Page 24.

This is surely a strange view to take of it. What was the cause of the Governor's declarations? Simply that for years past various sections of the Ngatiawa had engaged in internecine feuds, marked by a ferocity of which there had been hardly a parallel since the foundation of the Colony. In the well-known speech which was made by Wiremu King? when investing Ihaia in the Karaka pa, he declared his will that the latter was to be roasted alive on a slow fire. This was his speech on the occasion:—"Men of Taranaki be strong! Be brave, and capture Ihaia, Nikorima, and Pukere as payment for the tapu of Taranaki and the Umuroa. Then we will stretch out their arms and burn them with fire. To prolong their torture let them be suspended over a slow fire for a week, and let the fire consume them. Like the three men of old whom Nebuchadnezzar commanded to be cast into the fiery furnace, even as Shad- rach, Meshach and Abednego, shall it be with Ihaia."—This would be incredible (especially in a man who not very long after was assuring Archdeacon Hadfield "that he was remaining in great grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ"), if it were not vouched by one of the resident missionaries, and if the Native letters to the Waikato chiefs containing an account of it had not been seen and read by the then District Magistrate there. Wiremu Kingi and Ihaia were members of the same tribe: Rawiri Waiaua and Katatore were members of the same tribe: Katatore and Tamati Tiraurau were members of the same tribe: yet all these were successively murdered or attempted to be murdered one by the other.

Every one of these feuds originated in disputes about land. There was nothing to choose between any of the contending factions in cruelty. They all assumed the "right" to determine their respective titles by force of arms, and the "interference" of the Chief was exercised only to enforce or [unclear: resist] the threat that "land-selling brings death."

page break

These then were the "rights of the tribe;" this the "interference of the chief in the affairs of his tribe;" which it was criminal in the Governor to announce that he would not tolerate in New Plymouth. It is something too much to find that the attempt of a Queen's Governor to put an end to atrocities such as those which disgraced humanity in these feuds, should be branded as an infraction of the rights of the tribe and of the chief.

But this paragraph is further remarkable for being the first instance where Wiremu Kingi is unmistakeably referred to as "the Chief" of the tribe. Further on at page 33, it is more distinctly stated, "As the whole Tribe has not consented, he as their Chief, expresses their dissent." Now this is a pure assumption. It is absolutely certain that the various sections of the Ngatiawa do not recognise him as the Chief of the whole tribe; it is extremely doubtful whether he would anywhere be recognised as anything more than the principal man of the Manukorihi branch. There is no doubt whatever that as between Reretawhangawhanga (Wiremu Kingi's father) and Te Hawe, the Chief who resided at Queen Charlotte Sound, the latter was everywhere recognised as the highest Chief. The best evidence of the status Wiremu Kingi holds is to be found in the history of these savage feuds. If he had ever been acknowledged by the Ngatiawa people themselves as their Chief, they would not have resisted his will as they have so often done even to blood. It was because they denied his right to govern their affairs, it was because they refused to submit to dictation from him, that so many have fought with him before and are in arms against him now. On more than one occasion they had his life in their hands: he was actually taken prisoner in one of the fights, and was spared by the very men whom he afterwards purposed to roast alive. There is something repugnant to good feeling and common sense in supporting the claim of such a man to a position, the refusal to grant which by other Chiefs of his own tribe has been the source of so much blood being shed; and in blaming the Governor for not permitting a tyranny, which those immediately concerned had over and over again staked their lire's to be delivered from.