The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 10

In the New Zealand Herald, Auckland, Monday, July 1867. received last evening, is the following:— — Russell. — "Native Fight Near Waimate—7 Natives Killed—many Wounded—further Hostilities Pending

In the New Zealand Herald, Auckland, Monday, July 1867. received last evening, is the following:—

Russell.

" Native Fight Near Waimate—7 Natives Killed—many Wounded—further Hostilities Pending.

"The 'Sea Breeze 'is just off, and I have only just time to write a few lines. News has just come in that the Natives I told you of in my last as likely to come to blows, near the Waimate, and through the exertions of the R.M. for the district, had separated and gone to their kaingas, had re-assembled and had a skirmish, killing seven—three on Wi Katene's side, and four on Piripi Korongohi's—besides several wounded. Amongst the killed are Renata Kawana, from Oramahoe; Piripi, Maioha, Te Maura; and the wounded, Pene Whare Oneone, and Rautara, a son-in-law of old Kawiti.

"As they have made such a beginning there is no knowing where it will end, as all the relations of the dead men will, I suppose, go in for 'utu' for their friends.

"The piece of land in dispute is only about 411 acres, though, I believe, valuable."

It may be a matter of wonder to some that the Natives at the Bay of Islands, who have remained loyal throughout the whole of the late disturbances, should fight amongst themselves about the ownership of a small piece of land. The answer is a simple one. During the war with Heke and Kawiti, a small tribe of Natives living at a place called the Kawakawa, with others, Tamati "Walker's people, &c, assisted the military against their countrymen; they placed their pas, their canoes, their arms, their lives, their all, unreservedly at the disposal of the Government. Some few years afterwards, when the country was quiet, some of Kawiti's people (old Kawiti was then dead) accused a chief living at the Kawakawa with having bewitched (Makutu) one of their people, causing his (or her) death. An armed party without any further ceremony proceeded to their chief's house and shot him dead in his bed at the dawn of day. These Natives, thinking that one good turn deserves another, with Tamati Walker at their head, applied to the Government for assistance in having these men taken up. The great majority of the Natives would have assisted the Government. They were told in reply that "it was a native affair, and that they must settle it amongst themselves." Well and nobly done through your Representative and agents, Great Britain! Britain, thou art great, thou art mighty, thou art wealthy, thou art honoured amongst the nations of the earth. Go on and prosper—perish my poor brown-skinned countrymen of the Maori race, committed by the Almighty to thy care. What carest thou?

I have often heard a church missionary (a brave and good old man, whose grey hairs, after having expended the whole energies of his life in the service of others, are now being brought with sorrow to the grave, seeing the fruits of his own labour and of his brave colleagues' scattered to the winds, mainly through the instrumentality of the New Zealand Land Purchase Commissioners), tell the following story:—"Shortly after our arrival, I made a bargain with a party of Natives and their chief for a supply of rushes, &c., for building a cottage for my family; they were to be paid in tobacco, so many sticks for so many bundles of rushes. They brought the rushes a day or two afterwards and piled them in heaps, when the chief demanded some four or five times as much tobacco as had been agreed upon, which I refused to give. The fellow commenced to dance about, flourished his tomahawk over my head, and vowed, if the tobacco were not forthcoming, he would kill and eat us all. My interpreters, who knew but little Maori, became frightened, and pressed me to comply with the chiefs demand, Not a word was spoken by the crowd. I could not speak a word of Maori. I could only reply by look. At last the chief became exhausted and sat down. After a short time spent in silence, he said, 'give us what was agreed upon.' I placed the requisite number of sticks upon each pile of bundles, and when I came to the old chief I broke off a piece of tobacco an inch long and threw it to him. The result was a burst of uproarious laughter from the crowd, in which the old chief himself joined." This occurred in 1823.

The following story is told by a Judge of the Native Lands Court, of what occurred in his Court at Waimate, Bay of Islands, some two years since:—" The court was full of natives, a young chief came up to give his evidence, when I held out the Bible for him to kiss. He said, 'What shall I do with it, shall I bite it,' and forthwith opened his mouth and bit the book, I did not do it myself, it was my instincts—my arm stretched forth, Bible in hand, and I struck the fellow with all my might on the side of the head, which sent him spinning head over heels to the other end of the court. Not a word was spoken. I, of course, expected to be killed, when, to my astonishment, the man picked himself up, walked up to me, kissed the book reverently, and gave his evidence like a Christian." Why did the Natives in the two cases I have instanced submit? Because they knew that they were in the wrong and the Pakeha in the right. "Why did they fight at Waitara? Because they knew that Pakeha was in the wrong.

When will the rulers in this country learn to treat the Natives, not as so many cattle, but as human beings? It will, I have no doubt, be found that all that the Government have done in the Bay of Islands case is to send a magistrate to the Natives with instructions to preach to them the time-worn "one flesh" doctrines of the old Manawatu Church Missionaries. Why, may I ask, does not the Native Minister go to the Bay of Islands and tell the Natives concerned that inasmuch as they have dared to take up arms and to shed human blood—this being the first offence since the establishment of the supremacy of law in this land—that their only punishment so far will be, that their block of land in dispute, consisting of 411 acres, will be confiscated to the Crown; but that if they dare to fight any more, Charles Heaphy, Esq., V.C., with the Parnell Volunteers, will be sent to the North with instructions to blaze into both sides; that their lands will, to a great extent, be confiscated, and that they will be denied the benefits arising from the Native Lands Act with respect to the remainder. If this were done, there is not a Maori in the land (poor brave fellows that they are—the British soldier says they are brave, and nothing has raised the British soldier more in the writer's estimation than the unwillingness they have displayed throughout to slay the Maori. When did the British soldier—the Irish, the English, and the Scotch soldier—ever yet meet a foeman worthy of their steel, but they made him trot) but would come forward and bare his head, and, if bare, would render it still barer in order that he might do infinite reverence and obedience to Her Majesty. They would point to their desolated homes, their decimated tribes, their confiscated lands, to their rebellion, their down-trodden Christianity, their Hauhauism, their crime, their disease, with the chances of their speedy extinction, to their tomahawks—some of them still reeking with the blood of England's best and bravest—and they would say, this is your doing: why did you not send that Majesty here before? Why did you not govern us upon those principles from the first? If that is the way and those are the principles upon which you mean to govern us for the future, we will lay down our arms, we will take the oath of allegiance, we will let the dead past bury its dead, and we will pledge ourselves henceforth and for evermore hereafter to become loyal subjects of Her Majesty, henceforth and for evermore hereafter to honour, to respect, and to obey the Governor and the Government of New Zealand.

In December, 1866, Dr. Featherston paid down the purchase money, £25,000, to the natives. I quote from the Wellington Independent of 20th December, 1866:—"Thursday, December 13th. The proceedings were short and business-like; Governor Hunia, on behalf of his people, stated that Dr. Featherston's proposal as to the tribal division of the purchase money, had now been acceded to by all the tribes concerned. He called on his Honor to send at once for the money, and to hand the shares over to the chiefs appointed by their respective tribes to receive them. He had been elected, in conjunction with Aperabama Tipae, to receive the Ngatiapa Rangitane share of £15,000, and he pledged himself to see a fair and equitable division of the money among the several associated tribes. He called on Ihakara and Apera-hama Te Huruhuru, who had been appointed in like manner by their tribes, to be equally careful of the interests of all claimants. The Ngatiraukawa replied in friendly and conciliatory terms, and assured Dr. Reatherston that they would make ample provision for the few dissentients of their tribe who had refused to sign the deed, and would, if necessary, hand their allotted shares over to his Honor for safe custody." "Governor Hunia apologized publicly for having torn down the Queen's flag, assuring his Honor that it was not done out of any spirit of disloyalty to the Queen, but because of 'the gloom of his tribe,' and in the hope that it would precipitate the breaking up of the meeting. Dr. Featherston (through Mr. Buller) replied in an appropriate speech." "After which, Governor Hunia, as the representative of the Ngatiapa tribe and their allies, and lhakara as the representative of the Ngatiraukawa, headed a procession to the flagstaff, holding between them the tin case containing the Manawatu deed of cession, which they placed on a table at the foot of the staff. Mr. Buller then opened the large roll of parchment, and read aloud to the assembled tribes the deed of final surrender. Dr. Featherston, as Land Purchase Commissioner, then came forward and signed the deed in due form, the signature being attested by the following witnesses:—Howard Kennard, gentleman, London; C. Wentworth Dilke, B.A., Barrister at Law, London; C. Hillingsworth, B.A., London; and Walter Buller, Resident Magistrate, Whanganui. The tribes then chanted a song of farewell to the land, with its forests and lakes, its cultivations and its fisheries, and parted for ever with it (according to their own expression) 'under the shining sun of the day.' "Saturday, December 15th.—Dr. Featherston addressed the people, through Mr. Buller, R.M., to the following effect:—He said—" That before handing over the £25,000 in final completion of the Manawatu purchase, he had a pleasing duty to perform towards a chief who had taken an active part in the long, difficult, and tedious negotiations now successfully concluded. He was anxious to give Governor Hunia, in the presence of the assembled tribes, some token of his approbation. He had decided in his own mind that the signet ring which he was about to present to him was the most appropriate token, because of its symbolic associations. It was hardly necessary for him to explain that in the holy institution of matrimony the ring is the pledge or token of the solemn vows that are made at the altar; and that in like manner, he desired to symbolize the establishment of a firm and lasting friendship between the Ngatiapa and Ngatiraukawa tribes.

"His Honor then placed the ring on Governor Hunia's finger, with the words—' Let this ring be a token that there is no longer enmity between the tribes, and that henceforward they will live together on terms of mutual good will, in friendship with the Pakeha, and in loyalty to our Gracious Queen! And, Governor Hunia, long may you live to wear it!'

"The formal handing over of the money then took place, after which the tribes assembled under the Queen's flag, to hear Governor Hunia's speech in reply."

"The £15,000 for the Ngatiapa and Rangitane, and their allies, was paid over to Governor Hunia and Aperahama Tipae: and the £10,000 for Ngatiraukawa and Ngatitoa was paid over to Ihakara Tukumaru and Aperhama Te Huruhuru, these chiefs thereupon signing receipts on the back of the deed,' on behalf of and in the presence of the assembled tribes,' for the respective amounts."

"The following gentlemen then affixed their names as witnesses to the signatures and payments, viz.:—H. J. Kennard, gentleman, London; C. Wentworth Dilke, Barrister, London; J. E. Illings-worth, B.A.; A. Follet Halcombe, sheep-farmer, Rangitikei; Maillard Noake, J.P., Rangitikei; M. W. Anderson, contractor, Wellington; and "Walter Buller, Resident Magistrate, Whanganui."

Thus the Manawatu purchase was completed. Thus £15,000 was paid to the conquered tribes not in possession of the land, and to strangers having no claim, whilst £l0,000 was paid to the conquerors in full possession, only a few of whom were present and partook of the money; also to men who laid no claim to the land. I was informed by a Ngatikahununu chief that Governor Hunia assigned to him as his reason for enforcing the sale "that they might be revenged upon the Ngatiraukawa, their old conquerors." However that might be, a day or two after his having been invested with the signet ring, Governor Hunia trotted away with .£4,400 of the £5,000 entrusted to his care for the Rangitane. Whether his attempted revenge may prove a success remains to be seen.

Shortly before the money was paid, 24 Ngatiraukawa chiefs went to Wellington and had an interview with the Hon. J. C. Richmond, the Native Minister. The following is their account of what passed: they are not quite clear as to the month:—" We went to Wellington in the month of (September?), 1866; our reason for going was to protest against the sale of our land, and to request that the title to Rangitikei might be investigated. Mr. Richmond heard what we had to say about holding our land, and our protest against our lands being sold by other tribes. He then rose to reply. He said, 'What you say about holding your land is right, but the difficulty is, there is but one bone and there are three dogs biting at that one bone; that is why your holding back the land is not clear. The great majority of the tribes have agreed to Bell Rangitikei; only a small minority are holding it back—this is what bothers the Assembly and the Government.'

"I rose to reply to Mr. Richmond, the Minister. I said, 'Listen, what you say is not quite clear, I am the chief of those dogs. The first bone was the other side of Rangitikei. I handed that over to Ngatiapa. That dog was made quiet, and Ngatiapa agreed to abandon all claim to this other side of Rangitikei. After that the Ngatiraukawa dog began to growl. I allowed him to sell the Awahou. That dog's anger ceased. Afterwards another of the dogs began to be quarrelsome. I allowed him to sell the Ahuoturanga. That dog was satisfied. As for these tribes who are now selling Rangitikei, they have no right, nor will I allow other tribes to sell my land. Would you like your sheep, cattle, horses, or land to be sold by me? You would not like it. You would prefer selling them yourself. That is the way with Rangitikei. I do not agree to allow other tribes to sell my land. If you have not the courage (kaha) to investigate the title to Rangitikei, we will swim across the seas in search of the residence of that Great Lady the Queen.

"This is what was said on the occasion of our third visit; 24 men were present and heard what was said.

"(Signed)

" Akapita te Tewe.

" Paranihi te Tau."