PURAKANUI PA.

TO THE EDITOR. ;. S i IR ~ Youi \ correspondent " Kai-tahu " L^S Of obtaining = my authority for by me iD "Pi«tai-osc,„e In the summer of 1889-00, wishing to know more of the local Maori' place na m e° and hwtory I induced M% Hanson TTrton, a first-class Maori scholar, to accompany me to Moeraki for a week-en? m order to interview the Maorbthere +^ nt sev eral hours at the pa squatted on the grass surrounded by some five or six adult Maoris, with whom Mr Turtor, conversed in Maori, every now fn TT th r\ t ?, rn,ng \° me an <* giving me time Th ded '? a Dotel *>°k at the tat of t\t-M VOT -' lf any ' Im,st ha ™ been was vJS e „ M T! "orator, as Mr Turton n^-l'L^tl 1 " 1 m hIS to A- Bathgate. TO THE EDITOR. tinner 1 * i 5 t 0 he r hoped that th e subbmthe old W'* °\'- a " t U ne the of !-,„ »a Mapoutahi, nt Purakanui. wi'l be crowned with success. Those desiring - U i'itet"™i nt TT? ist ° ry «° f the Maori* Should L Si' U l' P^ 0 . 223 - Purakanui snouitl be Pu rakau nui. The nlacp <rot 1. oka came down to besiege Mapoutahi Hm men quietly got into the pa and H]au B hr,-red all the i„ matefi except one man, who jumped into the sea and cscarecl. The next day the bodiesof t\Z sunn were piled up like a large heap tt b'Z d -. a " d sin <* "'at day the bay has been known as Pu rakau nui f" a Kr« heap of wood").—I am. etc ai!le Seacliff, July 6. H. J. Fletcher.