SELWYN AND THE MAORIS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22465, 8 July 1936, Page 17

SELWYN AND THE MAORIS

Si r _—The anecdote about Bishop Selw.vn related to the Auckland Historical Society, as told in a local in Saturday's Herald, is another ol the j numerous cases of stories relating to ; our early history in which the main facts have been obscured by a growth of legend. Briefly put, it was that Bishop Selw.vn swam across the ;y----kato River at Tuakau, and turned back a force of 400 armed Maoris on their wav to attack Auckland. The correct version is very different. Toward the end of 1860 arose considerable heartburnings among the natives of Patumahce, who had up to then been on excellent terms with the early European settlers of Mauku, in their close vicinity. A young Maori, named Eriata. was found dead from shot wounds on a bush track, and his people firmly believed he had been murdered by a pakeha. So threatening was their attitude that Major Speedy, district magistrate and in command of the local volunteers, deemed it necessary to take measures to securo the safety of the settlers. The men capable ot bearing arms garrisoned the recently-erected church, and the women and children wore placed aboard a schooner sent up from Onehiiiiga, and for three or tour uncomfortable days awaited the tuin of events. Jn the meantime the Waikato natives determined to investigate matters themselves, and for that purpose a number of them came down the river to Purnpuni, not iinkiiu* liion were accompanied by Wirimu Tameliana, a sober-minded chief of great influence, and it is certain that they did not set out from their homes as a war party, much less as invaders of Auckland", though, of course, there was always danger that angry feelings might be in (lamed into acts of violence. Tliev were met on the Mauku side of the Waikato bv Bishop Selwyn and Dr. Robert Maiinsell, at that time in charge of the Church Mission Station at Kohanga, and later for many years Archdeacon of Auckland. So little were Taniehana's people looked on as an offensive force that several of the local settlers also went to meet them. Meanwhile Mr. Donald (afterwards Sir Donald) McLean and Major Speedy had a talk to the natives at Patuinahoe, and pacified them. Dr. Maunsell and Mr. J. Keliher, a local settler who had been in the Purapura expedition, rode out to the White Cliffs, on the Mauku Estuary, where the schooner was anchored, and the settlers were shortly restored to their homes. It may bo added that investigation showed that Eriata had been killed by one of his own people, who was jealous of him, and although there may have been no actual legal proof of this it was accepted by the tribe as a fact. 11. E. R. L. Wily.