A LITTLE HISTORY AND A QUESTION.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17394, 3 October 1918, Page 3

A LITTLE HISTORY AND A QUESTION.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —As 1 have been in Court today over the damages the Maori did to my property, 1 want to tell the Maoris what I did for them sixty years ago in LSS 4. I bought an old flour mill in Wellington and brought it to VVanganui. When I arrived here the first Roman Catholic priest, Father Petant, came to me and asked me to erect the mill for the Maoris. He said it is very well to provide for the souls of the Maoris, but we must provide for the bodies first. So I sold him the mill, and his own men built it at Pipiriki, and it ground wheat for many years, and when in Pipiriki about eight years ago the water wheel was still there. In 1855 Sir George Grey gave the Maoris a pair of mill stones, and the missionary at Putiki came to me and arfted me if I could build a mill at Karatea. I told him it was very difficult to build a mill, without machinery. However, the Maoris cut the timber and made the dam for the wator, and I went up with two men and we erected the mill, with a wooden wheel and belts, and it worked for some years. It would be a poor affair at the present time There were about 300 Maoris round us all the time we were building and I was very friendly' with all the Maoris up the river. But now all my friends are dead, and a strange Maori, unknown to me. came to my house and smashed my windows, chairs, etc., and they employed a lawyer who, I believe, told them that he could save them from paying damages, and the legal gentleman passed the remark to me in court "that I was getting in early when I asked the Maori on the morning of the "raid," if he had any money to pay the damages." Now, I would like to ask him if he did not enquire if the Maoris had any money before he took up the case, and if he thinks it will be better for the Maori or himself taking it to the Supreme Court?

I am, etc., P. Me WILLIAM.