The Ho the Colonial Secretary to Lieutenant-Colonel Murray, New Plymouth.

Referring to instructions which you will receive from the Officer Commanding the Troops in New Zealand, relative to the employment of a military force, if necessary, in maintaining occupation, on behalf of the Crown, of a block of land at the mouth of the Waitara, purchased by the Crown from Te Teira, and ordered to be surveyed, I have the honour to forward to you herewith a Proclamation by His Excellency the Governor, proclaiming that martial law will be exercised throughout the Province of Taranaki from the date of the publication in that province of the said Proclamation. I also transmit an instrument appointing you to be the Governor's deputy, for the purpose of directing the Officer Commanding the Militia in the District of Taranaki to draw out for actual service the Taranaki Militia, or such number thereof as you may judge necessary.

It will be obvious to you that this Proclamation should only be published by you, and the operative effect given to the other instrument, under such circumstances as in your opinion render it impossible to carry out the wishes of the Government without resorting to the powers conferred by these documents.

Proclamation.
Proclamation of Martial Law.

By His Excellency Colonel Thomas Gore Browne, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-[unclear: Admir] of the same, &c.

Whereas active military operations [unclear: a about] to be undertaken by the Queen's forces against Natives in the Province of Taranaki in [unclear: arm] against Her Majesty's sovereign authority: Now, I, the Governor, do hereby proclaim and declare that martial law will be exercised throughout the said province from publication hereof within the Province of Taranaki until the relief of the said district from martial law by public Proclamation.

Given under my hand, and issued under the Public Seal of the Colony of New Zealand, at Government House, at Auckland, this twenty-fifth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty.