HIROKI.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3243, 22 November 1881, Page 2

HIROKI.

Tbe crime of which Hiroki is accused was committed on 19th September, 1878, at; the survey camp near Waverley, in the Waitotara district. From official record we find that the murdered man, John M'JLean, was cook to the party. He was found dead, and a bullet was extracted from his body. The official report of the district constable, dated 23rd September, 1878, was as follows:— " The natives tell me that the native Hiroki has, they believe, fled to Waikato, as his mother lives there ; and that there is no political significance to be attached to it. He had no reason for doing it that they are aware of. He is a man of a very bad character; is of a thievish nature. The whole of the natives came in from Papatupu this morning, and told me they were very much cut up about it, asking me what they were to do, as they were afraid to live up the river for fear the Pakehae would shoot them down if they caught them prowling about. I told them to go home and have no fear, as Hiroki was pretty well-known to Europeans about. They have gone home, and promised to give him up if he attempts to come back ; also to let me know if he is in the neighbourhood. The natives here deny all knowledge, act or part, in the murder." From further reports it appears there had been a slight quarrel with natives about pigs and a dog, which a European of the party charged Hiroki with stealing. The evidence given against Hiioki was to the effect that he had been heard to say some time previously that he would kill Murdock M'Lean, a brother of the deceased, and further, that some natives had stated to the witness' mother that Hiroki had told them that he had gone to the survey camp on the 10th and had quarelled with the cook, who had fired at him, and that he (Hiroki) had returned the fire, and shot M'JJean dead. Hiroki was afterwards seen by a party sent out to capture him, and fired at. A reliable native subsequently reported (2nd November, 1878) that Hiroki had escaped unhurt to Parihaka to Te Whiti, who asked, " Have you fled hither ?" He answered " Yes."— " How many of them did you kill ?" He answered, " One, and put his body and their tents in the river." —" Why did you spare them? Had you killed them all there would have been nothing more about it; no measures -would have been taken; but as you spared them do not meddle further with them." Hori Tauroa reported that he knew Hiroki would not be given tip ; that there was a cause for what he had done. The surveyors had been warned not to proceed, but took no notice, and therefore it was not murder to kill them. In April, 1879, Major Brown reported as follows :— " A small matter, as little desired by Te Whiti as it was by the Government, and that might have happened at any time since hostilities ceased on the coast—the murder of M'Lean by Hiroki at Waitotara —has changed the whole aspect of affairs. There are not the slightest grounds for regarding the murder as a political one connected with the survey of the confiscated land; but Hiroki, having escaped and reached Parihaka, although wounded, claimed that it was, and To Whiti felt obliged on that ground to afford him an asylum, and he became the possessor of a white elephant. Te Whiti said to me very plainly, ' If he had been killed on the way I should have had nothing to say; as he has reached me, I am prepared to hear what the Native Minister has to say about it.' _ Since then th o aspect of the confiscation question has materially altered. The native mind sees it in the light that, the Government cannot deal further with the confiscated lands, and Te Whiti, when recently asked by the Hon. the Native Minister to give up Hiroki to be tried, feeling himself in a dilemma |

loab hie temper, and after fclio departure of the Hon. J. Sheehan, yielding abo probably to pressure, ordered that the surveyors should be removd from the plains, -which may be taken as a reply to the request to give up Hivoki. I beliero still that Te Whifci is anxious to avoid bloodshed ; bub ho has felt obliged to take the step he has to maintain his position, and he is not in a position, j nor has be the will, to prejudice it by refcreating; nor can he choose what further steps a ho will take," It will thru bo seen that the T taking of Hiroki along with Te Whifci hira- ' self is a very important step, the significance of Tvbich cannot fail to be understood by the natives. It is at once the) assertion of the supremacy of the law and the reality of the confiscation.