FIRST MAORI WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 16

FIRST MAORI WAR

THE BAYLY LECTURE BATTLES IN THE 'FORTIES CAUSES OF THE CONFLICT The war of 1845-46 in the Tsorth was discussed from the Maori point of view by Mr. C. E. MacCormick, Judge of the Native Land Court, in tho annual Bayly Lecture, delivered last night at tho Officers' Club. Tho lecture was established in 1928 by Mrs. Hannah Bayly, in memory of her husband, Captain Isaac Bayly, Hawera Rifles; who took part in tho Taranaki campaigns. The chief cause of the Maori Wars, said tho lecturer, was tho natives' alarm at tho constant pressure of European settlement, together with dissatisfaction over the land purchases, not only by private persons, but by officers of the Government and tho New Zealand Company. A Crop of Thistles Another reason for their resort to arms was given by a chief to Colonel McDonnell, n very well known militia officer of that day,' in tho following words: "We thought it would he easy to vanquish and kill tho pakelias. Wo looked upon them as merely a large number of thistles easily cut down and rooted up; and as we had endured much wrong the thought of an easy victory was very fascinating to our nature. But the chief reason of our commencing to fight -was the unjust manner in which our lands were being torn from us. There were no Native Land Courts in those days." Taking up the narrative of Hone Helce's war after the burning of Kororareka. where it had been left by an earlier lecturer, Professor R. M. Algie, Mr. MacCormick described the unsuccessful attack on the pa To Kahika, near Lake Omapere, by tho British troops, the disastrous attempt to take the heavily-fortified pa at Ohaeawai by frontal attack, and the final capture of the rebel stronghold at Ruapekapeka, which ended the war. He also mentioned a battle at, Ohaeawai between native forces led by Hone Heke and Te Tao Nui. a lieutenant of the loyal chief Tamati Waaka Nene, as probably tho greatest of the campaign and the most disastrous to the rebel cause. Enduring Reconciliation - Tho later wars had no counterpart ,in the North, said the lecturer, bocause missionary influences there remained strong and tho Government refrained from confiscating native lands. Tho crowning act of reconciliation took place in January. 1858, when the flagstaff on tho hill at Kororarcka was restored by the voluntary act of the natives who had engaged in the rebellion. *The northern natives refused to have anything to do with the Kingite movement in the Waikato, and their friendship with tho pakeha remained unbroken from 1846 onward. The thanks of tho club were expressed to Mr. MacCormick by tho president, Colonel C. S. White, who presided.