MACKENZIE’S PASS.

Mt Benger Mail, 26 April 1933, Page 1

MACKENZIE’S PASS.

STORY Ok ITS DISCOVERY. fßy “Jennifer” in Exporter.) One of the largest counties in NT w Zealand, one of the most sparsely settled, hut certainly one of the most picturesque ill setting, is liie famous .Mackenzie Country, a wide st retell of tussocky plain surrounded by mountainous hills and rugged peaks. The Mackenzie Country is a huge inland basin approximately SO miles by TO, and and altogether is one of the biggest pastoral areas in the Dodominion, giving summer grazing it. a 'quarter of a million sheep. In ihe year 1 sou, into lhe setll- 1 ■ d country ;here came one day a stranger from the far south, one ■lames Mackenzie, aged about 00, a Highland shepherd born in Rossddre. Apparently he knew little j r nothing oi the English ! align- j agi , but puss ess eel a lllle llo\\ of radii*, ids mother tongue. His in- i w parable iru-ud and coinpaiuoii i was a particularly fine, intciligeiT "die of the t rue Scott ish breed . ■ Siensihy seeking Work, he Visit'd the sta:i.«n> in turn, eventually .Hiding temporary employ meiit at Harris's licim station. Coming ■ ii'iii the south, iii: was wed aeqiiam i d u ith the hinlerhiiul oi b.,gu and Southland, and fully ■aiiseij iae urgent in id lor stock ;o tlto.se i'ro.\pel*uus districts, as e ; ; as lor the lie W iy t a kill II p mis round about Mataura dis- ‘ r.c!, ( Hu! ioitsly he spied "lit the land ami plaiui'd his daring deeds. I'i■>-si lll y in his intercourse with iin hat ivi s of A rowheimu I ’a In-.-•i gieam d si.no slight informaiom is gardiiij-i great t xpans* s of qa-Uerai laud bey o.ml the rang-'. ■ ; Smith i anti rhury, leading ov-.-r ..mi through the Wailaki head-at'-r nf Sunt bland, May be he ‘ : ,o! in ard a w iusp. r t t! two pass' s. aut redden ami unexplored by white noli, but k 1)1 O', li t " t lie M; 11:• i- a- M a naii nm-. now known a ■ Mackeiizi' s ika.ss, ami L ko]u ■ e li, and aeciunpanied * by ins! ' At Hmt Him ’ Rhod'. ls 'she' p ■ i i ■ • i• v id' ll Hilo mobs, wTueli ere grazed tliroug'hout the land. Thev were t■ mb d by >!n pin rds idght e Atistraiian fashion. During tin day the Ho ep rmaimd v, idilv, and the shepherds soon la gan to In* more than suspicious that, small mobs were unaecount:diiv vanishing, but weie totally -i:.;;bie J 0 I race their losses, ( Hi' moii of a thousand valuable ewv< was mi horded at I allipiitai S station, at Tyciio Elat, lb miles inland frn.m ITmnru. ‘ine ,Ho ■ p were m charge of a Maori lad, named Taiku, and somehow, lie could tell neither when nor how i\ery one of that mob disappeari d. As a rub IUPU sin » p are not shifted without a deal of din and confusion, but the hut-keeper had heard nothing and, terrified, he Hurried homeward, uitn iris slum. the svason had been a wet one, and John Sidcbotlom, the run manager, was at La\i, au uUtslaiioii ui Lewis homestead, attending lu sheep that Had coatracle i iuol-roL fu iiloq Ail. not Joist., came imku wilfi Liic soiiy miu»mat ion that IUUU of the best sheep had vanished into space. fins was too much, and fSidebollom dropped all work, sent a mess anger lu Levels home station, ordering some ui Ike station hands to follow him, mounted lus horse and with Taiku running un one side, and another Maun named -Seventeen, un the other, ho hurried to Campbell’s ouislation. Un arrival he quickly picked up the trail or the missing mob, and with his two men pushed rapidly ahead. Undoubtedly the route Mackenzie took with the sheep \\ as over the crest of Mount Misery, a uw tussocky ridge behind Tycho i* iat, up Parcoru kiver, then culling down and over by Muiiabaie, Opuwa, and Waratali to the portals of the .Mackenzie Cass. liot fool on this trail went Sidebottom allot the Maoris, and on the evening of the second day, alter reaching the summit of the present Mackenzie Puss, they looked | down into the Mackenzie Country j and there spied their quarry. Macj keiizie had pitched his tent, and | in the afterglow of the setting sun was busy preparing his even- | ing meal. The pack buliock was .quietly grazing near the camp, and tiie sheep were tended by the trusty collie. Calling to the Maoris to back him up, Sidebottom rushed at Mackenzie. The fight was long and fierce but even- ■ tually the great, brawny Vork--1 shireman prevailed, and the sheepstealer was overpowered and I bound. }Tke dog and bullock .were then secured, and as darkness was falling fast, they decided to spend the night where they . were. Daylight faded and the moon shone out bright and clear, but soon the mist came creeping down from the hilltops. During the night, Sidebottom, unable to sleep, grew more and more uneasy. Maybe the strain

of the light had edged his nerves moiv than he realised, and the e< rinoss of that vast, quiet, strange land, Site shift shapes .of fog lit with sudden, intermittent shafts of brilliant moonlight, affected his imagination. Whether r was or not, he was sure he In ard strange and mysterious voiees calling through the mist from tile mountainside. When he could no longer bear it tie roused tin Maoris, and hastily they broke '■amp. Suieboltom took charge eh the sheep, and MacKcnzie ''allied quietly between (hr Maoris. They had not gone very far when, without a breath of warning the captive whirled, and with one blow felled one Maori, ■ hen turned and felled the other, iitd in a ilash was leaping up tin mouritain-sjde. Sure-footed and agile, in a moment he was lost in Sidebotoni. feeling that pursuit in the deceptive light was woiv than useless, wi.M'iy went on with do sheep. Next morning, after a long, weary journey, he camped m the place where the town of Albury now stands. Here he was overtaken In She working overseer, the late -I. C, Stubbs, and the late .1. I lean, a station hand from the Hovels. Leaving die sheep in their charge, Sidebettutii pushed on hurriedly to the homestead, where In wrote out a full and d-taiied account of the robbery and the pursuit, capture olid escape of Mackenzie. This bieunnnt he sell* by the hand of faithful flohnny Kahn, of Arowitetiua IHi, up the Ninety Mile biach to Rhodes’, at Purau, on i.ytteiton Harbour, the luadquar- «• rs of tin Rhodes squatting inti r- sts in (’anlerbury , Mackenzie, meanwhile, had lost no time in putting as mam miles pe s! bi > between hj imsel f aild.t lie e> i.en f his bite ih predal ioils, and i'\ paths lost known to hanseli, made his u ay t<> Ly t H !ton, intending at tin first opportunity t > tie, the country. iduding that :hr pad' ih steaun r Zingari would s, ~n be p ady to sail for AuHi-alia hi sought a H mporary f fugi, liniiiy liiditig hii.self in a loft abov die b.iki houst in old Lyttelton. Co bo tiiuale!} for him. the Lyt'ejlo:, Jloiice ej'e oil tile alert, ml it was not long before Se'r,i:ai! Sager found and arrested him. lie was com m it! ei! to st and • rial at the approaching sitting o, j In Supreme • Mint, which was j ■ (■sided over bv Judge SteVells. j daekelizie maintained that lie did j !,q ijmlt rstand English and whelm charged with his crime gesticulat- ,.({ uild!\ and burst into torrents ( T (|;ji lie. His dog was produced ! in court as evidence against him, , md it i> fold that in spite of ad I bin roughness and uncoutliness lm n.filed almost to tears at sign} oi ; ins dearly lined companion. His 1 sPo He protestations proved un- j ,\ ailing, ami he was sentenced to j hve \ ears’ imprisonment, lie was, mart civil in Ly ttclton gaol, and j ith other prisoners was engaged i road-making in the young town T Lyttelton, i His wild, fmc spirit could not endure captivity, and it was not | haig hot ore he escaped and got as j far as S'dwyn, at Russell’s Lake station, before being retaken. Hither he was an unusually determined man, or the lock-up was vepv insecure, tor a second time Pc made a hid for freedom, but was quickly caught by some Maoris on the Peninsula. Some lime later, however, when the (joveriior was visiting Canterbury, his ease was reviewed, and a pa;dmi granted on the assumption, that as Mackenzie had no knowledge of English, his trial might not have been as fair as it should have been. The pardon, being granted only on condition that he bft the country, Mackenzie immediately sailed for Australia, where in the course of time he became a well-to-do squatter in Victoria.