PLIMMERTON.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1248, 30 January 1896, Page 9

PLIMMERTON.

VISIT BY THE PREMIER. j HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS. 1 i [R.A.L.] I On Saturday afternoon the Premier and some members of the Legislature, together with some well-known citizens of Wellington, paid a visit to Plimmerton. The chairman of directors of the Manawatu Pailway Company, Mr T. G. IVlacarthy, who with Mr Plimmer and Mr Anderson (directors of the Company) accompanied the party, had provided a special train. The party included the Lord iiisbop of Wellington (Dr Wallis), several ladies, the Premier's younger children, the Company's secretary, Mr Hannay, Mr Fulton, the Company's traffic manager and locomotive superintendent, and thfe representatives of the press. After a smart run through we found ourselves in the midst of the junior population of the growing watering place, and came to the conclusion that they were growing, too, and in a remarkably healthy manner. Sun and wind and sea water and sea sand appear to be wonderful for tanning the skin and giving health to the human constitution. The day was misty and muggy, but the surroundings of Plimmerton looked picturesque notwithstanding. In a few minutes the Premier and party were met by Mr Wi Parata and conducted to the bluff overlooking the township, making a halt at the old graveyard which is such a prominent landmark in those parts. The enclosure is part of a cemetery reserve of ten and a halt acres, in connection with the interests of which the Premier is on the ground at this particular moment. Preservation and improvement of scenery : that is the object. Some picturesque bush emerging through the mist on the sharp hill side running parallel with the coast is the first object. Preserve it is the Premier's verdict, and that may be considered as done. Then the ten acres l of graveyard. The idea is that the best thing to do with them is to plant them with trees, thus adding a picturesque spot to the scenery in a commanding position, and keeping the reserve inalienable according to the promise made to the Native owners. Then as to the burial ground. The fence is, we discover, as we cluster under the lee of one of its corners, venerable. A little dilapidated, of course, after its 52 years of battle with the gales, mists, showers of salt spray, the burning suns of summer and the mild frosts of winter. A practical hardheaded colonist of the party asks why don't they put a few nails in, a new paling or two. and some bits of scantling just to hold it together ; keep it from going to pieces, you know. Wi Parata, who is picturesque in a grey suit and broad-brimmed hat of the latest style, smiles, and puts on a look which proclaims that if he could speak Spanish he would ejaculate softly the " Quien Sabe immortalised by Bret Harte on the Californian slope at such points of interest as the " Mission Dolores," and that other famous spot where the " right eye of the commander " worked such havoc among a too inquisitive war party of the local Red Indian. Not knowing Spanish, and not being pressed to give the Maori equivalent, which immemorial tradition gives as " Taihoa," Wi Parata contents himself with his smile, and just sufficient of a gesture to enable him to take his cigar out of his mouth and replace it after a brief but eloquent puff. The Premier, who has been surveying the scene with the calmness of the Sphinx, saves the situation. Will the Maori people allow the Government to take up the remains of the great chief who reposes inside that venerable fence, plane them in a more populous graveyard of their race, say at Wakanae, and erect a monument over them ? A new generation is springing up here, he remarks incidentally. It will grow quicuer, he says, as he points to the rows of little flags floating in the mist on the low ridge below, inscribed each with the armorial bearings of Kennedy Mac and Company, and carrying legends announcing a coining sale of sections and lots. This new generation will grow and overflow, and have wants. Some day unscrupulous spirits will want to " bod the billy," after which the fence will be not even venerable.

This being 1 interpreted by the Hon Mr Carroll, Mr Wi Parata expresses himself delighted. Remove the remains to Waikanae and put a monument over them and the Maori people will be quite pleased. And who is this chief who lies buried here ? Before that question is answered we are told that the ordinary burial place of the tribe waß at the foot of the bluff, on that sandy strip, just one step higher than the seashore. There, after each gale has blown away the shifty sands, skulls and bones can be seen in numbers. The enclosure on the hill was a special burying-ground for the chief Te Hiko-te-Eangi, the son of Te Pehi, a considerable man among the Ngatitoa. Te Hiko was associated with Te Rauparaha in several of his expeditions, was much respected by his people, and lies within the fence, without any mark to distinguish his grave, awaiting the translation just arranged. About him are, we understand, the bodies of some of hia friends. Te Pehi is famous as the man who some time in the " thirties " got a passage to England in a most original fashion. He had beard of Hongi's visit to King George, and of the gain he got, and of the trade he established. He wanted to emulate this feat, to buy guns, and open up trade, and above all things to see the headquarters of the pakeha, to make acquaintance and establish relations with the great country which sent them forth equipped and furnished in such mighty num? bers. The Urania, a South Sea trader, was passing through Cook Strait, as Mr Moss has it in his school history, a very valuable, wellinformed and most fair compilation. A canoe put off from the Bhore, a Maori dived overboard, swam to the ship, and signified that he had come to stay. The skipper ordered him to be thrown overboard,but he clung to a ringbolt i and defied the ; pakeha to do their worst. Result, the skipper gave in and carried Te Pehi to London, which place he reached after a variety of adventures. In England, his " fine presence and excellent manners " were much appreciated. He became celebrated, and fills a large space in Lord Brougham's "New Zealanders," among whom he figures as " Cupia Tupa." Finally, he was sent back to New Zealand at Government expense. He is not to be confounded with Te Pahi, the celebrated Northern chief whose nephew was kidnapped about the close of the last century and takeii by Captain Hansen, of the Dsedalus, to 2Norfolk Island to teach the people there/the art of flax-dressing. T^

Pahi, who was very friendly to Europeans, died about 1816. [ Down below the bluff a low ridge starts out parallel to the sea shore, and at its further , end is the present township. The end ■ near the bluff, looking empty and deso- ! late, is, we learn, historic ground. it is the site of Te Rauparaha's pah. In the forties the place teemed with life, rows of whares on the crest, among them thau of the chief Te Rauparaha, and at its foot the great cooking ovens, the remains of which are yet visible. This is the place now covered with the r.risrht little flags of T. K. Mac firm. One of them waves over the very spot where Te Kauparaha was captured by Sir George Grey in 1816. It was during tile time when Kangihaeta was out with his braves, making sallies from his pah at Pahautanui, when the settlers in the Hutt valley and other districts were in terror, when Sir George Grey was about with 500 men and some guns, and ships of war. His plan was to confine the recalcitrant Maoris to their difficult country, and thus avoid the spread of the war. Te Kauparaha, the relative, friend and paramount chief of Kangihaeta, was full of friendly professions, but Sir George .suspected him of connivance and help. He had been long : screened by the tribesmen of Ngatitoa and 1 Ngatiraukawa, but at last it was known that i he was reposing in his pah at Forirua, that part of the place now known as Plimmerton, on which we are now looking. The credit of giving this information lias been given to the celebrated Matene-te-Wiwi. Be that as it may, the information was given and acted upon with that promptitude which always characterised the proceedings of Sir George Grey. H.M. paddle steamer Driver started for the place with 128 soldiers and 38 sailors under the command of the Governor himself. She sailed calmly past the pah, churning up the water and taking no notice of anybody, and when night fell, came about, and was very soon off* the place. Wi Parata describes in a few words what followed : —'• One boat came along that way," he says, with a sweep of his arm seaward ; " and another boat came that way," another sweep of the arm, " and the old man was taken." Some accounts represent that he resisted desperately until assured that no personal injury would be suffered ; others that he was given up quietly. Be that as it may, the surprise was complete. The whole force on the Driver had been landed, the people under the command of Mr McKillop, of the Navy, met at the chief's whare and he was taken prisoner, and shipped off to Wellington there and then ; the fiery Rangihaeta, who had suspected the Driver's errand, coining up with a force just in time to see the vessel going round the t-orirua headland, in full steam for Wellington. How Te Kauparaha was sent to Auckland in the Calliope, how he lived there two years, how he was allowed for a season to become the guest of Waka None at Auckland, how he was restored to his people at Waikanae, broken-hearted by the disgrace of capture, which was to the Maori mind slavery ; how he became a Christian and built a church and signed the petition for the retention of his captor, hir George Grey, in the Governorship ; and how he died in 1818 —these are all matters of history. Of the exploits of this old chieE some mention is of course made as the story of his capture is told to us looking down upon the spot, ft is impossible to attempt to give even an outline here of that wonderful career. Suffice it to say that in his march from his native Kawhia he displayed the military talents of a Napoleon and the diplomatic instincts of a Metternich, making alliances, fighting battles, founding a new Maori power, and depopulating a groat part of the northern portion of the South Island. " says one of the party, '" that little bay ;" just beyond the first bush to the northward it is. " That is the spot where he used to start his canoe fleets on those Southern expeditions." Mana looms through the mist seaward, and on a fine day the South Island is easily visible : and there is Kapiti to the north, not to be seen to-day. As we peer into the inLt we almost fanc3 r we can see thu ghosts of those old warriors and of their canoes.

" Why not buy the section on which the old man's pah stood," asks a Manawatu Company gentleman," and build a memento r" But the Premier only smiles, and we wend our way down amonpr the T. K. Mac flags to the hostelry, where Mr John Plimmer awaits us with hospitable intent. As we go we learn that after the capture of the old chief, the tribe, acting on Sir George Grey's advice, shifted their dwelling places to the other side of the Porirua Lagoon yonder, where they prospered, and are well off to-day. Rangihaeta, who failed to come up in time on that memorable occasion, composed a famous lament, which. Mr Domett translated with his accustomed touch of poetic grace. The first stanza is simply a lament. My brave canoe J In lordly decoration, lordliest far, My proud canoe ! Amid the fleet thou fleetest fi^w. How wert thou shattered by the surge of war ! 'Tis but the fragments of the wreck Of my renowned canoe That lie all crushed on yonder warship's deck. In the second he seems to speak of treachery. Ah me ! Raukawa's foul desertion and disgrace ! Ah me ! the English ruler's might ! The lines appear to bear out the story which represents Te Rauparaha as having been handed over to the landing party from the ship. The last stanza of course breathes fire and vengeance.

Now I must marshal in compact array Great thoughts, that crowding come, of an avenging day. He lived, however, not to avenge, but to be amnestied, and to die in his bed well thought of by both races. Wi Parata's comments to-day on the capture are not so poetical, but more practical. Sir George Grey got him out of the way in order to seize the land, says Wi, with a twinkle in his eye. He also makes scornful remarks about the extreme fairness of the pakeha who make laws for trying accused persons but kept the old chief shut up for two years without any attempt at a trial. On arrival at the hotel we were received hospitably by Mr Plimmer, and when we had done justice to that gentleman's substantial and very acceptable fare the Premier proposed his health in a warm, neat little speech that was much interrupted with " hear, hear." He stamped the old gentleman as a veritable pioneer, who, pushing out, found good things, and always backed his opinion of jfchem substantially. Plimmerton b§ r e Was a fine example. Another was the I

Manawatu railway, the fine line on which we had that day travelled so comfortably, in the inception of which our old friend had taken such a very prominent part. Talking of that line, it was the fashion in certain quarters to urge the Government to take the line over. The Government, however, said the Premier, thought otherwise. They preferred that the plucky constructors of the line should enjoy some substantial fruits from their enterprise ; and they had made up their minds not to take over the line for a long time. He did not see that the line could be managed any better by the Government than by the Company. Indeed, it was possible that it might not be so well managed. The management was fair to the shareholders, to the travelling public, and to all the interests served by it. What more could anyone desire p He would take this opportunity to give a meed of praise to the management whose appliances were so good, and at this point he took the opportunity to say a few complimentary words about the chairman. Mr T. G. .vlacarthy. Having devoted some humorous remarks to Plimmertou, which he characterised as "too much American " in its rapidity of growth, he returned to the father of that growing resort, eulogised his good qualities, and feared that the newspapers would never do justice to them until he was gone ; it was a way they had, though they were not wanting in graphic po-ver. He recommended all to follow his thoughtful and generous example, he referred to his well-known hospitality, he thanked him for himself aud all present for his handsome exercise of the virtue on the present occasion, and he asked the company to drink his health, wishing him long life <uid prosperity, and many more opportunities of doing useful work.

Mr Plimmer having returned thanks with brief cordiality for the hearty manner in which he had been "honoured and mado proud this day," the company broke up, boarded the special, and arrived in town about halt an hour after much pleased with the outing.