STEWART ISLAND NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13180, 13 January 1905, Page 2

STEWART ISLAND NOTES.

(Fr.ou Ons Own Correspondent,) HALFMOON, January 11. We have had at least two object lessons in practical politics. Both were instructive in a way. The s.e, Theresa Ward arrived here on Thursday freighted with political importance and local government dignitaries fresh from tho Bluff. The Colonial Secretary—Sir Joseph Ward—represented the former, and the Bluff Harbour Board tho latter. In viow of such a " galaxy ot glory" Halfmoon Bay put'its best foot forward, and tho County Council, tho constable. eto., were in attendance, and accorded them " fitting reception." Even tho elements appeared awed into respectful submission. Heretofore they had beon conducting themselves in a most ungentlemanly manner. Drunk and disorderly is no name for it. They wero so aggravating that they could not be conceded the benefit of a first offenders' act. Indeed, thoy had carried on tho same old wassail for months oii a stretch. No sooner did Theresa show up than they settled down into a peaceful calni, and weather conditions became as obsequious as if they had been a (leputation with designs on tho public purse. Sir Joseph did th? "State business" and the Harbour Board '' did the block," proceeding as far up the inlet as TJlva's Isle. So impressed were they with their environments that they burst out in song, or sentiment, tho refrain being.:

" Wha. be ye would cross Loch Gyle, This dark mid stormy water?" " Oh', I'm the chief of Ulva's.lsto, ( And this Lord Ullin's daughter." Recovering from their carols they found themselves en route back to the Bluff, where, you are probably aware, fresh " State functions " awaited them.

The other event was oven more characteristic in its tendencies. It was a picnic to tho Native School children, with their parents and adults. It was cast on pakolia (European) lines, both in its framework and in its effect. r| Tlio requisite fund was raised by benefit concert, unci its unstimes and pursuits, were exclusively European. Indeed', tlicy'.seemed purposely to avoid identifying theinsclvos in any way with memories of the " rude forefathers." Games and contests were all pakehu, and' while the prowess ■ and individualism of the Maori might have been introduced with good effect, no such thing was. thought of. Tho early missionary, we know, did his best to inculcate that principle, and to all appearance ho seems to have aueceodcd only too well. If things go on as they are doing, the next generation of southern New Zealand Natives will be as completely divorced from racial traditions as. was the "brither Soot" in his alliances with tho "aultf enemy." There- is a story current which falls to be ranked under this heading, I think I have heard it before, but that does not matter. A good story is none the worse for being twice told, even although it be founded on falsehood. A mainlander, proud of his pidgin' Maori, knocked at the door of a- Native whare to make casual inquiries. It was opened by a budding lialfcaste of, say, 16. "Korero the pakeha?" (can you understand English?), demanded our mainlander. The girl stood bewildered for a moment. Then, rushing inside, called out at the top note of her voice: " Mither, mither, here's a drunk mau; see if you can make, out what he says." It- docs not s;ieak well for a continuance of tho "noble savage" when we find him appealing to others for interpretation of his own language. ft is a mistake to think the pakehn-llaori nomad of tho whaling period has been entirely wiped out. Ho still lingers about the coast, He is old .and infirm, and in the natural course of things will, before many years have gone, go under. Still, there he is, 110 longer able for tho "hard graft" which with him at one time was synonymous for "removing mountains," but a great authority in wind, weather, and other forces and effects appertaining to the sea—tho lite, death, lineage, birth, and burial of the people with whom he consorted when he " exited" Sydney Cove and took Freiich leave of his whale ship. He looks to ine as if ago had made him a trifle mellower. Ho docs not seem to glory in . his shame as ho once did, and I could detect "an absence of bad language in its more offensive forms.

The morning of Sunday, January 1, I stumbled across 0110 of those " Old Bon Bolts," aucl I am keeping'well within highwater marl; when I say we had what your Scotchman'calls "a two-handed (\rack." I was more than pleased to' learn that my antique friend could recall the days of "Bloody Jack" (Tuhawailti), German missionary Welders," and the good Bishop Selwyn. Ho (Old Hen) -solved a difficult problem regarding which the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Southland (Mr John Hay), and I have for the nonce been at feud. Two 10-poundors have been knocking about, Ruapuka from time immemorial. Last heard of they were perched on the heights at Parangio Pa, facing Green Isles. Some mischievous island urchins got their hands on them, and toppled them over the cliff on to Ruapuke Bcaoh. There they got buried in the sand-drift, and it would now be diffioult indeed to lay one's hands on them. Mr Hay contends that these two cannons were brought to the island by Tuhawaiki, on the occasion of his memorable visit to Sydney in 1840,4-1. My contentions were that they belonged to the gunboat Eliza-beth-Henrietta, wrecked in Honrietta Bay, and were subsequently reclaimed by Mr Busby, afterwards appointed British Resident'in New Zealand. The weak point in the latter view was that the records of the day showed only one gun went amissing, whereas the two were subsequently found, and had to be accounted for. I could seo the point, but it did not suit mo to admit the argument. There the contention rested until the vonerable "Ben Bolt" eamo to tho rescue. One 10-pounder taken from the wreck had been purloined by the Natives. In 1840, when Tuhmvaiki visited Sydney, he became a favoured guest of tho military guard, and they made him the present of a variety of old cast-off militarisms—amonust others, nn old 10-poUnder — which ho carried back with him to the island. That is no doubt the solution. One cannon belonged to the wreck and tho other came from Sydney.

Ro. Carriole writes:—"ln a recent- issue, on the authority of your Stewart' Island correspondent, you gave ' Whingao-te-wera' as tlio Nativo name of Patorson Inlet. I am aware that, is the name, or style, put forward officially by the Trigonometrical Department. All the same, ifc is a mistake, and signifies absolutely nothing in Maori MfO. The original name of the inlet was Vt hanga-o-te-wcr'a, which signifies the harbour, inlet—or, at all events, ' inset '—got into (in the sense of getting into a boleagui'cd city) by Te-whera. That interpretation covers a notable incident in southern Maori history. Te-whera, (otherwise named Te-whara) was a noticeable personage in Ngatiftiamoe-Ngaitahu fight. He belonged to t.lio Ngiiitalm, and 'fought his way in far down as .itaki-tuma (Preservation Inlet). There ho built a pa,' and the island height on. which the pa was erected is still pointed out. On the occasion of the last great conflict between these' tribes Tewhera Beach, adjoining the pa,. was the scone of tile contest, although authorities liko the Rev'. Mr Stack placo it somewhere in the neighbourhood of Aparima. En route south Tc-whori had what would bo vulgarly called, 1 a buck' at Stewart Island. Tuketc ra then island chief, or chiof man. He had his residential fortifications in the inlet-, and when Te-whera arrived Was 'quite prepared for him. A huhunu. or canoe conflict, was fought at t-ho month of the inlet. The islanders made a desperate stand. True to his traditions Te Where carried the day, a.nd 'took' the inlet in tho sense mentioned above. •So far as I can find, tho Ngaitahus do not appear to h4ve maintained their footing on the island any length of time..,. When the final conflict took nines;, Raritonga (Centre Island), was tho raliyingplace for the.-Ngatimamoe forces, scattered over the off shore islands, and wo do not hear a word said about the invading Ntraitahu ill connection with, these islands. Tho amalgamation of tho two tribes took place shortly thereafter, and possibly that may have tended to feline tho relative positions less sharply. Still,-we would very likely have heard, something about tho NgaitahiM if thfly had continued to maintain the position. ' - ■■■■•

"I uso the words .'amalgamated tribes' in.the foregoing advisedly, : Thero bo those who would have us believe tho Ngatimamoes wero a conquered people, and it suited oer-: tain purposes that the; theory shduld ie-

j main undisturbed.. The 'jawing' raana'of theso amalgamated tribes seems all along'to have-merged into tho Ngaitahu, and, in the untimely death of poor Tom Ellison, it is likely to remain therein. True to the instinct' of tribal, if not personal, predilection, that mana found it convenient to uphold its own tribal position, hence the story of tho ancient Ngatimampo having bcc a conquered race."