REPORTED MURDERS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 11, Issue 863, 3 August 1867, Page 3

REPORTED MURDERS.

On Saturday, letters were received iv town stating that four Europeans and four natives, who were engaged driving a herd of about 300 head of cattle from Napier to Mr. Firth's run at Matamata, had been murdered on the road. The place at which this is said td have occurred is Te Turanga, about halfway between Napier and Taupo, and where the mountains of the Uriwera country come into the Kaingaroa plain. The letters are written from Maketu, by Mohaka, a native who has been in charge for some time of Mr. Buckland's cattle at Taupo. The following are the letters :— Maketu, July 24, 1867. To Josiah Firth. Friend, salutations. Listen ! I have heard the talk -relative to the cattle-drivers. They have been killed by the Hau Haus, by the Uriweras. They were the tribe who killed them. They were killed at Runanga. There were four Europeans and four Maoris. The principal reason wby we suspect they were killed was, as they did not arrive at Taupo. It ocourred about fifty miles from Taupo. I will make further inquiries into the matter ; but the people here say that the statement is correct, that the people have been killed, and the cattle taken away by the Hau Haus— by the Uriweras. It is also said that, if they had attempted to come on, they could not have got bo far as Matamata, on account of the roads being stopped Manihera said th& roads were open, and he nearly got killed for » having said so." Maketu, July 24, 1867. To Mr. Buokland. O father, salutations. This is the news that. l heard : That tbe drivers of Firth's cattle have been killed. They were killed by tho Hau Haus at a place called Te Runanga, near the mouth of the creek, where the road bends towards tho Uriwera country. They did not .arrive in Taupo during the three weeks that > the person was waiting for them who left them at Mohaka j therefore we are sure they ' have heen killed. ' Also we sent a messenger who belonged to Tarawera to inquire. Tho \ Hau Haus camo down aud guarded lho 1 passes of the road, and they were killed there. '> One of the men who went down to drive L Mr. Firth's cattle up was a son of the . Rev. Mr. Grace. Another was Lieutenant ■ Owen, from Waikato ; the others, Euro- . peans and Maoris, were engaged at Napier. , ■ It is supposed that the person alluded to ' in the letter was young Grace, as his duty was to go on before the rest and prepare the natives at Taupo to receive the cattle \ if the road from thence to Matamata was \ closed, The above are all the facts that are ! .known in reference to the matter, and we _ shall probably have to wait for several ) days before certain contradiction or conr firmation can be received. We learn by . the steamer Tauranga which arrived from fc .Tauranga yesterday, that the people there j were inclined to believe that the report [ was not true. For ourselves, we are bound 1 to say that wo. can ,see nothing at all imc probable in it. The.killiug of Moore and Beggs, and of Bennett Whito and W 7 i t Popata, show the- temper of the Uriwera, who would be informed from Napier, and i possibly from Waikato, that* the cattle . were coming oyer. We know that there is nothing at all to hinder them from i reaching the place where the affair is said l to have taken place. Most of the country in that neighbourhood belongs to different _ hapus of the Arawas, but they have all cleared. 1 out of ifc. Even the kainga of the Tuhdu--1 rangi at the Rotomahana has been de--3; sorted for some time. It is worth men,l ;tioning that it was in this neighbourhood j that Adam Clarke encountered Kereopa and Ms bancl, returning to Waikato from ' ' : Opotiki,, after the murder df Mr- "Volkner, a,; .anywhere five of the Arawas were killed I and eaten. " ' * .

It is impossible ; for anyone to say positively whether the kill-!...; 0 f these men, md the stoppage of Mr. birth's cattle, was h anyway connected with the notieo'given to Mr. Firth to' quit his run at Matamata. ft js probable- enough that, when tho orders were given that Mr. Firth should be earned, the Uriwera were informed of what had been done, and instructed to prevent these cattle coming over. Takj ng this view of the matter, it would almost seem too much to expect that Mr. Firth will be able to maintain his placo at Matamata. Mr. Firth was expected to arrive at Matamata'yesterday, and, if those murders had really taken place, would probably learn the-Jaets from the natives there. At all evontsfhe was telegraphed to on Saturday evening, so that he would receive the news from Aucklandm that way.— " Southern Cross,'-' July 29. .