COLONEL MCDONNELL'S VISIT TO TITOKOWARU.

Wanganui Herald, Volume x, Issue 2698, 5 February 1876, Page 2

COLONEL MCDONNELL'S VISIT TO TITOKOWARU.

(From the Post.)

One scarcely hears anything now of the once famed rebel chief Titokowaru. whose exploits in 18G9 on the West Coast, made his name a household word throughout tho Colony. Yet Titoko is still alive and in the flesh, and Colonel McDonnell recently received a letter from him. He is living a few miles north of the Waingongora —about 60 miles north of Wangamii — at a small settlement near the edge of the bush. Last November, Colonel McDonnell received an invitation from Titokowaru's people to come up and visit them, which he did ; but the chief was absent at the time. The confiscated lands are in course of occupation and settlement right up from the Patea River to the Waing-ongora, but the natives decline to recognise the confiscation any further North than tho latter ; although the original proclamation included the district between Waingongora and Waitara, and also the district of the Ngatiawa Coast ; North of Waitara. At present, the GoverDment do not attempt to meddle with the land north of the Waingongora river, and Titokowaru rigidly confines himself to that side. He has about fifty people with him at present, and evidently dislikes being seen by strangers. His letter to Colonel McDonnell is somewhat enigmatical, but his present attitude, though sulky, is submissive. The fact is noteworthy that one of Titokowaru's people — the ringleader in the murders of Cahill, Squires, and Clark — is at present in the pay of the Government. He receives £60 a year, and acts as a sort of guard to prevent the horses and cattle of the settlers from crossing the Wanganui River. It would be well that the Government should take some steps to hare the Waimate Plains, which are situated north of the Waingongora, occupied and settled. They have been formally confiscated ,but if any injustice has been involved in the act,then let the natives be compensated, and the land obtained by the Crown. In the hands of a person possessing the necessary prestige and influence with the natives, the necessary negotiations might be successfully carried out without undue delay. Colonel McDonnell has probably more influence with these natives than any other man in the colony, while his experience of native character and knowledge of the language would admirably qualify him for the work indicated.