a formidable
encroachment on ours: and their ignorance even of the technical
terms in which that proposal must be conveyed, may enhance their
aversion to an arrangement of which they may be unable to comprehend
the exact meaning, or the probable results. These are, however,
impediments to be gradually overcome by the exercise on your part of
mildness, justice, and perfect sincerity in your intercourse with
them. You will, I trust, find powerful auxiliaries amongst the
Missionaries who have won and deserved their confidence; and amongst
the older British residents who have studied their character and
acquired their language. It is almost superfluous to say that, in
selecting you for the discharge of this duty, I have been guided by a
firm reliance on your uprightness and plain dealing. You will
therefore frankly and unreservedly explain to the natives or their
chiefs the reasons which should urge them to acquiesce in the
proposals you will make to them. Especially you will point out to
them the dangers to which they may be exposed by the residence
amongst them of settlers amenable to no laws or tribunals of their
own and the impossibility of Her Majesty extending to them any
effectual protection unless the Queen be acknowledged as the
Sovereign of their country, or at least of those districts within, or
adjacent to which Her Majesty's subjects may acquire lands or
habitations. If it should be necessary to propitiate their consent by
presents, or other pecuniary arrangements, you will be authorised to
advance at once to a certain extent in meeting such demands, and
beyond those limits you will refer them for the decision of Her
Majesty's Government.
It is not, however, to the mere recognition of the sovereign authority
of the Queen that your endeavours are to be confined, or your
negotiations directed. It is further necessary that the chiefs should
be induced, if possible, to contract with you, as representing Her
Majesty, that henceforward no lands shall be ceded, either
gratuitously or otherwise, except to the Crown of Great Britain.
Contemplating the future growth and extension of a British colony in
New Zealand, it is an object of the first importance that the
alienation of the unsettled lands within its limits should be
conducted from its commencement upon that system of sale of which
experience has proved the wisdom, and the disregard of which has been
so fatal to the prosperity of other British Settlements. With a view
to those interests it is obviously the same thing whether large tracts
of land be acquired by the mere gift of the Government or by purchases
effected on nominal considerations from the aborigines. On either
supposition the land revenue must be wasted, the introduction of
emigrants delayed or prevented, and the country parcelled out amongst
large land-owners whose possession must long remain an unprofitable,
or rather a pernicious waste. Indeed, in a comparison of the two
methods of acquiring land gratuitously, that of grants from the
Crown, mischievous as it is, would be the less inconvenient, as such
grants must be made with at least some kind of system, with some
degree of responsibility, subject to some conditions, and recorded
for general information. But in the case of purchases from the
natives even these securities against abuse must be omitted, and none
could be substituted for them. You will, therefore, immediately on
your arrival announce, by a proclamation[41] addressed to all the
Queen's subjects in New Zealand that Her Majesty will not acknowledge
as valid any title to land which either has been, or shall hereafter
be acquired in that country which is either not derived from or
confirmed by a grant to be made in Her Majesty's name and on her
behalf. You will, however, at the same time take care to dispel any
apprehensions which may be created in the minds of the settlers that
it is intended to dispossess the owners of any property which has
been acquired on equitable conditions, and which is not upon a scale
which must be prejudicial to the latent interests of the community.
Extensive acquisitions of such lands have undoubtedly been already
obtained, and it is probable before your arrival a great addition
will have been made to them. The embarrassments occasioned by such
claims will demand your earliest and most careful attention.
I shall in the sequel explain the relation in which the proposed
colony will stand to the Government of New South Wales. From that
relation I propose to derive the resources necessary for encountering
the difficulty I have mentioned. The Governor of that country will,
with the advice of the Legislative Council, be instructed to appoint
a Legislative Commission to investigate and ascertain what are the
lands held by British subjects under grants from the natives; how far
such grants were lawfully acquired and ought to be respected; and
what may have been the price or other valuable consideration given
for them. The Commissioners will make their report to the Governor,
and it will then be decided by him how far the claimants, or any of
them, may be entitled to confirmatory grants from the Crown, and on
what conditions such confirmations ought to be made.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN HOBSON, R.N.]
The propriety of immediately subjecting to a small annual tax all
uncleared lands within the British settlements in New Zealand will
also engage the attention of the Governor and Council of New South
Wales. The forfeiture of all lands in respect of which the tax shall
remain for a certain period in arrear would probably before long
restore to the demesne of the Crown so much of the waste land as may
be held unprofitably to themselves, and the public, by the actual
claimants. Having by these measures obviated the dangers of the
acquisition of large tracts of country by mere land-jobbers, it will
be your duty to obtain by fair and equal contracts with the natives
the cession to the Crown of such waste lands as may be progressively
required for the occupation of settlers resorting to New Zealand. All
such contracts should be made by yourself, through the intervention
of an officer expressly appointed to watch over the interests of the
aborigines as their protector. The resales of the first purchases
that may be made will provide the funds necessary for future
acquisitions; and beyond the original investment of a comparatively
small sum of money no other resource would be necessary for this
purpose. I thus assume that the price to be paid to the natives by
the local Government will bear an exceedingly small proportion to the
price for which the same lands will be resold by the Government to
the settlers, nor is there any real injustice in this inequality. To
the natives or their chiefs much of the land in the country is of no
actual use, and in their hands it possesses scarcely any exchangeable
value. Much of it must long remain useless, even in the hands of the
British Government also, but its value in exchange will be first
created, and then progressively increased by the introduction of
capital and of settlers from this country. In the benefits from that
increase the natives themselves will gradually participate.
All dealings with the natives for their lands must be conducted on
the same principles of sincerity, justice, and good faith as must
govern your transactions with them for the recognition of Her
Majesty's sovereignty in the Islands. Nor is this all: they must not
be permitted to enter into any contracts in which they might be
ignorant and unintentional authors of injuries to themselves. You
will not, for example, purchase from them any territory, the
retention of which by them would be essential or highly conducive to
their own comfort, safety, or subsistence. The acquisition of land by
the Crown for the future settlement of British subjects must be
confined to such districts as the natives can alienate without
distress or serious inconvenience to themselves. To secure the
observance of this rule will be one of the first duties of their
Official Protector.
There are yet other duties owing to the aborigines of New Zealand
which may be all comprised in the comprehensive expression of
promoting their civilisation, understanding by that term whatever
relates to the religious, intellectual, and social advancement of
mankind. For their religious instruction liberal provision has
already been made by the zeal of the Missionaries, and of the
Missionary Societies in this Kingdom, and it will be at once the most
important and the most grateful of your duties to this ignorant race
of men to afford the utmost encouragement, support, and protection to
their Christian teachers. I acknowledge also the obligation of
rendering to the Missions such pecuniary aid as the local Government
may be able to afford, and as their increased labours may reasonably
entitle them to expect. The establishment of schools for the
education of the aborigines in the elements of literature will be
another object of your solicitude, and until they can be brought
within the pale of civilised life, and trained to the adoption of its
habits, they must be carefully defended in the observance of their
own customs, so far as these are compatible with the universal maxims
of humanity and morals. But the savage practices of human sacrifice
and cannibalism must be promptly and decisively interdicted; such
atrocities, under whatever plea of religion they may take place, are
not to be tolerated in any part of the dominions of the British
Crown.
It remains to be considered in what manner provision is to be made
for carrying these instructions into effect as for the establishment
and exercise of your authority over Her Majesty's subjects who may
settle in New Zealand, or who are already there. Numerous projects
for the establishment of a constitution for the proposed colony have
at different times been suggested to myself and to my immediate
predecessor in office, and during the last session of Parliament, a
Bill for the same purpose was introduced into the House of Commons at
the instance of some persons immediately connected with the
emigrations then contemplated. The same object was carefully examined
by a Committee of the House of Lords. But the common result of all
enquiries, both in this office and in either House of Parliament, was
to show the impracticability of the schemes proposed for adoption,
and the extreme difficulty of establishing at New Zealand any
institutions, legislative, judicial, or fiscal without some more
effective control than could be found amongst the settlers themselves
in the infancy of their settlement. It has therefore been resolved to
place whatever territories may be acquired in the sovereignty by the
Queen in New Zealand in the relation of a dependency to the
Government of New South Wales. I am of course fully aware of the
objections which may be reasonably urged against this measure; but
after the most ample investigation I am convinced that for the
present there is no other practicable course which would not be
opposed by difficulties still more considerable, although I trust
that the time is not distant when it may be proper to establish in
New Zealand itself a local legislative authority.
In New South Wales there is a Colonial Government possessing
comparatively long experience, sustained by a large revenue, and
constituted in such a manner as is best adapted to enable the
legislative and executive authorities to act with promptitude and
decision. It presents the opportunity of bringing the internal
economy of the proposed new colony under the constant revision of a
power sufficiently near to obtain early and accurate intelligence,
and sufficiently remote to be removed from the influence of the
passions and prejudices by which the first colonists must in the
commencement of their enterprise be agitated. It is impossible to
confide to an indiscriminate body of persons who have voluntarily
settled themselves in the immediate vicinity of the numerous
population of New Zealand those large and irresponsible powers which
belong to the representative system of Colonial Government. Nor is
that system adapted to a colony struggling with the first
difficulties of their new situation. Whatever may be the ultimate
form of government to which the British settlers in New Zealand are
to be subject, it is essential to their own welfare, not less than
that of the aborigines, that they should at first be placed under a
rule which is at once effective and to a considerable degree
external. The proposed connection with New South Wales will not,
however, involve the extension to New Zealand of the character of a
penal settlement. Every motive concurs in forbidding this, and it is
to be understood as a fundamental principle of the new colony that no
convict is ever to be sent thither to undergo his punishment.
The accompanying correspondence with the Law Officers will explain to
you the grounds of law on which it is to be concluded that by the
annexation of New Zealand to New South Wales the powers vested by
Parliament in the Governor and Legislative Council of the older
settlement might be exercised over the inhabitants of the new colony.
The accompanying Commission under the Great Seal will give effect to
this arrangement, and the warrant which I enclose under Her Majesty's
sign manual will constitute you Lieut.-Governor of that part of the
New South Wales colony which has thus been extended over the New
Zealand Islands. These instructions you will deliver to Sir George
Gipps, who on your proceeding to New Zealand will place them in your
hands to be published there. You will then return it to him to be
deposited amongst the archives of the New South Wales Government.
In the event of your death or absence the officer administering the
Government of New South Wales will, provisionally, and until Her
Majesty's pleasure can be known, appoint a Lieut.-Governor in your
place, by an instrument under the public seal of his Government.
It is not for the present proposed to appoint any subordinate
officers for your assistance. That such appointments will be
indispensable is not, indeed, to be doubted. But I am unwilling at
first to advance beyond the strict limits of the necessity which
alone induces the Ministers of the Crown to interfere at all on this
subject. You will confer with Sir George Gipps as to the number and
nature of the official appointments which would be made at the
commencement of the undertaking and as to the proper rate of their
emoluments. These must be fixed with the most anxious regard for
frugality in the expenditure of public resources. The selection of
the individuals by whom such offices are to be borne must be made by
yourself from the colonists either of New South Wales or New Zealand,
but upon the full and distinct understanding that their tenure of
office, and even the existence of the offices which they are to hold
must be provisional and dependent upon the future pleasure of the
Crown. Amongst the offices thus to be created, the most evidently
indispensable are those of a Judge, a Public Prosecutor, a Protector
of the Aborigines, a Colonial Secretary, a Surveyor-General of Lands,
and a Superintendent of Police. Of these, the Judge alone will
require the enactment of a law to create and define his functions.
The Act now pending in Parliament, for the revival, with amendments,
of the New South Wales Act will, if passed into law, enable the
Governor and Legislative Council to make all necessary provision for
the establishment in New Zealand of a Court of Justice and a judicial
system separate from and independent of the existing Supreme Court.
The other functionaries I have mentioned can be appointed by the
Governor in the unaided exercise of the delegated prerogative of the
Crown. Whatever laws may be required for the Government of the new
colony will be enacted by the Governor and Legislative Council. It
will be his duty to bring under their notice such recommendations as
you may see cause to convey to him on subjects of this nature. The
absolute necessity of the revenue being raised to defray the expenses
of the Government of the proposed settlement in New Zealand has not,
of course, escaped my careful attention. Having consulted the Lords
of the Treasury on this subject I have arranged with their Lordships
that until the sources of such revenue shall have been set in action,
you should be authorised to draw on the Government of New South Wales
for your unavoidable expenditure. Separate accounts, however, will be
kept of the public revenue of New Zealand and of the application of
it and whatever debt may be contracted to New South Wales, must be
replaced by the earliest possible opportunity. Duties of impost on
tobacco, spirits, wine, and sugar will probably supersede the
necessity of any other taxation, and such duties except on spirits
will probably be of a very moderate amount.
The system at present established in New South Wales regarding land
will be applied to all the waste lands which may be kept by the Crown
in New Zealand.
Separate accounts must be kept of the Land revenue, subject to the
necessary reductions for the expense of surveys and management, and
for the improvement by roads and otherwise the unsold territory, and
subject to any deductions which may be required to meet the
indispensable exigencies of the local Government. The surplus of this
revenue will be applicable, as in New South Wales, to the charge of
removing emigrants from this kingdom to the new colony.
The system established in New South Wales to provide for the
religious instruction of the inhabitants has so fully justified the
policy by which it was dictated that I could suggest no better means
of providing for this all-important object in New Zealand. It is,
however, gratifying to know that the spiritual wants of the settlers
will, in the commencement of the undertaking, be readily and amply
provided for by the Missionaries of the Established Church of England
and of other Christian communions, who have been so long settled in
those Islands. It will not be difficult to secure for the European
inhabitants some portion of that time and attention which the
Missionaries have hitherto devoted exclusively to the aborigines.
I enclose, for your information and guidance, copies of a
correspondence between this department and the Treasury, referring
you to Sir George Gipps for additional instructions as may enable you
to give full effect to the view of Her Majesty's Government on the
subject of finance. You will observe that the general principle is
that of maintaining in the proposed colony a system of revenue,
expenditure, and account entirely separate from that of New South
Wales, though corresponding with it as far as that correspondence can
be maintained.
After briefly describing the rules to be observed by Captain Hobson in
conducting his correspondence with his immediate superior, Governor
Gipps, and the Colonial Office, Lord Normanby concluded his
instructions as follows:
I have thus attempted to touch on all the topics on which it seems to
me necessary to address you on your departure from this country. Many
questions have been unavoidably passed over in silence, and others
have been adverted to in a brief and cursory manner, because I am
fully impressed with the conviction that in such an undertaking as
that in which you are about to engage much must be left to your own
discretion, and many questions must occur which no foresight could
anticipate or properly resolve beforehand. Reposing the utmost
confidence in your judgment, experience, and zeal for Her Majesty's
service, and aware how powerful a coadjutor and how able a guide you
will have in Sir George Gipps, I willingly leave for consultation
between you many subjects on which I feel my own incompetency, at
this distance from the scene of action, to form an opinion.[42]
The publication of this document brought down upon the head of the
Minister a storm of criticism from the committee of the New Zealand
Company, who attacked with especial bitterness that portion of the
instructions wherein Lord Normanby made it especially clear that
Britain claimed no right of sovereignty in or over New Zealand. In the
previous year, when the Company was promoting its Bill in the House of
Commons, and when the organisation was less mercenary in its nature,
the promoters had taken a modified view of this question of
sovereignty, and were prepared to concede something to the natives
which, as a Company, they were now eager to deny.
[Illustration: THE MISSION CHURCH AT KORORAREKA.
Where Captain Hobson read his Proclamations.]
This earlier attitude was admirably expressed by the Rev. Dr. Hinds,
who in discussing the matter before the Committee of the House of
Lords, boldly stated that he believed civilised people had a right--an
inherent right--over countries that have not been subject to
civilisation, whether those countries were uninhabited or partially
inhabited by savages who were never likely themselves to cultivate the
country. "Here," he said, "is a country considered to be populous for
a savage country. According to an estimate made by a respectable
Missionary of the C.M.S. the inhabitants of the Northern Island amount
to about 105,000. This Northern Island is probably about the size of
England, and this its population of 105,000 stated to be decreasing in
number without the least chance of their becoming cultivators or
sovereigns of the soil. I hold it not to be an infringement of any
natural rights to claim the sovereignty of the Island, and this is a
claim which until lately would never have been questioned. There has
been often a question as to the mode in which sovereign rights over
savage countries should be distributed among civilised people, but it
has been a question between one civilised country and another.
Formerly the Pope used to claim the disposal of sovereignty.
Subsequently it has been more conveniently settled by allowing the
priority of claim to the first discoverers--a course as convenient
probably as can be advised. Within the last few years, however, the
justice of this claim has been questioned, and it has been asserted
that savage as well as civilised men have sovereign rights. I do
not, myself, think they have; but it has been the wish of the
Association not to offend any scruples, and therefore they have
carefully in this Bill waived the question, and allowed the claim to a
sovereign right of some kind to exist in those savages. I say a
sovereign right of some kind, because it is clear in the instance just
mentioned, the giving the flag to the Bay of Islands, that the very
assumption on the part of Great Britain of a right to give that flag
supposes the New Zealanders not to be altogether a sovereign power.
Many probably who may be willing to cede to them the right of
sovereignty as far as concerns themselves would not go to such lengths
as to say that Great Britain should not cede the sovereignty as
regards any right which may be put in by other nations; and I do not
know on what principle we should draw a distinction, and say how much
or how little of this right of sovereignty we should claim. The French
have been attracted by the flax: suppose they were to say 'If you
relinquish your rights of sovereignty we will put in our claim, we
stand next,' or the Dutch may say so. I do not know which visited the
country first, but I cannot see on what principle we could interfere
with the French or Dutch unless we contend that we had some disposal
over the sovereignty of the Islands. The question, however, has been
waived in the Bill; we suppose the New Zealanders and not Great
Britain to be in possession of the right of sovereignty, and we
propose accordingly that a purchase should be made of the sovereignty
as well as the fee simple of the land. We have some precedents for
this. I do not know whether it is of consequence to bring forward
precedents, but even at a late period a purchase of this kind has been
made; Sir Stafford Canning took possession in 1815 of Singapore; it
was at that time in possession of the Malays, the subjects of the
Sultan of Jahore. In 1825 he found, I think, some inconvenience
arising from the Sultan's claims, and the English bought the Domain of
the Sultan for a sum of money, and so clear was the understanding
about it, that the Sultan made some reservations; some exceptional
laws, as they are called in this Bill, were made. There was a clause
that the Sultan's slaves should not be emancipated, and certain lands
were reserved and became entailed property and inalienable. When Penn
purchased Pennsylvania he no doubt understood he purchased the
sovereignty as well as the fee simple of the land, for I can conceive
no one mad enough to found a colony in the midst of barbarians without
securing the colonists against their interference as sovereigns.
Vattel certainly speaks of Penn's treaty as if he understood him to
have purchased the sovereign rights as well as the fee simple. These
are precedents which may not be considered as carrying any great
authority. The question has not been very much discussed; it has been
taken for granted, and I think with reason, that the savage is in a
state of pupilage, and must be treated as we treat children. The only
principle which it is important to maintain is this: If you go into a
country at all inhabited by savages and take possession of their land
and become sovereigns of it, you infringe their rights if you do not
consider their benefit as well as your own. If you were treating with
a child you would not infringe the rights of that child simply by
acting and deciding for him, but you would infringe his rights if you
acted and decided for your benefit and not his. So with respect to
savages; they are compared with civilised men, like children. They are
of themselves incapable of acquiring the arts and habits of civilised
life; unless some interference that amongst civilised men would be
considered unjust, takes place, they never can, by themselves, rise to
that higher condition. The injustice to be deprecated is that of
seeking our own benefit solely and not theirs; and with respect to the
New Zealanders our purchase of the sovereignty of their country ought
not to be represented as being the same kind of bargain as if the
French, for instance, were bargained with to cede the sovereignty over
any portion of their territory. When the French ceded their sovereign
rights over Martinique, Guadaloupe, and the Mauritius, they strictly
ceded all their sovereign rights; but in the present instance what is
meant by the cession of sovereignty amounts to this--that we purchase
the right to participate in the sovereignty with them; we do not wish
to exclude them, but pay them a price to partake in the sovereignty
with them. Of course, in the first instance, the civilised man will be
the only sovereign, but that is because he only will be fit and
capable of exercising sovereign rights. As the savage advances in
civilisation he will come in for his share; and I see no reason, as
soon as the New Zealander is capable of it, against his being Chief
Justice, Governor, or Bishop, or holding any other office. It is not
therefore that we take the sovereignty from him; we purchase the right
of participating with him in the sovereignty, and by so doing we
enable him to become Sovereign of the country, which he is not at
present."
In the meantime the Government had unmistakably demonstrated their
intention not to recognise the Company, and with all hope of political
patronage gone the Company saw no reason why they should spare the
Government. There was now in their opinion no possible room to doubt
that the sovereignty over New Zealand rested in Great Britain, and
that the Colonial Department was betraying a national trust in
conceding any rights to the natives, thereby opening the door to
foreign intervention. They first showered their protests against this
supposed surrender of a national asset upon the Colonial Office, but
when they discovered themselves ignored in this direction they turned
with renewed complaint to the Foreign Minister. "We are assured," they
wrote to him, on November 7, 1839, "that this question of the
sovereignty of New Zealand engages the attention of various commercial
bodies and a large portion of the public press in France; that the
sovereignty in England is denied; that the French Government is urged
either to join in that denial, by protesting against the colonisation
of the Islands by England, or to claim an equal right with England to
plant settlements there. We are not without fear that some such
protest or claim should be admitted by your Lordship's Department, as
it appears to have been admitted by the Colonial Department. It
appears that the agitation of this question in France has been
produced by the publication of a Minute of the British Treasury made
at the instance of the Colonial Department (July 19), and also of an
extract of certain instructions recently given by that Department to
Captain Hobson,--two documents by which the Crown of England seems to
repudiate the sovereignty of New Zealand. The apparent repudiation
consists of an acknowledgment of sovereignty in the native chiefs from
whom Captain Hobson is instructed to procure, if possible, a cession
to Her Majesty. It is this acknowledgment, according to all our
information, which has given occasion to the pretensions now urged in
France.[43] That which England, it is contended, instructs her officer
to procure, if possible, she admits she does not possess, and she
thereby admits the right of France either to obtain sovereign
jurisdiction in New Zealand, by the means which Captain Hobson is
instructed to employ, or if France should prefer that course, to
sustain the independent sovereignty of the natives. The argument
appears conclusive. It becomes very important, therefore, if it is of
great importance to England, to prevent the establishment of a French
power in the midst of the English colonies of Australasia that your
Lordship should be made aware of the acts of the British Crown which
lead to a conclusion directly at variance from that which may be drawn
from the said minute and instructions."
The Company's nominal[44] advocate on this occasion was their
Deputy-Governor, Mr. Somes, who apparently possessed a faculty for
stating strongly a weak case; and in the course of this letter to Lord
Palmerston he taxed his ability to show that the right of sovereignty
in New Zealand had vested in Britain since the discovery of the
Islands by Captain Cook; that it had been confirmed by numerous
diplomatic acts in all the years since then, and could not now be
abandoned on the mere whim of a Minister.
During the course of his trenchant review of the position Mr. Somes
declared that the sovereignty of England in New Zealand had been over
and over again asserted and exercised. Whether it could be
subsequently abandoned by such documents as the Treasury Minute and
instructions was a question in constitutional and international law on
which his Lordship was of course far more competent to judge than they
could pretend to be. But that there was recently a British sovereignty
either to maintain or to abandon the Company had no sort of doubt. He
pointed out that in the year 1769, Captain Cook, acting under a
commission from the Crown of England, took possession of the Islands
of New Zealand, in the name of His Majesty, George III. This act was
performed in the most formal manner, and was published to the world.
"We are not aware," he wrote, "that it was ever questioned by any
foreign power. It constituted sovereignty by possession. The Law of
Nations, we believe, recognises no other mode of assuming dominion in
a country, of which the inhabitants are so barbarous as to be ignorant
of the meaning of the word sovereignty, and therefore incapable of
ceding sovereign rights. This was the case with the New Zealanders,
from whom it would have been impossible for Captain Cook to have
obtained, except in mockery of truth, a British sovereignty by
cession. Sovereignty by possession is that which the British Crown
maintains in a large portion of its foreign dependencies. In this
year, 1787, a Royal Commission was granted to Captain Philip
appointing him in pursuance of the British sovereignty in
possession, which had previously been established by Captain Cook,
"Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the territory of
New South Wales and its dependencies." This territory was described in
the commission as "Extending from Cape York, latitude 11° 37´ south,
to the South Cape, latitude 43° 30´ south, and inland to the westward
as far as 135° east longitude, comprehending all the Islands adjacent
in the Pacific Ocean, within the latitudes of the above-named capes."
This is the Act by which the Crown first assumed the Government of
New South Wales and the other barbarous lands of which Captain Cook
had taken possession in the name of the King. The Islands of New
Zealand are as clearly within the prescribed limits as Norfolk Island,
Van Dieman's Land, or even New South Wales itself. On November 9,
1814, the Governor and Captain-General of New South Wales and its
dependencies, acting on the representation of the Crown, by public
proclamation, declared New Zealand to be a Dependency of his
Government, and by regular commission of _dedimus potestatem_
appointed Justices of the Peace to act there. Some of the Magistrates
so appointed were aboriginal natives of the country. It is plain that
they were treated as British subjects. In 1819 again Governor
Macquarrie appointed an English Magistrate in New Zealand. This
Justice of the Peace exercised the authority so bestowed on him by
apprehending offenders and sending them for trial to the seat of
Government. In 1823 a British Act of Parliament (4 George IV. cap. 96)
extended the jurisdiction of the Courts of New South Wales to New
Zealand by name, and also to other places in the Southern Pacific not
within the latitudes previously mentioned. Under this authority
several persons, we understand, have been tried in New South Wales for
offences committed in New Zealand, and we have been informed that
property in New Zealand, as well real as personal, has been made the
subject of the Bankruptcy law of New South Wales. The authority of the
British Crown was frequently enforced by means of ships of war, and
although it cannot be asserted that regular government was ever
established in New Zealand, far more than was essential to creating
British dependency seems to have been performed. The Islands thus
continued in a state of dependency until the year 1831, when a series
of proceedings commenced by which the sovereignty of Britain may
perhaps have been forfeited. An officer was appointed to reside at the
Bay of Islands. He presented to certain native chiefs, as from the
Crown of England, what was termed "a national flag." This might have
been considered a transfer to these chiefs of the British
sovereignty, if the Resident had not been 'accredited' to certain
officers of the Church Missionary Society, then settled at the Bay of
Islands. By the latter act the sovereignty of the Islands would almost
seem to have been transferred to these Missionaries. But in October
1835 this diplomatic agent assembled certain native chiefs residing in
the Northern part of the North Island, called them a "Confederation,"
and sanctioned a declaration of Native Independence, to which their
names were appended. This last act appears, by all accounts, to have
been a mere mockery of its ostensible purport. The tribes of New
Zealand are so entirely distinct, so utterly destitute of nationality,
as to have no name for the whole country which they inhabit. A
national name was invented for this occasion--the words _Na Terrene_
which express the native pronunciation of the English words "New
Zealand." The only parties besides to the so-called Declaration of
Independence were the chiefs of a few tribes then inhabiting a small
part of one of the Islands. These even, inasmuch as their language
contains no words to express nationality, sovereignty, or
independence, must have been unconscious instruments of the Resident,
or of the Missionaries, to whom that officer was accredited, as if
they (the Missionaries) had been the sovereigns of New Zealand. If
indeed the sovereignty was delegated to the Missionaries they could,
being British subjects, have held it as trustees for the Crown. If the
sovereignty of the natives was then acknowledged it extended only to a
small part of one Island inhabited by the parties to the Declaration.
And in either case this mockery of an independent sovereign
nationality has been set at naught by the power in whose name it took
place, inasmuch as the jurisdiction of British law, and the armed
authority of British warships have been exercised since in the same
way as before the Bay of Islands' Declaration of Independence.
"I beg leave," continued Mr. Somes, "to assure your Lordship in the
name of my colleagues that we intrude on you with the greatest
reluctance. But we have felt that it was incumbent on us especially
during the recess of Parliament to convey to your Lordship the
information that we have received as to the state of feeling in France
on this subject, so that if unhappily the British sovereignty of New
Zealand were lost it should be through no fault of ours. We fear that
the measures recently adopted by the Colonial Department may, unless
promptly remedied, lead to very disastrous results. We are deeply
concerned for the fate of a large and most respectable body of our
countrymen, who have emigrated under our auspices. Connected as
several of us are with the commercial and shipping interests of the
country, and knowing therefore how much importance they attach to the
British possession of New Zealand, as they have frequently stated in
memorials to the Treasury and Board of Trade, we have felt that it was
a duty to express to your Lordship the apprehensions which we
entertain. We have been told that a French frigate recently sailed for
the South Seas with sealed orders, and some of the French newspapers
report, with expressions of satisfaction, that the Government of the
United States of America has appointed a Consul in New Zealand, to be
accredited to 'the Confederation of chiefs,' and has sent him to his
destination in a man-of-war, which is to remain under his orders.
These statements may be untrue, or only premature, but in either case
Captain Hobson's instructions which attach two conditions, either or
both of which may be unattainable, to the exercise of any authority by
him in New Zealand, namely possession of the land by British subjects,
and cession by the natives of the sovereignty over such land, are
calculated to invite foreign pretensions which otherwise would never
have been imagined."
This protest was taken most philosophically by Lord Palmerston, who
merely passed it on to Lord John Russell, who had now succeeded Lord
Normanby at the Colonial Office. Lord John treated it even more
philosophically, for it was not for several months (March 11, 1840)
that he deigned to reply, and then only after he had been reminded of
the omission by the Foreign Office. In the meantime all need of
further argument had been obviated by the success of Captain Hobson's
mission, and so the Colonial Secretary wasted no words in rhetoric,
but forwarded to his colleague a memorandum couched in concise
official terms, setting out in sequence the events which in the light
of International law would be used as evidence against any claim to
British sovereignty, and which contained all the information it
appeared necessary to afford in answer to the communication from Mr.
Somes.
It is easy to understand the indignation of the Company on learning of
the Minister's repudiation of British sovereignty in New Zealand,
because it sapped the very foundations of their scheme, seeing that it
was illegal for British subjects to establish colonies outside the
limits of the Empire without the sanction of the Crown. They had
always presupposed the existence of a British sovereignty over New
Zealand and upon that supposition all their calculations had been
built. Now the basis of their building had gone, they adroitly
pretended that what grieved them was not so much their loss as that
the repudiation of British authority was a national calamity, and that
what was the neglect of Britain became the opportunity of France.
The position taken up by the Government was, however, perfectly sound,
and was the only logical one they could occupy. Whether previous
Governments had acted wisely and well in declining to embrace the
opportunity to colonise which Cook's discovery had opened to them, may
be a debatable question, but the fact at this date was that the golden
opportunity had passed, and that by subsequent diplomatic acts,
deliberately taken, the independence of the Maori people had been
clearly and emphatically acknowledged. "The answers," wrote Lord John
Russell to Lord Palmerston, "which would be made by foreign nations to
such a claim as that put forward by Mr. Somes are two. First that the
British Statute Book has, in the present century, in three distinct
enactments, declared that New Zealand is not a part of the British
Dominions, and secondly that King William IV. made the most public,
solemn, and authentic declaration which it was possible to make that
New Zealand was a substantive and independent state. The resolution by
the King, Lords, and Commons of Great Britain of the fact that New
Zealand is not a part of the British Dominions will be found in the
Statutes 57 George III. cap. 53, 4 George IV. cap. 96, sec. 3, and
9 George IV. cap. 83, sec. 4."
The Act of 57 George III. cap. 53 is entitled "An Act for the more
effectual punishment of murders and manslaughters committed in places
not within His Majesty's dominions." It sets forth--"Whereas grievous
murders and manslaughters have been committed at the settlement of the
Bay of Honduras in South America, etc.," "and the like offences have
also been committed in the South Pacific Ocean, as well on the high
seas as on land, in the Islands of New Zealand and Otaheite, and in
other Islands, countries, and places not within His Majesty's
dominions, by the Masters and crews of British ships, and other
persons who have for the most part deserted from or left their ships,
and have continued to live and reside amongst the inhabitants of those
Islands, etc.," and the Act then provides for the punishment of
offences so committed "in the said Islands of New Zealand and
Otaheite, or within any other Islands, countries, or places, not
within His Majesty's dominions, nor subject to any other European
State or power," etc.
The Statute 4 George IV. cap. 96, sec. 3 enacts that the Supreme
Courts in the colonies of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land may
try offences "committed in the islands of New Zealand, Otaheite, or
any other Island, country, or place, situate in the Indian or Pacific
Oceans, and not subject to His Majesty or to any European State," if
such offences were committed by British subjects.
The Statute 9 George IV. cap. 83, sec. 4 repeats that enactment in the
same words, adding only that the punishment of the offence shall be
the same as if the crime had been committed in England.
The recognition by King William IV. of New Zealand as a substantive
and independent state is shown in the following narrative:
"On November 16 a letter to King William IV. from thirteen of the
chiefs of New Zealand was transmitted to Lord Goderich, praying the
protection of the British Crown against the neighbouring tribes and
against British subjects residing in the Islands. On June 14, 1832,
Lord Ripon despatched Mr. Busby as British Resident, partly to protect
British Commerce, and partly to repress the outrages of British
subjects on the natives. His Lordship sent with Mr. Busby a letter to
the chiefs, in which the King was made to address them as an
independent people. Their support was requested for Mr. Busby, and
they were reminded of the benefits which they would derive from 'the
friendship and alliance with Great Britain.'
"In the month of June 1832 a Bill was brought into the House of
Commons for the prevention of crimes committed by His Majesty's
subjects 'in New Zealand, and in other Islands in the Pacific not
being within His Majesty's dominions.' The Bill was rejected because
Parliament could not lawfully legislate for a foreign country.
"On April 13, 1833, the Governor of New South Wales, in obedience to
Lord Ripon's (formerly Lord Goderich) orders, addressed instructions
to Mr. Busby, in which New Zealand was expressly mentioned as a
foreign country, and Mr. Busby himself as being accredited to the
chiefs. That document throughout assumes the independence of New
Zealand.
"On April 29, 1834, General Bourke transmitted to Lord Stanley a
proposal from Mr. Busby for establishing a national flag for the
tribes of New Zealand, 'in their collective capacity,' and advised
that ships built in the Island and registered by the chiefs should
have their registers respected in their intercourse with British
possessions. Sir R. Bourke reported that he had sent three patterns of
flags, one of which had been selected by the chiefs; that the chiefs
had accordingly assembled with the commanders of the British and three
American ships, to witness the inauguration of the flag, at which the
officers of H.M.S. _Alligator_ were also present. The flag had been
declared to be 'the national flag' of New Zealand, and being hoisted,
was saluted with twenty-one guns by the _Alligator_, a British
ship-of-war.
"On November 21, 1834, a despatch was addressed to Sir Richard Bourke
by Lord Aberdeen, approving of all these proceedings in the name of
the King, and sending a copy of a letter from the Admiralty, stating
that they had instructed their officers to give effect to the New
Zealand Registers, and to acknowledge and respect the national flag of
New Zealand.
"If these solemn Acts[45] of Parliament, and of the King of Great
Britain, are not enough to show that the pretension made on behalf of
Her Majesty by this Company is unfounded, it might still further be
repelled by a minute narrative of all the relations between New
Zealand and the adjacent British colonies. It is presumed, however,
that after the preceding statement it would be superfluous to
accumulate arguments of that nature and the rather because they could
not be intelligibly stated without entering into long and tedious
details."
While this discussion was proceeding in England, Captain Hobson was
happily on his way to Sydney, with his instructions rendered still
more explicit[46] by further explanation from Lord Normanby, thus
eliminating, as far as human forethought could provide, the
possibility of misunderstanding as to the extent of his authority, or
to the sincerity of the broad humanitarian principles which were to
govern his conduct towards the natives.
Reaching Sydney late in December 1839[47] he immediately reported
himself to Sir George Gipps, who entered into the spirit of the
enterprise with his characteristic enthusiasm for the service of the
Empire. During their official negotiations the final arrangements were
completed agreeably to the intentions of the Colonial Secretary.
Captain Hobson was placed in the possession of the Proclamation under
the Great Seal, by which the Government of New South Wales was
extended to any territory which might be acquired as the result of
Hobson's mission "in those Islands commonly called New Zealand."
Simultaneously he was presented with his own Commission as
Lieutenant-Governor of any such territory, and with the proclamations
he was to issue in New Zealand, as circumstances rendered necessary or
advisable. He was also placed in possession of further instructions
from Sir George Gipps, who laid special stress upon the financial
relations existing between the two colonies. "My responsibility for
the due expenditure of the public money of this colony," he said, "is
one of which I cannot divest myself, and where responsibility is there
also must be control. The extent to which establishments are to be
erected in New Zealand, the salaries to be paid to public officers,
and the expenditure of public money on public works, must for the
present be fixed by myself on estimates and reports or proposals to be
forwarded by you." Close enquiry was also made into the legal question
which Captain Hobson had raised with Lord Normanby when seeking fuller
information regarding his powers of administration. Hobson desired the
power to appoint and suspend Magistrates; to pardon offences and remit
sentences, and to exercise original control, which the insular position
of New Zealand seemed to demand, but which was seldom conferred upon
those holding the subordinate office of Lieutenant-Governor. To this
request Lord Normanby had replied that all the powers necessary for
the proper conduct of his office would be conferred upon him by acts
of the Governor and Legislature of New South Wales. Hobson was
unconvinced, but deferentially refrained from pitting his lay opinion
against that which he naturally assumed was based upon the wider
knowledge possessed by the Department. Sir George Gipps had no such
reservations, and at once declared his inability to delegate to
another powers which had only been delegated to him.
In communicating his final instructions to the Lieutenant-Governor,
Gipps wrote: "With respect to certain powers or prerogations of the
Crown, with which Governors of colonies are usually entrusted, it is
necessary for me to point out to you that though I am myself
authorised by Her Majesty to exercise them in her name, and on her
behalf, I have no power to delegate the exercise of them to another.
From this, which is an inherent maxim in law, it will, I believe
follow:
"(1) That you will not have power to pardon offences, or to remit
sentences pronounced on offenders in due course of law, though you may
stay the execution of the law.
"(2) That you will not be authorised to suspend officers holding
appointments direct from Her Majesty, though you may recommend to me
the suspension of them. With respect to persons holding appointments
from me you will have the power of suspension, and over such as hold
appointments from yourself a power of dismissal unless they may have
been previously recommended by you for confirmation in the service, in
which case your power will extend only to suspension.
"(3) You will not have power of appointing Magistrates, though of
course you will recommend to me such persons as you may think fit to
be appointed.
"(4) In the event of the enrolment of a militia, the same will hold
good respecting the appointment of officers."
A staff of officials for the due conduct of the civil business of the
country was also appointed,[48] even to a small force of policemen,
and with an almost prophetic punctiliousness for detail, a Commission
was prepared for his successor in the event of Hobson's death, so that
there might be no break in the continuity of official control.
With these preliminaries settled, Governor Gipps, on January 14,
issued three proclamations: (1) extending the boundaries of New South
Wales to New Zealand; (2) proclaiming Captain Hobson Lieutenant-Governor
of those Islands, and "calling upon all British subjects to the aiding
and assisting of the said William Hobson in the exercise of his said
duty"; (3) to put an end to the speculation in New Zealand lands then
being openly carried on in Sydney.
The _Herald_, a frigate of twenty guns, commanded by Captain
Nias, lay in Spring Cove, waiting to convey the Queen's representative
and his party to New Zealand.[49] At six o'clock on the evening of
Saturday the 18th the staff appointed to accompany the Consul joined
the vessel, and at a somewhat later hour Captain Hobson himself went
on board. Under the influence of a fine N.E. wind, a full moon shining
down upon the harbour, the _Herald_ left Port Jackson and headed
for the Bay of Islands. Fine weather was experienced in the Tasman Sea
and on Sunday the 26th, while a gentle breeze filled the sails and
soft zephyrs whispered through the cordage, Captain Nias conducted
Divine service on the gun deck, which was attended by the whole ship's
company, and "a more beautiful and impressive scene I never
witnessed," is the description of the ceremony given by Mr. Felton
Mathew, who was coming with Hobson as the Surveyor-General to the new
colony. At daylight on the following morning the Three Kings were
sighted, and shortly after the mainland came into view. Two days were
spent in beating up the coast, and again at daylight on the 29th, the
_Herald_ entered the Bay of Islands, drifting with the tide, there
being not a breath of wind. All the morning was spent in this tedious
process, and it was not till eleven o'clock that the anchor was cast
in front of the little town of Kororareka.[50] Across the Bay the
Union Jack was flying in front of Mr. Busby's residence, but what most
attracted the attention and excited the interest of those on board was
the French tricolour floating from a staff upon the hill-side above
the township. "What this may indicate," wrote Mr. Mathew in his diary,
"we have yet to learn--whether it is merely a French Missionary
establishment or whether a French frigate is at anchor in the Bay and
has anticipated us, we shall soon discover."
[40] Captain Hobson had acquired some distinction in the Navy by the
capture of a band of pirates in the Mediterranean, the personal
bravery displayed by him on that occasion being decidedly meritorious.
He was afterwards engaged with the sloop-of-war _Rattlesnake_,
and first attracted political notice by his report to the Government
on the state of Society in New Zealand. Major Bunbury, who had
considerable personal knowledge of him, describes him as an officer
who wrote a good despatch, was fluent of speech, and was not without
abilities, but had not the necessary grasp of thought to seize the
main point of a question--to separate the grain from the chaff. He was
very jealous of his authority and obstinate, particularly as disease
made encroachment on his frame and intellect. He was of social habits
and had the faculty of making private friends and also of creating
public enemies. Mrs. Hobson is described as "an interesting person."
[41] This Proclamation was not enclosed amongst the official
correspondence delivered to Captain Hobson upon his leaving England,
and the deficiency was supplied by one drafted by Sir George Gipps and
his Executive.
[42] _Vide_ his instructions to Captain Hobson, August 14, 1839.
[43] The _Journal de Havre_ was particularly active in discussing
New Zealand at this time.
[44] It is suggested that the real advocate was Edward Gibbon
Wakefield.
[45] These Acts were quoted as evidences of Britain's repudiation of
sovereignty in New Zealand, by M. Guizot, the French Foreign Minister,
during the debate on the sovereignty question in the Chamber of
Deputies on May 29, 1844.
[46] After perusing the original draft of his instructions, Captain
Hobson referred several matters therein back to the Minister for
further explanation, and on August 15, 1839, Lord Normanby replied in
a memorandum which amplified his intentions, but in no way changed
their spirit.
[47] On arrival at Sydney Captain Hobson was waited on by a deputation
of New Zealand landowners, who requested to know his views regarding
their lands. With his answers to their questions the deputation was in
general satisfied, as he encouraged them to occupy their lands and
proceed with their improvements. Subsequently an address of Welcome
was presented to him at Government House, and he appeared highly
flattered by the compliment paid him.
[48] "Captain Hobson is accompanied by several officers, selected for
their known incompetency by Sir George Gipps. What assistance he is to
expect from these persons I do not know, but they are evidently sent
to New Zealand because Sir George Gipps has no use for their services
here, and was consequently anxious to get rid of them." Dr. Martin's
_New Zealand Letters_.
[49] The ship _Westminster_ was also engaged to convey stores to
New Zealand so soon as word should be received of the success of
Captain Hobson's mission. The _Westminster_ reached the Bay of
Islands on March 17, 1840, bringing with her Mr. and Mrs. Burrows and
Mr. and Mrs. Matthew for the C.M.S. Mission.
[50] I am indebted to Mr. H. M. Stowell (Hare Hongi) for the following
note on the origin and meaning of _Kororareka_; the ancient name
of the town of Russell.
_Kororareka_ has several original native names:
1. _O-kiato_: _kiato_ means confined, of circumscribed area;
and this describes its situation exactly.
2. _Wai-taha-rua_: This means, two-sided water, or, the double
waterside. This also describes its situation for it has a fine
frontage to the Bay itself, and an arm of the Bay runs up to its
back-door (so to speak).
3. _Kororareka_: _Korora-reka_, means Sweet-penguin. This
has remained its favourite name, and it originated in the following
incident: An old high chief lay here dying. He expressed a wish to
taste a little of the penguin bird before dying. Now this bird is a
rarity in those waters. So many young men of the tribe went off in
their canoes and scoured the headlands, isles, and islets for miles
around the Bay. At length two young men were fortunate enough to
discover a penguin, a real _Korora_, or blue penguin, which they
managed to capture. They hastened back with their catch, and the bird
was feathered and cleaned and boiled in the ancient manner of boiling.
This was to place the bird in a deep wooden bowl, cover it well with
water, and keep that water boiling by dropping red-hot stones in it
from an oven by its side.
The bird being cooked in this way was served up to the old chief, but
being unable to chew or to eat any portion he begged for a little of
the water (soup) in which it had been boiled. This was brought to him,
and having been assisted to a partially seated position he drank some
of the "soup," after which he sank back on his pillow, murmured:
"_Ka reka te Korora_" and immediately expired. Now, _Ka reka te
Korora_, means: How _sweet_ is the Penguin.