TRIBAL DISPUTES.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12480, 17 April 1906, Page 5

TRIBAL DISPUTES.

AN EXCITING INCIDENT.

Ever since tho Native, Land Count, last year, vested in tho Taintii tribe that portion ot tho Te Akau Block, embracing the rich grazing Lands of Alangati, tnere has been (writes tho Raglan correspondent of tho " New Zealand Herald"), some feeling between the Tainuis and their unsuccessful rival claimants, the Ngatatahanga tribe. ±no trouble culminated on Monday last in an attempt on tho part of tho Ngatatahanga Maoris to remove Irom .*iiangati about 500 head of cattle, tlio pakeha owners of which aro paying grazing foes to the Tainuis. Repropentatives of both tribes wore there, tho Ngatatahangas mustering almoet a score, and the lainuis halt that number, while w>me half-dozen Europeans intimately associated with the opposing interests wero also on tho spot. The Ngatatahanga tribe had given notice of their intention to try to get the Courts decision set awide, aim in the meantime disputed the right of the Tainuis to lease the grazing rights of Mangati, pending tho silting of the Appeal Court next July. All who wero present were well mounted, and mo-t of them carried stockwhip-?. Tho Ngatatahangas rodo around and mustered tlie cattle, prossing them towards a narrow pass in the steep hillside, which gave egress from tho c'eaidngs and access to the country beyond. But the Tainuis and the European representatives of tho cattle-owners had foreseen that this pas=i was* the key to the position, and had taken possession of it, with the result that as the cattle were driven toward? them they had littlo difficulty in -scattering the animals, the operations on both sides being repeated again and again. The excitement ran so high that, a free fight, seemed imminent. Stockwhips cracked/ dogs barked, Maoris and Europeans vociferated loudly, and Constable McCarthy, of Raglan, who had got wind of what was likely to happen. and who had gone to Mangati to avert a possible breach of the peace, had to iif-e much taot and energy in persuading the opposing native factions that there were other and better ways of settling their differences than by'fighting. Fortunately, wi:..:> cr-un-sel prevailed, and the Tainuis were left in of the field.