THE MAORI WARS.

NZ Truth, Issue 65, 15 September 1906, Page 7

THE MAORI WARS.

The Sale of Arms to the Maori Rebels by ' "Britishers."

DORRINGTON'S TRIAL AND ACQUITTAL,

N«. XXIV,'

(By J.M.F.)

As mentioned last week," the rumors regarding the disaffected natives, towards the end o| 1869 were alarmdng. A month or two previously it had been fondly ihoped. that the War was' drawing to a dose, but telegrams ' arrived from ' all poixrta with news which gave further cause for alarau On 6; telegram stated 'that c body of i'friendlies" m the pay of *h« colonists, well-armed, well-drilled, wad with plenty of ammunition, had GONE OVER TO THE ENEMY.

fFha number was giv^p as 400. They be* tonged to the Arawa tribe. Though they had not joined Te Kooti, they had clearly turned against the colonists, but .the whole tribe had not, ' at the time alluded to, done so. Colonel Whitmore always dislik/xl these Arawas and alway9 distrusted th.jm. They were -turbulent, , mutinous, anil always difficult to manage*; %ot it was a, sorry fact that m such a <tim« of trouble and danger a. body ot •these armed and trusted natives should have turned against t;he colonists as they bad done, taking with them the..experience paid for by the .colonists and the arms supplied them to fight for the colonists. ' . . '•' '' .

Dr. Featherstone had besia appointed a iComtßlssidner' toAi s confeV;!' with '. Q-eneral 'Ohute as to .tji»j possibility of retaining, .at least for a (term, the last iX the (British regiments., The A,ra.yi&s' defection added tp.jtha dilemma m; which the colojuists would be placed by 1 , the removal of the. corps. Latef' despatches annouueed •that Te Kooti was at'^Harigatiki, ■ a place vwhere, some time^j'b^'pre, a large meeting; of .Maoris was held to discuss the allabsorbing topic— PEACE OR WAR.'At Alexandra, a place up the Waikato JRtver, and about 90 milep from Auckland, there was great uneasiness.- The militia had been called out, and fawhiao, 'the Kingi was holding aloof, it being supposed that Te Kooti wanted the ithrone, uncertain as it was.; Itewi, HeuKea and other chiefs were ' acting cordially with Te Kooti and adding to the uneasiness. The Thames Volunteers 'were 'Bent to Alexandra. Te Kooti had- been ■ lordered by the King to commit no acts fit violence, and to return by way of

TAIIPO, AS HE.- CAME. : ■...-■• fTe Kooti threatened to attack the Tauv ranga friendlies, and he seemed moredeeply incensed against these than he was : •against the", Europeans. '" Then, : again, there was great excitement; and - alat'm at Tauranga, m the .Bay of Plenty. "SJSt.S. Virago was' lightened and brought close to protect .the township,; the >'flVst- >;) instance m which a man-of-war shipi.icwas made practically useful in' 'the then ■.-.waii*!: Late m August news arrived m. Auck* Jand to the ,effect that Te. Kooti had^derv termined to* start for Orajjau'tqa^|.ct)tr but wa& prevented by tlie Gnaii^inani^ poto, but it was anticipated- tha£ plater, ■'on he would ] persevere, /the cWaikatpS;rfesnained firm to the fortuhes "of the* cdlbrf- r 9sts. A collision between them an'd 1 Te* Kooti's party, flumbering. 80p a*rmea nien;' •besides a bbdy of wbineti' who looked after the food, was considered inevitable. TWn". Wflikatinn were most i *a,nxiOU9 to fiffht.

but:: "were > ■ .WITHHELD BY TAiWHIAO. the .king. Air attack on praKfeiu might bo expected at any hour. The natives, friendly, were themselves •. alarmed, and wer« falling back on Alexandra;' I '•where the militia .were. The commanding officer had ordered all women and children .Into the redoubt.

This was tho position when the iretiolU-tiori-i;o approach General Chute was pets l^ ed 9o unanimously m the Legislature. 'It ■was unfortunatei that -the natives were getting more demonstrative and,, there were not men enough ' to do the work of the colonists. It seemed a cruel punish.ment to remove the regiment, yet the wild policy of self-reUanee wfts much to blame for the^ state of affairs. Grey's quarrel with , Cameron, a^d .Weld's policy "got the back up," as it iiay be said, of the Imperial Government, and the colonists were punished accordingly.*' Cameron hAd the ear of the War Office,- and Grey, was more or less m disgrace m. 'that quarters.- Your red-ta'pis€ l ''iiifever •'iorgets anyone who attempts io.')ihtirfere' { Vrtth»

BARNACLE METHODS,. ; ■' The latter, end of, August,-; 3.869, rsayr..the self-reliance policy practdqally abandoned, eyen by its most earnest ea#y , ers ; first because i% waVtofS , and secondly, because it was ineffective: ' Feeling sore at what appeared to be'jtiti'e determination' at the Imperial' GovefiimeSitj to leave ttie . 'colonists :to their . -fate,<!< a" writer of the time saj<l<-- "It; at such a Juncture, after haying taxed itself as the cpionyhas i done^.and, in^the face of all tne savage experiences 'that the natives have made so. many 'settlers undergo, that the last Material evidence of .Imperial care and connection ; should, be removed. With Oeneral . Chiite'a .. knowledge of the country and of the rebels, there is a general confidence felt , here that he will accede to the request of the Governor, and perhaps he . may. even go, further, and send to "NeW- Zealand a large detachment of the soldiers who are now m Australia. They are not required on that continent, and apparently some of (the Australian colonists would not object to part with them, while 'their* 'presence m New Zealand would greatly enhance our prestige and keep the rebels m check; and, at the same time, would relieve the Government and our forces of all anxiety regarding the garrisoning of towns."

There was now, it was calculated, . i. 3000 NATIVES IN ARMS, many of whom avowed their hostility to and.were fighting against the settler's, Others— a large number— regarded the Europeans with sullen discontent, tha't ; at any.: napment might be converted into an actjjvi?' opposition* Then there were others^who were weak m themselves," and; although neutral, were only awaiting to se«i : Which 'side would be on top to declare^ themselves. It > was true that a tribe 1 m Auckland, the Ngapuhls, numberr ing between 5000 and 6000, had always been : staunch with the Europeans, but still with so many evidences of defection, one never knew what might hapjpenj Te Kootf , from being a somewhat picturesque warrior and murderer, at this time, had descended to be merely a common robber. He stuck-up and ROBBED HELLITT'S STORE, .

at Tokangamatu, and Rewi was with, hinw Just here the V°,man appears individually for about the first time m this later war; Hellitt had married one of the most influential women of the Ngataznaniapotos, but that did not •*▼• Us property from the ruthless hands of. ,Te KQoti ami' Wa followers. At Stony River the natives had held a meeting, at which it was resolved to Yak the Government if it were Intended to restore to the Maoris the confiscated lands, and the colonists were awaiting with ■ome anxiety the reply, as the Stony River natives were likely to take actio* U the reply wer« m Ah* negative. That the Hau Efaus were still carrying on cannibalism is evidenced from the following. Where Lieutenants White and Travers had been buried a boaru Was discovered which bore' the following inscription :— "Friends/ we have disinterred the bodies ot the Europeans •■ .. I have eaten them.

PAKEHAS ARE VERY FAT. Kowhlti.'-'-

Just here let mo interpolate. The /•Pall Hall Gazette^ advised the appom-

and on this, Marcus Clark, as the peripatetic philosopher, thus philosophised :

"Not a bad notion. The major pare of that fertile" territory is at peace, and the unruly natives could be perhaps crushed out by some energetic autocrat. I regard the occupation of New Zealand by the British as a gross swindle from beginning

'other side of a wide swamp, which necos- | sitnted a wide detour. llntniKon, which I xvas Colonel JWoulcs" headquarter*, is ten miles, from Cambridge. Fort- .-Galatea*; ■ where C'olonol fit. John was stationed, j was a new redoubt, situated near the WhakatHne country, m which the Paletere Plains are situated- Near -to these places ran tbo overland track— the mail road— generally by the Waikato. By this' j road came Te Kooti to visit the King. Thirty miles due east, and trending south by Lake Taupo, and thence across country to Pelane, near Napier, m Hawkes Bay province, a distance by road from Alexandra of about 120 or 130 miles, from Ortikau about 50 miles by road, is Tauranga, an attack on which by Te Kooti was feared.- He was then m a position near Tokangamuta, where the King was, and from which Kooti could march his force either oh Tauranga on one side or Orakau oh the other. Such was the

TOPOGRAPHY OF. THE COUNTRY m which war was imminent.

Mr. Mac Andrew made a proposal ato"t this time" which was seriously "entertained/ but did not eventuate. This

i to end.- We had no more, right to the land of the Maoris than I have to the collection of gem-stones m Mrs,. Crisp's window." (Mr. Crisp was an - eminent jeweller m Queen-street, Melbourne ; the friend of operas and . operatic ' artists and an excellent tenor himself.) "The miserable excuse of a bead and blanket, tinpol> aVd musket-barrel bargain with some poor delvil of a chief, is no. excuse. But,, having got the land, established ourselves- there, and built churches, and public .houses, and so on, we wouid ; be fools not Up use o.ur b^st endeavora .t'6','ieep. what :we have thus gained.; To V; do this m peace, thie ' ' l .'.■ •

JpEApRISt MUST BE EXTERMINATED. ; There' is no othery. course, for the fellows ■are impudent : -'*ahcf. To make and talk' bunkum' to them is per? fectly useless ; they must :bfe" Stamped out andj^tttfrly annihilated., if .England will sbnd >put •«;,> sensible -man lyith a genius f^r'siaMgbter, New Zealand'^should , be grateful. Free" fire and sword »for . six mofttjia, ■ '•■ and ' ■ a ' 'smoking: out' or two. '•^6itfd^jspeedily v put matters to rights." . 'iThe "theatre of the,. ■'war'' may vbe described here, ?as given by 'a "war correspondent'' ■ of -the 'time ■.:— "lt may 'be ■serviceable to give here a brief idea of the topography 6t the present theatre ,of expected hostilities. The Waikato largely partakes of a ■ swampy v character, . being, #n fact, m many parts originally arms of the 1 , sea, whither even<vnow, m times of flood, it is possible to sail up m a boat continuously ■', for. some thirty 'or forty miles .from the - Firth of Thames over the flooded swamps and altogether independent of the riyer of that name. These vast swamfes, now only m the slow process of change from the sea to dry lnnd, formed part of the confiscated lands taken from the Waikato tribes, and from these the allotments of THE MILITARY SETTLERS (a scheme which proved a" failure) w.as taken. Many of the men, as I am credibly informed by. gentlemen personally cognisant of the fact and acquainted .with the districts sailed .over the,Lr allotments ip their boats. (Reads like Martin Chuzzlewit's account of the American Eden.) The officers had the pick of all the' gbod land (of course, they would ; it is so still), the rest.was left fop the men. Little wohddr that the .military settlements failed, even apart from the inherent : . weakness r,which recent history" tells sus marks ' such schom.es— in Canada, for example, as well as New Zealand." ,; Tlie Alexandra mentioned above (there were,' and probably 'still are, severaj Alexandras m New Zealand)" was nearest the King Natives, and therefore an important* Pjace, and was 90 miles as, the crow flies^TrbnV Auckland, and not far from the centre of the Waikato country. The Sinuosity of the road added, however,

about 20 miles to the distance. Alexandra is situated ' ON THE WAIPA RIVER, j a branch of the Waikato. Near it were , various redoubts and military stations — ; Te Rore, . Pa Terafigi, and Pikb Piko have a .distance of, four or five miles between, eac^h. Then, . Ote Awamutu Rangiawahiu, . Kihjkihi 'Maungatawhiri, and other places \ less memorable from their connection ' with' the campaign of 1864-65. They va- ] ried from 10 to 15 miles m a. south-east,- ! erly direction from Alexandra; Orakau is eight or ten miles south of Kihikibi ; Cambridge, ofr 'the Waikato, is about 20 }Bileß-'tQ 'ths east oL Alexandra, oa the

gentleman was Superintendent of Otago province. A number of Maori prisoners' were at Wellington. The City of Newcastle had been chartered at £50 per week as a hulk to keep the prisoners m Wellington Harbor, until arrangements could be made for their permanent disposal. Not, however, on the lines of the, peripatetic philosopher's suggestion. Macr Andrew proposed "to take tho"Tiiaori' pris- 7 oners ion, certain „ conditions. The Otago Executive would • take them entirely under thoir own care. They would be taken away altogether from the North Island and placed in 'the South, where they could do no harm, m

a populous province, and could have, no further, intercourse with the ngtives of the North. There would be no chance of their escape -from Otago, and ample employment would be found for them m roadmaking or other [public worksi The schenie was not tried; perhaps sentiment against exiling the natives weighed with •. ,/THE NATIVE MINISTER and the Government. I have 'before .noticed how indifferent [colonial traders were as to the character of the persons to whom they sold arms and ammunition. , A party of four or five natives going from Auckland with a considerable quantity of ammunition was apprehended. They admitted that the ammunition was for Te Kooti, and that they, had obtained it m Auckland. O! course, the merchant storekeeper cared little, it was all m the way of trade. The' unmitigated wickedness of dealers supplying ammunition to the rebel Maoris was such that no punishment could be too severe. . : Very early m. August Te Kooti, with 300 followers, had left Mokau^ a rupture having occurred between him and the King. The Kiijg had ordered Te Kooti to*. i leave. .'the.- Waikftto, ' but for a time the order was not obeyed. When he did leave "the presence" Ejewi went with him. : •A serious riot occurred among the militia garrison at the Gate Pah redoubt, drink being the cause. 1 It was quelled by prompt exertions. Colonel Hamilton t discharged. the whole detachment, officers and all, except a few who 'had made an effort to restore order. The authorities had trouble within ' and without. Apropos the sale of ammunition to the rebel natives, one Dorrington, a watchmaker. at Parnell, was ■ - COMMITTED FOR TRIAL " for selling arms to the natives.- Bail was fixed at £4500,. This action did not please the Maori King, who wrote both to Mr. 0. O; Davis and to Mr. Searancke requesting the return of the ammunition ■.seized and the release of the party of Maoris arrested. It was at first stated (with startling distinctness that Tawhiao had demanded the instant return of the prisoners to Tokangamutu, otherwise the

■. ■ ! Waikato settlers would bo attacked, independent of Te Kooti; but ( the statements were highly colored, and the threat was of a much milder character. IJorriagton was tried at Auckland on two charges of : sdling arms and ammunition to the na-' tives, and to the surprise of everybody was acquitted. The Judge made particular reference to the fact that one of the jury had conversed with a stranger during the adjournment. The foreman had been seen m. conversation with Dorrington's son. Th,e three natives implicated m the purchase pleaded' "guilty" and were each sentenced to three years' imprisonment witti a fine of t£«Eu