To the Native Chiefs of New Zealand.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume I, Issue 13, 1 October 1861, Page 1

To the Native Chiefs of New Zealand.

"LET THE PAKEHA AND THE MAORI BE UNITED."

My Friends,— At the command of my Queen and yours, I am about to leave you, but I cannot do so without bidding you farewell. My mind

depend on it for protection and redress. Among the Maori, instead of an equal law for all, tlie will of the strong has been law : crime goes unpunished and wrong unredressed, if the wrong doer have a strong arm. If a Pakeha has a quarrel or thinks himself wronged, he goes to the Magistrate or the Judge, who decides impartially whether the complainant be powerful or weak. The Magistrate is the protector of the widow and the orphan. If the Maori thinks himself wronged, he appeals to the sword, even if against his own lawful Sovereign : but the sword cannot decide who is right, it can only decide who is strongest. The sword may deceive you by letting you have trifling advantages, but it will always decide eventually against the few and the weak. The Pakehas therefore show their love to you best when they wish you to be subject to a iiw which will be a shelter and a protection to you, even against themselves, should they increase and multiply, and greatly exceed you in numbers and power. But you say that Pakeha law is not plain and easy to be understood. Then go to Governor Grey, who is your friend, and ask him to help you to establish Courts among yourselves,

and he will not fail to do what is good for you. Many of your quarrels arise from the intricacies of your titles to land; but if you go to the Governor, he will help you. to establish some system by which they may be made more clear and secure, for you and your children after you. Let the chiefs and old men mark the boundaries of the land which belongs to their llapns, and let them write the names of the heads of the families which compose the hapu. If these are taken to the Governor, he will siiow you how to have them regis-: tered, and made secure. j | I Finally, I speak to the chiefs of the YVaikato, Ngatihaua, Ngatiawa, Taranaki, Ngatiruanui, and all who have taken up arms against Her Majesty. Be not deaf, but hearken to the warning of a friend who leaves you! There are two roads before you —the road of life and the road of death ! C.'hoose the road of life and peace, and avoid the road of "confused noise,and garments roiled in blood."' Be not halt or lame, but let your feet run swiftly to your friend, Sir George Grey: listen to him, and do what he enjoins. Then it will be well with you, and wiih the children who come after you,, and the sun wiil

shine upon a happy and a prosperous people. Farewell. Your friend, T. GORE Browne. Governor. Government House, Auckland, September 26, IS6I.

«•> Governor Browne is shortly about to take his departure, and proceed to Sydney. This is his farewell letter to you, to the Natives, written in accordance with his affection. The new Governor, (or rather the former Governor,) that is, Governor Grey, has arrived from Africa, coming hither at the command of the Queen. He came in a War Steamer, and arrived here, in Auckland, on the 26th of September. All the Pakehas and the Maories collected together to meet him on the shore, for their joy was great on his account. Now, this is the original Parent, who has returned to us in the midst of confusion; and hence we advise, that all the children, whether Maori or Pakeha, should listen to his voice, to that of the father, that prosperity and quietness may grow up amongst us.