MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 25 February 1935, Page 4

MAORI MEMORIES

(By J.H.S. for “The Daily Times.”)

PORIRUA OR POURIRUA. When Rauparaha was so cleverly caught at Porirua, Rangihaeata’s stronghold in the rocks at Pahau tu nui (the great beard) was only four miles away, and that chief feared the same fate. Wellington settlers knew that Rangihaeata would seek revenge for his kinsman’s imprisonment. His poetic lament, now widely memorised by many Maoris for its appeal, reeked of blood. Troops and friendly natives were sent to cut off his retreat. Dreading the fate of Rauparaha “like a fly in a spider web,’’ he hid in the dense bush of Horo Kiwi (the fallen Kiwi), a ravine near Wellington. In an attack of our total combined forces of 250 men, wc suffered ten casualties, but none of the enemy was nurt. For safety the rebels broke into small parties and took several paths. Starvation was our main force against them. Their thinking man, Rauparaha, was a prisoner;. Rangihaeata, their warrior, a fugitive, and Te Heulieu, their great Taupo ally, was just now buried in a huge landslide with 54 of his warriors.

Several rebels were captured, among them a professed Christian, Whareaitu (house of darkness), whoso baptismal name was “Martin Luther” (by request). He was a chief of influence, and related to Rangihaeata circumstances which sealed his harsh fate. Tried by court-martial, a tribunal oft dominated by panic, he was hanged for treason, the only evidence against him being of two Maori women. The Rev. Govott stood beside him on the scaffold, and he died with the word of God on his lips, showing how the spirit of his noble race could triumph over an unjust death. Martin Luther’s death was regarded by all but his judges as a reproach to the reign of Sir George Grey. In a pastoral letter dated 1855, Bishop Selwyn relates that the Maoris, as if to mark their regret for his death at a spot near Porirua, gave a block of land there, “upon which” (as stated in the deed), “to erect a college to promote the union of the races, that they may grow up together as one people.” ‘ Ten days after Luther’s death a baby was born to his widow. It was christened Rupeka (hanged). The man who hanged its father was looked upon with scorn by every Maori, and not a few Pakehas. Before he had spent a third of the hundred sovereigns with which he was bribed to commit judical murder, he was drowned in shallow water. “An act of God” all Maoris said.

Possibly now some patriot will look up the gift referred to by Bishop Selwyn, and find it included in the grounds of that great “House of Darkness” (Pourirua).