d. Half a century
has well-nigh passed since the events took place; the chief actors have
disappeared from the earthly scene; a calmer and more discriminating
treatment ought now to be possible than could be secured amidst the
passions of racial and political strife.

[Illustration: MAP OF THE BAY OF ISLANDS DISTRICT.]

At first it seemed as though the new constitution were destined to work
smoothly. The organisation and first meeting of the General Synod was
followed up by the calling together of the clergy and laity of the
various dioceses in local synods--each under the presidency of its
bishop. In 1861 Selwyn took advantage of the newly-acquired
ecclesiastical freedom to consecrate John Coleridge Patteson to the
missionary bishopric of Melanesia; and this saintly man went forth to
the ten years of faithful work which were to be brought to a sudden
close by his martyrdom in 1871. At the end of the same year (1861)
Bishop Williams called together a synod of the diocese of Waiapu, at
which nearly all the members belonged to the native race, and all the
proceedings were conducted in the native tongue. An opportunity was thus
afforded for that sagacity in counsel and that eloquence of speech for
which the Maori race was famed.

But the opportunity came too late. Maori Christianity had been left so
long in an unorganised and immature condition that it had begun to
develop itself on lines of its own. The march of events had brought
about a situation which was only partially foreseen, and, even if
foreseen, could hardly perhaps have been prevented. The subject is one
of peculiar difficulty, but as it has a direct bearing on problems of
to-day, an attempt must be made to elucidate its main features.

The organisation of the New Zealand Church seemed to leave no place for
the rule of the Church Missionary Society. Selwyn wished it to resign
its lands and its agents immediately into the hands of the general
synod. The Society was not quite ready to do this, but it began to
withdraw in a gradual way. It sent out few, if any, fresh missionaries
to take the places of those who had died or retired, and it began to
curtail its monetary grants. It had spent (according to Mr. Swainson's
estimate) some quarter of a million pounds on New Zealand: it might well
ask, Had not the time arrived for its funds to be employed elsewhere?

But if the white missionaries were to be allowed gradually to depart,
their places must be taken by na