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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 3, Issue 5 (September 1, 1928)

The Last “Political Murder.”

The Last “Political Murder.”

Just to the east of the town, on the Matapuna Flat, is the place where the chief Ngatai and a party of seven Taumarunui men intercepted and shot a white man named William Moffat in the year 1880. This was the last of what may be termed political murders in the Maori country. The deed was rather in the nature of an execution than murder. Moffat had lived with the Maoris in this district during the wars and had made coarse gunpowder for them. His presence was not desired there when he attempted to return from the south in 1880. It was believed he was a land-buying agent and intended prospecting for gold. Wahanui, Rewi, and Taonui, the head chiefs of the Kingite party, sent instructions that he was to be killed if he attempted to evade the interdict against white trespassers in the Rohepotae, and as he persisted in coming to Taumarunui in spite of warnings he was shot. The Government made inquiries into the affair, but as the Kingite party was a law unto itself in the interior, and as it was made clear that it was on political grounds that the wandering pakeha was killed, the act was condoned. The Government of that day could scarcely do anything else without entering on another little war.

Seen From The Carriage Window. The road winding through the bush near the famous Raurimu Spiral, North Island Main Trunk Line.

Seen From The Carriage Window.
The road winding through the bush near the famous Raurimu Spiral, North Island Main Trunk Line.