Then Te Moro swam back and, having laid Matene at Haimona's feet, offered him his bone _mere_. But Haimona said, "Keep it"; and Te Moro very gladly kept it, for there were two notches in it where it had suffered owing to the thickness of Matene's skull. And, when Te Moro's children's children shall show the _mere_ to their children and tell the tale of it, should any doubt, there will the notches be to prove that their ancestor slew Matene, and with that very weapon. NOTE.--It is pleasant to record that this signal service on the part of the Whanganui did not go unrecognised at the time, nor has posterity been allowed to forget it. The bodies of the dead chiefs were brought into Whanganui on the day following the battle, and accorded a military funeral, which was attended by Colonel Logan and the officers and men of the garrison, the Government officials, and many residents, while all the shops were closed. A monument has since been raised at Whanganui in memory of the friendly Maori who fell at Moutoa. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 68: _Pai Marire_ means "Good and Peaceful."] CHAPTER XXV MURDER MOST FOUL The year 1865 was full of incident. Fifteen years had gone by since Russell had bewailed the choice of Auckland as the capital, since Wellington had stormily asserted her right of elder birth, since men here and there with nothing better to suggest had demanded petulantly, "Why should it be Auckland, any way?" It was now Auckland's turn to lament; for, in the opinion of those qualified to judge, the central position of Wellington justified the transference thither of the seat of Government. There is no way yet discovered of pleasing everybody; but, in order that the choice might be strictly impartial, the Governors of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania were requested to decide upon the best site for the capital, while they were given to understand that the spot selected must be somewhere on the shores of Cook Strait, that being the geographical centre of the colony. The Governors inspected the region without prejudice in favour of existing towns, and unanimously decided that "Wellington, in Port Nicholson, was the site upon the shores of Cook Strait which presented the greatest advantages for the administration of the government of the colony." No method of selection could have been more just, and in February, 1865, the seat of Government was removed from Auckland to Wellington.