But  the  information  which  might  have  saved  him  from
making  the  mistake  was  not  forthcoming  at  the  time,
and  no  blame  could  be  attached  to  Gore  Browne
for  his  ignorance  of  it.  In  a  dispatch  to  the  Colonial
Office  of  the  29th  of  March  1859,  after  explaining  that
it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  vindicate  a  right  to
buy  land,  he  says  :

"  The  right  to  sell  land  belonging  to  natives
without  interference  on  the  part  of  other  chiefs  (not
having  a  claim  to  share  in  it)  is  fully  admitted  by
Maori  custom.  Any  recognition  of  such  a  power  as
that  assumed  by  Kingi  would  therefore  be  unjust  to
both  races,  because  it  would  be  the  means  of  keeping
millions  of  acres  waste  and  out  of  cultivation.  I
have,  however,  little  fear  he  will  venture  to  resort  to
violence  to  maintain  his  assumed  rights  ;  but  I  have
made  every  preparation  to  enforce  obedience  should
he  presume  to  do  so."

Directly  afterwards  Parris,  the  land  commissioner,
was  sent  to  Taranaki  to  examine  into  Terra's  title.
The  investigation  was  concluded  in  January  1860,
and  decided  in  his  favour  ;  accordingly  part  of  the
purchase-money  was  paid  and  orders  received  to
proceed  with  the  survey,  and  some  relations  and
followers  of  Kingi  who  had  settled  in  the  district

1  He  is  reported  to  have  said,  in  the  picturesque  phraseology  of
his  nation,  "  Yes,  the  land  is  Teira's,  but  I  will  not  let  him  sell  it  ;
lie  has  floated  it,  but  it  shall  not  go  to  sea."


1 08  WAR  BREAKS  OUT

were  forcibly  evicted.1  This  was  a  signal  for  revolt.
