TE AVHERO WHERO-A SCOURGE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2929, 15 November 1916, Page 10

TE AVHERO WHERO-A SCOURGE

AN EARLY HISTORICAL NOTE. A writer on tho early days of white settlement in Wellington, AVanganui, and Taranaki districts says that the attention of the early settlers was first drawn to the richness of the Taranaki and AVangamii districts by the lamentations of the Port Nicholson Natives, who a fow years only prior to the colonisation of New Zealand bad been driven from their former homes by the ruthless Tc AVhero AVhero, tho very powerful stick-at-nothing chief of _ tho fighting AYaikatos. By this chief Taranaki especially was regarded' as a happy hunting ground, whenever his propensities for cruelty and cannibalism urged "him to harass the inhabitants—his game being men, not animals. Harassed by these constant incursions—for he never destroyed moro than would satiate his bloodthirstinoss, carefully preserving sufficient human game for liis next season's hunting—tho Natives were persuaded with difficulty to evacuate their cherished locality, and to fight their way southward, where they might find a country beyond the reach of their arch tormentor and destroyer. Their adviser in this was Mr. Richard Barrett, bettor known then as "Dicky" Barrett (the original proprietor, it is understood, of Barrett's Hotel in AA'elliiigton, in the days when Port Nicholson was a tiny struggling village), and a settler who subsequently afforded Colonel AVakcfiold efficient aid in acquiring territory from tho Maoris for the i\e\v Zealand Land Co. Mr. Barrett directed the defence successfully in the last attack made by To AVhero AVhero, forcing tho great chief to retire for a. short time to recruit his forces. This -interval was taken advantage of by Mr. Barrett to urge tho local tribe to evacuate the district and retreat southward. The retreating Natives were, however, intercepted at AVangamii, where another fight ensued, and again Te AVhero AVhero was worsted. After various vicissitudes the fugitivq tribes made their way from AVanganui through the Manawatu to AVellington. At their approach the peaceful inhabitants of Port Nicholson fled, compelling the master of a small vessel then lying in the harbour to carry them to tho Chathams, where they in turn became masters of the Morioris. It was the glowing account of the Natives who had, years beforo white settlement, been driven south, that turned the attention of Colonel AA'ake(icld to the rich lands lying along the AVest Coast and Taranaki, leading to settlement, which has gone on increasing from year to year even to tho present clay, and which is doitinod some time in the future to carry a vast population.