Several natives were arrested as suspects, and
Europeans put it to the Governor, 'We shall certainly all be murdered,
unless you deal sharply with them.'
A leading Maori chief of the district went away, to be out of the serious
trouble which, he feared, might arise at any moment. The Governor sent
after him the message: 'The manner in which to meet difficulty is not to
flee from it, and you must come back. I relied upon you to behave with
sense and courage, and I'm confident you will still bear me out in that
view.' The chief did return, but said Sir George, 'He upbraided me as
being, to all appearance, a Governor quite unable to deal with such a
problem as confronted me.' This was an exquisite turning of the tables.
'Why,' argued the old Maori, 'could you not at once have hanged the
natives who were arrested? If you had done that, everybody's mind would
have been at rest, but, as things are, nobody feels safe. We imagine that
we may be blamed for the crime, while the English can have no confidence
so long as no person has been punished. You see at what we have arrived.'
Any spark might now fire the bracken, and it was the task of Sir George
to prevent that. His despatches and blue-books, fodder for the browse of
Downing Street, had to wait upon this other business, which would not
even go into them.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132