VON TEMPSKY'S SWORD

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18500, 12 September 1934, Page 11

VON TEMPSKY'S SWORD

THEORY OF DISPOSAL

BURIED WITH A TOTIUNCA

Tin.' revival of interest in I In' t‘>o vear-old prohleiu of-what lmppcnd to Ma jor von Tompsky’s sword after the massacre of the Fnglish party tit le Ngutu-o-ie-Munu in 1808 Ims brought to light another crop of claims ot possession or discovery ol the liis'torie, weapon. A novel light has been thrown upon the possibility of the relies being tut then tii by Mr. C. M. Hill, a student of Maori history, and more particularly the history of the war period, says the Taranaki News. Mr. Hill observes that, as Major von

Tompsky wa.-- a. great exponent ol the sivord as a wettpon in liand-to-linml j lighting, ii was very probable that lie possessed a number of swords when ho came to New Zealand. Thus, it is

at least possible that a proportion of claimants to possession of Major von Tempsky’s sword are justified in the letter ii' not the spirit of 'their claim. _\ von Tompsky sword is not. necessarily i lie von Tompsky sword. The von Tompsky sword was the favorite mb re the major carried from camp with him the morning of the fatal J’e Xgutu fight:—a relic which would have

been considered of incalculable value to the Maori warrior who obtained 1 it, and 'to his tribe. i Personal research and that of others, said Mr. Hill, had convinced him beyond tiny reasonable doubt that the Historic weapon lay buried with the bones of a great tolumga at Parihaka. He says there is evidence for the belief that the sword was carried 'to the chief Titokoivaru after the light, carried with him through Ilie varying fortunes

of liis campaign in North and South , Taranaki, and eventually given lo Tolin. To Whiti's henchman. Tolm, it is stated, inter gave the, sword into the keeping of a tolumga at the Parihaka pa. On the death of the tolumga in the early years of this century, no successor was considered fit to have tin* guardianship of so precious a relic, and the sword was buried with his bodv. I