MAORI AND PAKEHA.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 303, 20 December 1913, Page 13

MAORI AND PAKEHA.

REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY DAYS. «*■

MAORI FLOTSAM LAW.

(By W. 8., Te Kuiti.) vm. In the autumn of the year 1834 an episode occurred at Waimate, Taranaki, known as the Guard affair, composed of the following incidents: (1) The stranding of Guard's trading schooner Harriet; (2) the taking possession by the natives of the wreck; (3) the resistance thereto of Guard and his crew, by firing on the natives; (4) the overpowering of Guard and his crew by the natives, and their holding of Mrs Guard, her two children and nine men for hostages till the agreed on ransom should be paid, to procure which Guard and some men were permitted to depart; (5) the sending from Sydney of H.M.s. Alligator to pay that ransom, and demand the release of the hostages; (6) their release, and the several calamities that attended that release, with none of which, except clause (2) does my narrative concern itsclif. For, are not their details enshrined, more than less distorted, in the colony's chronicles, and" thus distorted, repeated by servile copyists, who, to pose as deputy historians, without further inquiry whether the text be true or not, perpetuate the garbled dishonourable tragedy? Xo one thought of asking Te Whiti, as I did, and because of the reason stated in the first of this series, knew that faithful and copious thesaurus of early historytold mc the truth. And, further, if there be two versions, give mc the Maori eventime.

Before I revert to clause (2), and continue my narrative, a point of ancient Maori law must be stated, because on it rested not only the Guard affair, and that of my narrative, its non-recognition was the cause of some of the most lamentable collisions between the two races. It was a law no one with peaceful intentions thought to dispute. Its mana extended to the instant the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, but which.. that signing automatically cast into desuetude, and extinguished all native laws/ rights, and prerogatives but those jUg*?* 1 fically mentioned for exemption, and established British law,inste«d —but was j stil inf force when Guard's Harriet was wrecked. , ... .:,v"

The native7«w was this:—All flotsam, all wrecks; even if they belonged to members Of the same tribe, became the exclusive property of him or her on whose immediate foreshore such flotsam or wreck was cast. For instance: A large valuable canoe, owned by a chief of the same tribe, but whose village lay on a headland a mile away, was lifted from its bed by a high tide, and cast on the foreshore of the other branch further up the bay. When the owner heard where it had drifted to, he drove over five large pigs, and took -back his canoe. To ask for its restoration without repurchasing an ownership, or without a by your leave reclaim a stray, would have been an indignity the one would not offer nor the other entertain.

In my early teens father bought a stranded schooner, as she stood, for £15. When he and I went the ne.xt day to take charge, we found the chief on whose foreshore she rested high and dry already on board, busy with his slaves in variously dismantling her. Father paused entranced at the brazen insolence. But suddenly remembering his race, it's gifts of clioler, of indiscretion, of ignorance of native laws, its seignorial privileges, by a few dexterous motions climbed on deck, and clarionly ordered an instant cessation of the presumptuous maraud. -But the chieftain and his vassals unreeved, and cut, and coiled, in happiest unconcern. This was more than father could bear, so he grabbed Whaerepa and shook him hard: "Kahore koe c rongo ana kai whakamutua?" (Do you not hear mc order you to cease?). Instantly a tomahawk flickered in father's face: "I rongo ano, otira i mea att he karanga porangi" (I heard all right, but I took it for a madman's call). "You get over thatside now, quick, or— ■—'." A set of marvellous hatchet twirls supplied the missing words! I used to think father the most fearless man in all the world. He proved it now, for he seemed to deliberately place his head where the hatchet must fall. It was grand; it was folly. For W-harepa leapt back the proper distance for a blow. In that crisis I clutched father round the waist, and with a strong lad-heave swung ihm aside, and Maori coming handiest, poured over him a cascade of Maori flotsam law! This unheard-of interlude gave pause to both; to father, outraged shock at my audacity, and to the chief, admiration of a youthful partisan himself had trained in paganry. So much so, that to recognise my- mastership, he actually, through father, asked permission of mc to retain his already coiled up loot, which, being granted, old friendI ships were resumed, and father enjoyed ! his wreck in peace.

Whether Guard lyiew of this law, or thought his muskets would bluff the natives off, will never be known. What is known establishes the fact that through exaggerated statements to the New South Wales authorities, broken pledges to the natives and brutal urging on of the soldiers to revenge his own chicane, he caused commotions, of which Dr Diefenbach, an entirely neutral witness, within six years of the tragedy, testifies: "A fierce struggle ensued between the natives and Europeans, in which men were killed on both sides. And although this conflict, from all accounts I could collect, wa scaused by the Europeans, His Majesty's ship Alligator afterwards inflicted a severe and sumary punishment on the natives." What, and how inflicted, the surgeon of the Alligator, Dr Marshall's, diary, describes with horror and disgust If Guard, instead of firing on the natives when they claimed a lawful perquisite, had appealed to them as helpless castaways and thus touched their emotions, Te Whiti assured mc, the natives would have taken enough to assert their rights and gone their way.

I have mentioned before how that only youthful intercourse with the untainted "savage" was exceptionally cordial, and a parade of each side's heroes a dominating feature of our meets. I, my Napoleons, Wellingtons, Nelsons, and kindred slaughter experts, Christian nations enshrine with reverence as their greatest in the Valhallas of their dead. And the natives. Un-Christian and savage, from like pantheons brought out theirs. When through repetition mine no longer thrilled. I was urged to reap my bookfields and restore my granary. But books were scarce, and dear, and*the tardy ships we east in tribute ofttimcs gave hut scant returns. One such, eoverless. do-_--eared anil print-blurred, captioned on

each, page; "Wrecks and S*. Tragedies." published in America, was one of these. Of its tales, one dealt with a New Zealand tragic hap. Which on translating to my friends, they not one wer6 familiar ■with, but serried with, corrections, additions, interpolations, and their version illustrating how the white man's ignorance, nay, wanton disregard of native laws and customs, caused reprisals that make early history—with our own atrocities suppressed—such splendid reading for our youth!. I shall transcribe it here-.-—. SYNOPSIS OP BOOK NARRATIVE... "The whaling barque Traveler's Bride . . . reports-a recontre that should merit the attention of intending voyagers to distant Southern Seas, and warn them to a strict observance of All Nation laws. It seems that when off the coast of New Zealand she fastened to a sperm whale, from which a gale obliged her to cut adrift and run for shelter to the nearest land. While riding out the gale her people noticed a crowd of natives across the bay cutting .up a fish. Thinking it might 'be tlie one they cut adrift from, they put off to see. Upon confirmation by a harpoon still visible with the cut line attached, they claimed the fish, which claim the natives promptly disallowed, and with a tone of menace bade the indignant claimants stand asidpf'Wlio began the hostilities that followed, race pride would rather charge the nattives with. But as much lawless aggression is reported from those parts on natives, and we have only the ship's log-bbok for evidence, which, experience has proved, may have mis-statements entered up, we suspend a judgment which might he premature." From this temperate Prers item the chronicler expands a sequel I prefer the Maori shall relate: — - " THE MAORI VERSION. "To the Maori the paraoa (sperm whale) was a present from the gods. In its cerous head-oil he sealed the leaner cooked meats from decay; and, mixed with ochre, laid a film upon his skin impervious to mosquito stings. From its jawbone he cut his ipatu paraoa, a weapon no warrior lower than a minor chief could wear. When,, thea, this taonga rangatira (noble property! cast itself upon our shore the.call went forth: "Come a nation to theM For of this nothing was private.,- all of the same whanau (tribe-name) here took U.t each could cut, But no one ese Here the foreshore owner -was equal with-the common man. W-hen, then, these sJiipmen distended their mouths ivith loud clamour that we should stand aside, we asked: 'Whose is the land? If it Tje yours, take it and depart. If not. return your voices to your throats.' For we were many, and they -were few, and when thus the cases stand aligned, rights are easier 6haped. and carved. Then they -pointed to the harpoon and its line for an owning token: Take them,' we 6aid, 'but the fish a* t-he gods intended.' Thus words changeA from side to side, till we -tired of them, and each concerned him with the thing in hand. -But the gnawing through five handnbreadbhs -of stringy 'fat, with flint saws and sailor knives, is slow. Curtleaxes help, yes: but cutting into blubber, blunts edges faster than paring chips off wood. However, where many 'hands go out at dawn, few come empty home at night. But when the ship-men rowed away, we forgot that gorging on fresh whale-meat causes heavy sleep: ensued it -thereupon that -our sentries 6lept, and despite the large fires ts scare away night-ghouls, in the morning, 10, our stacks of -fat were gone! We looked toward the ship, yes,- but how to get our goods? Patience, till the gale abates: then -we shall see! For, according to our laws, no one steals that wants to live. So we levered over the carcase of our fish and laboured on the -nether side.

"But that night no one slept. Tlie ambush we laid so. that visitors should say: 'Ha, a race lives here that is quickly overcome!' Even our™ dogs' snouts were -muzzled that they might not bark nor scare: the stacks of meat were laid to tempt: the fires died uhrefreshed: only the gale was heard. Silence then. Suddenly a shiver of voices passed along the ambush: They oome!' The grey hairs of dawn shook softly in -the sky. From where we lay low, white shanks .and bare feet betokened that -leg-sheaths and shoes were laid aside to ease a lengthened stride. To yet farther lull suspicion, silent permission was granted them to take the topmost layer of poorer bits - away, placed there to deceive, but unnoticed in the dark. Gaily they returned increased of numbers: then, when all backs bent tq. the burden angle, up we were among them! Akke! Akke! Akke! -and 60 on, giving to revenge a splendid satisfaction! But the mistake we made, was, as we leapt up to cry our war cheer: 'Hu?.kina-a-a!' (open the charge!); For those told off to rush upon the boats and cut the retreat, were met with a terrific: 'Attau-u-ai!' (bang). And three foremost groped for sand Tho boats . were full of muskets, and we idiot ohildren with our cry, gave them, the signal when to -fire. . ! Such is the folly of bare-souled bravery! What matter? Three fish for three ibaits is not bad fishing, but if an odd one be added there is profit, and is better. This we got, and snatching -up our corpses, retired well satisfied."

■Here the narrative and its purpose may end; though its justice and moralityvare co involved, that it w ; as long a favourite topic for acute judicial disquisition with the Maori, because here met in clash (1) Premier, through stress abandoned, ownership, which according to whaling law, so ■ long as its branded iron remained in the carcase, if salvaged by another, he retained a Tight of half to; (2) Maori flotsam law; (3). stealing baok (was it theft?) -one's own property; (4) reprisal of the thief (?);- ---(5) killing in defence of one's own property; (6) the justice assignable to each. Eheu! Pages -have I seen filled to catalogue and classify each into some comprehensible assortment. It -was a problem he could study impersonally, and set himself, yet never solve.