MEMORIES OF MASSACRE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 11 March 1930, Page 8

MEMORIES OF MASSACRE.

One of the most tragic memories of the Poverty Bay massacre 'days is recalled by the demolition of a Gisborne building which since the ’6O ; s has stood adjacent to the site of the Cook memorial at Kaiti beach. The dwelling was the refuge of Bishop Williams and his household after the destruction by the Maori rebels of the Warronga-a-hika mission in 1865, and was later used as a temporary abode by Messrs Henry Harris and John Ferguson after the 1868 raid of Te Kooti, in the course of which Messrs Harris ancf Ferguson ’s homestead at Opou was burned down by the rebels. It was while Mr. Ferguson lived there, about a month after the date of the great massacre, that news was received of the deaths of four young men, two whites -and two Maoris, in the Pipiwhako bush at the hands of raiding followers of Te Kooti. One of these young men was the brother of Mr. Ferguson, whose first intimation of trouble was the arrival at the Kaiti dwelling of young Findlay Ferguson's dbg, which had swum two rivers and covered a considerable distance overland to reach its home after the death of its master. TJndrar Te Kooti’s Guns. When Te Kooti raided the Poverty Bay flats and caused the deaths of many of the early settlers, the occupants of the homestead at Opou, near Manutuke, escaped to Mahia and thence by boat to Napier. Messrs Harris and Ferguson returned to Gisborne shortly after and occupied the Williams house near the lading-place of Captain Co.ok, pending the clearing of the district, which was then still under threat of further raids by Te Kooti. Major Eopata had fought his action at Ngatapa. pa, where he gained the New Zealand Cross in his effort to overcome the rebel Maoris, and had returned to town with the object of reinforcing his party of friendly natives.

Colonel Whitmore had been informed by scouts that smoke-clouds scon over the Ngatapa pa were caused by Te Kooti burning the pa with the object of clearing out; and according to the story believed by the majority of the Poverty Bay survivors of the massacre he was ready to accept this information and sail away with his troops, convinced that the Te Kooti trouble was ended. He actually embarked his force and, but for the vessel striking a rock, Gisborne would have been without military defence during the strenuous times that followed.

Colonel Whitmore’s Strategy. The Maoris say they believe that To Kooti knew of Colonel Whitmore’s intentions, and that he deliberately endeavoured to encourage the impression that he was moving off into the forest. The day before Colonel Whitmore embarked his troops, Messrs Harris and Ferguson had visited Opou homestead, and they later heard that they had been right under the guns of Te Kooti’s men in the Pipiwhako bush, but that the rebel had refrained from making any overt act that would have revealed his continued presence and the danger he represented. On the night the regular troops were embarked, however,, the rebellious Maoris seized the opportunity of cutting off the brother of Mr, John Ferguson with young Wyllie and two Maori youths, one of whom was - Ben Mackio and the other a son of the late Api Kincha, a respected native elder. Young Findlay Ferguson had been splitting rails in the Pipiwhakao bush during the day, under the impression that there was no further danger of rebel raids, and he had with him the two Maori lads.

. Mrs. Wyllie, senior, knew of the whereabouts of the young men, and holding doubts as to their safety, sent her son over the river to invite them across to stay the night at her residence. Apparently the messenger stayed with the workers for tea and lingered long enough to seal his own fate, for the party found themselves surrounded by the rebels, and not one the four escaped. Bog’s Touching Devotion.

Late that evening Hr, John Ferguson stepped out of his temporary abode at Kaiti, and saw standing before him the dog owned by his brother Findlay. Knowing the dog’s devotion to its master, he immediately concluded that trouble had occurred to force their separation, and early next morning he took the risk of proceeding to Opou, and found the evidences of the tragedy. How the party was surprised by the rebels was a puzzle to those who knew the dog’s regard for its master and the swift suspicion with which it looked on any stranger approaching him. Another mystery was how the dog itself escaped, for it was instinctive with the animal to attack any person who appeared to threaten Mr. Ferguson. Whatever circumstances accounted for the sparing of the dog, the memory of the surprise and death of his master was evidently engraved upon its mind, for to fire a gun near it afterwards was to invite sudden and furious attack. It is believed that the house that has just been demolished was one of the earliest erected in Gisborne.