MAORI MEMORIES

Taranaki Daily News, 12 May 1934, Page 13 (Supplement)

MAORI MEMORIES

FITZROY’S FAILURE

(By

J.H.S.—Copyright)

Wellington once said: “Take my word for it, if you have seen but one day of war, you would pray to God Almighty that you might never see such a thing again.”

The refugees from Kororareka arrived in Auckland harbour on March 22, 1845. Aucklander’s resources were taxed to the utmost to provide food for them and care for the wounded. Almost at the same time 250 men of the 58th regiment landed. It was daily more apparent that Tamati Waka Nene meant to take Hone Heke in hand; but the Governor thought more of his fallen flagstaff than of his fallen subjects. In the strenuous guerilla fighting between Waka Nene and Heke, these wary leaders never fell into the ambush traps where European officers were easily caught with such fatal effects. If the infatuated Fitzroy had left the dispute to his well-informed Maori allies, little more would have been heard of Heke. Within a month 350 soldiers under Colonel Hulme were sent to destroy the chivalrous warrior Heke in his own pa. Against Heke and his strong palisades they were powerless. Fifteen of our men were killed and forty wounded. They had merely shown Heke how to build an even better fortress. On the retirement of our troops, Heke sent at once to the Rev. Burrows and buried the dead Europeans with all the solemnity that their friends would have desired. Col. Despard then joined forces in a desperate attack in which 107 of his men fell within ten minutes.

On the 9th July the Maoris slipped out through a hidden exit, and made their way silently to t. still stronger pa, leaving only their howling dogs behind to deceive our soldiers. In the historic pa Rua Pekapeka (the bat’s nest) the glad news came’ to them, as it did : to the white settlers of Auckland, Wellington, Taranaki and Nelson, that the truculent Fitzroy’s services were no longer appreciated, and that he had been recalled. The welcome news was celebrated with bonfires, songs and dances. Fitzroy met his more able successor with dignity and frankness, thus casting a more pleasant mantle over his last hours.

“Animals” of New Zealand. To the layman “animal” means no more and no less than a four-legged land mammal. Of these New Zealand had none. The kuri (dog) and the kiore (rat) came with the first canoes, and being tapu for a century, multiplied apace. Being unique, it may be understood how their importance was exaggerated by the Maori. The dog was a pet, but the rat had the habit of becoming a pest through multiplying in vast numbers. Being mainly vegetarian their flesh was delicate and esteemed. The nearest approach to the animal New Zealand had was the pepeke (fo double the legs—to jump), known as the “little red man,” a diminutive frog, with a quaint wrinkled pink face and hands remarkably like a human being. They are new found only at the highest points on the Coromandel Peninsula 3000 feet Up. There is a £5O penalty for molesting them, and as they are rapidly decreasing it is a pity they cannot be bred, for they are entirely restricted to New Zealand. Specimens were sought by foreign museums at high prices.

The male has no vocal sac and cannot croak. He chirps like a bird or squeaks like a rat. They avoid the water, and seem to be no longer entitled to rank as amphibians. The most curious thing is their dislike to streams dr pools in which all other frogs in the world revel, They lay a dozen eggs on a dry spot, each encased in a sac containing fluid in which tadpoles develop. There’ are bu. two species of Native frog, and a few small reptiles, the most" noticeable ■ being the tuatara, another unique species. They live partly underground in the strange company of the petrels near the coast. An atrophied eye is found under the skin on the back of the head, and is naturally a source of interest to naturalists. In captivity they have been known to abstain from food for periods exceeding six months.

Author of Old New Zealand. Born in Dublin on the sth. of July, 1811. Died on the 25th of January, 1883, in his mother land. In accordance with Maori philosophy, Judge Maning inherited the mental attributes of his mother’s ancestors, and the physical form of his father’s father. His mother’s father, “Doctor of Divinity, and Provost. of Trinity” in Dublin University, was just a spirit counterpart of this “Broth of a boy.” Gran’pa was an amiable clergyman, clever, eccentric, and humorous, addicted to cursing and swearing; yet a Christian gentleman in the true sense of those much, misused words. In Tasmania of the bad old convict* days he made no secret that bushrangers never would molest him. Possibly his six foot three courage daunted them. He came to Hokianga in 1833, bringing with him Will Watera, a faithful henchman whose neck he had by stratagem saved from the gallows. Here Maning, true to his heritage, lived an adventurous life. By marrying a splendid Ngapuhi woman, he identified himself as one of the tribe. Their three daughters were each like the father in spirit; and one son Hereward Hauraki Maning, had the mother’s kindly nature and gentle maimer. All were handsome, gifted and well read, wtih great love for their mother's people. At the mother’s death they were fostered by Maning’s parents in Tasmania

In reply to Governor Hobson, Maning boldly declared that “the advent of the white man and the rule of the Governor would not only interfere with the welfare of the Maori people, but would ultimately complete their destruction.” Only those who knew, these sons and daughters of a noble race in the days before we '.came may realise how sadly true w’as Maning’s prophetic view. In 1865 Maning .was made a Justice of the Peace, and subsequently the first Judge of the newly-created Native Land Court. In spite of his humorous maxim, that “every Maori on the land has a good title until someone else shows a better one by kicking him off the premises,” he proved eminently worthy of the high position of trust and responsibility.