[i roto i te reo Māori]

Punishments.

Formerly, the punishment inflicted on a person guilty of some of the Crimes enumerated in the List of Criminal Offences was transportation of the offender to some other land. Lately, the Law has been altered in this respect; transportation of criminals has been discontinued, and imprisonment substituted; with the addition of hard labor, and other aggravations. Had it been wished to state the exact punishment assigned to each offence, it would have been necessary to state precisely, which were punished by imprisonment only; which by imprisonment with hard labor; and which by imprisonment with other additions to make the punishment equal to transportation, which has been discontinued. It was thought, however, that this might cause confusion, and that it would be better to include all under the general head of "Imprisonment."

There are other provisions of the Law appointing punishments for the commission of Offences, and for the neglect of duties. These however, do not at present apply to the Maori people, and therefore have not been stated here. It is not said that all Criminal Offences are here set down. Those principal ones have been described, with their punishments, a knowledge of which it has been thought necessary that the Maori people should possess, in order that they may grow up with a proper respect and regard for the law. Those are omitted which are not of frequent occurrence, and those only are given with which it is thought the Maori people ought now to be made acquainted.

[The List of Criminal Offences having been arranged in English alphabetical order, an English Index is not required.]