THE MAORI WARS.

NZ Truth, Issue 59, 4 August 1906, Page 7

THE MAORI WARS.

THE POVERTY BAY MASSACRE.

THE ATTACK ON OKUTUKU.

No. XVIII,

(By J,

I The year 1868 closed and the year 1869 opened badly both for the Maori and the British settler, Te Kooti being the main trouble, and the unpreparedness of the settler a factor m the success of the ARCH-REBEL AND MURDERER. There were four serious wars from the foundation of the colony of New Zealand up to the close of 1868, but m none of them were the British settlers and their friendly native allies so unsuccessful as they were m the lighting during Te Kooti's time. It was said at the time that our defeat could be found m the fact that we have undertaken the responsibility of the internal defence of the colony on our own shoulders, declining ' (outside aid m the shape of British drilled soldiery. The total management of all our relations with the natives, peaceful or hostile, was- undertaken by ourselves. Responsible Government had been given N.ew Zealand m 1856, yet m the short space of 12 years the local authorities decided that m the matter of native wars they would go "upon their own." Beyond arming a few score of constables, as one writer at the time somewhat contemptuously said; no preparation had been made to cope with the '&8 difficulty.

As we know, a handful of soldiers can disperse a multitude who are not soldiers, and tho colonial levies then raised m New Zealand, at Melbourne, and elsewhere, hurriedly drilled, were no match for the .Maoris,, all of whom, were TRAINED WARRIORS from their youth up, and used to bush warfare and bush fighting. Both the Maori and his methods were particularly formidable. The Maori methods of 40 years ago were told m a few words by an authority of the time : "He combines the nimbleness of the savage with the weapons and the steadiness of the regular white soldier. He fights m tho tangled bush where the wild man is 'cock of the walk.' When he moves beyond it, it is only to erect a pah, an admirably contrived sylvan fortress, which, unless first battered by cannon, can only be captured with heavy loss, and therefore needs to be attacked by disciplined and tried troops." « * * When the colonists undertook m tho late sixties TO ANNIHILATE THE MAORI, they forgot that the former risings were suppressed by regular troops, and were it not so they would probably not be suppressed at all. Each of the J preceding wars was tedious. All of them, m the North Peninsula m 1845-6 when Honi Keke— who, by the way, is said to have been a kidnapped Irishman named Hickey—at the head of 500 men surprised, sacked and burned Kororareka, and drove the English settlers and soldiers to take refuge on board vessels ,m the harbour ; when the English troops ouder Colonel Despard attempted to take Honi Heke's new pah by escalade, -arid was m 10 minutes' beaten back, a third of his men being killed ; m Taranaki m 1860-81, when General Pratt and the 40th Regiment were m evidenca ; m the Waikato m 1864, under General Cameron and i other skirmishes under Cliute and Carey, j when a number of British l-egiments were engaged. All these exhibited from time to timo varying fortunes. Then the blame was laid upon the Imperial Go- I vernrnent. The Home authorities were charged with sending out raw recruits, not properly organised and equipped for bush fighting, yet, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the discipline of the British soldier told m the long run against the. Maori. In the fourth war, that of '68, ''60 and '70, the MAQBIS WERE MORE MERCILESS and brutal m the treatment of their prisoners. thaa were their fighting predecessors. No doubt the savage Hau Hau fanaticism ■ was' responsible ' for this. It will be noted tnat m 1868 such old warriors as Wereinu Kingi, tho leader of the Taranaki war, who Colonel Alexander described as a man of great craft and • subtlety, who had always led a purely ' native life, and m his bearing had ' a theatrical air as that of a great chief. Neither was Rewi visible, once the captain of the . Ngatinianiapoto branch of the Waikatos, a skilful engineer, as General Cameron found out, and that general's most formidable opponent m j 1564. Both these chiefs fought hard j against the white man then, but they j were not savages, nor guilty of treachery j and ferocity. While Te Kooti was abroad | they were with the Maori Kiug m his retreat m the middle of the island, "His Majesty" being mainly influenceb by the advice of these chiefs and of his uncle Tamati. It was this trio that res- i trained the 'King from joining the insurgents, and for which both King and j i chiefs were taunted by TITO KOWARU as being allies of the whites. * * * A half-caste was despatched from Auck- | land to get, and bring m, some iuformaI tion respecting these chiefs. He found 'them m their hill retreat to which they ! had Heel from Waikato after the war. They had a number of their tribesmen I with them, wore cultivating the ground, and appeared to have settled down. According to the half-caste's report, they intended to keep aloof from the Te Rooti troubles. Thus it was that the insurrec-

M.F.)

tion of 18G8 was conducted by fanatics, and hence all the brutalities, the REVIVAL OF CANNIBALISM, the mutilation of tho dead, and the slaughter of the defenceless. These were acts which Rewi and Wiremu Kingi prevented m their time. ; » * ♦ I Of all the New Zealand tribes, up till this time, the Ngatiruanuis were the j most hostile. Their enmity never slept j since 1834, when Commander. Lambert, ' of H.M.S. Alligator, shot down a number of them, as they said, without .provocation, although the Commander made a great show of presenting the chiefs with a National flag by order of Governor Sir Richard Bourke, of New South Wales, under whose authority Maoriland : then was. Under whatever circumstances ] Commander Lambert did his firing, and consequent slaughter, the deed bore -bitter fruit. The tribe from time to time gave great trouble, and even m times of peace held aloof from the pakeha. * * . * .'.■•; The year 1868 closed and the year 1869 opened unpleasantly for both sides. The Chatham Island fugitives had made themselves felt, .m, a cowardly and bloody manner, at -Poverty Bay,- Thirty-three- (

settlers were murdered, including Cap-' tain Biggs and his family, the most horrible atrocities were committed ; the women were burned and the children mutilated. The dead bodies of the women | wei*e thrown toTHE HAU HAU PIGS. The attack took place at 3 o'clock a.m., when the ex-prisoners from the Chathams entered Poverty Bay, burned the homesteads, and did their slaughter m cold blood, amongst the murdered being nine friendly natives. Many others were missing. Those who survived the massacre took refuge at Turanganui. The whole country was m a blaze, * • ♦ Amongst the killed were Captain Biggs, his wife, child, and servant. Captain Wilson, his wife, child, and servant, Messrs. Dodd, Peppard, and servant, Mr. Maim and his and child, Mrs. M'Cullock and child, Mr. Caddie, Mr. Pedbury, and Lieutenant Walsh, his wife and children. The bodies wore frightfully mutilated Mrs. Maim was burned after being tomahawked. * * * The town of N*apierwent into mourning, business .being entirely suspended. Th» SCENE OF THE ATTACK was Mate-Whero-Whero, a small settlemen seven miles off Poverty Bay. FirI ing was heard at Turanganui, and immediately an armed party started. They met the fugitives on their way, who told them the terrible tale of rapine and murder. Most of the butchered bodies were found m the flax, the men having been shot m attempting to escape. * *■ . * ■ ■ ' ' i A lad m the employ of Captain Biggs reported that on .the housa being attacked the captain rushed out m his shirt, and while loading his rifle was shot down. His wife, who would not leave him, was also shot- The lad managed to make his escape through the flax. Mr. and Mrs, Maim were m bed with- their infant child. Maim was shot and his wife dragged out, her clothing set lire to, and tho poor woman was thus burnt to death after seeing her infant murdered. The horrors were too numerous to tell, the houses were set on fire over the heads of their devoted inhabitants. TEN HOUSES WERE BURNING nt one time while the murderers were carting away the spoils. '*.'■'•■'■ * . ; When the dead were counted, it . was j found that 30 settlers and 20 natives ha<J* been murdered, but there was great uncertainty as to the actual number. ! Te Kooti was not the only trouble on j the hands of tho Government at . this time. There was a Maori force at Okeiputu which bad toVoe reckoned with. The : place, was attacked- by Colonel Whitmore! early m November with a force of 300 j Europeans and 80 • natives, but the mujority of the natives did not turn out j when required. The Maori encampment was found to be, occupied by a strong force, well posted. An admirable move was made by Colonel Whitmore. While ! his advance guard was attacking tho j ; Maori encampment, his reserve threw up j !an earthwork, for the advance to retire] behind iv case it should be required,- and j :it eventually proved of essential service, j After a fierce contest, fipding his casual- J j ties very heavy, and th^re being no pros- j ! pect of his gaining any advantage by ' continuing the attack, . Colonel Whitmore | j retired, carrying away with him all tho I wounded that could be seen. The liiiiroI peon forces engaged behaved nobly. Major Kemp (Keepa) and about fifty of his natives fought well, and got well-merited praise from their European comrades. MAJ OR HUNTER, SHOT ' through the femoral artery, died while being carried off the field. Nearly all the casualties occurred while attacking the camp or pah. After a hard contest there, tho British force was on the point of capturing it when the Maoris were reinforced and our men were obliged to retire. The losses were heavy, Major Hunter, Sergeant Kerwan, and Constables Lees and Slater being killed, and fifteen ' Europeans and five Wanganui natives

wounded, with twelve Europeans missing. Major Hunter fell at the head of A STORMING PARTY, and was as brave a man as ever handled a sword. The fight was a deadly one on both sides, and nothing waa known as to the enemy'a loss. There was no confusion during the fight. The enemy followed' the retreating force to within a quarter of a mile of their camo.- --• • • Colonel Whitmore had intended renewing the attack, but was obliged to fall back upon Patea instead. Next morning he, with the main body of his force, marched to Nukumaru, via Wairoa. The women and children from Wairoa were taken to Wanganui by steamer^ The redoubt at Wairoa was attacked on Sunday morning, but the assailants were beaten off. Some unpleasantness appears to have, occurred about this time between j Colonel Whitmore and the Wanganui na- i tives, as the latter retired from the front. About 100 returned to Wanganui m one j i day. They refused to go into action ! until they had a conference with the Governor. | • - • * i A good deal of dissatisfaction appears to have existed amongst the Armed Constabulary as to their treatment by the authorities. A correspondent of one of the Auckland papers at the time said that the "treatment of the Armed Constabulary to. the number of 127, on the voyage from Wellington to Wanganui was i simply disgraceful. The men were hurried •; on board at about 10 p.m. on Tuesday night, and did not land> until 3 p.m.-. on Thursday. During the whole of that ■ time there was no proper arrangement : for serving out rations to the i men, and had not three sheep been obtained by the captain at Kapiti, the -men who had volunteered for ! the colony would have been starved on j their way to. the seat of war. There was, j of course, a" large amount of grumbling among the constabulary, but they con-

'soled themselves with the hope that on reaching Wanganui they would have 'a good feed.' They were, however, disappointed m this, for they were marched off immediately on landing." TOUCHING TE KOOTI. and his personality. He had certainly not got a prepossessing appearance. (For Te Kooti's portrait see "Truth," May 19.) A hooked nose, with thin nostrils, cold, calculating eye and low brow, indicate the man of cruel and remorseless nature. He lived at Matawhero, but he was not the owner, being simply the occupant of the. land he lived on. It was not even certain that one acre of the land fenced m by Captain Read at Matawhero was the property of Te Kooti. It was therefore absurd to suppose that this could have influenced the murderer m anyf way m the atrocious acts he had committed. Te Kooti m reality up to the time he had been deported to the Chatham Islands, never occupied more than a third-rate position among the Maoris! He never possessed any powers as a debater, nor was he known as a man wise m council; he was known at Poverty Bay as a man of dissipated habits, remarkable m no way for either force of will or decision of character. It was said that Te Kooti had introduced several new features into the HAU HAU SUPERSTITION. I * * * | Greenstones had been discovered to contain some magic principle, unfavourable to their owners, and every one found was ; burnt. Te Kooti also appointed himself treasurer, and held all the money of the Hau Haus, as well as every article of jewellery stolen from the unfortunate sett-J i lers at Poverty Bay. Watches, for some reason or other, were condemned and all i broken up. . i (To be Continued.)