Page:Overland Journey of the Governor of New Zealand.djvu/27

His Excellency Sir G. F. Bowen then spoke to the following effect:—O, my friends, chiefs and people of the Ngatituwharetoa, I have already addressed you in the pa of that loyal subject of the Queen, and firm friend of the pakeha, Poihipi Tukairangi. He deserves the title of Horomatangi, because he has been an enemy to all crime and evil in this district, even as, in the legend, the Horomatangi destroyed the cruel monsters (taniwhas) of the lake of Taupo. Poihipi is one of the few survivors of the chiefs who signed the Treaty of Waitangi, when the sovereignty of these islands was ceded to the Queen, who on her part engaged to protect the lands, the fisheries, and all the other rights of the Maoris. This treaty remains inviolate. The law protects the property of the Maoris as it protects the property of the pakehas. The Government fully recognise the merits and services of Poihipi and of the other loyal chiefs, and will assist them in making the roads, building the mills, and in the other good works which they contemplate. I am glad, also, to meet here to-day so many of the great tribe of the Ngatiraukawas. Matene Te Whiwhi, and many of that tribe, have welcomed me at Otaki, and now Hori Ngawhare is waiting to welcome me at Orakei-Korako. I rejoice that so many of the chiefs of the old times—the old trees of the forest—are still standing: and that a noble growth of young trees is rising around them. I trust that you will join with the Government in founding schools here, such as those already established