TE PUNI. A PETONE CHIEF.

SOME MEMORIES OF THIRTY,SEVEN 'YEARS AGO. The gate was "closed with a rusty chain and padlock. Therefore it was necessary to scale the fence — not a dignified method of entering a cemetery. This was the resting-place of the Maori dead at Petone, a little enclosure not far from the sea. By many of tho graves there is no stone or other memorial to tell the name of the sleeper to the trespasser. Tho rains of the years have, washed down the mounds, and long dank grass has come to cloak over the space which was once agape. The visitpr han to tread warily lest his foot, should tramp above ilie head of one of those who lived ill another generation. The saddest feature in the forlorn field is the monument of Honiana To Pifni, sometime chief of the Ngatiawa tribe, who died on sth December, 1870. This fact is inscribed in English and Maori on faces of a great square stone, and the while man has added other words to remind the people of to-day that Te Puni was onco great in the land — "This monument is erected by the 'New Zealand Government in recognition of the unbroken friendship between him and the pakeha." , That memorial was set up witb some enthusiasm, and men said that the name of the pakciia's 'true friend would be ever green. To-day the monument leans sadly awry ; the base has tilted. A couplo of rings have been broken from the stone, at the summit ; moss has set itself upon the surface ; the railings are rusted. Shall the dead take thought for the dead to love thorn? What love avis over at deep .is a grave? They aro L'/pless how as. the gran above them Or' the wave. Close by there is a plot reserved for the chief's descendant;;, and several names may be road thero. To Puni's death was prematurely announced on 3rd December, 1870. "Ihat venerable chieftain," commented Tho Post a couplo of days later, "was then alive, and, as we are informed, enjoyed the satisfaction of having his own obituary notice read out to him before he 'shufßed off this mortal coil.' However, ho actually died at an early hour this morning, and the event was announced by tiring of guns and other demonstrations common among tho Maoris on such occasions." "Ever sinco the formation of the coJony he was the staunch and loyal friend of the pakeha," ran Tho Post's tribute to Te Puni, then better known as Epuni. "It is nofc often that we say much on- behalf of the Maoris, but in this instance it would be unjust not to allude to the services of tho venerable chief who has passed away. It was principally through his means that tho New Zealand Land Company obtained a footing 'here, and wore able to maintain themselves • during the- -infancy of the settlement ; and to him it has on manjr occasions boon owing that the Province has not been involved in war. His faith in us and his friendship for us never varied — he was loyal from the first to the very end. In our opinion it would only be fitting that the Government should take upon themselves the expenses of his funeral, and appoint • some one to see that the remains of the old wairior aro laid to rest with becoming respect.- Ho has strong and substantial claims upon the colony for this mark of' gratitude." The funeral, as great a one as the city could give, was at Petone on 9th December- In those days Petone was Petoni, according to The Post, but there whs nothing hard-fast about tho spoiling of the word. Citizens had a choiceof Pitoone, Pitone, and Petoni ; the modern usurper, . Petone, was not then in vogue. The assembly at the graveside showed that the pakchas were well aware of the worth of Te Puni's friendship. Tho Government offices and the banks were closed,' and everybody of any consequence, \Uio could possibly make tho trip, went out to Petone. by sea or road. "His Honour the ' Judge" was there, and so', was the Anglican Bishop of Wellington, the Native Minister (the Hon. D. M'Lean), Mr. Fitzherbert, and many others. - In those times there was no talk of "the straightening and duplication of the Hutt railway." There was no steel track out to the suburb. The city troops, which went out in strong force, had. a passage on the Rangatira, which anchored off the beach. The men took half an hour to disembark, and then inarched 'under Lieutenant-Colonel Reader. .The names of a couple of the cohorts — the No. 1 Hutt Rifles and the Taita Company — are no longer on" tho active list.- They merely suggest the slirring days 'when the spirit of trouble brooded over tho Hutt Valley, and such a man as To Puni helped to keep harm away from tho Europeans. After the civilians and soldiers had properly honoured the dead they moved on to the Lower Hutt for lunch.. The papers of the day spoke glowingly about the catering.