THE POVERTY BAY MASSACRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11987, 9 June 1902, Page 7

THE POVERTY BAY MASSACRE.

TO THE EDITOR. ( Sir,—'Will you allow me to supplement Captain Fernandez's letter 011 the above subject in to-day's Herald? There were grave doubts whether the Maoris captured during the war could l>e legally charged with treason, or whether they would be so regarded by the Supreme Court. In this difficulty an agreement was made with them by .Sir George Grey and the Government that they should be taken to the Cliathams and ho kept there till peace was restored in New Zealand. Peace came. With it came a new Governor (Sir George Eowen), and amid other work tlu arrangement made with the Maoris was apparently overlooked. .No action, was taken for their return; hence the trouble that followed. That was told to me by Sir George Grey himself at the great Maori meeting at To Kopua in 1879. My friend, the late Captain Thomas, told me that he, being then in charge of the Maoris at the Cliathams, knew that they were daily expecting their return to New Zealand. A despatch which ho then received gave him much anxiety, for it directed him to tell the Maoris that they must take special earo of a quantity of potatoes then sent, as they were to be used as seed for the next, year's supply. The faces of the Maoris fell on his giving this information, which he called them together to bear. The seizure of the Rifleman and their return to New Zealand was the speedy result. At the To Kopua meeting in 1379 To Kooti legged me very earnestly, as a member of the Assembly, to seek his pardon, 1" declined, telling him that his massacre of women and children at Poverty Bay was an unpardonable offence, which white men could not forgive. He answered that he had not personally taken part in that massacre, but did not deny his full responsibility. He admitted that white men had never killed women and children, but charged us with having paid Te Ropata and others, whom we must have known did not spare his women and children or show any mercy throughout the war. His reply made a gTeat impression on my mind, the more so as he declared that lie had never fought against us before, and had been seized and sent away without trial to the Chatham Islands by the complaint only of certain people in Gisbornc, who had a bad feeling against him. 1 may arid that Captain Thomas had asked me to try and got from To Kooti his sword, taken from the Chathams, and to which h<attached great value, as it had been his father's before him. Hence my special desire to see To Kooti. He promised to send the sword if he could find where it was, but had long lost sight of it altogether. It may he interesting to add that Te Kooti, at the To Kopua meeting, was chiefly known as a powerful preacher, holding services (Ilauhau, I was told) to large and devout crowds in front of his tent, during the day. Curiously, too. for a. Maori, ho held tobacco in especial dislike, and none were allowed to smoke near him.— am, etc., Frederic J. Moss. March 4, 1902.