The Young Protector.

It was Dr. Sinclair, the then Colonial Secretary, under Governor Hobson at Auckland, who first discovered that this stalwart young Scotsman had already acquired a considerable knowledge of Maori affairs and could speak the language well. That was in 1843. Maclean was given an appointment as a junior official in the Native Department, which was then styled the Office of the Protector of Aborigines—a title which was abolished by Governor Grey. Under the Chief Protector, Mr. George Clarke, a member of a mission family in the north, he received some preliminary training as interpreter and agent, and then, in 1844, he was appointed a sub-protector, with his quarters at New Plymouth, and his field the country from South Taranaki to Kawhia, and inland to Taupo.