Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

No. 51. — Copy of a Despatch from Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G

No. 51.
Copy of a Despatch from Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G.

Presentation of Swords to Maori Chiefs. Government House,"Wellington, N.Z., 26th June, 1870.

My Lord,—

With reference to your Lordship's Despatch No. 28, of the 18th March ultimo, I have the honour to report that the six swords of honour sent out for presentation, in the name of the Queen, to certain Maori chiefs distinguished for their loyalty and gallantry, have arrived.

2.Three of the chiefs referred to, viz., Te Kepa (Major Kemp), Ropata, and Mokena, are now in Wellington, and on the 20th instant, the anniversary of Her Majesty's accession, I presented their swords to them in the presence of the Colonial Ministers and other principal functionaries of Government, and of a large number of the members of the New Zealand Parliament. On the following day I entertained at dinner the three above mentioned, together with eleven other of the principal Maori chiefs.
3.I shall take an early opportunity of presenting the three other swords to the chiefs for whom they are intended, and whose names they bear, viz., Pokeha te Taranui, Ihaka Wanga, and Henare Tomoana. The Colonial Government will provide at its own cost suitable presents for certain other chiefs—in particular, for Topia Turoa, who has recently distinguished himself in the last campaign against the rebels, and especially in Te Kepa's late march across this Island in pursuit of Te Kooti.
4.There can be no doubt but that the presentation of these marks of Her Majesty's recognition of the loyal and gallant services of several of the chiefs of leading Maori clans will not only stimulate the recipients of this honour to further exertions in support of the sovereignty of the Crown and of the Cause of law and order in New Zealand, but will also produce an excellent effect among their countrymen generally.

I have, &c.,

G. F. Bowen.

The Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G.