FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF PARIHAKA AND ITS PROPHET.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 48, 25 September 1880, Page 3

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF PARIHAKA AND ITS PROPHET.

(fbom otjr own reporter.) [continued.] The Hon. Wi Parata, M.L.C., came all the way irom the Empire City, and if What he heard publicly— he may have heard much more privately — satisfied him, hf cannot he hard to please, bat I should have graver doubts than hitherto about Mb fitness fox a tegislator. He visited the camp before going to Parihaka, and said that Te Whiti would explain everything at the meeting. It is quite evident that Te Whiti does not confide his secrets to the keeping of the Hon. Wi Parata, although the latter may be an honorable man. Ngahina, from Matangarara, was at the meeting ; Titokowaru was there; Hone Pihama's wife was there — she is said to be one of Te Whiti's staunchest adherents; Hiroki, poor McLean's murderer, was there, and seated near Te Whiti ; and the man who was said to have wounded Hiroki (I forget his name) was there also. He was a pensioner until the late sweeping reductions took place ; he was knocked off as well as many others who ought to have been years ago; and, with true Maori instinct,- lie goes to Parihaka -when the Government will do longer give him Lzs quarterly allowance. Let us not be too hard on him, however. Those whom we elect to the highest positions in the State — M.H.R.'s to wit — do not they go over to their enemies when their friends will not provide them with incomes as Cabinet Ministers? Who can blame a quickwitted Maori if he follows the same instinct ? The man who makes a study of human nature will not be too ready to condemn.

"What does Hiroki look like?" A very ordinary native : stoutly built, fairly good-looking, and not of murderous aspect, as he has been described. I was within a few yards of him, and saw him strike a borrowed match in the most approved European fashion. A young fellow was sitting close by him who very much resembled Hiroki,' and who must be either a brother or a very near relative of the murderer. I cannot say whether or not Hiroki is a favorite at Farihaka. Neither in the morning nor in the afternoon did I see any particular notice taken of him: he came to the meeting and went away in the same fashion as the others. One noticeable feature at the meeting was the appearance of the fencers on the scene. After they had gone through their usual pantomime near the camp they returned to Parihaka, and marching in a single file, they squatted down in front of the- space set apart for the Wanganui natives, about forty of whom were present. Each of the fencers — several of them being young boys — wore a mat in front and behind his shoulders : why I could not learn, unless for use in "the grave," as Te Whiti now makes out the prison to be. Another remarkable feature of the meeting was the large number of females, as compared with the other sex, present. There were, as can be easily imagined, many sorrowful faces amongst the group, and I saw several crying while Te Whiti was speaking. In my heart, I wished that the trouble was at an end, that our prisons were emptied of these misguided men, and that lasting peace was established- between the two races. Any man, who has been able to appreciate patriotic devotion and unselfishness, cannot help forgiving these men, who, for the sake of what they believe to be their rights, have acted as they have done; and there are few of those acquainted, however imperfectly, with the history of our transactions with these people, who will be prepared to assert that we have always been right and just, whilst the natives have always been wrong and perverse. There have been faults on both sides, and I for one would be glad to see them admitted, - and an ' honest effort made to cure the wounds. That the Government and the Royal Commissioners have endeavored to act rightly is my firm conviction, and if Te Whiti were as p triotic as I once gave him credit for being, he would endeavor to do likewise. His present line of action will only make his own people sorrowful ; whilst it may, some day or other, provoke the stronger race to war against the weaker. And then woe to the vanquished ! I was introduced to Te Whiti in the meeting-house, and was hopeful that I might be able to say as much. He shook hands warmly, but did not app-ar to have any wish to enter into conversation, and I soon retired. In the afternoon, Tohu spoke first, and Te Whiti followed, thus reversing the order of the morning meeting, and so, perhaps, proving their equality as chiefs. Whjen the afternoon meeting was brought to a close, the " captain of the dance," aa I heard him termed, with greenstone mere, and dressed about the loins, ran about at each side of the stream, proclaiming that there was to be a haka. There was great excitement, and it was. nearly an hour before the sixty or eighty who.^ok part in it assembled at the meeting place. There was a song, in which the fencing, the Hon. John Bryce's, Major Parris's, and Major Tuke's names figured prominently. The time kept by •the large crowd who went through the Maori burlesque was certainly wonderful ; everything appeared to be as if guided by machinery. The haka lasted for about half an hour, and was a treat for theEuropeans especially. . Parihaka is situated amongst a number of small hills, and is built, as already stated, on both sides of a stream, on a rising ground. In the winter time its narrow lanes are muddy and dirty, I am informed; hut on Friday last Parihaka looked' cleaner to me than some of the narrow lanes inhabited by the poor people (God help them) in some old towns that I have seen in Great Britain. If Te Whiti understood the use of asphalte, and introduced it at Parihaka, he could make it both clean and wholesome. The " unclean animal is allowed free scope amongst the habitations ; but even the pig has his uses. He will eat the offal that the numerous mangy curs which' infest Parihaka cannot manage to consume. Although not as clean as the ant, he is less troublesome, and the Maoris like his flesh. A large number of people could find accommodation at Parihaka. Two or three thousand people can be housed, according to Maori fashion. I, with- four other pakehas, and a half-caste friend, were very hospitably entertained by Whareoka. We were served with tea in handsome, cups and saucers of the gold and white pattern, and although there were neither forkß nor. plates, we managed, to partake of' some bacon' and potatoes, prior to the

tea being served, with a relish which a good appetite imparts to the commonest food. Some time ago our host brought grog to Parihaka for the purpose of " turning over an honest penny," but Te Whiti heard of it, confiscated the grog, and had it placed with the rest of the food. During the meeting he explained that he did not object to grog being brought, but he would not allow it to be sold : it should he placed on the food-heap. That had the desired eSceb ; hub it is neecQess bo say bhab the "three-star" did not shine o'er brightly on the food-heap from that day to this. Te Whiti is a total abstainer himself, but, unlike one of the Royal Commissione s, he does not object to his people taking grog, if they wish to do so. Some spirits are drunk in the whares, but a drunken man or a drunken woman is not often seen at Parihaka — so I am informed on good authority. I wish I could say as much for our own towns and villages. But the Maori millennium is much nearer than that of the European : that may account for it.

" Was there any truth in the rumor as to an intention on the part of the Defence Minister to march on Parihaka?" That is more than I can answer. When I informed the hon. gentleman that the rumor in Norcnanby and Hawera was to the effect that a move would he made* on Friday or Saturday, he laughed heartily, and said, "You are behind, the age in Hawera and Normanby; according to accounts from New Plymouth, we have already marched there, and taken Te Whiti and Tohu prisoners; the former quietly, but the latter after a strong resistance." Yet, somehow or other, I cannot help fancying there was something in the wind; but what that something was, is difficult to define. That it would have been an easy matter to have captured them, had the order been given, I fully believe ; but I am not so sure as to the wisdom of the step. Te Whiti, put into prison, would be dead, according to his own parable about the prisoners ; Te Whiti, liberated, would he the risen Christ, according to the same reasoning. But if a march were made, and Hiroki demanded at the point of the bayonet, nine out of every ien men in iLe colony woulil apjdanck the action. My estimate of the fighting men assembled at the meeting was 250, or at most 300, taking the ages at from, say, 18 to 60. If the boys of 14 to 18 were added, the total might be brought up to 350 or 400. The resistance they could offer, even if disposed to do so, would not be very great, and at the risk of an outbreak, I think the country should demand the surrender of the murderer. Te Whiti, with all his faults, has acted in a peaceful manner, and although he may be placing a strain upon the bonds which bind the two races which may cause them to snap asunder sooner or later, yet his past life and his past actions ought to be taken into consideration before his followers are allowed to say of him (Te Whiti) that Christ is crucified, but that he shall rise from the dead. I have every confidence in the force under Colonel Roberts' command, and I tally endorse all the enconiurns passed upon him and his ofiicers ; but before anything is done, we ought, in all earnestness, to ask ourselves, " Will putting Te Whiti in prison tend to settle this ugly business?" Some men, for whom I have a very great respect, are of opinion that it would go a long way towards it ; but for my own part I doubt it. The true solution of this native problem, to my mind, is the peopling of the country as fast as it can be done. The matter of realising i>lo per acre, as compared with £1 or £2, is a mere bagatelle. If the Government should not get the money for the land, they will get it through the Custom House. Settle the land, place the right class upon it, and the native difficulty will soon be a thing of the past. The "crucifying" of Te Whiti and Tohii will never do it. The memories of political prisoners are sacred in eveiy clime where true manhood exists.