SOME GEMS OF FIORD SCENERY ON THE WEST COAST OF NEW ZEALAND. (^?JjJ^T

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 30 (Supplement)

SOME GEMS OF FIORD SCENERY ON THE WEST COAST OF NEW ZEALAND. (^?JjJ^T

Hutt Valley, near Wellington, the Maors continued to ' obstruct occupation of land which Wakefield claimed to have ' purchased from them in October, 1839. Petty irritations, insults, and plunderings resulted in a body of troops being sent to the Hutt, whereon the Maoris retreated Lo inaccessible' bush fortresses. Grey hastened to the spot, and was at once supported by the loyal allegiance of several chiefs, pronrnent among them being E' Puni and Te Eangiiake (Wiremu Kingi). Te Rauparaha posed as loyal to the Pakeha, but there was reason to suppose that he was secretly

advising and inciting the fierce Raugihaeta> who, secure in his inland stronghold, terrorised the valley. The old proverb, which epitomised unusual subtlety or deceit as "diving into the thoughts of Te Rauparaha," was again revived in men's minds. May the 16th was rendered memorable by th^ soarprise and slaughter of troops stationed at Boulcott'g farm. True to ancient usage that weird hour before the dawn was chosen. Allen, the bugler, a mere boy, while sounding the alarm to his sleeping comrades, had his right hand severed by a tomahawk. Grasping the bugle with his left hand he

sounded a frenzied blast which routed the camp, and sank beneath a rain of blows, dead.

In April an unfortunate incident at Wanganui had roused ill-blood between the races. A young middy of the Calliope accidentally and slightly wounded a chief. The tribe looked upon the spilling of the Chief's blood as an intentional violation of the law of Tapu. Six young men of the tribe took utu for the sacred blood spilt by murdering the family of an inoffensive settler at Wanganui named Gilfillan. Convinced of Te Rauparaha's complicity in these tragical events,

the Governor conceived the most effectual check to the insolence of the Maoris would be to take the old chief prisoner. An hour before dawn on July 14, 1840, a force was landed from H.M.S. Driver, off Porirua, and, surprising Te Rauparaha asleep, carried him on board. It was a bold measure, and savoured so much of treachery in its execution that it requires all the honourable record of that upright gentleman, Governor Grey, to convince us that the tremendous exigencies of the position demanded it. The effect of Te Rauparaha's capture upon the whole Maori nation was farreaching. The gods had been busy of late, the mana of the Maori nation was surely waning! Te Heu Heu, the giant chief, who, to the last, had hurled defiance at the Pakeha and his gods from his inland paradise of Taupo, had perished, entombed with all his household in a volcanic catastrophe. Te Rauparaha at 77 was a captive m the hands of the Pakeha; Rangihaeta at 60 was a fugitive with a broken following in the inland forests.

Even that following now dispersed, and scattering over the Wanganui and Rangitikei districts, stirred up intermittent outrages against the white man. On May 19 the Maoris attacked the Wanganui settlement. Taking refuge in the stockade, and assisted by the gunboat fortunately lying in the river, the little handftil of Europeans held their own until the Governor arrived with reinforcements of British troops and friendly natives. In vain the rebels pre pared cunning ambuscades ; the troops refused to be drawn, and the proceedings from the Maori point of view became very monotonous. Truly this Pakeha was a pigheaded and discourteous foe ! The canoe-loads of cabbages

and potatoes sent to him in a chivalrous spirit, when it was known that his soul sickened for vegetables, were contemptuously infused, ordered off, and even fired on. There was neither pleasure nor excitement in playing this form of the war game. The services of the various friendly chiefs with their men had been most effective ■ the last embers of resistance apparently sank into the quietude of peace.

A strong factor in the success of Governor Grey's administration lay in the fact that he not only succeeded in rapidly and thoroughly learning the Maori language, but also acquainted himself with their habits, ancient customs, and modes of thought. Realising the exigencies of the law of Tapu, he assisted in establishing schools for the sons of chiefs and men of rank. With the courage born of wisdom he dared to disobey certain stupid orders issued from the Colonial Secretary's office, reviving old blunders 1 in reference to land. The Treaty of Waitangi must be maintained inviolable. He was joined in his wise determination by Bishop Selwyji and Sir William Martin, the Chief Justice. The clergy generally supported the Governor in his strenuous upholding of the Treaty of Waitangi, and a powerfully signed petition from Maori chiefs to their "Mother Victoria" made the protest too strong for the Home Government to disregard.

Grey was not only knighted, but was entrusted with the framing of a new constitution for New Zealand, which came into force in 1852. When Grey's investiture as a K.C.B. took place in Auckland, the diplomatic courtesy which distinguished his dealings with loyal Mao :is fotind its expression in his choice of Tamati Waka Nene and Te Puni as his Esquire®.

Meantime Te Whero-Whero and Waka Nene had both pleaded for the release of the old chief Te Rauparaha. Their services entitled them to consideration ; moreover they offered any guarantee for his peaceful conduct. Te Rauparaha was accordingly taken to Auckland and released, settling down under the protection of Te Whero until 1848, when the

Governor himself, with chiefs and British officers, escorted the

aged warrior back to his home at Otaki. An eye-witness rei lated how Te Rauparaha came on deck that morning in the imiform of an English officer, but, observant and diplomatic as of old, seeing the Governor in plain clothes, withdrew, and appeared again in mat and blanket. Nevertheless he csked for a salute on landing, which, as we can imagine, was refused.

Separating himself from his people, the old chief sat down on the seashore, covered his grey head with his mat, ana remained for hours, silent, immoveable. Not one of his people ventured to come near. The respectful courtesy of ancient usage forebade them to intrude upon his hour of darkness. He died in 1849, and was buried near the church. at Otaki. Rangihaeta chose the spot whero his old comrade should sleep the sleep that knows no waking, and only survived him about seven years. Tall, spare, and muscular in figure, with a carriage at once dignified and graceful, and! singularly well-formed features, Rangihaeta was to tho last a striking personality. He scorned the imputation of having been conquered. "I am finished," he said to> Sir George Grey,, "but do not suppose that you have conquered me. No, it was these, my own relatives [the loyal natives] and friends- — by them I was overcome." When the Governor left New Zealand in 1852 Rangihaeta, who, though following the ancient Maori customs himself, advocated European usages for his people, and even contributed towards the expense of forming roads through the wild lands that had once formed his sanctuary, sent a totiching letter of farewell : "O, Governor, my friend, I send you greeting ! I have no words to tell my love and respect for you.". . . . And "Miis was only one of the many sincere expressions of love and esteem, which cheered the departing Governor, and made some slight return for his years of work, worry, and responsibility in New Zealand.

When, in 1855, Governor Goie-Browne came into his island kingdom a thriving civilisation had formed its centres 1 at eight widely scattered points — Auckland, Wellington, Wanganui, Taranaki, Napier, Nelson. Cantertmry, and Otago In 1844 a tract of 400,000 acres of land had been bought from the remnant of the Ngaitalm and Rangitane, who occupied the coast line between Otago Heads and Port Molyneux. In 1848 the first settlers had landed, a little band of sturdy Presbyterians, adherent® of the Free Church of Scotland, admirably fitted morally, mentally, and physically to found the southern colony. In 1849 a second colony was planted in the South Island, under the auspices this time of the High Church party in England. Governor Grey had dealt as satisfactorily as possible with the native claims, and the great central plains of Canterbury were handed over to the Canterbury Association, which was founded on the Wakefield lines.

"Happiness has no history." From the vei-y first the colonies of the South Island were free from the constant A^orries and difficulties of racial amalgamation. Over the scatteted remnant of the tribes that the wars of the aucient and blood-feuds of the modern Maori had left in the Soutb Island, there were no conquests to make. Few in number, there was room and to spare for them and for the Pak'eh'a! Broken in spirit they went about their ways with stoic" indifference, drawing together here and there in little kamgas,

only maintaining their traditions through the scanty roll of noble names which murktd their ancient and fast-dying priesthood. Removed thus from all racial strife, the settlers in the south chafed full often at their share in the expenses of the Maori wars in the north. For the time was at hand now when the initermittent disputes, irritations, and conflicts drew together and spelt that ominous word. Land was, of course, the causus belli. All land sales, to be legal, must now be conducted through the Secretary for Native Affairs. Such machinery was too slow for eager buyers and greedy sellers ; illegal sales continued, and the tribal chiefs became alarmed. In 1856 a great council of chiefs was held at Taupo, always a stronghold of Maori conservatism. The speakers bound themselves to sell no more Maori land, even to the Queen. The new Governor failed to treat the chiefs with the courteous and friendly respect which Grey had invariably observed. Briefly, they were losing their mana. Hongi had been right ; the English had one King, the Maoris also should have one, who would confer with the Governor on equal terms. There was some difficulty in making a choioe, but finally the chief Potatau te Whero-Whero was chosen, and he, being old and always friendly to the Pakeha, effaced his undesired honours as much as possible. It was no feeling of rebellion, but the simple desire for equal standing with the Pakeha which prompted the first expression of THE KING MOVEMENT. Taranaki had always been a hot-bed of inter-trlbal quarrellings and forays since the old days when Ngapubi and Waikato made their border raids there. In 1848 Te Rangitake (often called Wiremu Kingi), the firm friend and ally of the Pakeha through the troubles with Rangihaeta in '46, had returned with his people fiom Cook Strait to Taranaki, where he was now (1859) the dominant chief. Just at this time there was a demand for more land among the Taranaki settlers, to meet which Governor GoreBrowne arranged to purchase from the Maoris a block at the mouth of the Waitara River. Te Rangitake, having ancient personal and tribal rights in the land, objected. Entirely ignorant of tie Maori land laws and usages, the Governor, despite the advice of wise and experienced men as Archdeacon Henicy Williams, Bishop Selwyn, Sir William Martin, and others, treated the chief as a mere turbulent obstruction st, purchased the land, and sent surveyors on to it. Thus far Te Rangitake had refused to join the King movement ; he began to doubt the possibility of continued loyalty to such an ungrateful Pakeha as this, yet still comported himself with patience, and tried to save the situation by a stroke of humour. He sent a party of, let us say, "singularly plain" old women to remove the surveyors. The Governor was furious, and proclaimed martial law. This the Maoris translated as "The law of fighting is now to be enforced in Taranaki, and remain until again forbidden." Then did the hearts of the younger chiefs rejoice within them, and right cheerily they set to work building the'r pas and housing their food against the fighting days. But operations were delayed ; the protests of Selwyn, Williams, and others, and of Maori chiefs who strove in vain to explain the true inwardness of the situation concerning Te Rangitake's rights and powers, thougb

ineffectual, vet, in conjunction with m Mary preparations, araggea on through weeks weary enough to fighting blood once up. To the Commandant some of the chiefs wrote: "Come and fight us— that is good to fight. Come inland and let us meet. F-sh fight m the sea, men on land. Hasten, hasten, delay not." This frivolous spirit was characteristic ont_y of the younger Maoris, and less responsible chiefs. The older men, suoh as Te Rangitake bimself, Waka Nene, Te Puni, and Waharoa, had used every effort of e'oquence every art of pleading, to induce the Governor to obviate war "by justice and arbitration. Their letters are a cur.ous medley of appeals to the Gospel standards of the missionaries, and the deepseated love and veneration of their own ancient laws of land tenure and blood feud. Nor must it be unrealised that in Te Rangitake the l'akeha contended against a man who had absorbed with singular astuteness the civilisation of the Pakeha, whose ally be had so long been. His tr be at this time owned 150 horses, 300 head of cattle, 40 carts, 35 ploughs, 3 mowing machines, and 20 pairs of harrows. Meanwhile Te Rangitake, from being stigmatised as a rebel, became one, joining the King movement and calling on the Waikato tribes to jon him and his people. When hostilities commenced the Br'tish troops fought on conventional military methods, battering breaches in the pas with artillery, and marching in column to the attack. "Birave men," said the Maoris, "but foolish, very foolish, n-arching so close together that one bullet will kill two men." And when, in order to mnimise this 105.3 of life, General Pratt tried "sapping" up to the pas, the volatile natives considered this such spoil-spurt, that they offered to help finish the sap themselves, if that would facilitate matters at all. At any time during hostilities the Maoris would have been quite willing to make peace on condition that ths now terribly complicated question of ownership in the Waitotara .block should be honourably inquired into. But the Governor remained ignorant and obstinate. Having received strong reinforcements from New South Wales he began to fortify the approaches to Auckland, and was prepar.ng with great complacency to carry the war into the Waikato country, when the Home Government fortunately recalled him, and sent Sir George Grey back to the scene of h's former dangers and difficulties. His first step was characteristic of the man. He put himself into close communication as far as possibe with the disaffected tribes, and strove to penetrate to the real root of the matter. No man liv ng — not excepting even such past masters in the study of Maori character as Selwyn, Hadfield, the Williams, and Sir William Martin — krew better than he what th 3 complex attitude of the Maoris, produced by their contact with civilisation, demanded. They were no longer savages, as their deep-rooted loyalty to some of their ancient customs indicated. St 11 less were they civilised men. For example, despite their avowed willingness to accept peace on the settlement of the vexed question of the Waitara claim?, they continually aggravated the position by killing isolated settlers here and there without ostensible provocation or personal offence. Again, this Taranaki war was recogn'sed among them to be of such a purely local character that, though the Waikato tribes entered into it with keen relish as the allies of

Te Rangitake, within their own tribal borders peace remained unbroken Yet again, chiefs who were among the most determined fighters, employed intervals of leisure in building schools and making cultivations to provide for the prospective children to be gathered there.

Grey prepared to meet these anomalies with what the sorely-tried and hafrrassed settlers termed a "Blanket-and-sugar policy," in contradiction to the "vigorous-measure" policy of the Gore-Browne administration.

He advocated peace, and prepared for war. He gratified the Maori yearning for equal citizenship with the Pakeha by appointing chiefs to certain positions in connection with Magistrates' Courts and police officers within their own districts. He promised an exhaustive inquiry into the Waitara grievance, and all the troubled question of Te Rangitake's claims, all of which made for peace. Fortunately he had meanwhile set the soldiers to work forming good roads, along which a military force might be moved without delay, which prepared for war. In the usual inaction which postponed the inquiry and decision into the Waitara grievance another block of land seized, or in their interpretation, conquered., by the Maoris during the late disturbances, was iresumed. Waikato rebelled against this, and hostilities broke out again in the massacre, on May 4, 1863, of a party of soldiers within a few miles of Taranaki. This was no land dispute, it was insolent, deliberate defiance. From one end of New Zealand to the other the white population was aflame with righteous anger. The new road, product of peace, found its justification in war, for along it moved a strong force under General Cameron. In

the boundary between the Pakeha settlements and Maori lands, which was afteiwa^ds known as the "Gate Pa." General Cameron, with a large force, including a native contingent of loyal Maoris, surrounded the pa. All day long the heavy guns pounded away at the defences, and about 4 o'clock on April 28, 1864, the troops were able to charge through the breaches.

As they dashed into the inner trench scarcely an enemy was to be seen. "In the earth-covered rifle-pits and passages, which ha.d sheltered the Maoris during that iron hail of tern hours duration, they were still concealed from But they saw the English, and jets of smoke from right and left told a deadly tale as gun after gun brought down (he confused assailants. The fort, which had barely room for its defenders, was crowded with brave men, who poured in only to find there a grave. In a few moments this remorseless and inevitable destruction had its natural result in a panicstricken retreat. Taking no advantage of the ground the soldiers were shot as they plunged across the open ridge. General Cameron resolved not to renew the assault until the morning. A line of entrenchments was thrown up within a hundred yards of the pa, which in the morning stood empty and deserted.

Under cover of the darkness the Maoris had disappeared, but beside every wounded soLdier was found some little vessel of water placed there, no doubt, in consequence of the pitiful prayer for "water, water !" made by a wounded Englishman at the close of the previous day's attack. There was no water at hand, and Henare Taratoa, one of Bishop Selwyn's old scholars, who was among the garrison, had slipped out in the gathering dusk, eluded the Pakeha sentries, and brought water to the Pakeha soldier. In that