STOCKADE AND BLOCK-HOUSES, WITH THE BRIDGE, OVER THE RIVER HUTT.

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 11, 7 May 1845, Page 3

STOCKADE AND BLOCK-HOUSES, WITH THE BRIDGE, OVER THE RIVER HUTT.

Through the kindness of Mr. James Marriott, in placing his skill and talent at the disposal of the Independent, we have been enabled to furnish the interesting wood cuts which have appeared from time to time, in our journal. Our last paper contained the scene of action at the Bay of Islands, on the 11th, March last, which created so large a demandj that though we printed double our usual num"ber of the Independent, they were purchased by the morning after publication. The demand still continuing, has induced us to reprim the wood cut, &c, on the fourth page of to-day's paper. In addition, we furnish in this day's paper, our readers, with a view of the block-house, and the bridge over the Hutt, close to which it is erected. The stockade is ninety feet square and has two buildings within it. The whole is stated by competent authority safe, as against any attack it is likely to .be in the power of the natives to make. This place of security was planned by a military gentleman residing on the Hutt, and the work was executed partly at the expense of Government, and partly with the gratuitous labour of the settlers. The officer in command, upon seeing it, steted " this work must be occupied or destroyed," no mean compliment to Mr. Cornpton and his co-adjutors. The valley of the Hutt, lies on the north of our noble harbour, and is one of the most important districts in the whole of New Zealand, alike on account of the fertility of the soil, (which is almost incredible) extent of available land there, aiid being the high road to immense districts of fertile and available land. The colonists, on their first arrival, landed at Petoni, it having been intended to establish the town of Wellington in the Hutt Valley. Captain W. M. Smith, the then | Surveyor-General of the New Zealand Company, commenced, and nearly completed, the survey of the town in that quarter, when an unlooked for circumstance changed the minds of those gentlemen who held, or were agents for, the largest amount of land. In the month of May, 1840, the settlers saw, to their astonishment, the whole of the intended site of the town under water, there having been a heavy freshet in the Hutt, followed by an overflow. In consequence of this, it was resolved to change the site of the Town to the shores of Lambton Harbour, where the inhabitants would not be subject to periodical visitations of floods. A boy named Eaton was killed by a native with a spear, during the month of May 1840. Two or three colonists, in the latter part of the same year, settled on their land, and began the business oi production. The natives, at the time the settlers first arrived, had no cultivations up the river ; in fact, the amount of land cropped by the natives there, was truly contemptible. The body of colonists left the Hutt, and removed to where the Town of Wellington now stands, in September, 1840-. The colonists now began to advance up the valley, and to locate themselves on their jands, and the woodman's axe was heard where nought before disturbed the deep solitudes of the forest. Let Exeter Hall enthusiasts bear this in mind. The European first made an inroad on the primeval forest; they did not drive the natives either from their pahs or their culti-

vations, for the Hutt valley was one unbroken wild. The natives themselves, who resided in Port Nicholson, on the arrival of the first settlers, were satisfied ; and it seems nothing but fair to suppose that the residents had greater claims and right to the district, than strange aborigines who had never, until they took forcible possession, seen the yalley of the Hutt, and who had been living some hundreds of miles away from that place. The valley was explored to the foot of the Tararua Range of mountains, a distance of about fifty miles, and found to contain a large quantity of land. It was about the middle of 1841, when natives arrived from far distant places, and began seriously to molest and interrupt the settlers on the Hutt. A number of vagabond Maories from Wanganui, strengthened by outcasts from the different tribes on the coast, and backed up by Turinga Kuri, (dog's ear) and his mob, took forcible posssession of land that had been fairly and honorably bought, and, in defiance ol every remonstrance, began I the erection of the pah, about three miles above the Hutt bridge, which has gone on constantly increasing up to the present time. Had the authorities of Port Nicholson, at that moment, made'an attempt to eject them, it would undoubtedly have been successful, while now, in all probability., it would take a strong force to effect the same object, attended in all likelihood with a serious loss of life. The intruders are, as we have.so often said, vagabonds and outcasts; at least generally speaking; men of dispositions savage even in comparison with their own countrymen. The interruptions the settlers have met with, and the annoyance and insult they have been daily subjected to, have been sufficient to sicken any body of men, and cause them to leave their labour with disgust. But despite all these difficulties, the settlers on the Hutt have struggled right manfully, and have evinced one of those peculiarities of which Englishmen are so proud, namely,—that spirit of determination to go onward, which no difficulties or danger can appal. The settlers have had their crops destroyed, their houses burnt down, and their land in many instances taken from them ; but the Executive Government at Auckland have systematically turned a deaf ear to the complaint of those, it was their dnty to cherish and protect. In the early part of 1842, Archibald Milne, was murdered, near Petoni, by two natives. One of the natives recently shot himself. The ether murderer is unknown. The Government heaped tax upon tax and dragged every possible shilling from the pockets of those they were so cruelly neglecting. Iv these points the New Zealand Government acted far more despicable than an Italian banditti. According to the last census, about 800 Europeans "were settled on the valley of the Hutt. During the last twelvemonths, native atrocities have became almost unbearable, and the intruders having received reinforcements, their annoyances have increased, and a collision has on more than one occasion, nearly been the consequence. In consequence of their perilous state, the inhabitants came to the resolution of erecting a block-house, near the bridge, and arming themselves. The inhabitants at Wellington at the same tme, began to arm themselves, and prepared for a struggle that seemed inevitable, and they appealed to Sir George Gipps for protection.

In the midst of-these preparations, the astounding intelligence from the north was received, and urged on the preparations. The settlers speedily erected the stockade and the block-houses on the Hutt, whicrf when filled by a body of determined men, cannot be taken by the natives. On Sunday, the 20th April, intelligence was received in Wellington that a strong body of natives, all painted and feathered, had come down on the Hutt, and given notice of their intention to attack the block-house on the following morning. On receipt of this intelligence, his Honor Major Richmond, despatched the brig Bee, \ with 50 of the 58th regiment, over to the Hutt, and the military took possession of the block-house at three o'clock on the following morning, The natives were intimidated by the promptitude and vigour of Major Richmond, and in consequence up to this time, no attack has taken place. The land in the valley of the Hutt has been paid for over and over again, and a short time back, his Excellency Captain Fitzroy, paid over to Rauperaba and Rangihaeata four hundred pounds to withdraw the natives from the Hutt. The natives were to have left in March. The chiefs have broken their solemn pledge, as every sensible man expected. But the money was not Captain Fitzroy's, or perhaps he would not have been so fast in paying it away, before the contract had been completed. It Rauperaha and Raugihaeata cannot be made answerable ncnv, for the Wairau Massacre, they are amenable for a breach of contract, and we trust they will be made accountable for it. The natives on the Hutt have in their possession two small brass cannons with which they practice. They have also abundance of ammunition and small arms. The natives have also copied the custom of the military, and they now keep regular sentries, with loaded muskets. In the first place, we believe, we owe to the two chiefs Rauperaha and Rangihaeata, all the impediments which have been thrown in the way of the settlers on the Hutt. The natives were first sent there by them, for the purpose of annoying the settlers, and they will not now withdraw them.