TRIBAL DISPUTES AT TE AKAU

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13148, 10 April 1906, Page 6

TRIBAL DISPUTES AT TE AKAU

AN EXCITING INCIDENT. Ever since a Native Land Court, which sat at Ngaruavahia last year, issued a decree

by -which the title of that portion of the Te Akau Block embracing the rich grazing lands of Mangati was vested in the Tainui tribe, there has been (writes our Raglan correspondent) some feeling between the lat-

ter and their unsuccessful rival claimants, the Ngatatahanga tribe. The trouble culminated on Monday last in an attempt on the part of the Ngatatahanga Maoris to remove from Mangati about 500 head of cattle, the pakeha owners of which are paying grazing fees to the Tainuis. Representatives of both tribes were there in considerable

force, the Ngatatahangas mustering almost a score, and the Tainuis half that number, while some half-dozen Europeans intimately associated with the opposing interests were also on the spot. The position of affairs was as- follows:— Ngatatahanga tribe, being dissatisfied with the above-mentioned decision of the Native Land Court, had given notice of their intention to try to get it set aside, and in the meantime disputed the right of the Tainuis to lease the grazing rights of Mangati, pending the sitting of the Appeal Court next July. On the other hand, the Tainuis and Europeans, to whom they had disposed of the rights to run cattle at Mangati, claimed that they were in legal possession consequent upon the ruling of the judge of the Land Court, and that their tenure could only be disturbed when that ruling was reversed by a higher tribunal.

All who were present were well mounted, and most of them carried stockwhips. The Ngatatahangas rode around and mustered the cattle, pressing them towards a narrow pass in the steep hillside, which gave egress from the clearings and access to the country beyond. But the Tainuis and the European representatives of the cattleowners had foreseen that this pass was the key to the position, and had taken possession of it, with the result that as the cattle were driven towards them they had little difficulty in scattering the animals, the operations on both sides being repeated again and again. The excitement ran so high that a free light seemed imminent. Stockwhips cracked, dogs barked, Maoris and Europeans vociferated loudly, and Constable McCarthy, of Raglan, who had got wind of what was likely to happen, and who had gone to Maagati to avert a possible breach of the peace, had to use much tact and energy in persuading the opposing native factions that there were other and better ways of settling their differences than by fighting. Fortunately, wise counsel prevailed, and the Tainuis were left in possession of the held.