s the first
tussle between Maori and settler won by the natives. In the opinion of
some the worst feature of the whole unhappy affair was that something
very like cowardice had been shown on the losing side. Naturally the
Wairau Massacre, as it was called, gave a shock to the young Colony.
The Maoris triumphantly declared that the _mana_ (prestige) of the
English was gone.

A Wesleyan missionary and a party of whalers buried the dead. No
attempt was ever made to revenge them. Commissioner Spain visited
Rauparaha, at the request of the leading settlers of Wellington, to
assure him that the matter should be left to the arbitrament of the
Crown. The Crown, as represented by Mr. Shortland, was, perhaps, at
the moment more concerned at the defenceless position of Auckland, in
the event of a general rising, than at anything else. Moreover,
the philo-Maori officials held that Rauparaha and Rangihaeata were
aggrieved persons. A company of fifty-three Grenadiers was sent to
Wellington and a man-of-war to Nelson. Strict orders were given to
the disgusted settlers not to meet and drill. On the whole, in the
helpless state of the Colony, inaction was wisest. At any rate Mr.
Shortland's successor was on his way out, and there was reason in
waiting for him. Now had come the result of Hobson's error in fixing
the seat of government in Auckland, and in keeping the leading
officials there. Had Wellington been the seat of government in 1843,
the Wairau incident could hardly have occurred.

Not the least of poor Mr. Shortland's troubles were financial. He
inherited debts from his predecessor. Indeed, the New Zealand Treasury
may be said to have been cradled in deficits. In 1841 Hobson's
expenditure had been L81,000 against a revenue of L37,000, most of
which was the product of land sales. In 1842 the revenue was L50,000,
of which only L11,000 came from land sales; and in 1843 this source of
income fell to L1,600. The southern settlers complained, truly enough,
that whilst they found much of the money, nearly all of it was spent
in Auckland. In 1844--if I may anticipate--Mr. Shortland's successor
had the melancholy duty of warning the Colonial Office that to meet an
inevitable outlay of L35,000 he could at the best hope for a revenue
of L20,000. Mr. Shortland himself, in 1843, tried to replenish the
treasury chest by borrowing L15,000 in Sydney. But New Zealand, which
has lately borrowed many times that sum at about three per cent.
inte