Wellington Independent SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1871.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3355, 25 November 1871, Page 2

Wellington Independent SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1871.

It is now six years ago since New Zealand shuddered at a deed by its barbarous accompaniments recalling to the minds of early colonists the scenes of cannibalism which it was hoped the spread of Christianity had arrested for ever. It was furthermore the first sign of an utter renunciation of the faith adopted so freely by the Maori race, and the atrocious murder of the Rev. Carl Sylvius Volckner, was a direct challenge to civilisation and an evidence that in future the hitherto sacred garb of the missionary would uo longer prove a protection. The inhuman, nay, fiendish details which attended the death of the unhappy gentleman, a death met by him with resignation and piety, are too revolting to be once more brought before the public ; suffice it to" say that every indignity which a rabid fanaticism could suggest, was offered to the corpse of the departed martyr, and that the leader, the main author of the murder was a renegade Arawa named Kereopa. Accompanied by sorne Taranaki natives, he had been along the East Coast the apostle of the new doctrines of Hauhauism, and had succeeded in perverting, to their destruction, the Whakatoheas and other tribes around Opotiki. He it was who, on the arrival of the vessel with the Rev. Messrs Volckner and Grace on board, planned their deaths ; he it was who insisted on no mercy being shown ; and he it was who took the chief part in the disgusting indignities which were offered to the body of the murdered missionary. He was not, however, allowed to enjoy his triumph for long ; and it has been a proof of the character of the man, that nowhere has he personally boldly faced our troops. He led the way to a hideous murder, compromising scores of his fellow countrymen ; and when the sword of vengeance was drawn, he was the foremost in flight as he had previously led the van in a cold-blooded assassination. Justice travels it is said, with a halt foot ; and though the sins of Kereopa were visited heavily on his deluded followers, and deaths in action or by sickness reduced to comparatively small numbers the powerful tribe which he had seduced from Iheir allegiance to God and the Queen, yet he himself always managed to make good his retreat, and for a time he acted as the mainstay and recognised leader of the majority of the discontented. Wherever and whenever hostile movements on the part of rebels were spoken of amongst loyal Maoris, the name of Kereopa was made use of as a symbol of disaffection, and was in the native mind associated intimately with open antagonism to the Government and midnight danger to the settler. And now after six years of a wandering outlaw life, after constant secret shifts of residence from fear of treachery, after searching for safety in the wildest haunts of the island, the originator of all the atrocities which have taken place since 1805, has fallen into the hands of the one man who best deserved to capture him. To appreciate the work done by Major Hopata and his men, the toils, sufferings and privations they have undergone in the loyal performance of their duty and in their successful enterprises to break up the hostile bands arrayed against us some eighteen months, it is only necessary to read Captain Porter's diary as printed and laid on the table of the House this year. We have to congratulate Major Ropata and his undaunted Ngatiporou in effecting the capture of the Nairn Sahib of New Zealand, the man who under the cloak of a national religion inaugurated a system of murder, and led to ruin and death hundreds of ignorant and misguided wretches. Blinded and per.

verted by a fanaticism which embodied a- part of those sacred writings with which they had become acquainted through the doctrines of Christianity, hundreds of ignorant natives adopted the creed which this prophet of evil assured would bring them under the especial protection of Providence. With their lives and property most of them have paid for their error ; and it is a matter of congratulation that even after an interval of years, the retribution clue to such a crime as the murder at Opotiki has overtaken the chief actor in ! that tragedy, and that the persistent and constant endeavors of the Government to secure the persons of tho leaders of rebellion, has resulted in the capture of Kereopa,