LIFE OF TE KOOTI

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21520, 17 June 1933, Page 13

LIFE OF TE KOOTI

CAMPAIGN IN UREWERA THIS YEAR'S BAYLY LECTURE GOVERNOR-GENERAL ATTENDS The Bayly lecture, which is given annually on a subject dealing with New Zealand history, with particular reference to the Maori wars, was delivered at the Officers' Club last evening by Mr. W. S. Dale, whose subject was "Te Kooti." The president, Mr. C. H. T. Palmer, presided over a largo attendance. At tho conclusion of the lecture .Mr. Dale was presented with the prize by the Governor-General, Lord Bledisioe. Referring to Te Kooti's youth, Mr. Dale, whose lecture was largely based on personal researches he had conducted among tho Maoris of the Urewera and East Coast districts, said the notorious skill in horsemanship and in handling a boat was later the means of his main line of attack and mode of escape. At the battle of Gate Pa in 1861 he first came under pakeha notice, being saved from summary execution by Colonel Porter, Doubts as to his loyalty, however, led to his banishment to tho Chatham Islands with about 280 other Maoris. Escape from Chathams While under arrest he showed his proclivities for religious services by acting as lay reader. Owing, however, to political retrenchment, the guard at tho Chathams was dangerously reduced to one non-commissioned officer and 15 privates, with the result that Te Kooti saw an opportunity to escape. When the supply ship Rifleman arrived in June, IS6B, lie attacked the- sailors, bound them until they submitted and forced them to take the ship back to New Zealand. Speaking of Te Kooti's landing at Whareongaonga, near Young Nick's Head, tho lecturer said two days went by before the authorities heard of it. Indeed, tho Rifleman, when liberated, took a week to reach Wellington, which seemed to indicate that the sailors had been intimidated. Maps and photographs were used by Mr. Dale to trace the campaign conducted against To Kooti in the mountainous region of the Urewera, including the massacre at Poverty Bay and the subsequent engagements with British troops and friendly Maoris. Te Kooti's favourite mode of travel was on a grey horse. He was usually preceded by an advance guard and was immediately followed by a bevy of women, after which came the main body. Tho massacre at Opepe was effected by a pretence of friendliness, tho Maoris shaking hands with their victims, at the same time despatching them with tomahawks. An Up-to-date History Whatever history might have to say concerning To Kooti, concluded Mr. Dale, it had to be recognised that he was a remarkable warrior, whose success was aided considerably by his claims to the supernatural. In presenting the lecturer with the Bayly prize, Lord Bledisloe recalled that on the last occasion on which he attended the club's gathering he had ventured to suggest there was scope for a more up-to-date history of New Zealand, benefiting by modern research, and that the young people of the Dominion might bo all the better if they were inspired by the spirit of nationhood as the result of such a history being written. In spite of the great work performed in that direction by Mr. James Cowan, he still felt there was scope for a more concentrated form of history fit for assimilation by young people and one that might place before them the more salient incidents in the Dominion's history. His Excellency congratulated the lecturer on the meticulous research conducted by him in the preparation of his lecture.