OHINEMURI. ATTEMPT TO SURVEY DEFEATED BY THE NATIVES.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3889, 8 February 1870, Page 4

OHINEMURI. ATTEMPT TO SURVEY DEFEATED BY THE NATIVES.

', } , < , < i ,]U j Thb St^iwog.accdtinfeoi 1 how the Natives ( at Ohigemuri hsivbs& second time opposed the survLeyjof .the I?aeroa f at Ohinenmri, is fur nisiied Ijjt correspondent ,tp the Tham^g Advertiser ;-^ - , • • ! ' i 'Mr. t GB.' ) Wood r aad party left Shetland ow 'Wednesday 'evening.' and arrjyed at Pakeiea -WaJn^i'^apafes settlement) the following iaotfning-fibbtifc 11 o'clock, having r <preyiously ' getib>vW a hadt with sufflcieat h&nds to tow r«t raft /of timber for pegs 9 but the tide had .turnsd.iarid the raft was j too. heavy to.stem /the Current. Whilst waiting for the' floqd tide, Mere Kuru ancTfive others arrived ou'the bank opposite ' where the raft Was moored. ! The numbers were soon increased by some of the p^kehaa living ' ofl^Cashel's land, who came to see the ftfti, atib! apparently werarather pleased than otherwise that difficulties were put in our; way. After a" few Hauhau prayers jand responses* the womenjasked us^to take the raft from where it came from. ' The women then came 'off in a canoe, pulled up the anchor, and towed the raft out °of the Ohinemuri, atid sent it adrift 'in the Thames ri,yer. As soon as they UU it we again took .possession, andh moored ifc' about three miles above Qash&l's.l, " .Next morning, Mere Kuril a^d Mere Titia, and four other womeni arrived before breakfast. As soon V 'as they' arrived they had prayeijs, 1 Mere' Kuru sitting with an iron stuck in the ground in. front of her. >Her hair was tied with ia piece of flax, and three pheasant feathers stuck in front. She , was supported on either side by her female executive. As soon aa we had finished our tea' and potatoes the! women sat down in front of the whare, where the iron rod was.fagaitf fired in the ground. Prayers for t the occasion were again repeated, with numerous responses. Mere Titia then asked Mr.rTfood to go away and take his timber back ; that he had no right to come to Rapata's settlement, aa the land on which we are living is hers. He replied that the timber -vas his, and that he would fetch it where he liked; thafc Hapata ,was .hjs friend, and he would stay with him as lqngashewished. Mere Kuru, 'then told Mr'^ood,than all Ohinemuri was hers. JJaeroa was also hers. She admitted thai Mr!' Wood bad it on lease for the purpose of boy ing pigs, potatoes, corn, &c., and keeping a store, but he had no right to give it to other pakehas. She did not know any- j thing about a Crown grant having been issued for the Paeroa. It was all hers, j Whilst Mere Jf uru was speaking she was brandishing her iron sceptre far too close j to be pleasant, but afterwards cooled down, and we parted as if she had had everything her own way, and apparently ' were better friends than before. During ! Mere Kurus speech, Mere Titia and our ! friend Riki Paka were reckoning their j respective genealogies as to who was who ten generations back. The men went down to Casliel's, and started after dark in the boat, unmoored the raft, and allowed it to_ drift up with the floodtide, guiding it as they could, as great '> care had to be] taken to prevent any noise in passing the Hauhau settlement, and the oars of the boat were muffled. As the distance was about six miles to bring the raffc, the tide failed when about 400 yards from its destination, and right opposite the whare of Mere Titia. After some difficulty we got it to the landing all safe. We then had to get it landed a distance of about 20 yards above the river bank, and with the assistance of some frienda it was got up before sunrise. " February s.— About midday the surveyors arrived, and we determined to proceed at once on the ground, as we heard that allTeHira's female friendawere waitiag for us at the Paeroa. When we arrived, part of the fern, within the boundaries of the land, was fired, and on inquiry we found that some of the survey staff had planted their fern hooks, and the natives fired the scrub to find them. We found j-Jere Kuru and her friends waiting for us, and as soon as we were seated the Hauhau service commenced, and lasted fully an hour. Mere Titia commenced the torero, and Mere Kuru followed in the same strain, repeating generally the statements she had made before. She passed her mere over the heads of ourselves and Mr. Jordan, by way of an incantation, as we supposed. Mr. Wood replied that the surrey would be carried on, as he held a valid lease for 21 years from Eapata and others mentioned in the Crown grant, and thafc if the survey was stopped he would return and compel them to allow the survey to be made, as the pakehas were determined to live on this land. A number of chants and prayers were then indulged in, and, as this seemed to be interminable, we , decided that the surveyors should set to work and bring matters to a point. Ten men a.t once started off, and commenced clearing a line for the main street. They had cleared about a quarter of a mile, when four of the women went off and pulled up the ranging rodo, and broke them in pieces. The men still continued their work, and the women ! saw that we were determined to carry i out the survey, unless forcibly driven from the grouad. They held a consuHa- j tion, and about 30 of them started off to ! take the fern-hook 3 from the men, and after some difficulty they managed to chase them into c*mp, but did not secure any of their fern-hooks. As we saw that it was useless to contend with the women, we sent the messengers back to the Puke, and again stated to them all that we would return and force the survey. One of: their party then asked us to ' shout ' They were told that we only drank with our friends, and, much to their disgust, we leffc them in possession of the ground, without having the pakeha liquor."

Oar own correspoadenfc al°o sends us some particulars of the affair, whioh are substantially the same as those in the above letter. We gire the concluding portion of the letter: — "Arms and ammunition are being taken up from Shortland, Te Kooti's men going backwards and forwards between his present position and Ohinemuri. These men are always seen carrying small swagg. lam glad to inform you that Mr. Wood has done nothing to compromise the Government, although naturally anxious to settle the survey. Te Hira is in regular communication with Te Kooti. Keihana, indeed, taxed Te Hira with it, a.nd, after some hesitation, the wily old chief denied it. Relhana said, if Te Hira had really acted go, he would have nothing to do with him. He did not like Te Hira bringing evil upon them when, he only cared for the land."

! On Sunday a number of persons took possession of one of the tracks on the 'Hape Greek Tramway, 'and rode down the line at a tremendous rate, to the imminent; danger jof , a number of children who were playing about near the end of the -line. The danger was only> averted by the presence ofinirid'.of a lady who observed the truck and -^ot 1 the ch94r»noi|t of $hs, w»y T „i ;4; 4 ,_[• (i