EXCITING INCIDENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19321, 7 May 1926, Page 10

EXCITING INCIDENT.

THE DISPUTE WITH NATIVES. MILL ENGINE HELD UP. WAHINES OBSTRUCT RAILSPARTIES DECLARE A TRUCE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] TE KDITI. Thursday. There were exciting happenings at Tiroa 011 Tuesday. afternoon when Messrs. Ellis nnd Burnand, Ltd., attempted to gain entrance to the. timber blocks which had been closed by tile native owners following alleged breaches of the agreement by the company. As a result of a message from the company that it intended to send a locomotive fo remove logs from the block under police protection the owners assembled on Tuesday morning at the gate they had erected across the tramline. After four hours' vigilance the locomotive with a train of empty trucks arrived, steaming to within a few feet of the gate. The mill manager and the bush manager alighted, accompanied by a constable, and demanded in the name of the police that the gate be opened and the train allowed |to pass. Questioned as to his purpose and I authority for being present the constable said ho was there to prevent a breach of the peace. The agent of the owners then refused to open the gate and reminded the manager that the natives had formally reentered the property. If the company persisted in forcing the gate the results would probably be disastrous and the responsibility would be upon tho company. Several native women lay upon the rails and were apparently determined that the engine should only pass over their bodies. Upon being appealed to by the manager the, natives' leader, chief Taroa Te Rangitana, stated that through a similar act by the company some months ago he had sustained a broken leg. He refused to allow the engine to advance another inch. The mill manager then ordered the gate to be forced. However attempts to jack out the gate posts were frustrated by the passive resistance of two Maori "women, one of whom interposed her body between tho post and the jack while the other jammed the handle of the jack against the gate. After two attmpts had failed tho company's officials asked if they would bo allowed to take the trucks through and leave them at tho Psernako siding. To this the natives agreed and tho manager promised that if the owners would declare a truce and leave the gate open the company would not attempt to remove any logs until after the sitting of the Maori"Land Board. The owners accepted this promise and a truce was' declared on these terms. SERIOUSNESS DISCOUNTED. SMALL SECTION OF MAORIS. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] HAMILTON. Thursday. A representative of Messrs. Ellis and Burnand, Ltd., stated to-day that tho trouble at the firm's sawmill at Mangapehi was not nearly so serious as the reports emanating from Te Kniti -would lead people to believe. What trouble there was, he said, was confined to a very small section of the native owners of the land through which Ellis and Bumand's tramline passed, and it was stated that the dispute was being engineered by outside influences. Representatives of the firm have visited Mangapehi, and have informed the natives concerned that if they have any grievances they have their remedy which could be obtained through proper and constitutional channels. It was stated that the whole matter would come before the Native Land Court, which sits at Te Kuiti to-morrow. Representatives of the company leave Hamilton to-night to attend the Court.