STOLEN SADDLE RETURNED

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1926, 26 October 1926, Page 4

STOLEN SADDLE RETURNED

WITH A HORSE AS COMPESNSATIOLN !

Hn an inlteresting commentton the honesty of the present generation as compared with tlhoste of aboufc sixty years ago, Mr Andrew 'Kay, of Para- , wje|ra, records some of the conditi'ons of -those pioneer days in this district—the days following the Waifeato war; when (t-lie native's had rdtirisfd south'- ;, ward across the IPuniu and the Imperial troops had Heft New Zealand. He states: "The Maoris an thme King Country were left severely alone and wer e .allowed to manage their own affairs, just as they thought, fit. Oar policemen were forbiddjem to cross the confiscation line to issue a siimmons, to arrest a prisoner, or to' execute a warrant. Flor nearly twenty \years I lived on the boundary—just a lide diyidjing the Maori from t<he white —and during all those years we never locked a door. Our (affects or stock were m&vfc'r ipilfered, stolen, or even initer- ' fared with. I have sometimes thought in the years since that if, i'nsfeaa-d. of ~ v some thousands of ' people, uncontrolled by iaagistrates, or policemen, and with no gaols or lock-ups, there had befsn the sanie number of Scotsmen, or. even Irishmien, for my neighbour s, would life and prlopeft-ty have been as safe? Of course, tlWare Avere a few instances of ■petty the'flts by natives, insltance: Te AwanJuttu "holtelkeepers m those 'diays .provided) a pen, or yard,: whertein travellers or visitors to the to|Wtf could leave their horsteis while shopping. A # young Maori, in ipatirtoniaingJthiS horse pen, by mistake Itook a white man's saddle and bridte. "When I was informed of the matter, i reported thetbleift to the natives of the inland settlements knowing'full: well that? tie tMsif could not ■■ well hide the saddle from Ihis Maori brethren. Soon, !by invitation, I interviewed- Purukultu,-"at Whirepapa. whk>'. told me thati tble saddle and) bridle wouM''be located and returned to the a horse would also be given, byway ofvcrampensation ifor the theft. Purukutu merjtioned that he had been deputed; or that it was his duty, to see that (his people committed nta offence against their white n!eigbbours,<. and as I was residing on thei 'boundary lie desired! that I should try to restrain the pakeha |to obey the common law of right andi wrong. Fair, wasn't it ?"