tives of the country. Year after year
the Society was urgent in asking for the ordination of Maoris, not only
to the diaconate but also to the priesthood, in order that the Maori
Christians might have an opportunity of receiving the Holy Communion at
least once a quarter. But this the bishop would not do. He was
favourable to such a policy in the abstract, but he and the missionaries
themselves were so much impressed with the educational and social
deficiencies of even the best of the Maori converts, that they shrank
from their admission to Holy Orders. Selwyn had hoped that St. John's
College would have supplied him with men of higher education and more
civilised habits, but his expectations had been dashed by the dispersion
of 1853, and his confidence was slow to spring again.

On his return from England, he had opened a theological college for
Maoris at Parnell, where the married students might live in separate
cottages, and where they might have the benefit of the freely-given
instructions of Sir William Martin. But none of the candidates were
considered fit for Holy Orders, and up to 1860 the Bishop had ordained
but one deacon beside Rota Waitoa. If it had not been for another small
college which was begun by the Rev. W. L. Williams at Waerenga-a-hika,
and which enabled Bishop Williams, soon after his consecration, to
ordain six Maoris to the diaconate, the number of native clergy at the
opening of this period would have been small indeed.

The necessity for more ordinations was the chief reason why the Church
Missionary Society so earnestly advocated an increase of bishops. The
establishment of the diocese of Waiapu certainly justified their hope to
a large extent, for not only did Bishop Williams admit a number of
Maoris to the ministry, but his example encouraged Selwyn himself to go
forward more boldly. His reluctance was due partly to sad experience,
partly to his own high ideals; and it would seem to afford another
instance of the truth which his career so often exemplified, "The best
is the enemy of the good." Some of the men who were to play leading
parts in the coming time were among those whom his strictness rejected.

Chief among these was that Tamihana Tarapipipi who appeared before us in
an earlier chapter. From the light-hearted youthfulness of the "bonnet"
episode, this young son of the great Waharoa had passed into a grave and
thoughtful manhood. After his father's death, his ability had led to his