TELEGRAMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 818, 14 December 1882, Page 2

TELEGRAMS.

[per press association.] Troublesome NativesWellington, To-day. With regard to the destruction of, a bridge and tramway by natives at Tahapua,fHawke’s Bay district, the following particulars have been ascertained. At daybreak on the Hth, about fifteen natives from Waipawa pah, armed with guns and axes, proceeded to the land known as Tahapua and destroyed the bridge and a portion of the tramway constructed by Messrs Wilding and Bull, who were cut-' ting timber on the land. The damage was done before the Tahapua natives knew what was going on, and the Waipawa natives had returned to their pah. A threat was given that they would return, and it was found that if they did there would be a serious conflict. It appears that the Waipawa and the Poratgahau natives have lately objected to timber cutting on this land, and they held several meetings on the subject, and in the end they determined to destroy the bridge and tram. Oh Government being informed of this they advised that the natives should be warned that whatever their rights were they could not be permitted to take the law into their own hands, as they were now doing. Thelandin dispute has hot been passed through the Native Land Court, and the natives have been urged to allow everything to stand over until the title js decided. They were also told, if farther violence resulted the Government would interfere when this was being urged on the natives. Messrs Wilding and Bull were sent for, and it was arranged that a week be allowed them to get the logs they had cut, after which neither party is 4o go on the ground for six weeks. In the meantime application is to be made to the Land Court to hear the case and have the whole matter decided by law. The Taka-, paua natives, who gave Wilding and Bull permission to cut timber, have been in occupation for a number of years.