El código de los Maories

En la batalla de Gate Pa, los maories enviaron esta carta al comandante britanico que se aprestaba a masacrarlos.

March 28, 1864
                                                                       Potiriwhi, District of Tauranga.

To the Colonel,

Friend, -Salutations to you. The end of that. Friend, do you give heed to our laws for regulating the fight.
           Rule 1. If wounded or captured whole, and butt of the musket or hilt of the sword be turned to me, he will be saved.
           Rule 2. If any Pakeha, being a soldier by name, shall be travelling unarmed and meets me, he will be captured, and handed over to the direction of the law.
           Rule 3. The soldier who flees, being carried away by his fears, and goes to the house of the priest with his gun (even though carrying arms) will be saved. I will not go there.
           Rule 4. The unarmed Pakehas, women and children, will be spared.
           The end. These are binding laws for Tauranga.

                                                                                    By Terea Puimanuka

Los pakehas (extranjeros) perdieron la primera batalla y los capturados y heridos fueron protegidos en el campamento maorí por las reglas de este código. En la segunda fase, los británicos descuartizaron a todos los maories (270) en una carga de bayoneta sin ningún respeto por los códigos, con lo que quedó demostrada la superioridad del respeto a la vida de hombre primitivo sobre la doble moral del engreido guerrero europeo.