THE EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLE THOMAS THE DAPPER TO THE REST OF THE TWELVE.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume III, Issue 171, 22 April 1864, Page 5 (Supplement)

THE EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLE THOMAS THE DAPPER TO THE REST OF THE TWELVE.

I write unto you, 0 faithful and most true, to give an account of my journeyings, and those also of our brother in the plot, William the Well-to-do. Now the day was very hot, and I shaded myself in my “ ugly” as best I could, for the heat was dire; hut William, who is not so weak in the flesh, regarded not the glare, and wore no “ ugly,” as indeed, he never does. And as we drew nigh unto Pa Whakaairo, we halted for the space of one hour, that we might appear natural and careless before the Maories, and give them the impression that we were not anxious to secure the land; and to this end I fanned my face with-my “ ugly” with my hat reversed, but William did nothing but smoke, and was impatient, he said, to “go in and win ;” so went straight to the pah. And the Maories, having seen us, saluted us, not after the fashion of their forefathers, by rubbing of noses, but in as Christian a manner as we did, by shaking of hands. Whereupon William said boldly,— “ Well, what is it to be, 0 ! friends —land or no land ?”

And the Maories answered and said, — “ 0 ! friend William, glad are we to hear thee speak, for we know thee well, and are sure that thou meanest well, both for thyself and fur us ; thy speech, 0 ! friend, is always short, very short, and thy words are few. With us it is different, for our thoughts are very dark concez’uiug the intentions of the Governor and his runanga —we, therefore, should like to know what he would like us to do before finally consenting to let to you this piece of land.” And William said, — “ Very well, then I suppose it must be so, 0 ! friends/’ But I said at once, — “ What will the Twelve say to this ?” So / agreed to talk a little. I began then in this style,— “ Great, indeed, 0 ! friends, is your discernment : —you would like to live on good terms with the Governor—this is right; you would like to obey the laws—this is indeed right; I commend you for your zeal in the good cause. Yes, indeed, it is very pleasant to observe the rapid improvement you have made of late, ever since, indeed, —since— I—I—” “ Since Rangiriri,” bluntly suggested brother William. ‘‘ Oh ! no, that will never do” (to William) “ Since” (to them, the Maories looking very excited towards William, whose hack teas turned) “ a short time ago.” “ Yes, we always loved the Governor,” said they all. And a young boy near William remarked, looking coyly at him, — “ Qh, yes, I love him, he is a great butcher —but I love butchers.” William, overcome with the heat, was fast asleep ! There ensued now an awkwardly long pause; which was at length broken by William awaking with -a start, muttering audibly “ Rangiriri,” which caused the Maories to be suddenly very polite. And R a, stepping a little apart, thus spake,— “ These plains are very good, 0 ! friends, are they not ?” We both said “ Yes.” I, thinking to do some good, added, “Too good for poor sinners.” He smiled gently and said, — “ Have you seen the fine plains in the South ?” (meaning Canterbury.) I replied,— “ I know they are very good too.” He asked if it was true that some of them sold for <£2oo an acre ? I replied, not seeing his drift, that I did not know. He asked me then, — “ Would you give me .£2OO for an acre at my pah ?” I said, — “ No, but I would not mind giving you £2 for some of it, but I will put on as many sheep as you like, and the land will still be yours, and no people would he there but our shepherd, so that you (the Maories) would still have undiminished power.” “ Have what ?” asked he. “ Great Power I” I said, and was saying much more about keeping people away — that we did not really want them, except to make roads and keep them in repair, for the wool and wire drays; but he stopped me. He had evidently not heard my remarks, for he said abruptly,— “ I think I could do without the power, if 1 could get £2OO per acre; do you think I could ?” I said I did not know, but I was sure I wished he would let it to us ; the sheep would

fatten so, without any people to disturb them, but if he let the people come up there, they would be making a road or a railway, and frightening the sheep, so that they would never fatten, and “ Oh, do you think they would like to bring a railway on to my land ?—that would make it sell very high, would it not ?” said he and actually laughed until he nearly cried, and sent for his wife to fetch a pen and ink, saying he must write to Donald the Ruler about that at once, and would have written, had not William, who was now thoroughly awake, rolled out a bundle of notes on the ground, saying,— “ There, old 4 man, finger that!” This was too great a temptation to be resisted, and his eyes glistened as he opened the bundle and gave a good look and folded them up again, and he asked no more, I rejoice to say, about the railroad. And we prepared to take our departure, for it was now evening. So the sheep are to come, and the people are not, at least in our day and generation. What our children may do with the land when it is theirs, for it will be ours soon and then theirs, I do not pretend to say ; but writing as I am to the Twelve, I speak holdly, but it must not get .to the ears of the people that the plains we have got are by far the best for agricultural purposes of the whole district; they are very rich and deep, and yet dry, or nearly so, and might with a little outlay be drained, there being ample fall. We must work quietly, so as not to rouse the people’s suspicious, and if they get those wet plains round about Clive, or fancy they are going to get them, it will be ayreat point gained. We must keep R aup to the mark, and do our best each and all, according to our several abilities. It was a mistake to mention about railroads , though his place lies in a direct line for a railroad from Napier opening up the heart of the country ; but this is not to be mooted until the land is ours, and then we can have one and call it the “ Twelve Apostles Junction.” — Communicated.