ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 20, 7 June 1845, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

To the Editor of the Wellington Independent

" Give the Devil his due."

Sm.-It appears to me, from what I read in your Journal, that you have never been riirhtlv informed as to what Te Rauparaha stated to hi countrymen when he recently visited them on the

riJ& aw " e . th^. alinfor "ation received through the channel of Mission or Protection gents' is not to be relied upon, and wishing to set you right a to what transpired on that occasion, I will briefly commit to paper the matter. y , TJe Rauparaha, after some desultory remarks prodded to observe--that xy is hecWy 3

just that the natives should leave the Hutt* as tl ground hud been purchased by the Pakeha's a a paid for ; and his love to his countrymen, co'unU with a desire to do justice to the Pakeha's on th present occasion, had caused him thus to into fere. Aud he, us their Father and Chief, request" ed them to leave the place, as they were but a f " men themselves, and he could not, and he would not, render them any assistance if they refused t go : xVnd, as the Pakeha's have decided that the° must go, he advised them to go peaceably or they would be killed." The only reply that this once powerful chieftain received for his salutary advice was,—" We will not listen to Te Ratiparaha'' This mark of unmerited contempt stung the feelings of the Chief, and he returned home to the bosom of his consoling friends. Subsequently (to Te Rauparaha's remonstrance) some of the natives have mauifested a desire to depart, and others are opposed to leaving the place, and are canvassing for assistance in case the Pakeha's should forcibly attempt to eject them. All further information on this subject must be deiived from some other eource, and it is m » humble opinion, that somebody ought to know a little further relative to the Maori proceedings and intentions at the present moment— or perhaps they know all about it. I am, Sir,—- , , Your's respectfully, . Fa.vis. Wellington, June 5, 1845. P.S.—Yesterday, observing two persons, a Maori and a white man, holding loud altercation in the street, my attention was arrested to the subject. The white man accused the Maori of having got money from him under some false pretence; ths Maori in broken English declared a negative to the charge—and a number of Maories protested to the innocence of their countryman, alledgine that it was ; mpossible he could have done it, for he was a Missionary. Yet no sooner had he left the white man, than he observed to his Christian countrymen, (in Maori) with a laugh,—" It was me, and what of it." I told the person what the Maori said, and he called to the Maori—sayin» " I will put you in gaol." The Maori turned round and replied— "you put me in gaol, wg WILL SERVE YOU LIKE THE'BaIT OF ISLANDS I " and leisurely walked away with all the majestic indifference of a Christian Maori. It is true that the Maori sentence respecting the Bay of Islands is somewhat indefinite, yet it will suffice to show the feelings of the Aborigines towards the people of Wellington, who must exert themselves and teach the overbearing hypocritical Maori, that Port Nic is not the Bay of Islands.