JOHN RUTHERFORD'S, ADVENTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13866, 28 September 1908, Page 8

JOHN RUTHERFORD'S, ADVENTURES.

Sir,—l .see by to-day's issue of the Herat..!) that Messrs. Whitcombo and Tombs have republished tho story of John Rutherford. John Rutherford's marvellous adventures wore long since exposed as apocrypha! by the late Archdeacon Williams, of Waiapil. Ho showed conclusively that the natives of the Poverty Bay district had no tradition or knowledge of the capture of any vessel such as the Agues, that none of the places mentioned by Rutherford wore known on tho East Coast, and nono of the chiefs mentioned : by Rutherford ever lived in that, district. Archdeacon Williams inferred from the names of the chiefs, all well-known ones at the Bay of Islands, that Rutherford had lived amongst tho Maoris at, the bay. After the Bishop had written his paper I accidentally turned up the following reference to Rutherford in Terry's New Zealand," published 1842, page 198 :—" Allusion will be made hero only to one other alleged instance of cruelty on tho part of tho natives, on account of its source. In tho volume, entitled "The New Zcalanders," published some years since, tho adventures of a man named Rutherford occupy a considerable portion. These adventures arc, for tho most part, fabulous, for it is well known by some of the present European residents," who have been in New Zealand for many years, that he camo from New South Wales, and when bo reached New Zealand Ho deserted his ship, and wont into the bush of his own accord ; therefore, whatever truth may bo attached to his narrative of the habits of the natives, their character as regards the massacre of Rutherford a companions is ontirelv free from stain. . Rutherford, who had been most elaborately tattooed,' was figuring as a side show in a circus in Dublin, when be met, the guiloless Professor Lillio 'Craik, who, to publish the astounding adventures of Mr. Rutherford, must have used a great amount of midnight oil in hunting up previous records of Maori customs and habits. (Professor Craik wrote an interesting and accnrato descrintion of the Maori as he was, and interlarded it with the apocryphal story of Rutherford. I hope thoso who buy the book will, out of justice to tho Maori race, realiso that fiction dies hard. '_ . .;- E.G. B. Moss. Auckland, September 23. '.