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Note of Acknowledgment.

During the time I have been engaged upon this work much help and sympathy have been extended to me by present and former residents of Marlborough, and to all those who have in any way contributed to my fund of information I now tender my sincere thanks. For the principal portion of the matter contained in the second chapter I am indebted to Mr. Jos. Rutland, who has made the subject of the Old Pit Dwellings peculiarly his own, and has most generously placed the result of his researches at my disposal. The remaining chapters, in the early part of the volume, have been compiled from a multitude of sources, and many of the standard books on New Zealand have been pressed into my service for the purpose. In this way I have brought together much that has already been published, but in such a form as to be accessible only to those who have extensive libraries at their command. Chapters eight and nine have been based on information kindly supplied by Mrs. Mowat, Mrs. Millington, the late Mr. Thomas Carter, the Hon. W. D. H. Baillie, M.L.C., Messrs. W. H. Eyes, J. J. White, J. J. Sinclair, T. Redwood, C. Redwood, W. Nosworthy, G. Dodson, P. Rush, J. T. Robinson, A. J. Litchfield, W. H. Macey, G. Coward, G. Baldic, Wm. Smith, H. Otterson, E. Rabbits, S. Johnson and Walter Gibson.

For many of the photographs from which the illustrations have been taken, I am also indebted to old settlers who happen to have preserved the pictures. I am especially obliged in this respect to Mr. W. H. Macey, who has cheerfully allowed me to freely draw upon the resources of his studio, while my grateful acknowledgments are also due to Mrs. S. J. Macalister, Sir James Hector, Messrs. Chinn, J. J. Sinclair, J. T. Robinson, A. B. Litchfield, and C. J. Monro.

The pictures of the first school at Blenheim were obtained from sketches kindly made by Miss White. The "Relics" found on Massacre Hill were photographed, by Mr. Macey, from weapons in the possession of Messrs. A. J. Litchfield and John Taylor, and the portraits of Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata are copied from drawings published in Shortland's "Southern Districts of New Zealand," and are pronounced by the Hon. J. W. Barni-coat, M.L.C., (who knew both warriors well) to be excellent likenesses.

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