SURVEYING IN NEW ZEALAND.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXII, Issue 2589, 26 October 1867, Page 7

SURVEYING IN NEW ZEALAND.

The following letter lias been forwarded to us for publication : — Parawanui, on the Rangitikei River, Juno 4, 1867. I My very dear Mother, —l have but this ! solitary sheet of paper, which is already half | covered with pencil memoranda. I write small accordingly. I am here on survey of ' some native lands in which there 13 a great row imminent, I having obtained the reputaj tion of being the best surveyor for a Maori ■ row. In three cases lately I have succeeded i in carrying out surveys at the desire of . Native clients, though hotly opposed by other 1 natives alleging counter claims. In the last and most important case a party of 26 ! horsemen; women and boys (about 18 or 20 I men) were present to resist the survey, natives j having an idea that putting in pegs or otherwise defining a line is tantamount to taking possession of the land. After trying for some two hours to take bearings through three thicknesses of horses, I thought, per- ! haps, I might be able to force the chain ( through, and accordingly, leaving the theodolite behind, I started chaining, and the bulk of the opponents, seeing that I was determined, gave up active opposition, and sent one old woman and two or three young ones to take away the chain. Whether the young ones were so taken by my good looks that their hostile intentions we disarmed I cannot say, but they only used their tongues ; the old woman, however, jumped off her horse, grabbed the chain, coiled it up, and was about to make off with it when I came up, and, aftdr using all the polite language I was able to translate into Maori to induce her to give it up, I was compelled to wrench it out of her hands by gradually opening them — a finger at a time. I had only one white man with me, who had by my directions taken a secure hold on the other end of the chain, and I Tegret to say that the effect of the dislodgment of the chain was to 1 cause the good woman to sit down uninten- , tionally in a group of thistles. She luckily did not know many English bad words, but she made up for that by slanging me in native Billingsgate for a quarter of an hour, and threatening to summons me for daring to touch the hands of a Rangatiraess, and then she and the other women made off. My Maoris had previously told me that I was to use my own discretion, and I knew that no one o,f them dare touch this old woman for she was a special chieftess, so I was obliged to do the business myself. Well, it would not generally be thought a very brave thing to tackle an old woman (though this one, by-the-bye, was a great strapping thiug by no means to be despised on account of physical weakneas), but the moral victory was enormous. I had destroyed the old woman's " mana" ; the laud was mine by right of conquest, and not another opposition native showed a face during the whole survey. Wot only so, but the defeated party; have , since employed us to survey the adjiioont kio«u «f j~~j, —a — upon the beat of terras with us Iv fact my r ««w ooa _in overthrowing the old woman saved a very serious quarrel between the two tribes, who had on a previous occasion come to blows about their boundary lines. The effect of the affair has been to establish for me a great name among the Maoris, as being very " Maroro," (strong, valiant,) and I am now employed hero to fight another boundary question, the natives having refused even to have Barnard to do it, though they know him well. It seems that four licensed surveyors have already been out here to this job, and they have all been sent off with fleas in their respective ears. The last was sent back a week ago, and a dogcart was sent for him to bring him out a second time to renew his attempt, but he said he had had enough of it, and prophesies that I shall likewise come to grief. We shall see. " Let not him that putteth on his armor boast as he that taketh it off." Still I have no intention of going back to town without completing the survey. You will be interested to hear that we have sent in designs (competitive) for the proposed Presbyterian Church and Manse. They were got up very hastily and we can hardly hope for success. The design for the Bank of New Zealand has not yet been decided on. We have had lately to design a school for thirty Maori girls, all boarders. It is to bo a pretty Gothic building on the right bank of the Whanganui, about five miles above the town# I hope this will bo built at once. June sth. We have been getting on very well with our survey to-day, and the opposition party have not put in an appearance. Our natives say they are to come to-morrow. I shall be obliged to post this first thiug in the morning, so I cannot tell you the result this mail. June 6th, 9 a.m. The bugles have sounded to battle. I have been ordered off by order of the Runanga (Council), and have sent my reply, viz : — " Mea To Runanga," " Bother the Runanga." Good by dearest Mother, ever your affectionate son. I Geomoe Fbedebick Allen. — English Paper.