As in the careers of most conquerors, there is much in the life of Te Rauparaha that will not bear condonation but in every British community there is a wholesome admiration for resourcefulness, indomitable will, and splendid courage and, if the succeeding pages serve to balance these high qualities of the chief against his failings, they may assist in setting up a more equitable standard whereby future generations will be able to judge him. Owing to the misrepresentation of the early settlers and traders he has been greatly misunderstood by their successors and they have further added to the injustice by sometimes seeking to measure one who was steeped in heathen darkness by the holy standard which was raised by the Founder of Christianity. It may be, too, that some critics will not subscribe to my estimate of the chief's character, because it has been the conventional view that he who refused to part with his own and his people's heritage was destitute of a redeeming feature. There may be some amongst the reading public who will question the need, or the wisdom, of recording the savage and sanguinary past of the Maori but history is always history, and if this contribution serves no other useful purpose, it may at least help to emphasise the marvellous transformation which has been worked in the natives of New Zealand since Te Rauparaha's time-a transformation which can be accounted one of the world's greatest triumphs for missionary enterprise. These references have apparently awakened some considerable interest in the life and times of the great Ngatitoan, and although this period of New Zealand's history is by no means barren of literature, I am hopeful that there is still room for a volume in which much heterogeneous matter has been grouped and consolidated. I have been constrained to write the story of "An Old New Zealander" largely to gratify the frequently expressed desire for a more comprehensive sketch of Te Rauparaha's career on the part of many readers of my former books, in which fitful glimpses of the old chief were given.