Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1927 A FORGOTTEN CHAPTER OF MAORI HISTORY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 30 April 1927, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1927 A FORGOTTEN CHAPTER OF MAORI HISTORY

WHEN- Taini'oa"escaped with his two hundred followers from Kaiapoi, shortly before the,capture' of that'. .stronoghpld by-To Rauparaha, he made his way across tho Canterbury Plains back to hiaown country ofOtakou (or Otago, as it is now called).. No. doubt, he intended ,to assemble a. strong; war : party, and rea^is^ 'tl've N^ittnti,sMfcVf?'wtißv''Wir : 6! being so grievously molested by Rauparaha and his fierce warriors of the North Xsland. But before he could take any effective steps to avenge the massacre at Kaiapoi, news was brought to Taiaroa of the equally terrible massacre at Onawe and the practical extinction of the. hapus of Banks Peninsula. The tribe of Ngaitahu had been wiped out, in the northern half of the South Island; at D'Urville Island. Queen Charlotte's Sound, Wairau. Kaikoura, Kaiapoi, and Akaroa there was scarcely a remnant of tho Ngaitahu left—nearly all had been killed or carried into captivity. So it behoved Taiaroa to be circumspect. lie Wan pitiing himself against the meat cunning warrior in New Zealand, a man whose conquests had added greatly to his importance and strength. Any mistake on Taiaroa's part would certainly bring about the Invasion of Otago by the savage Ngatitoa and Ngatiawa, and the fate of the southern tribes might well .be that which had befallen their relatives of Akaroa and Kaiapoi. How Taiaroa tackled the problem of avenging his relatives and drawtrig conclusions with the fierce and crafty Te Rauparaha, forms an interesting chapter in Maori history. The scat of Rauparaha's strength was on tho shores of the great bay which stretches from the mouth of the Rangitikei to Porirua, and contains the islands of Kapiti and Mana. It was out of the question for Taiaroa to attack Rauparaha in his fastnesses, for he had not the strength at his disposal. The southern chief had other plans, and his method of putting them into practice was certainly characterized by a cleverness equal to Rauparaha'B own. The .southern Maoris had always been good friends with the whalers, who in the early decades of the last century, frequented the coasts of New Zealand. Taiaroa had many friends among the whaling fraternity, and through the agency of those rough sailors and probably through young men of his tribe whom ho deputed to sail with them, Taiaroa made a careful study of Rauparaha's habits and methods of living. By means such as these he learned that Rauparaha was accustomed to visit D'Urville Island and Queen Charlotte's Sound periodically at regular and set times, and he decided to lay his plans accordingly.

'Hie taua, which Taiaroa assembled for the purpose in hand, numbered two hundred and seventy men, armed mostly with muskets. In making his arrangements he was assisted by Tuhawaike and Karetai, two notable chiefs of Ngaitahu. It was decided that the taua should proceed northwards by means of canoes, expeditiously, surreptitiously, and without its true destination becoming known to anyone outside the tribe. Ir, is difficult to know how a large fleet of canoes could proceed on such a voyage without being detected, unless they travelled by night and lay up in concealment ashore in the daytime. However that may he, the taua, which was under the command of Tuhawaike and iiaretai—for, for some obscure reason, Taiaroa did not accompany it—reached its destination safely and secretly. That destination was a bay in Queen Charlotte's Sound, which apparently was known to the southern Maoris as Qraurnoa, a place which Rauparaha was accustomed to visit at certain times of tho year. Here the Ngaitahu warriors lond--led and, having hidden their canoes and obliterated all traces of their landing, fay in ambush, awaiting the arrival of "raiparaha and his people from Kapiti. Neither did they wait in vain, for in due- cout.se Rauparaha's taua appeared,and prepared,to land upon the beach, which was covered by the muskets of the Ngaitahn warriors, hidden by the forest which fringed the shore. BuA It seems that all'the canoes which con-, vryed Rauparaha's party did not land simultaneously, and so it happened thatsome of them were- still In the oiling when those, who first landed walked into riie ambush laid by the Ngaitahu. Among thftfe thus trapped was Te Rauparaha himself. But his usual good luck stood by him. Finding his followers falling all around him, and seeing that in the confusion the canoes from which he and liis party had landed, had got adrift, Rauparaha with wonderful self-posses-sion hid his greenstone mere under his koro'w.ti cloak and walked through the melee of struggling combatants to tho water's edge,' where ho hid himself iimong the thick kelp which was growing near the shore, "whero by occasionally lifting his head under cover of the broad leaves as they swayed backwards ;ind forwards with the waves, he was able to breathe." There he remained concealed till the first, fury of tho attack had spent itself, and the attackers were

pursuing those of their'victims who were trying to p'.cape by Uight. Then Te Rauparaha swam out to the canoe which, fortunatelj for him, had lagged behind tho rest, and which, when the musketry lire broke out on shore, remained prudently in tho offing, waiting to pick up any who might escape. But, excepting tho chief, it. does not appear that any escaped from the ambush. It has been computed that between one and two hundred Ngatitoa and Ngatiawa. warriors were killed in this clever and daring expedition planned by Taiaroa, and carried out by Tuhawaiki ("Bloody •luck,") of whom wo shall hear more hereafter) and Karetai,. It went a considerable w:iy towards squaring the accounts of tho Ngaitahu with Te Rauparaha, but not completely so. Taiaroa and his people called it Oraumoa-iti, or Little Oraurnoa, meaning that this was

but tho beginning of their revenge for tho slaughter of their relatives of Kaiapoi and Akaroa, and that thero would be greater vengeance to follow. How Taiaroa kepi his word, and how Ngaitahu extracted from llaupnraha utu to the full, and-so saved the good mane nnd reputation of the Maoris of Otago, nlust bo related on a future occasion. Sflffice ititb say that the event had a direct bearing on the founding of the Nelson Settlement, since it appears to havo decided the. ownership of the. Wairau, which,.as our readers know, was a question of great importance to the New Zealand Company and to tho first settlers of Nelson. Thus at this later date are we able to' bring to light evidence of .the just' claim which the' New .Zealand Company made to the Wairau lands, and of the rectitude of the two brother* Colonel and Captain Wakefield, the latter of whom lost his life in upholding the Company's rights.