RUA RAID RECALLED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 667, 20 May 1929, Page 1

RUA RAID RECALLED

£1,500 Claim By Maoris FATAL ACCIDENT IN UREWERA COUNTRY FE recent raid on tlie pa of Kua, the Maori prophet, at Maung'apohatu, was referred to at the Supreme Court this morning before Mr. Justice Herdman and a jury, when a claim for £.1,500 damages, resulting from the death of two natives following a motor accident at Te Whaiti, was heard. - , The natives tilled are said to have been members of Rua’s party, and unfriendliness between Rua and defendant’s relations, one of whom is the police constable for the district, arising out of the police raid on the pa, is alleged by counsel for defendant, Hugh McPherson, storekeeper, of Ruatahuna.

The suit arose from a motor accident on the Te Whaiti-Ruatahuna Road in the TJrewera Country, about 2.30 o’clock on the morning of January 27 last year. The lorry was conveying home to Ruatahuna a party of 20 Maoris from a tangi at Te Whaiti, when it ran over a bank and toppled down 50 feet into a creek. Two natives died a few hours later and Pati Eu, a Maori woman of Maungapohatu, was seriously injured. The claims of £SOO each against the truck-driver, Hugh McPherson, a Ruatahuna storekeeper and his wife, Hannah McPherson, were based on allegations of negligent driving. Mr. Hodgson, of Opotiki, represented the plaintiffs and Mr. Roe the defendants. RUA'S WIVES Described as the rangitira of the Prophet Rua’s wives, IJatu Ru, who was seriously injured in the smash, related that the lorry driver had dropped the party at the Te Whaiti pa for the tangi on January 25 and proceeded to Rotorua, after arranging to call back the following morning to transport them back to Ruatahuna. However, the lorry did not return to Te Whaiti until late the following night, and picked up seven of the parti' and carried them bn to Ruata! I na. He returned to the pah again several hours later for the remainder, but he resisted all appeals to him not to proceed back to Ruatahuna that night on the ground that he had to leave early next morning to carry the mail to Rotorua. Once passengers were aboard, the driver commenced to speed up and the vehicle swayed violently. throwing the passengers about. The quickening pace of the lorry prompted one woman to call: “Drive gently; you might kill us”; and even witness uttered a warning. Nearing a corner there was no slackening of

speed, and the vehicle was over the bank, and she lost consciousness. When Dr. Bertram arrived from Rotorua he asserted she would not live if transported to the hospital. She preferred to die in the Mangapohatu Pa and was shifted there two days rater. Her injuries were treated herbally by the natives, and in two months she was able to leave bed, and six months later she was able to walk about. She was unable to perform her duties in tho pa. His Honour: Rua is a very rich man, isn’t he?—Not much. For a Maori he might have a bit more, but that isn’t much.. Mr. Roe: Isn’t it a fact you woudn’t go in the ambulance to the hospital?— Yes. Was not the doctor very annoyed that you were put into cold water at the pa?—He was wrong about that. Did not Rua send instructions none of the injured was to go to the hospital?'—No. Didn’t you tel,l someone at the pa you were awaiting Rua’s instructions': —No. His Honour: How did you get from Te Whaiti to Ruatahuna and then to Maungapohatu Pa? I was carried on a mattress litter by men. Mr. Roe: Wouldn’t it have been easier to ride in the ambulance van?— I can’t stand anyone to put hands on me. This case would not have been brought, but Rua has instructed you to do so, hasn’t he? —No. His Honour: Did Rua tell you to bring this action? —No, a son of one of the victims suggested it. But he lives at Maungapohatu and is one of Rua’s tribe, is not he? —Yes. Mr. Roe: Did you have any medical treatment at all? —No. Was* there any more cold water and prayer .treatment?—No cold water. Is not Rua unfriendly with the McPherson’s? —Not so far as I know. Constable McPherson, defendant’s uncle, could not visit the pa without the aid of the Hamilton police a little while ago?—Yes; but this case had started before then. (Proceeding.)