No. 20.
Extracts from Despatch from Governor Gore Browne, C.B., to the Secretary of State, 15th February, 1858.

The documents which I have the honour to forward to you with this despatch will give you full information of what has taken place at and in reference to New Plymouth since the date of my last despatch. …

If the Natives were permitted to fight with each other on the farms of the settlers, the latter would, sooner or later, become entangled in the quarrel, and as soon as blood was shed war would be inevitable. I have therefore thought it necessary (an opinion in which my Executive Council concur) for the honour of Her Majesty's Government, and for the safety of the inhabitants, to issue a Proclamation declaring that all persons whosoever who shall unlawfully assemble with arms within the boundaries of the district described in the Schedule to the Proclamation will, without further notice, be treated as persons in arms against the Queen's authority, and active measures will be forthwith taken against them by Her Majesty's civil authorities and military forces. …