"This book is a true facsimilie of the original edition of 1877 ... Richard Wakelin (1816-1881) began his New Zealand career working with the Wellington Independent, a leading newspaper of the time and as biased as any of them. He ended it running his Wairarapa Standard, a few years afte he had with "History and politics" thrown all his skills into the cause of Sir George Grey. It was not surprising that the sometime promoter of a Chartist paper, the staunch radical and opponent of land monopoly should have backed Grey when the ex-Governor emerged from retirement to cap his distinguished career as a liberal politician. This little book ... is more than a propoganda tract in support of the 1877-79 Grey government. the 1850s were the most turbulent and exciting decade in Wellington politics. Yet Wakelin's work apart, there is little publishe on the personalities and feuds of those years. He gives intimate glimpses, of the local colonel brandishing his whip at the Provincial Secretary, the Featherston party removing all the province's funds from the bank befor handing over to their rivals, the ten mile walk in which Dr Featherston discussed with Wakelin and changed his intention of retiring from politics. The settlement of the Wairarapa is described, the land problem referred to again and again, and the work concludes with Wakelin's view on the issues which so agitated men in the 1870s."--Inside front cover