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Request April 1858.
The letter is written in Maori only. Bound with The Letter of Request are the Laws of England).
The Governor’s Letter To the Maori People of New Zealand
To my friends,
To the Chiefs, the Law Makers, and to every person of Maori descent, right throughout these entire
lands. Greetings to you all. Pay attention.
In times past this land was closed due to badness, sadness and wrongdoing. There was no-one to
maintain order and no-one to take care of wrong-doing.
Over a period of time the missionaries arrived. They spoke to you the words of God. You looked at
the goodness of the words the missionaries brought you. You found them sweet. You embraced
them. You took the teachings for yourselves, these teachings of the faith. That is why the majority of
badness ceased in this land.
In regard to the missionaries, they preached to you first. Secondly, they taught you how to read.
After that they translated the Scriptures of God into Maori, sent them off to the press and released
them out to you all for consideration by that one and that one.
Now the government has arrived and we are giving you the Laws of England. These laws speak to
you. You are observing how we, the Pakeha, exercise our law amongst ourselves. You see
wrongdoing, pillaging, it is dealt with by this law; it is right that will be maintained regardless of
whether they are a person of small means or great means. At this time, some Maori people have
begun to understand and agree to the goodness of this law to be the law for all people of New
Zealand, Pakeha and Maori, together. That is why I have ordered that these Laws of England be
written and translated into Maori, sent to the press and now released them out to you all, for
consideration by that one and that one.
My book is not like that of the missionaries. The words in that book belong to God. They are words
of wellbeing. However, my book I give to you all, is the condensed version of the laws, these good
laws, wonderful laws; laws which have advanced England, made England great, made England
Chieftain; has given greatly to it’s peoples goodness, wellbeing and resources as they live here.
There is no other nation in the entire world that has a law this beautiful. It is England alone that has
a law this good, this correct; and the entire nation loves their law. They obey the law, and they
honour their law, and they hold it in high regard. To the person with bad intent, he stands alone; the
reason being he is aware the entire nation embraces their law, and this brings great gladness and
peace of mind that everybody supports the official guardian of the law, who is the nominated official,
therefore there is no escape for that person.
Therefore through this process there is no concern for the policeman to carry out his office alone
and to catch the person who has wronged according to the law. It is the entire nation who is his
support backbone, and with that he is able to bring in the offender, on his own. Therefore, if the
entire nation does no embrace their law, a large group could attempt to arrest the offender. This may
be successful or it may not.
It is for these reasons that I lay before you these laws, for you all to take and embrace, otherwise
what would become of these laws; just as the teachings of the faith were laid before you all by the
missionaries. So, if you see that these laws are good laws, take them. Embrace them; so that we may
hasten our residing together as one, under one cloak, the cloak of law, so that we may grow
together through goodness.
This my friends is your letter. Speak about it, and when you get to the place where you do not
understand the words, use the index provided.
Yours sincerely,
From Your Obedient Friend,
T. Gore Brown (Signature)
From The Governor
House of Parliament
Auckland April 1858
NOTES
The original "Letter of Request 1858" written in Maori only is one of several sent to various whanau
hapu/families. By virtue of the way The Letter is addressed every person of Maori descent can take
ownership.
The original Te Waka O Nga Mokopuna Ki Aotearoa holds was received on the battlefield with the
cannon that was pledged by the Crown to protect Maori was being used to kill him.
The reply "Rejection Absolute" 9 November 2002, likewise can be claimed by any person of Maori
descent as it is written under the banner of Te Waka O Nga Mokopuna Ki Aotearoa, the word
mokopuna ensuring equal ownership by all.
