Robbing the Dead.

Feilding Star, Volume IV, Issue 58, 18 October 1883, Page 3

Robbing the Dead.

Some fourteen" years «go a Maor cfeieftainess oF hiirh rank died at hei settlement near Stoney River, aad sh< was buried with groat, pomp am ceremony after the fashion of tin Maoris. :Tfer husband caused to bt placed in her coffin all the finery w!iicl ! she was.wont to appear in on important occasions, including 1 a silk dress, and ni morons other articles of female adornment, not omitting a famous green< stone. Tn addition to these valuable articles the husband caused 15 sovereigns to be deposited in the coffin, a^ being part of the property of th« deceased. No one but the chiefknew of the sovereigns being buried, and there were no fears of the Maoris disturbing the hallowed quiet, of the grave for the purpose ot plunder. It was discovered a few dajs 8»o that the remains of the departed chieftainess had been exhumed and some of the valuable articles buried with her, stolen. Information was sent to the police, and Constable Ryan went to the settlemnt and found that the grave had been opened and the dead robbed. The 15 sovereinga were, of course, gone, but the greenstone had not been touched. The silk dress, io which the deceased was arrayed when placed in the coffin, strange to say, was there iu all its original lusfre, sound and perfect in every respect. The aged chif f, whose name is Porikapa, is much distressed at what has occurred, and he will only be pacified by the offender being brought to justice. It is generally thought to have been the work o' an Kuropean, but how the Kuropean could have found out the spot is a rovntery. — Budget