AFTER AN OUTLAW

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 6089, 22 December 1906, Page 10

AFTER AN OUTLAW

j FIVE MONTHS IN THE BUSH. ' HARE MATENGA STILL AT LARGE. INTERVIEW WITH DETECTIVE BROBEKG. “Hunting Ellis was a fool to it !” said Detective Bioberg, who returned to Wellington last evening after five dreary months spent in rhe fastnesses of Iho K-uiikumara ra. gcs away inland from the isorrated coast-line between the East Cape and Gibb-.me. dome tour years ago a vigorous Maori stole a horse near Waipiro Bay, and, the atarm being raised, the Maori took to tho bush. Hts mis--1 demeanour was comparatively trifling, ! but it aid not end there. Matenga soon •ugan to # tir© of wild pig and loru x'uof, and caino down co the camps in the winter rime when telling was going on round Mr lCe...p's station, 37 miles west from Tokomuru Lay—uu-d seeking his opportunity, rifled the camps of arms, ammunition, food supplies and anything he evdiu lay his hands on that would tviiov© tli© monotony ot his' v cxistencG. Ho became tho terror of the district—a dangerous bugie that might come through tho night and commit deeds of a serious cnaractcr. At Ou© camp he annexed some Job rounds of ammunition, so it was uell known that he was provided with the wherewithal to do deeds of violence, and to people in the lonely bush dozen© 1 of miles away from oven primitive civilisation such knowledge was, to say the Hast, disquieting. Only three months ago he rained O Reilly’s camp, andmado almost n clean sweep of it. smartly eluding the pursuit that was threatened. At another camp ho raided the men. got “tho scare" so badly that tney beat n hasty retreat to the main camp. It was to attempt the capture cf Haro that Detective Broberg was commissioned so-mu tiv© months ago to proceed to tho disturbed area. Ho was accompanied by Constable McAlister, of Nax>ier, and ! took as guide Mr Joseph Earlo (formerly ‘of W ellington) who had been employed on Hemp's station; and who had a good general knowledge of the country. It i was winter lime when they pitohecj their ! main camp a lew mile© from Kemp's station, and since that time their lot hc.pj been a hard and hazardous one. The procedure followed was to beat a certain ' area of country round the camp each j week, and to enable them to do this 1 away they wont each Monday morning, I each with a swag containing biscuit, i tinned meat, a little sugar and butter, the fly of a tent, a pannikin, revolver and cartridges, climbing mountain ranges l amongst tho snow, fording ice-coi-d rivers, eo ©wife-flowing tnat tho three would havo to ** “taii-on" to a sapling in case one lose his foothold, which liap-i pened frequently. During the first two | months they suffered privations of no! ordinary character,, for they'Would get; a long way out in the ranges. Hie ruin would come on and saturate their biscuit to a pulp, and they would have to : . make their way back to camp as toon as they could manage. Patience and perseverenco were observed right along—never was a shot fired, though there I wild pigs and leinplingjy plump pigeons by tho hundreds in proximity, and never was a fire lit in the daytime, tho smoke ! of which might alarm the outlaw. Each nigut they pitched their fly, gathered a few fern leaves and spread out their watersaeets and blankets*—; ometimes on the bleak mountain-cidcs, at others on Uio rocky bed beside a swift-flowing mountain river. By this means they covered a wide circuit of mountainous bush country* from 20TK) to 4000 ft above tho sea. attended by a deadly monotony, and without finding any trace of tho .Maori. Til© counu-y. says Mr Broberg, is heavily timbered with birch, malai. tawa, and a little totara, with a thick undergrowth of fern, supplejack, and lawyer, that impeded nearly every stop taken. It is of the character of tho busiied parts of the Rimuiaka, so steep in places that in making a descent tho thivo had to grip the supplejacks to steady themselves. At times they would work up mountain streams, favoured here and there with rocky beds, and often up to their hip:., in water, but always with one result —no trace of the missing one or his camp. The trip was devoid of incident, Tho great trouble was tokeep dry, an impossibility when it per- \ sisted in raining four out of tho sixdays they were out. They all began; to suffer from rheumatism in tho knees, i At ono time Broberg was r laid up for a week at the main camp for thu reason. | and Earle is at the present time at-Wat- r piro Springs, trying to shake off his attack. The vagaries of the weather met j with in this, ono of the wildest and least- i known districts in tho whole of the colony, can b© judged from the fact that there was a fall of snow as late as la:t we"k. followed by scorching hot weather. : It is not Matenga'© wont to be about in the summer, ns the bushfellers’ camps are then dosoHcd, and there is nothing to induce him into the danger zone, but, when winter settles over the region and i tho camp are well stocked for the bu?hmenM sustenance, he will probably wish to vary* bis faro from time to time. No doubt tb© men will keep a sharp lookout—which is about all that can bo said j at present in dto further operations as to the ptirsuit.