LAWLESS COASTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23097, 23 July 1938, Page 10

LAWLESS COASTS

CRUISE OF PELORUS NEW ZEALAND 100 YEARS AGO AN INCIDENT AT MARAETAI Within 20 years of Cook's exploration of the New Zealand coast a convict settlement was established at Sydney, and in the following years whalers and sealers and traders in flax and spars began to reach New Zealand. Among these men were escaped convicts and fugitives from justice, and soon the evil reputation of the New Zealand coast spread beyond her shores. In 1814 Thomas Kendall and two Maori chiefs, Hongi and Korokoro, wero appointed • J.P's, and in 1832 James Busby was given the post of British agent in New Zealand. He lacked coercive power and the urgency of the problem of dealing with lawlessness was realised, ships of the Koyal Navy being sent on cruises round the New Zealand coast. Visit of Man-01-War One hundred years ago yesterday one of these ships, H-M.S. Pelorus, was in Coromandel Harbour and six days later she arrived at Maraetai on the Waihou (or Thames) Biver, where Lieutenant Chetwode found that Maoris had attempted to extort goods from Mr. Kairbnrn, who was in charge of the mission there. Lieutenant Chetwode addressed a circular letter io the chiefs of the district, in which he said ha had been sent by the Queen of England to protect all her subjects who had settled in the country for the purpose of carrying on a lawful traffic with the natives, as long as they abided by the law. , The letter strongly reprimanded the Maoris for their attack on Mr. Fairburn's house, stating that the conduct could not have been overlooked had the missionary not interceded on their behalf. Naming ol Pelorus Sound "Although the man-of-war will sail from this place to-morrow, she is never at so great distance but that any British subject can acquaint me in a short time if he has been ill-used, when I shall not fail to answer his complaint and see him righted," Lieutenant Chetwode stated. The Pelorous sailed southward from Thames to visit the whaling stations in the Cook Strait area. On August 22 she arrived at Port Underwood and was visited by John Guard, who claimed to have seen a river between Queen Charlotte Sound and Admiralty Bay, which Lieutenant Chetwode determined to explore, taking Guard as a guide. On September 1 the inlet, which proved to be a sound, was sighted, and it was named Pelorus Sound after the ship. Whaling Parties' Dispute After exploring the sound, the ship left on September 8 for Admiralty Bay, sailing from there to Queen Charlotte Sound and turning into Tory, Channel, anchoring at the whaling station of Te Awaiti. Periodical visits by a man-of-war were essential to the maintenance of order among th'e 100 Europeans who lived at the settlement, but on this occasion Lieutenant Chetwode found that the leader of the station had been robbed by the local Maoris. The Maoris fled when the man-of-war arrived and much plunder was regained. The Pelorus was the means of avoiding bloodshed when she returned later to Port Underwood, where a dispute between British and American whaling parties over the ownership of a whale was about to result in open warfare. Order was restored by the lieutenant's tact and a "firing practice" by the Pelorus. British Rule Inevitable Incidents such as these were in the ordinary round of duties of the Pelorus and other men-of-war which patrolled the coasts of New Zealand 100 years i ago, and itinerant justice and policing of the coasts was not enough. Waitangi and the establishment of British rule were already inevitable and events were leading steadily toward the climax of the demand which made itself heard even by unwilling British statesmen. W.