TUB EARLY DAYS OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9307, 16 September 1893, Page 1 (Supplement)

TUB EARLY DAYS OF NEW ZEALAND.

fBY 0. 0. MONTROSK.]

CHAPTER XII.

Progress of Kororaveka —Heke Cuts Down the Flagstaff—Sack of Kororareka—The Northern WarNot God but Men —All's - Fair in I.ove or War End of the Traitors in the Camp— Northern League, Precursor of the Land League — Maoris Levy Blackmail—Auckland in Danger--Gentle Savages.

The little town of Kororareka grew apace, and was much resorted to as a place of business. It had its bank, a club in which a select few sought refuge from the rough rum shops, and ib possessed many other institutions belonging to civilised society. Bub the removal of the seat of Government bo Auckland cast a blight upon the place, and the outbreak of a long and disastrous war completed its ruin. In the year 1840 quarrels between the Europeans and the natives were of frequent occurrence. The Bay of Islands Observer of the 15th June, 1840, records one of these of more than ordinary seriousness. Some of Pomare's tribe refused to surrender a deserter until a reward was paid. A detachment of soldier seized some of the tribe as hostages, and & struggle occurred, in which a few shots were fired by the military, bub forbunately without effect.

Hongi, on his deathbed, solemnly warned his son Hoke to beware of the men in red (soldiers), who would take away theii lands. This was "he pupu lohahaporoahi," or dying injunction. The latent suspicion aroused by this caution was fanned into flame by some vicious white man, who pointed to the British flag, hoisted on a flagstaff upon a hill overlooking the town, as an insignia of slavery, telling the natives that the flag indicated that the mana, over their lands had departed to the Queen. In July, 1844. Heke, the son of Hongi, cub down the flagstaff. Six weeks later, Governor Fitzroy, having received reinforcements from Sydney, proceeded to tho Bay of Islands and had an interview with the chiefs. Heke read a letter of apology for his conduct, and offered to erect another flagstaff, though ho pointed out that the flagstaff which he had cub down was pub up by the natives themselves for their own national flag, and had been appropriated by the Government without payment. The Governor demanded that a certain number of guns should be surrendered, a severe penalty in those days, when the natives set such an enormous value on firearms. Several chiefs, however, responded by laying a number of guns and tomahawks at the Governor's feet, and to all appearance the trouble was amicably settled. The British flag flew again for a space on a new flagstaff in a strong blockhouse. Bub Heke came a second time and chopped ib down. A party of bluejackets from H. M.s. Hazard, and soldiers pub up another flagstaff, this time ironclad to a height -of eight feet. Heke retaliated by surprising the blockhouse ab about four o'clock one morning, and sacking the town of Kororareka, destroying or looting property roughly valued at £40,000. Two thousand warriors were said to have composed his army. A gallant effort was made by the troops and marines from H.M.s. Hazard to drive tho natives back ; but the hill commanding Kororareka having been taken by the enemy, the forces were obliged to retire into a stockade in the town. Soon afterwards the natives made a simultaneous attack, which was repulsed. It was here that Lieutenant PhilpoEt displayed so much intrepid courage. The natives retired into the hills at one o'clock. The magazine in the stockade exploded, and the marines and troops having nearly exhausted their ammunition, the inhabitants were embarked on the Hazard and other vessels, and the town was left to its fate, It was immediately entered by the enemy, who plundered and burnt the houses. In this encounter 12 Europeans were killed and 20 wounded. The supposed loss of the natives was 30 killed and 70 wounded. The refugees were brought to Auckland in the United States corvette St. Louis, the whaler Matilda, and Dolphin schooner. There is a story of the times, which, whether true or not, serves to show the intense ill-feeling between some of the European settlers and the missionaries. Ib is alleged by a correspondent, of the New Zealand Journal that on the day preceding tho attack a missionary assured the Europeans thab thero was no cause for alarm, although, as was afterwards proved, he was at that very time removing his own goods to a place of safety. But the tocsin of war had sounded, and was followed by a aeries of disastrous encounters ab Ohaeawai and Ruapekapeka, in which the 58bh and 99th were roughly handled. The chief Kawiti, speaking of these fights, said : —" I have stood five successive engagements with the soldiers belonging to the greatest white nation in the world—the soldiers that we have been told would fight until every man was killed. Bub I am now perfectly satisfied that they are men, nob' gods ; and had they nothing bub muskets like ourselves, I should have been in my pa ab the present timo." Tho war was terminated by the clever capture of Ruapekapeka on January 11, 1846, Governor Grey, who had succeeded Governor Fitzroy, being an eye-witness of tho operations. The pa, which was very .strong, was taken by surprise. Ib was Sunday, and tho natives were ab prayers outside when the friendly natives under Tamatai Waka and the troops rushed in. A desperate attempt by the enemy to recapture the position failed utterly. There is an old proverb that "all is fair in love or war," bub ib was long before the Maoris forgave the Europeans for what they regarded as a gross breach of the Fourth Commandment. I saw similar instances in Taranaki and the Waikato in 1860-61, and 1863-5, where strict regard for the observance of tho Sabbath was made subservient to the exigencies of war. To give the natives* their due, they showed more respect for the Sabbath than we enlightened Christians did. «-

On January 29, 1846, the Governor meb Hoke and the principal chiefs, who agreed to re-erect the flagstaff. " We will erect it together," said Heke, " I and the Governor, and then shall New Zealand be made one with England." Heke at firsb stipulated that the flagstaff should not be re-erected for twelve months, but afterwards waived that objection. Some idea of the extreme difficulty of fighting the Maoris in their fastnesses may be gathered from one of Colonel Despard's despatches to the War Office. " Some of the guns were ineffective for breaching," he writes, "as they frequently upset from their own firing." The New Zealand Journal of January 17, 1846, remarked : " Catching Heke is something like telling a child that the way to catch a sparrow is to pub salt on its tail. The probability is that he will get some missionary to plead that he is a Christian and a martyr, and we shall nob be surprised to hoar that he has been escorted from Auckland in a similar manner bo what Rauparaha was at) Wellington, 20 Maoris in fronb, a Christian pastor on horseback, attended by aborigines protectors, and clergy on each side, followed by a train of 20 Maoris." The same journal of April 22, 1848, had the following fling at the troops :—" At present thinking men are of opinion that the troops are kept for the purpose of amusing the natives when they take a fanoy to a war excursion of a month or so. This, and no other, is really their work. When the natives are tired and want to go to their potato fields, the troops knock off till the natives stir them up again." Then, as in later years, there were traitors in the camp who sold arms and ammunition to the natives, regardless of consequences to their fellow-colonists. The New Zealander of August, 1845, says : — " We would most earnestly call the attention of the local Government to the fact that Heke obtains supplies of gunpowder '■ direct from Auckland. The blindness and neglect evidenced by the Government with respect to the importation of arms and ammunition are really most astonishing." Cruise mentions that in 1820 the Catherine, whaler, at the Bay of Islands bartered a quantity of gunpowder for potatoes. Bub the example was set by no less an authority than the British Government itself. Polack, in his "Narrative of Events from 1831 to 11837," says :— "The British Government in I trading with tho, native chiefs for spars or

flax has invariably supplied the people with ammunition, such, as fowling pieces, muskets, and powder, and it may be supposed that the ship Buffalo, now loading for the Government in New Zealand, has a similar investment." Was it Nemesis thatfollowed in the footsteps of wrongdoing when in after years those Tower muskets were turned against the British troops ? There has been an idea abroad that Kimball. Bant, a soldier who deserted to the enemy during the Taranaki war, was the first who did so. 1 find, however, in the New Zealander of August 8, 1846, the statement that a sentence of transportation for life had been recorded against Privates Lane, Morris, and Bailey, of the 99th Regiment, " who deserted the forces and joined the rebel chief Kawiti."

It has been already stated that when Mr. ' Shortland went to Kaitaia to obtain signa- ! tures to a treaty supplementary to that concluded at Waitangi, some of the chiefs informed him that they had been invited to join in a league of the Hokianga and Ngapuhi tribes, with tne object of driving the Europeans into the sea. Whatever success attended this conspiracy, the league does not appear to have made much noise .until some years later. The Southern Cross of March 4,1847, contains an :iccouiitof a league formed' by Heke between certain tribes in the North against the natives in the proyinco of Auckland in order to resist any understanding being come to between them and the Government. This was probably the seed of the Land League, and the king movement organised by Te Heuheu in the Waikato and Taupo districts in after years. The league formed by Heke seems to have confined its action mainly to issuing insolent proclamations, and levying blackmail upon the settlers. Some of the chiefs connected with the confederacy asserted their independence by refusing to pay debts owing to Europeans. Towards the end of 1848 Mr. Thomas Davis, son of the Rev. R. Davis, was the victim of the blackmailers. He had purchased land from a native, and employed Maori labourers upon it. One of these kindled a fire upon land claimed by Heke, who demanded £15 and a horse as utu (compensation). Mr. Davis protested that this action was more like that of a slave than a chief. Heke construed this into a curse and demanded £5 more. Davis was forced to fetch the horse late at night, and when Heke received this and the money he handed back 30s to Davis and his son as a slight compensation " for the darkness of their hearts." Heke afterwards sent a peremptory order to the Inspector of Police, Mr. White, to quit the district, bub the friendly chief Nopera (Noble), who had been with Tamati Waka, a staunch ally of the Europeans, dared Heke to come on. In 1849, Heke senb many messages to Government officials, commanding them to appear before him, and he warned the Europeans against coming into New Zealand, " because the sea is the country of the European men. Should this warning nob be attended to," he threatened, "My good intentions are ended, and the lion shall be let loose to roar and to bite." But by this time the lion's teeth had been drawn, and his claws pared. Auckland had been menaced with attack, and been put into a state of defence. Heke sent a message to Mr. Clarke, Chief Protector of Aborigines, stating that if the troop? were sent to fight him at the Bay of Islands, he would come down and attack Auckland. At one time, after the sack of Kororareka, a rumour was circulated that Heke was within three days' march of the capital. All the European inhabitants, between the ages of IS and 60, were sworn in as special constables. Great alarm was created one day in the city by the presence of some hundreds of natives, who were reported to have arms concealed in the vicinity. In the Legislative Council, on September 19, 1844, a Militia Bill was introduced, bub was shelved on the motion of Dr. Martin.

When the war terminated at the Bay of Islands, the centre of disturbance was shifted to the South, where the savage chief Rauparaha contrived for some time to keep up a reign of terror. Ultimately he was cleverly captured at his village, Porirua, and tamed. .

At a military review held in Auckland on November 13, 1847, Ivawiti was present, attired in a. red blanket, and gazing upon the pageant with supercilious indifference. Tamiti Waka promenaded the ground in the garb of peace, while Rauparaha, in naval uniform, followed his captor and host, Captain Stanley, with all the obedience of a child. This incident reminds us of an anecdote relating to old Te Wherowhero, a mighty conqueror, and bloodthirsty savage, who sat down after a successful battle with a hostile ■ tribe, caused the heads of the prisoners to be placed on a block before him, and slew them until he was bespattered with blood, and his arm became powerless. This same gentle savage afterwards sat in evening costume at a grand banquet given by Sir George Grey in Auckland, and conducted himself with all the stately dignity and propriety of a fine old English gentleman. [To be continued.]!