STORY OF THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23263, 4 February 1939, Page 20 (Supplement)

STORY OF THE MACKENZIE COUNTRY

NO one who knows the Mackenzie Country, an area of stony upland plains, valleys and hills in South Canterbury to which steep passes give entrance, would ever 'want to change the name it bears of the rude Highland shepherd who discovered it. It is fittingly named, for it has characteristics associated with the man who used it as a secret fastness in which to graze stolen flocks of sheep. It is what sheepman know as hard country. It emphasises the ruthlessness of nature. The summer sua converts a great part of it into a haat bowl in which grasses brown and die. Its appearanoo is then desert-like, a suggestion intensified by the thorny and almost leafless "wild Irishman" scrub and the viciously-spiked Spaniard plant that is widely distributed throughout. In winter it often lies deep in snow. Blizzards sweep down upon

-1 Dominion. His immediate source of plunder was a sheep run known as the Levels, that covered much of South Canterbury, and over which huge flocks roamed at will. Ho made his forays at night in the way of his ancestors, and except for the bleAt of the startled sheep and the low whistles of tllie man, there was little sound to give warning, for Mackenzie's dog was tongueless! Ruthless Purpose The act that robbed the dog of its tongue surely indicates the ruthless purpose of this strange character, for, as will be shown later, he loved his collie companion. He took its tongue so that it would not betray him; yet, such is the working of Fate, it was his devoted, faithful dog that brought about his undoing. One night he cut out a draft of 1000 sheep from tho Levels flocks and

weapon, and his assistants rushed in and handcuffed Mackenzie before he could rise from the bed —for the redhaired man was the sheep-robber. His weapon was found to be a knife, uot a pistol, the clicking noise having been made by his fingers to deceive the police into thinking lie had a firearm. With pomp and circumstance, Meckenzie was brought to trial, Mr. Jus-

it from the bordering Southern Alps aad there are • unbelievably intense frosts that even freeze' indoors such articles as boots and convert lakes into thick ice.

trekked up a valley, and over a pass that bears his name, into his secret domain. Pursuers were on his tracks, however, and they came upon him as he slept with a gun at his side. They knew not then what manner of man he vras. Ho almost woke into action. A blow from a piece of wood stretched unconscious the overseer of the Levels run and he made off, scaling a rough hillside with amazing speed. Tho next scene "is laid in a shanty in lyttelton three days later. Word had come to the police of the escape of Mackenzie and though it seemed unbelievable that on Soot he could have reached Lyttelton in the time, his presence was' suspected in. the shanty. Ferret-Like Eyes Leaving two: armed men in the passage outside, a police officer entered a room. Upon a bed lay a man. His appearance was remarkable. .His hair was a tangle of red. His cheek bones were high* and his eyes, deep-set and ferret-like, gave a character of cunning to tho whole face. As the police officer entered, a click sounded under tho pillows. Persuaded that a pistol had been cocked, the officer levelled his own

tice Stephen, with a full retinue, crier and all, travelling from Wellington to Lyttelton for the purpose. The trial must surely rank unique in what proved tho chief witness. Throughout the proceedings Mackenzie had refused to plead, standing silent and st»lid, affecting not to understand English; but only his native Gaelic.

It has known much brutality. But a few decades ago half-famished dogs were chained in remote places within its borders. Visited every few days only with food and water, they served the purpose of boundary fences, turning by their angry barking any wandering sheep that came within their vision. Ninety Years Ago Into this country 90 years ago went Jock Mackenzie, his worldly possessions on "a bullock, a collie dog running at his side. Its remoteness 1 and inaccessibility would have immediately suggested its suitability for the scheme that must have been in the mind of its discoverer in his wanderings. His next move was to go to Oiago, where he obtained a licence to occupy country north-west from Timaru and midway between the sea and the coast of "the Middle Island." Secure with he returned and embarked on 'the greatest thefts of jheep recorded in the history of th«

Then the dog was brought in, and, rushing upon the prisoner, it whined its joy. The" effect upon Mackenzie was astounding. The iron man broke down. Sobbing, with his arm around the companion of several years of solitude, he pleaded that his dog should be permitted in prison with him. And he spoke: in English I The dog did not accompany its master to Lyttelton gaol, to' which Mackenzie was sentenced to five years' penal servitude. But Mackenzie's name was to continue to excite the popular imagination because of a series of daring escapes. and man-hunts that were to cause the authorities such acute embarrassment that they took a course that must bo unique in New Zealand history. Four months after his confinement, Mackenzie escaped. Ho was caught on the hills some days later and sentenced to three months with 181b. irons.

Secret Fastness of of Early Days

REIVER OF SOUTH CANTERBURY PLAINS

By E. MV.

While out with a gang before the three months had expired, Mackenzie knocked tlje handle off his pick, used it as a weapon, and in spite of the handicap of his iron?, made off up the hillside. The guard did a very rash thing. He fired his carbine at the retreating prisoner. It was an ancient weapon and split at the muzzle; but it fired without injury to tho guard or Mac-

kenziel A day later, when Biding in the fern of a gully near Sumner, the prisoner was caught again. He had sawn the rivets of the irons that fettered his legs with jagged tin. Triumphant Procession Trussed and thrown into a cart, a trinmphant procession set off to escort him to Christchurch, but Mackenzie had some of the qualities of the elusive "Pimpernel." The procession had gone a few miles only when it was discovered that the occupant of tho cart was missing. There was a great scurrying among the guard, and eventually Mackenzie was discovered in the distance. Ho was pursued, and as he refused to stop, he was fired upon, a slug entering his hack and bringing him down. The guards made no mistake this time. Though wounded, their prisoner was heavily ironed and taken back to Lyttelton Gaol. Yet four months later the news went out that Mackenzie was at large again, and onco more a manhunt was on. I have seen the lair where Mackenzie watched while the search for him proceeded. He chose an eyrie 2000 ft. up in the bush at the base of one of Cooper's Knobs, these being throe pecu-

liar rock formations on the crest of rugged hills at tho head of Lyttelton Harbour. ,

J A thread oi smoke from his camp fire cansed suspicion of hi? presence, and as the hi]]s in the vicinity were bushcovered, Maoris from the near by bushof Raupaki were persuaded by promise of reward to search for him. They got their man, but when they were met coming in with him, several bore traces of a mauling. For Mackenzie was a fighter and dour. Yet he was a sorry object, more dead than alive -svhen the iwlice and warders oamo upon him. Ho had been badly battered in the fight. Whon overcome he had boon -lashed tightlj' to a pole with flax, and a dirty blankei twisted suffocatingly pound him. Thus secured, ho was borne on the pole by four natives. Conditional Pardon By this time the sporting spirit of the compiunity had risen to the surface, and sympathy for the discoverer of the Mackenzie country was widespread. An even more potent factor was at work. The -authorities were not only heartily sick of tho trouble he was causing, but the expense incurred by his escapes was a heavy burden 011 their finances. So the sheriff was instructed to draw up a petition to tho Governor, Colonel Gore Brown, for a conditional pardon. And pardoned Mackenzie was, on condition that ho left the colony, but that should he return, he would serve tho unexpired period of his sentence.

So Mackenzie left New and the authorities thankfully wrote "Finis'' to the escapacjes of the llosshine Ismael. In that belief they had not taken fully into consideration the defiant daring of the man. He returned to New Zealand. I was told that when I was a youth by an old man, the late Mr. E. W. Seager, tho police officer who had pounced on Mackenzie in the shack in Lyttelton.

Moreover, the authorities became aware of his presence. Yet so far as I

could lofiTa they took no action; they preferred, a Nelsoni.an eye. Of Mackenzie's life, if he stayed m the colony, there is no record, but I lii© to think that h© went back ever a rocky pass to his old domain, drawn by unforgettable memories. I could understand his yielding to that desire because the country that bears his name has an ensnaring spell. It is stoney ajid, in ssason, starkly barren; yet when snowy mountains are

mirrored in Lake Tekapo and a slantim. sun casts strong lights that with liquid shadows, it is a place of l strangely compelling beauty.

The man who cried over his do?, with his fingers entwined in its shacp coat, while a hostile court the trap into which he had fallen, W it is very clefir, the Highland sensitive ness to beauty, and some portion of jm starved soul must have responded to ths allure of the country he had found.