ed
many more, and gave a great impetus to Dunedin. Everything promised a
splendid future, when again the Maoris became troublesome.

#4. The King Movement.#--The Waikato tribe had always been averse to the
selling of their land. They said truly enough that the money the white
men gave for it was soon spent, but the land was gone for ever, and the
settlers were fencing in 40,000 additional acres every year. They
called a meeting on the banks of Lake Taupo to discuss the question. A
large number of chiefs were present, and they agreed to form a Land
League, all members of which undertook to sell no more land to white
men. At this time also a new project was formed. The Maoris felt their
weakness whilst divided up into so many tribes. Union would make them
strong. They resolved to select one chief to be king of all the Maoris,
and for that purpose they chose the redoubted Te Whero Whero, who
hoisted the Maori flag. But he was old and inclined to die in peace,
and, dying soon afterwards, was succeeded by his son, a young man of no
ability. Many of the Maoris held aloof from these leagues; they were of
tribes hostile to the Waikatos, or else they were glad to get the white
man's money, and felt that they had still plenty of land for their own
use. But in the heart of the North Island, some 4,000 or 5,000 Maori
warriors nursed a wild project of driving the English out of the
country. They gathered muskets and powder; they strengthened their pahs
and filled them with potatoes and yams. Governor Browne took no steps to
check them, and suffered several thousand muskets to be bought from
English ships along the coasts.

#5. Taranaki War.#--Meantime a quarrel had been going forward which gave
the Maoris a pretext for fighting. In 1859 Governor Browne had visited
Taranaki, and announced that if any of the natives had land to sell he
was ready to buy it. A Maori offered him 600 acres, proving that he was
the owner of the land. The Governor gave him L200 for it; but the chief
of the tribe to which this Maori belonged was one of the Land League,
and refused to let the land be sold. The Governor after inquiry came to
the conclusion that as the rightful owner of the land was willing to
sell it, no one else had a claim to interfere. He sent surveyors up to
measure the land. They were stopped by the chief. The Governor sent some
soldiers to protect the surveyors. The whole of the Taranaki Maoris rose
in arms, and swept the few soldie