Whereas the late Marmaduke George Nixon Colonel in the Auckland Militia and Commandant of the Colonial Defence Force died on the twenty-seventh day of May one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four of wounds received in action at Rangiawhia in February one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four And whereas there are doubts whether a pension can be granted to his surviving sisters under the seventh clause of “The Militia Acts Amendment Act 1862” And whereas in consideration of the special services rendered by the said Colonel Nixon to the Colony during the present war it is just that a pension should be granted to his unmarried sisters Catherine Elizabeth Nixon and Anna Susanna Nixon