CAPTURE OF TE KOOTI

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 76, 29 May 1945, Page 8

CAPTURE OF TE KOOTI

INCIDENT AT WAIOTAHI RECALLED BY VETERAN At present staying in Gisborne with his grand-daughter Mrs A. G. Rutter ? is Mr Robert Sheppard Coromandel a veteran of veterans who saw his first service with the Armed Constabulary when that body was charged with the pacification of the country after the Maori wars. Mr Sheppard on April 10 celebrated his ninetieth birthdav and he is forS 9 tunate enough to retain a measure of vigour which enables him to travel extensively in the North Island, and to judge dogs at a number of district shows. lli.s last acquaintance with the Gisborne district goes back 56 years, to the time when Te Ivooti Rikirangi; after several years' quiescence had to be kept out of the Gisborne district to avoid violence between Maoris and Europeans. Te Kooti led a revolt at the Chatham Islands among reputed Hauhaus who had been deported to the group after the Hauhau uprising in 1865. 111 July 1868 the Maoris broke their 9 ■> exile and returned to the mainland in a captured schooner thereafter eluding attempts to capture and disarm them. In November of the same year Avas perpetrated the Poverty Bay massacre which gave rise to a vigorous ami prolonged effort to bring tlie rebels to book. Te Kooti, after many adventures and escapes sought refuge with the Maori King in the Waikato and remained under that protection for many years. When he felt age creeping upon him, however, he gave way to the desire to return to the Gisborne district where bitter memories of the 1868 massacre still inflamed relations between the European and Te Ivooti's sympathisers. Expedition to Bay of Plenty The latter were wildly excited by messages that Te Kooti proposed to return to his home district and they prepared, a lavish welcome for him. The Government feared that even a visit from the old rebel leader would lead to bloodshed however and prohibited his movement from the King Country. He persisted, in his. intention f and came as far south

as Waimana. The Government called ou t the Armed Constabulary and the militia, and sent an expedition to turn him back. The old rebel gave ground and retreated to Waiowhere he formally surrendered to the law in the person of the late Colonel Porter. Mr Robert Shcppard was one of the Armed Constabulary party which left Gisborne to cut the road Te Kooti was expected to use on his way to Gisborne. The party reached Motu and. encamped there until the enfeebled revolt of Te Kooti agafnst the law was over. In later years- he was a lieutenant in the New Zealand forces which fought in the South AfricanWWatr t and was one of those selected to proceed to England at the close of the victory. He maintained a close attachment to military matters as a volunteer in after years and is one of the few men living who have seen any part of New Zealand's four wars.