NATIVE LAND DISPUTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7542, 20 April 1886, Page 3

NATIVE LAND DISPUTES.

FOUR NATIVES REPORTED AS BURNT

TO DEATH.

(Pee United Pbess Association.)

Wellington,' April 19. Reports have come down from Waiapu of a most horrible affair having occurred atWaiparo. Some six months ago the Waiparo block was adjudicated upon by the Land Court, and the chief Tuta Mihaiiiho was declared to have no interest in it. Tuta objected most strongly to the decision and applied for a rehearing, which is just about to take place. He also at once erected a pah containing many whares, in which 100 Natives have been living. This was asserting ownership of the land by forcible possession. An intensely strong feeling has existed between Tuta's people and the local Natives declared by the Court to be the owners of the land, and on several occasions there have been actual conflicts. On Wednesday or Thursday night last the whole pah is reported to have been burnt down, and four persons—three men and one woman—are said to have been burnt to death in their whares, the others escaping It is believed the hostile Natives fired the pah in the darkness. No particulars are yet to hand. One of those burnt is well known in Gisborne as iommy Poorfellow (Rupene Te Ana). It is probable that the incident may lead to fighting between the parties of opposing Natives, and that European armed intervention will be necessary. Mr Ballance and Major Ropata were to arrive at Waiparo to-day, and they may be able to prevent any outbreak pending the rehearing of the case. The foregoing is based only on Maori reports.