IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH ISLAND

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 250, 23 October 1935, Page 6

IN SEARCH OF THE NORTH ISLAND

Tu-Whare’s Suit of Armour

(XSXX) (Copyright)

The suit of armour -which Tu-whare claimed to have given to the Whanganui people for the release of his relation, Toki-whati, -was said to have been that which George IV gave to tho celebrated Bay of Islands chief, Hongi, on the occasion of his visit to England in 1820 but there is disagreement among authorities as to this being the case. According to Downes this fight between the Waikato people under Tu-wharc and Patu-one, on the Whanganui river, and the Whanganui tribes, took place between 18.19 and 1820, while Hongi was in England in 1820 and therefore the particular suit of armour he received from George IV could not have been that which Tu-whare was able to offer as ransom for his relation. Dates are in conflict and the disereptancics are such as to lend colour to the statement of Wirernu Hipango, whom the late Mr Percy Smith approached many years ago in an effort to solve the' problem, which was to tho effect that the story of Tu-whare handing over the armour to the Whanganui tribes for the release of Toki-whati was mere sup position. The matter has been the subject of considerable investigation and the substanco of what is- known regarding the suits of armours which came into the hands of notable chiefs is here offered.

Away back in 1909 the late Mr A. Hamilton, one of those indefatigable investigators in Maori history, read a paper before the New Zealand Institute dealing with a suit of armour presented to Titore, a Nga Pulii chief, by AVilliam TV in 1835. This paper was prepared following the announcement that the lato Dr Maui Pomare had deposited in the Dominion Museum at Wellington in November 1908 some pieces of armors which were supposed to belong to the original suit of armour belonging to the great Nga Puhi chief. Hongi. Dr Pomare’s justification for this was based upon the story already recounted, i.e., that the armour descended to Hongi's relative and fighting chief, Tu-whare, who passed it over to tho Whanganui people as a ransom for tho release of his relation, Toki-whati. After that the armour came into'thc possession of Ilori Kingi to Anaua uncle of the late Major Kemp (Keepa,) the celebrated Whanganui friendly chief of the war days. The armour was placed in the sacred house at Puke- hika, opposite Jerusalem, tili the walls of the edifice were tumbling down, Hori Pake-hika a relative of Hori Kingi hearing that some Europeans were trying to secure possession of these valuable relicts, concealed them carefully near the pa. Tho armour lay undisturbed until sometime between September and October 190 S when Hori Pukc-liika and Dr Pomare, after laborious searching among scrub and under-growth discovered the recognisable relicts. Consisting of plate armour for the back and chest, and pieces for the arms, it was much eaten with rust, but otherwise was in a fair state of preservation. Hamilton was convinced that something more was wanting to satisfy every question that this suit of armour was in fact that presented to Hongi by Georgo IV and ho devedinto what written history had to offer on the subject. He records that Earl, writing on. New Zealand in 1527 makes mention of Hongi’s visit to England in 1821 when the Bay of Islands chief received among otherpresents from Georgo IV "a superb suit of chair armour. ” In his “Te Ika a Maui” Taylor mentions that Hongi, on his death-bed in IS2B gave the coat of mail to one of ‘ his sons. Again Angas in his “Savage Life and Scenes,” 1847, writes of Taonui, a formidable chief of the North, having in his possession “the original suit of armour that was given by King George IV of England to the Bay of Islands chief Hongi when that warrior visited England. The subsequent history of this armour is somewhat curious; it passed from the Nga Puhi to Titore and from Titore to Te Whoro AVhero, at the Waikato feast and came into Taonnui’s hands under the following circumstances: on tho death of'a favorite daughter,’ Te Whero Whero made a song, the substance of which was that he -would take off tho scalps of all chiefs except Nga-Weka and fling them into his daughter’s grave to revenge her untimely death. The words of the song highly insulted tho various individuals against whom they were directed, more especially as it was a great curse for tho hair of a chief, which is sacred, to bo thus treated with contempt. But tho only chief who dared to rescent this insult from so great a man- as Te Whero Whero, w-as Taonui, a chief of Nga Puhi and Ngati Whatua, who demanded a taua or gift as recompense for the affront and received the armour of E’Hongi in compensation.” Prom Thompson’s “Study of New Zealand” we l’carn that “This armour (Hongi’s) is now scattered about the country. In 1849 I found the breastplate in tho possession of a chief living near the source of the Waipa river; in 1853 Waikato, the chief who accompanied Hongi to England, told me he had buried the helmet with his son’s bones a few weeks before my visit to him at the Bay of Islands. ’ ’

Tu-whare’s fight up the Whanganui river took place early in 1820 and Hongi arrived back from England at the Bay of Islands in July 1921 and is stated to have worn his coat of armour at the capture of Mokoia Island, Lake Rotorua, in August or September 1523. It would appear clear, therefore, that the armour handed over by Tu-whare to the Whanganui’s for the release of Toki-Whati, was not that on Hongi. Further' enquiry by Hamilton led to the discovery of certain documents in the possession of Mr Stowell (Hare Hongi), one being a letter from Titore, chief of ISTga Uuhu to King William IV the other being an acknowledgement of that letter from one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State. Titore’s letter is undated but as the other carries the date, January 1535, Titore’s must have been written about 1834. In