THE NATIVE FENCING.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 50, 2 October 1880, Page 2

THE NATIVE FENCING.

The native fencing difficulty opposite Parihaka assumed a somewhat new phase to-day (says the Evening Post of Tuesday). It appears from the official tele* grams received this afternoon that Colonel Roberts, in accordance with instructions from Mr. Bryce, had a party of Constabulary waiting in readiness for the approach of the fencers this morning. The fencers numbered 38 in all, of whom only 10 were men, the rest being quite young boys. Colonel Boberts, with the Constabulary, met them about fifty yards from the fence, and, through an interpreter, ordered them to stand. 1 They obeyed, and then Colonel Roberts similarly warned them not to advance any further, or to attempt to erect the fence, as, if they did, they would be arrested and tried as the others were. He cautioned them against setting the law at defiance any longer by persisting to fence, and told them tbey would not be permitted to trample the law under foot. Kerehama, the leader of the fencing party, promptly replied, by asking " Who brought the Government here to make laws for us ?" and then proceeded to argue the point. Colonel Boberts, however, stopped him, and declined to enter into any discussion on the legal bearing of the case, merely ordering him and his party to return at once to Parihaka. , Kerehama retorted that they would' return when they had reached the point to which they had been sent (i.e., the fence), and not before. He also endeavored to raise a controversy as- to the ownership of the. wheat which had been sown. Colonel Roberts, however, ignored that issue, and said that " the end of his word to them " was that they, must go back to Parihaka and leave the fence. The natives took no notice of this ultimAtum, but remained standing quite still

with an air of stolid resolution. Colonel Roberts then ordered the Constabulary to advance. The order was obeyed, and the men marched steadily forward, taking no notice whatever of the natives beingin their way, but quietly pressing them backwards. This went on 1 for about 100 yards, the natives offering no resistance. They then gave way and fled, some drop- . ping their fencing materials as they went. : .' They have not since returned. Orders were then given to pull down the fences at Parapara, and at the Waitotara ford. "When tibia wa9 done, th& same natives -who- had come down in the morning were seen sitting about 100 yards from the fence.. They watched the proceedings, but remained perfectly quiescent, and in the end went away quietly.