JOTTINGS IN POVERTY BAY.—V.

Otago Witness, Issue 1182, 25 July 1874, Page 12

JOTTINGS IN POVERTY BAY.— V.

[By a Recekt Visitor.]

"Tell me vhat saw you yonder." The district of Poverty Bay may be spoken of as including all that tract of country lying between the Mahia Peninsula to the aouth, and the East Cape to the north. In a geographical sense, at least, it may be so spoken of, though, practically speaking, it lies within a much compass. The pith and marrow of the district— the land that a man, desirous of making himself a home here, would care to select for such a purpose— cannot, indeed, be estimated at more than fifty thousand acres j and I am inclined to think this estimate even over great, if anything. You must understand, rightly to comprehend the matter, that the most of the land— north and south —is hilly land, first-class grazing land, it is said, though I rather doubt it myself, for, like Hawke's Bay, it looks too rich to be healthy sheep country ; ana the fifty thousand acre block I am speaking of j occupies the central portion of the district. It runs into a triauglc, having the bay as its base, and its apex resting away inland, some twelve or fifteen miles off, and is, on the whole about as choice a block of land as any you would wish to see. "Go to Poverty Bay for good land," said a Hawke's Bay friend to rue, and my friend was right. sou find some good blocks in Hawke's Bay itself, for the matter of that, and the Taieri, as we know, is a very garden as to goodness ; or, going still further a field, up the Sacramento, for instance, and in the Valley of the San Joaquin, you come across stretches of bottom land, oases of fertility j and yet more to the eastward, in the great State of Illinois, you aiight on some of the choicest of the choice laud of the world; but in none of these favoured spots will you meet with choicer land than this fifty thousand acre block of Poverty Bay. Of a truth my Hawke's Bay friend was right when he spoke of its choiceness. In its natural state, the finest of rye-grass covers it with a thick swarth ; and the supply of grass seed for Hawke's Bay and the East Coast, is mown from off it. The number of sheep and of cattle it will feed and fatten is something far beyond anything we are in the habit ot assigning to the very choicest of our grazing land ;is so far beyond it, in truth, that I am afraid to say how many sheep and cattle to the acre I have been told it will carry. Ido not think myself, however, a man would go far wrong who put his four or even five sheep an acre on it. Just as it now lies, untouched by the hand of man, on the dryer portions of it. that is to say. It is too much wanting iii dryness, unfortunately, back from the river beds more especially, where the tall is insufficient to carry off the surface water. But, after all, this is no such very serious matter ; at all events, it dwindles down into mere insignificance alongside of another matter, that calls for a word or two in the way of explanation. The matter I am referring to is the defect in the titles under which land is held iv most of the Native districts, a matter that, up here in Poverty Bay, is become a perfect curse to the place. Standing up here at Turanganui, leaning over the hotel balcony, smoking my pipe in the quiet gloaming, the wrathful voices of angry altercation are suddenly borne up to me from the verandah beneath. 1 stoop over to learn the cause, and catch sight of a swaying crowd below, that is being augmented every minute by fresh arrivals ; and in the middle of the crowd I see three or four men whom I happen to know, gesticulating wildly as they engage in a fierce warfare of vituperation. lam thinking of going down to see the fun, when the words "liar," and "revolver," fall upon my ear, and I forego my purpose. I have had one or two narrow escapes in my time from stray bullets, and I remember me of one notable instance in particular, of a rough and tumble fight in Montgomery street, San Francisco, t foolishly stopped to witness, when a Derringer bullet came swishing into a jeweller's shop within a hair's breadth of my head ; fo I stay on the balcony whero I am. I might have gone down, though, as far as stray bullets were concerned, for never a one flew about during the row. "What in the world was the matter with you all, just now ?" I ask a neigbour afc the tea-table, who sits down to his meal with a red spot on his cheek and an angry look in hi-i eye. His words of explanation are ton forcible to bear repeating ; but I may repeat their meaning iv words of my own. Tfte subject oi dispute turns out to be a run in the district, to which two rival parties lay their claim of ownership. Now, under the Native Land Act— as far as my understanding of the scope of the Act goes— the signatures of 10 of the principal Native o vvnew, called grantees, are necessary to the perfection of the title. In this instance, iive of the grantees have assigned the lease of the run to one party, and the other five have assigned it to a second party, and him Mac, lachrymaii. But I had better explain the "revolver" matter, and say that the intent was not of so bloodthirsty a nature after all as L anticipated. One of the party was instructing his manager to shoot the horses from under his opponents if they should venture on driving stock on the run ; that's all. But a man who buys propetty along the East Coast must, in truth, go warily to work before completing his purchase, if, that is to say, he would Gtijoy hia own in peace and quietness. Enjoy his own, did I say? Nay, if the very calling ■of it his own should not turn out to be a pleasant fiotiou, %h9 iktiitf »fl ti<fa ?n oil springs, about

which you hear much, and concerning which the Bay people are very Bangui uo, and not without some show of reason ; but as I did not see the springs myself, I can say but very little about them, one way or another. T Avas invited to go up and see them, and was just on the point of going when I learnt from a gentleman who had just made the return trip that the road was one sea of mud, deep enough in places to engulph man and horse. Five-and-twenty miles' of this kind of thing appeared to me too much of a good joke, and so I stayed where I was in Turanganui. But that the oil exists, and that the oil is of the finest quality, no one can doubt. Men competent to form an opinion about such matters have visited the district, and tell us that the oil may be clearly seen bubbling up out of the ground, and that "it is real genuine oil too. I Dr Hector, who has been up out thei'e lately, is loud in its praises ; and it is rumoured that a member of the Government is very desirous to become possessed of it. The only doubt there can now possibly be ' about the matter is the quantity of oil that may be forthcoming when the reservoir is tapped. But this tapping process will be under-way before long. All the requisite machinery is on the ground already indeed, and an experienced Pennsylvanian is on his way over to commence operations. We can only earnestly hope that the anticipations of the Poverty Bay people may be fulrilled. For if these oil wells should turn out the success that is anticipated, and the lands of the district be opened up on the large scale that your Auckland correspondent speaks of in a recent letter, it requires no very great amount of foresight te say a bright future is about to dawn upon Poverty Bay. And, God knows, it deserves the brightest of futures, for darkness as of the very tomb has enshrouded it for many a long year. Back into this daik past I must now retrace my steps for a brief space j and, before 1 open up the saddest page of New Zealand history, I must ask' you to take a bird's-eye view of POVERTY BAY NRJE YKA.RS AGO. Aye, things look black enough in all conscience ! The Hauhau fanatics are overrunning the district right and left, and carrying everything their own way pretty well as it seems. They have just murdered Mr Volkner to the north of this a little, and eaten his eyes ; and now the miscreant murderer Kereopa is knocking about the Bay with his head — he and his followers gaining | fresh adherents every chvy. Up there, and at Waiapu, some of the fanatics are in open arms this very miuute, and the Bishop of Waiapu is flying for dear life. There are still some Imperial troops left in the country, but the officer in command can do nothing, for his men have their hands full enough as it is already. Yes, in good faith, things do look black enough, aud the place seems doomed beyond all hope. But of a sudden a ray of hope lights up this darkness, for Mokona, alSgatiporou chief, is come to do battle in our behalf. With right good will' he does it too, and drives these Hauhau dogs flying before him in every direction. But the fortune of war changes, and thick darkness settles on the district again, for Mokena is flying for refuge to his pah. Poor Mokena ! Things look bad enough for him now — as bad as they did for the Bay people before he came to their succour; worse, indeed, for he is surrounded by a bloodthirsty horde of fanatics, and cannot hold his own against them much longer. He is sore ir^ssed, and knows not where to turn, when Lieutenant Briggg, with a handful of volunteers, dashes in all of a sudd?n on his foes, and Mokena is freed from his perils. Then they join forces — these two, Briggs and Mokena — and they commence the most brilliant campaign that lias ever been fought in the country. They drive these Hauhaus before them from one stronghold to another ; they follow them into their mountain fastnessess ; they slay, they harrass, until the traitors crouch down in very abjectness, and sue for mercy ; but not before four 'hundred of them have bit the dust, and a thousand of them are prisoners in our hands. One of the most prominent actors in the campaign is Ropata — ILopata, who, up to this time, is but a minor chief amongst his people, the Ngatiporous. Where ever the fight is the fiercest, there is Ropata in the very thick of it; ; whenever wily strategems have to be met, Ropala meets them by stratagems yet more wily. Brave, cunning, far-seeing, no wonder he comes before long to occupy a prominent position amongst his tribe. And, as time advances, and he raises them from an imwarlike people to the very foremost rank amongst the warriors of his race, as is only to be expected, he stands forth at last the acknowledged chieftain of the Ngatiporous. What Rauparaha was to the Ngatitoas, Hongi to the Ngapuhis, Wherowhoro to the Waikatos, Ropata is to j the Ngatiporous — their leader in battle, their sagem in council. Nor was it less to be expected he should have risen high in our estimation also, seeing that to his leal services we owe, in no small measure, our success in this East Coast campaign ; aye, faith, and many a good turn since, too, as I shall presently show. But peace is established, and Poverty Bay enjoys a little rest and quietness for a brief season, until Te Kooti swoops down upon it J from his exile in the Chathams, and writes his name in letters of blood in the annals of the district. Te Kooti is a native of these parts, born and bred up yonder, at Metawhero, some six miles or so from Turauganui. He has been brought up at the feet of the good Bishop of Waiapu himself, and has been honoured by him at his baptism with the name of Anderson Coafces Whilom, the Secretary of the Church Missionary Society. But lie is frh.Q»

roughly bad at heart, nulln oirtute vtideinpLvm, a living illustration, in fact, of the truth of the old line— - The child is father of the man, for he is a lying, thieving young blackguard iii his earlier days, and grows up into a dishonest, disreputable manhood, tho abhorrence of all honest men, and the terror of all I honest women. "1 remember when we were young girls," says a Maori lady — and I use the word lady advisedly, for she is a lady in every essential — "whenever Te Kooti came about the house, we used to bolt under our beds, for he was a bad man and we feared him." Ah me ! in sooth he is a shameless w ight, Sore given to revel and ungodly glee ; Few e.u-thly things find fa\ our in his sight, Save concubines and carnal company. "What sort of a fellow is Te Kooti?" I ask Parnapa, a Native chief of these parts, who has known him all his life. Parnapa is chatting with one whom I am proud to call my friend, about some old scouting reminiscences, and my friend interprets. ' ' Te Kooti, good fellow, jolly fellow," says Parnapa, laughing. "He shout all round, sing a good song, and kiss all the waihenes. But he love to bore holes in whisky barrels, and steal the rum bottles when barman's back is turned." Thieving and seduction are, in fact, the pastimes he more particularly delights in, ! though instances are not wanting to show that defiance of law is strongly engrained in his nature. One day he covets his neighbour's wife. lam speaking of one of those days when runangas are rife in the land, and whakawas institutions of the country. Now, covetiugs, and all matters of a kindred nature, are just the kind of things these village Magistrates revel in. Your true Maori, indeed, always revels in indecency of every description, as -witness his conversation at night around his fireside. So this little affair of Te Kooti's ia a perfect godsend to the good folks of the neighbourhood. The country round is astir betimes, and the Natives — young and old, men and women, boys and girls — are nocking to the Whare Whakawa (Court House) ; for Te Kooti's case is coining on. to-day, and the fun will be glorious. Eleven o'clock arrives. The Magistrates, wrapped in their dirty blankets, mount the Bench. The Clerk sits before Ins old gia case. The ragged policeman announces the opening of the Court, by the aid of an old pot, which he beats aloud with all due decorum. Then the Court opens, and Te Kooti's case is called. A frail fair one, a certain Sophia by name, is said to have yielded to Te Kooti's blandishments during her husband's absonce, and Te Kooti is now called upon to answer the charge. The examination of the witnesses begins, and the details are gone into. And oh, me ! such glorious minutiae of detail, such sweet simplicity of description, such a calling of spades, spades, and of shovels, shovels, sure were never j heard in Divorce Court before. Oh, but there is rare fun inside the Whare Whakawa. See the beaming faces of you bevy of maidens, listen to the applauding kapais of their elders, as some telling point is made. Mark the delight of young aud old when a witness, hub—fugit irrevocab'dc vprbum — I had better stop, or I shall be getting myself into i trouble. Well, then, Te Kooti is found guilty, and fined £30. Pretty heavy you may think, seeing Sophia is no better than she should be. Bless your heart, in these AVhakawa days everybody in the district is fined heavy, every one, that is to say, but tho Magistrate himself, his clerk, and his policeman. j "You fined £30, Te Kooti," says the Bench. Te Kooti laughs a dirisive laugh. " I'll not pay you," he answers. "Not pay us ! Oh, but you must pay us," says the Court. "How inu3t I," asks Te Kooti? " We'll come and take your goods. We'll send you to gaol." " Come and try," is Te Kooti's pithy response, as he leaves the Whare Whakawa, laughing defiantly. ft c betakes himself back to his home in Matewhero, calls together a, few kindred spirits of his, and he and they fall to without more ado, to fortify Te Kooli's hut as best they may. By-and-bye, a largo posse of Natives come down to carry into execution the sentence of the law against him, never for a moment dreaming of the possibility of resistance. But it looks precious like resistance, though, when they find them selves face to face with half a dozen musket barrels ; and high time to get out of harm's way too, for To Kooti means mischief. So they hie them back to a place of safety precious quickly, and despatch a herald to negociate. " Be off with you," saya Te Kooti to the herald, "or I'll shoot you. Tell the Whakawas to come and take my goods. Plenty of goods, tell them ; £30 worth of guns alone. Be off with you." "He is a d d villain," says the narrator, in conclusion, "and ptoyed me a nice trick once." " What was that ?" I asked. " Why I bought a horse from him once ; a rice looking beast he was too. And as I gave only £8 and a watch for him, I flattered myself I had not made a bad bargain. Some time afterwards, however, I wanted to go to Napier, and rode over ; and, what was my surprise, when the horse was seized from under me, and taken away ; and the best of the joke was, I was very near being thrown into gaol for horse-stealing. Te Kooti, of course, stole the horse from Hawke's Bay, and never a sight have I caught since of horse, or watch, or money. I believe, though, the fellow has got my watch to this very day ; but, never mind, I may be even with him yet." Now, during the East Coast campaign, this, fellow To Kooij was knocking a.bout our.

lines as a friendly — but, as the reader need scarcely be told, he was playing the spy all the while. But he was found out at last, as men of his kidney generally are. And it was only at the last, just as we were investing Waerenga-ahika, that the discovery was made, and he was taken red-handed in his treachery, so to speak. Some ammunition waggons were on their way up to us, to Waerenga-ahika, and Te Kooti had entered into negotiations with the besieged to capture the waggons. His plans were all cut and dry, reaiiy for execution. He was to lay an ambush and murder the escort, when, as good luck would have it, he was found out in time and arrested in our very camp, and packed off to the Chathams. But there is one thing must be said about Te Kooti, and that is, that he was never found guilty of the crime laid to his charge. No doubt he was guilty ; but the proofs of his guilt were never forthcoming at hia trial, [nor indeed was he ever tried at all. And this being so, there is but little doubt in my mind that his transportation to the Chathams was not altogether a legal transaction. However, be this as it may, he was transported to the Chathams, he and 186 of the rebel ringleaders. Letusfollowhim thither. Hehasfine easy times of it there, he and his companiens. Women and children — seeds and implements — nothing to do and plenty to eat — fine easy times of it, indeed ! I should rather think so. Te Kooti is inferior to all his companions, as far as position goes, but in subtlety and deep cunning he is far above any of them, and before very long he acquires a certain amount of influence over them. He is desirous, however, to strengthen and extend his influence. They are all of them confirmed Hauhaus, of course, so he makes Hauhauism subservient to hia purpose. He accordingly sets to work to practise all the Hauhau rites and ceremonies with the zeal of a true fanatic ; and, in a fit of frenzy, recites a poem, the outcome of divine inspiration, setting forth the glorious nature of his mission, and the greatness in store for him, as the true prophet of the Pai Mairiri faith. After a time, however, his zeal transcends the bounds of decorum, and he is sent to prison. When he is released he ascribes his release to divine interposition, affirming that the Angel Gabriel had visited him in his confinement, comforting him in his affliction, and, opening the prison doors for him at last, had sent him forth on his mission, without let or hindrance. His statements are accepted by his companions without gainsay, and his object is attained. Then he plots escape. The thing is not difficult. The Rifleman arrives in the harbour, the prisoners all rise suddenly—all but three— kill one of the guards, 'secure the others, seize the Rifleman, imprison the crew, steer for Poverty Bay, heave in sight of land, throw Te Kooti's uncle overboard as a votive offering, and land to the southward here a little, some six miles from Turauganui.