OPOTIKI.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume I, Issue 46, 8 February 1873, Page 3

OPOTIKI.

(FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) February 4. p hate -nothing of much importance C' report tuia week. Matters are very quiet, owing, in some measure, to the general inclemency of the weather. The schooner Opotiki came in at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the 28th. Passengers—My nnd Mrs Litchfield, Mr Johnson, and Miss Bryan. Bho brought a small mail, and general earjo. , 'Fbe cutter Leah arrived on the 2Ut.li from lau'-.mga and Hue coast with stores for Messrs hamue-a and Jacobs->hu. i aiii informed the Messrs Simpson are justly annoyed at the manner in which the Whakat.ohea ti-ibe are serving t hem on the road. Tlie contractors sub-let a portion of the Poverty Bay Koad to this trine under certain arrangements, which they (the W hakalohoa) cannot, or rather will not, carry out. I know nothing of the agreement, but it appears the tribe have struck. I. believe the Messrs Simpson are bound by the forms of their contract to employ natives through whose land tbo road runs, and Hu-refore have, to a certain extfxit, tiaugiit to do but bow to circumstances. There appears to be something very rotten iu all \V hy should Europeans be debarred from obtaining employment on a public work ? I am not aware that natives contribute anything more towards the revenue of the colony than any other one. And while a largo public is allowed to stand idle, to please the whims and fancies of a fractious p«ck of semi-rebels, Europeans want employment. Xijo natives that were on this work spun a queer ya.-n about seeing the “ debbil.” They say that during the night of the 2-lth or 25th" they were awakened by their dogs loudly barking, and going our, of tne whare they saw a very tall figure coming towards them. They att*-:np'ed to sur-r-'imd it, or him, but it vanished iu lb o bush. 1 lus happened ou other ocwi-Jonq until t h y got iair.y sea- ed, dechn-ing the place haunted", itr-d tha.i it, was a warning to t ‘ < m to discont-inue the I’i-mi, Ol course iln-y were well laughed at, but it seems tnece was some foundation for this twister. It appears that a native named Matene ivut u, of o-gutua t ribe of Vv i.akatohea, was with Ins trior- at Marattai before ho surrendered, i M-vriir-rai is in the Waiot-ka Gorge.) While the re he was instrumental, with others, in killing a man and woman in the Gorge, the man being a iolai.ou of the celebrated 1 e Ivooti. Te JbCooti was at this lime about Whakatnui. However, aft.er dispatching tins man, Mr Matene funked ou i 1 an--* i-ariio,- Jr Knoti would bo revenged on imn, b-«.fod into t>o bufo. His tribe all surrendored w.tli Hi.a to Pinio He has since boon in the busu, now some time years, and t.he natives describe him as slightly porungi. Getting tired of this monotonous kind of life, Matene thought ho wuuid visit the coast., and came out at a settlement called Tauinatuhuiii. He was gathering poaches when disturbed ty the dogs belonging to the W hakutohea working on the road, and wus soon by them. After dodging about, Hamiora Ivwi i, of Te M lianau, Opanui, managed to obtain an interview, ami Matme nt arches in with aii the honours of war ; and if former experiences uny ontorion, \vill at onoa rt'Ct'ifi* substfui" tiai condolence from a parental Government. Matene is a very tab, hearty, elderly man, and seems nothing wor-e for his stay in the bush. I ho schooner Opotiki lett here for Auckland on Monday, the 3rd instant. Passengers—Messrs James Kelly, J. JBussfc, and J. Wilson.