SIR GEORGE BOWEN AND THE THAMES NATIVES.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3433, 17 July 1868, Page 4

SIR GEORGE BOWEN AND THE THAMES NATIVES.

A MRUSAL of Sir George Bowen'a despatches to the Imperial Government, since he assumed office in t colony, will undoubtedly repay amply for^the troub of turning over its well-written leares. The dryness usually found in similar documents i8 much relieved by anecdotes, or comparisons between existing circumstances and past or historical events. Matters of universal interest, and really not generally known, may be learned from its pages. For instance, describing his tour through the Thames district in the Auckland province, his Excellency narrates what took place at a gathering of natives who met to do him honour; and he informs the Duke of Buckingham that about 800 Maoris began the customary war dance, equivalent to a military guard of honour elsewhere. They were led by Taraia, the famous old ohief of the Ngatitamateras, who presided over the last great cannibal feast held in 1843, and Taraia afterwards excused himself to the Governor for hn indifferent dancing, which he aEcribed to his four, score years, and not to any want of loyalty on his part.— Post.

When Dunua' "Antony" was revived in Paris there was a fervent popular tribute to the author, which deeply affected him. Before he went to bed he regained his|eye3ight, nearly lost by weeping, sufficiently to write to one of the actors :— "Let us not despair of art, my dear child j with your future and my past nothing is lost."