Extract from, the closing Address for the Crown of the Hon. Mr. Fox, the late Premier, in the Native Lands Court, at Otaki, Thursday, 23rd April, 1868.

XII.—Conclusion.

"In conclusion, I trust the Court will, in this case, do strict justice between the parties. Courts of arbitration are two often in the habit of splitting the difference, without regard to the strict right of the litigants. It is easy to be liberal with other people's property. But this is not a Court of arbitration, and there are grave reasons why no such liberality should be exercised in this case; in other words, why the claimants should receive not an acre more than they have proved a title to. A body of seventeen hundred Natives who affect to have sold the land in question to the Crown, watch with intense interest a decision which may vindicate their honor, or cover them with shame and confusion. The credit of the purchasing Government, and of the Commissioner, is no less at stake."