CORRESPONDENCE.

Colonist, Volume XV, Issue 1496, 26 January 1872, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

CAPTAIN LEVY AND IHE MURDER OF THE

REV. CARL SYLVIUd VOLKNER.

To the Editors of the Colonist and the Wellington

Independent.

Gentlemen, —It was with the greatest surprise that I read a letter in the Wellington Independent of the 29th ut., supposed to be written by one " J. Moore," and should not hare deoined it worthy of an answer had I not read in Tuesday's Colonist that a letter had been addressed by "P. S. Grace" to his Honor Judge Johnson. John Moore's letter says, " I was mate of the Eclipse, and had to go through the work uud danger ot the time as well as Captain Levy;" but he forgets to tell the public that after begging and praying of him and the others on board, that I left the vessel by myself to snull up the river (for the Eclipse was then at the Heads, waiting to go out), and then, and not till then, did John Moore volunteer to come with me. Then he says, " I hare not pestered the country for imaginary losses since that time." That is as great an untruth as the rest, for he went and applied, after much trouble, at the Compensation Court, and before Judge Beckham, aud was awarded the turn of £15—(whether he ever got it is no business of mine). As to the "onesided view of the case," he forgets that he and every soul that was on board the Eclipse at this sad tragedy attended a Urge public meeting, convened by the Superintendent ot Auckland, on Friday, the 31st of Maroh, 1865, to give a vote of thanks to me. That there he confirmed evwry word which he now denies. The Auckland Herald of the dates will give full particulars of the proceedings. The " small stores" he speaks of were two stores, about 40 feet by 2 J each, which were both bought and paid for to Heremita. One was a general store, and the other for keeping produce, and would hold some amount of stock. Next, he says " that Kereopa was not there when the Eclipse arrived." This has been proved false on the late trial, for the natives swore that Kereopa was at my landing or wharf when both Mr. Volkner and Grace, and even Moore himself, were taken away prisoners, and it was not till the following day in the afternoon, when I was for about two hours tied up with them, that I got their release from fatara,. who iirst order.d the Jews to be untied, and then we soon got all released. Thank God we were Jews, or good-bye to the lot of v*. Toe only one that wu not fully released was Mr.

that neither money, goods, noranytbiogoffered would' have got him pardoned. Again, is it likely I would tell Moore all I witnessed, for it must be remembered that John Moore then and now are totally different persons. I never professed to have mixed with tho Maoris, or of having been very dose to them, still, I saw the most that was done, while every other European, with the exception of ray brother, was locked up and closely guarded. With reference to the burial of the headless corpse of the Rev. Carl Sylvius Volkner, I never professed to have buried him by myself; it was quitrsufficient for all my employees, with their noßes and mouths bandaged up, to do with my assistance. Such another task I dent think any of us would wish to do over agata. The general public can form no idea of what a Job it was to take a putrid corpse out of a watereloset and to roll it in a carpet and tie it up with flax. However, we buried the body as it ought to have been done. I purchased the dead body, and after* wards paid Maoris for digging the grave. I bad it fenced in, and got my brother (S. A. Levy) to make a head-board and set it, with the letter V on it, and the date of Mr. Voikner's unfortunate death.

As for the •• dangerousTtar," any person acquainted with it, or having read of the mishaps of the Opitiki bar, will no doubt give it a great recommendation, for a snull dingy, 13 feet longr to cross four times in one morning. The dingy is now in Nelson. Now for the secret of the whole of John Moon's letter. When we got on board the man-of-war Eclipse we were assured that £1000 would be given for the rescue of Mr. Grace, guaranteed by letter, which the Rev. Williams had in his possession, from the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland, to be paid by the General Government. When I got on board the Eclipse I met the then Bishop of New Zealand/now Bishop of Lichfield. His first worda were, "Where is Mr. Volkner ?" I said, "be has been brutally murdered." " Where is Mr. Grace ?" I said, "he was a prisoner on shore." Question : " Can you get him ?" Answer: "No." Question: "Can any money get him P" Answer: " No, for I have already offered £1000 for his life, and it has been refused." Question : " Can the man-of-war's boats go in and cut him out ?" Answer: " No, for the river is narrow, every Maori armed, and it would be useless to risk so many lives when at the first attempt to land they could get the prisoner miles away in the bush." Then he asked, "Where was Tewai and William King ?" I answered, "on shore," and was asked, would I fetch them, as Captain Freemantle did not think it safe to risk the man-of-war's boat's crew, to which I cheerfully volunteered to go and try and fetch them off, and it was then I went ashore to fetch them off if I could. We could not see them on the beach, and I went up the river, as before described, either to find them or save Mr. Grace's life; but when we got to my landing place,.we could see Grace walking up and down the yard, a prisoner,— then I made up my mind to save him, and save hip we did; and had we been Maoris, or had friends in the Ministry, we would have been paid the £1000 reward as quickly as the natives were for Kereopa's capture —(of which more directly). Now, as I had to go on Kereopa's trial, and the Government had paid immediately the £1000 reward for his capture, no doubt Moore had an idea that the Government would then pay for the rescue, a fair share of which he was entitled to; but the Government, with its usual generosity, has not paid it as yet, but the sooner the better, for as to ruin, if any person has been ruined it has been me, for I lost my trade, prospects, and everything else, through saving a miserable fellow-creature. I may state that Moore's letter was read to Tewai last week in Wellington, and he, before credable witnesses, pronounced it all lies. Now fjr P. S. Grace* letter. I was far more surprised to see that letter to Judge Johnson, for every old settler in the North Island knows of his doings. Did he not wish to mark out the boundaries for no European to come inside except himself? In the official statement of A. Agassiz, be says he was standing by my store, and I asked the Maoris whether I did not give up the whole of my goods to save Mr. Volkner (he should have ssH Volkner and Grace, for this occurred the day before Volkner was murdered). The natives (Tewai, one of them) answered " yes." Then, he says," I foolishly, on the spur of the moment, gave him a certificate to that effect." Unfortunately for the veracity of Agassis, that certificate I now possess, dated the Bth of March, 1865, seven days after the proceedings occurred, and as he lived within three hundred yards of me, and was with me most part of every day, I should fancy he lied plenty of time to find out the truth of the matter. I certainly gave the vessel up and the whole of my stock of goods, which were distributed amongst the Maoris. Now, can a resident in New Zealand fancy a Maori being ashamed of having a lot of goods given to him, and running baok with them the next day p I will say it is one of the most preposterous statements on the part of Agaißiz that ever was uttered, for not one article that was taken away was returned. Then, he says, they gave me several tons of potatoes. The Customs of Auckland will prove what I had in her; and (only fancy) if I had returned (after running away with Grace) they would have loaded my vessel! What an opportunity I lost! Will Grace deny that night after night during bis captivity (tor I slept with him for his safety) I had agreed never to leave the coast without him, and that he, being a good swimmer, would come out to the dingy, lor I had agreed to keep to sea by day and aud come to the shore every night until I had saved him? Does he remember promising me not to interfere with the Maoris when I was leaving, and within two hours Tewai, my brother, and myself were going to the consecration of a P*i Mairire pole, we met him running baok, hat in hand and breathless, when he went on his knees to vi and prayed us to go and appease the Maoris, as they were going to bang him, as he had interfered with their ceremonies, and this four miles in the country, two hours after he had promised me he would not interfere with them ? I had to look myself in with him every night to prevent his running his head into jeopardy, more especially as my brother had become his hostage. Does he deny that we saved his life, and from one of the most frightful deaths that any human being can contemplate, and that after all the risk we ran he got up the ship's side and has never since said, " thank you," and when wished by several of his friends to thank us, he said that Providence had saved him. I with Providence had allowed me to have taken him baok again (£ would have risked it), we would have seen how he got off then. As to the burial service, I told Grace tuat the Maoris did not want him to interfere, and that he could read it as well alter as ruu any risk for our lives; but he would interfere, aud no doubt was told to go away, which he refused to do. Can an/ person see why all our lives should be risked for such a man, through whom my wife and family have suffered so many hardships? In oouclution, 1 may state that the late Bishop of New Zealand, Bishop Selwyn, who had heard the whole of Grace's story during his last stay in Nelson, finding 1 was not doing so well as he would wish, left with Captain Bough a cheque for £5 for me, which I have never acknowledged to him, but for which I hope the Lord Almighty may well repay him.

I am, &c., Moiuut LITY.

F.S.—The ftbore facts, and much more, are authenticated by my diary, and also the publio meeting at Auckland, a report of which appeared^ in ,th* publio papers at that time.