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sideration at the hands of the Government. With
regard to you in particular, Wi Tako, I will say
this: the Government have heard with satis-
faction from Dr. Featherston and others that the
continued peace of this district has been owing
in great measure, to your individual exertions.
You have restrained the violent ones, and you
have always declared against the cowardly mur-
der of unarmed pakehas. The Government are
therefore disposed to consider your case very
favourably. You are liable, as well as the rest,
to have all your lands taken from you. But if
you are prepared to-day to make your submission
—to give up Kingism for ever and to sign the
declaration of allegiance—the Government will
not touch any of your land nor punish you in any
way. You will be received again into favour and
all the past will be forgotten.

Wi Tako—I am quite prepared to make my
submission. I told Dr. Featherston that I should,
and it was for this purpose that I came here to-
day. But I want to know about the others.
You say your love extends to the bad as well
as the good, and that you desire to save them
all.

Colonial Secretary—And I say it again. We
did not want to fight, but they compelled us. We
do not want to continue fighting, but they compel
us by refusing to submit. As soon as they want
peace they shall have it. But they must give up
their guns and declare their allegiance. As soon
as they do this all the past will be forgiven; and,
as I said before, a piece of land will be given to
each of them out of the lands we have conquered.
Rewi, Tamihana Tarapipipi, Wi Hapi—all will
be fully pardoned, unless it be proved that they
have taken part in the murders. The prisoners
on board the Hulk—they will be pardoned and
set free as soon as peace is made. At present
they are clothed, fed, and well cared for, and
when they are liberated the Government will give them
each a piece of land clothed with a Crown Grant.
Mr. Whittaker and I went on board the Hulk and
told them this, and we sent two of their number
through Waikato, to tell it to their friends.
About two hundred natives—many of them chiefs
—have lately given up their arms and are now
living quietly on the land marked out for them.
It was found that one of the prisoners, Tangata-
ware Iwaitaia, had murdered a pakeha in cold
blood. He was at once handed over to be tried
in the Supreme Court, and is now undergoing his
sentence of imprisonment for life. As for Wai-
kato, it is swept—as completely as you
would sweep this floor with a broom! There is
not a single Kingite between Maungatawhiri and
Maungatautari, and only a few of them about
Hangatiki. As for the King—he has vanished
like a dream; he has disappeared like a cloud,
and is nowhere to be heard of! The fighting is
no longer for the King, but for the proud heart
of Rewi, and for the double heart of Thompson!
Wi Tako—I have heard all that from Wi Hapi
every word of it. He told me that Waikato was
completely swept. He told me that there was
no longer any fighting for the King, but only for
the name of Rewi, and for the name of Tamihana.
I then decided to give up this King work, and I
went hither and thither to the Wairarapa and to Ahuriri in-
viting all the chiefs to a great meeting, so that
all the people may hear and understand my rea-
sons for giving up Kingism. The meeting will
take place in July or August. When the people
hear my reasons they will all approve. It was
I who commenced Kingism. I had no complaint no
ill-will to pakeha, and if Waikato had followed
my advice there would have been no trouble now.
I made no secret of my Kingism. When the
Governor was here I told him what was in my
heart and I refused to yield. From the first my
Kingism was clear and good, but Waikato put it
wrong and now it is crushed and dead. My ad-
vice was always set aside, and their plan took a
different shape from mine. I declared against

the fighting at Tataraimaka, but they would not
listen. I declared against the Ngatiruanui
Tollgate, but they would not listen. I in-
vited Rewi and Thompson to meet me here,
but they declined and, set Porokoru instead.
My plan of Kingism, if carried out, would never
have led to mischief; it was intended solely to
secure good for the Maori people, but Waikato
made it a cause of fighting. When I saw these
things—when I found that they would not listen
to my words, and that their plan was a different
one to mine—I at once foresaw the end. But I
had consistently supported Kingism from the first,
and I would not desert it then. I contented my-
self with restraining my people from evil and
keeping them back from war. I said, "I will
not desert the cause now, but I shall wait till the
Governor has crushed and killed the word of
Kingism." When I heard Wi Hapi's account, I
found the fulfilment of my words to the Gover-
nor (Otaki, September, 1862). "Tear up the
root and the branches will wither; dry up the
mountain and the streams will vanish!" Mr.
Fox, my work is now finished and I am virtually
dead. This is my position now! (reclining his
head on the sofa.)

Colonial Secretary—That is true, Wi Tako,
and I come to give you life.

Wi Tako—Yes, I am crushed and the King-
work is ended—but through no fault of mine.
My kind of Kingism would never have ended
thus. It was calculated to bring forth good
fruits only. But Waikato would not listen to
my counsels and departed from the plan. Be-
hold now the end of it!

Colonial Secretary—I too was a Kingite once;
that is to say, I looked favorably on the move-
ment and hoped that it might be turned into a
proper channel and made productive of good to
the Maori people. But when I found that it took the
shape of an antagonism to the pakeha and defi-
ance of law. I condemned it. And when it de-
veloped into something worse and the Waikato
people began to murder women and unarmed
men, then my anger was roused and I determined
to crush it.

Wi Tako—All you say, Mr. Fox, is true—per-
fectly true. The fighting is no longer for the
King. The fighting at Waikato is for Rewi and
Thompson—the fighting at Wanganui is for the
mad prophet—and if there should be fighting
with Ngatiruanui and Taranaki after this, it will
not be for the King but because they are stiff-
necked and proud.

Colonial Secretary—I am glad you see it in
that light. That there will be fighting at Tara-
naki and much of it, I fully expect: not that we
are anxious to fight, but because those tribes are
proud and rebellious and refuse to submit. There-
fore, it you hear by and bye that all that land is
red with soldiers don't be alarmed. Don't sup-
pose that the fighting will be brought into dis-
tricts where the natives are peaceful. If the
Ngatiruanui and Taranaki tribes humble them-
selves, even to-morrow, and come in and make
their submission, giving up their arms, all the
past will be forgiven, and none but the murderers
will be taken. But all the lands of these tribes
have already passed to the Government as pay-
ment for their rebellion and fighting.

Wi Tako—That is all clear. If Taranaki and
Ngatiruanui refuse to submit after they hear that
Kingism is given up, then they deserve to be pur-
sued by your troops; but I shall do all in my
power to include the saved.

Colonial Secretary—We can do no more than
offer them the same terms. If they refuse them,
their destruction is of their own seeking.

Wi Tako—I have talked with Heremia and
with all the leaders. They all have consented to
give up Kingism. When the tribes assemble
there will be one general "whakumtunga"
(finishing up). My profession of Kingism was
heard all over New Zealand; I am anxious that