The Wairau Massacre.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 11, Issue 29, 13 April 1900, Page 2

The Wairau Massacre.

Nelson was, in the early days, the pioneer settlement from which Marlborough sprung, and history has handed down to us the records of what was then known to us as the Wairau Massacre, where a great number of the leading citizens and settlers of Nelson, in company with the surveyors, lost their lives—in fact, were brutally murdered, being tortured beforo they were finally tomahawked. Then, to commemorate this sad event in the history of a young Colony, a monument has been erected near the Tua Marina stream, where the awful massacre took place. But, for some time past, there has not been the proper attention given to the grounds in which the Monument stands, and, consequently, it is all overgrown with indigenous scrub and wild vegetation. This, we think, ought to be remedied as soon as possible, and we would suggest that the Tua Marina Cemetery Trustees make an immediate application to the Government for the £SO which the Member for the district succeeded in getting voted by Parliament last year, then call a public meeting at once and elect a sub-Committee to carry out the good work of reform so absolutely necessary for the credit of the district. The amount named would go a long way to improve the grounds, supplemented, as it will be, by voluntary labour already promised by some residents in the neighbourhood. If there is not a proper plan of the cemetery, the trustees should procure one at once, so as to allocate other sections as they may be required, and lay off the paths so as not to encroach on the graves of those already resting there. It seems to us that a far better road can be found leading into the cemetery from the right of the school. In our opinion, everything that can be done to make the Wairau Massacre Hill a worthy record of a sad colonial event, and attractive to visitors, should be done, for one of the best views of the Wairau Plain and its pretty homesteads can be obtained from its eminence. Then, as time goes on, other monuments will, no doubt, be erected there, for we have already lost one of our brave young men at the war in South Africa, and before it is over we must be prepared to hear of others whose lives will be given in defence of our Empire, and when peace is again established a monument should also be erected there to the memory of all those daring spirits who passed away in a foreign land doing their duty to their Queen and Country.