THE OUTLAW SPEAKS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1823, 1 August 1906, Page 4

THE OUTLAW SPEAKS.

lIAKE MAT Bis 1 GA GETS A HEARING. A cloverly-written lottor purporting to bo from tho pen of Hare Matenga, sent from his mountain fastnesses, appears in Wellington Truth. The following is an extract : “As long as the forests and tho glades and tho fern-beds were fruitful, I molested not the pakehas who intruded on my solitude ; but when the cold and snows of winter came over the forest and the mountains, and the welta, the ka-ka and the fernroot and tho tawa berry- failed mo, lo ! I sought such food as could be found in the camps of tho evor-intruding pakeha. And I took of it and was sustained in my solitude. And for this tho policemen of tho pakeha pursue me and I am as the lonely kiwi on tho hillside Yet truly are these policemen porangi. Yea, tlioy aro mad ! Thoy think they can track and take mo. Mo, Haro Matonga, even in their own towns they hunt and capture the low-down whito rubbish who stoal the roafa (the loaf) or who rob and beat wahines. They know me not; neither are they skilled in tracking. I leave no track, and all the while I watch their walking to and fro in my forest and I laugh. 0 Atua ! How I laugh ! They pass me by as I sit in tho fern-break, or 101 l on the tree-top, and thoy do not see mo or smell me not. And I can hear and smell them afar off. Tho tuis and tho rurururus have told me loDg of their coming and tho wild pigeons coo of their trail aud what they do. And they think to catch me ; me, who I I*7l ,1 i „.1 1 1

• know every bill and troo and valley and biding place 1 And now tbe wild birds tell mo they have sent a totokata , (detective), a man from the place whore the Kowamenta sits down, even Worrinta (Wellington) to bo chief of tiios9 who hunt me. Ow ! lie may'bo great among tho wicked whitos but where I dwell ho is as a whisp ring wind and to seek and to find mo he is nothing. lie knows not the paths of tho forest.. To him tho birds toll notlrng and ho wastoth his time and gets cold and frozou worse thun those who havo preceded him. O tangata pai! I am alone; no wahino lights my lire, catches lish, and keeps my wharo warm for mo. Xam one against many and ofton cold and hungry. But I am freo and a true Maori ; and I would not change with those of my raco who yield to the pakeha laws, that suit not the true Maori. And for the policemon and the mean wbito3 who accompany and aid them—bah ! I spit upon them and nono of them shall take mo until I am pouii and cease to care for my freedom. And this you can toll them, 0 I Great "White Chief ; for I know your Lent is big with pily and love for the poor and persecuted aud you will not t betray me to mino enemies. I have said. Do thou give this my i word to those who hunt me, for I but live according to the traditions of my fathers and I only take what I need and I need because tho pakeha has made my hunting ground very small and has driven away the biids and tie beasts upon which my people of old f subsisted. You are not like the others. j Your heart is big for tho wanderer j and tho outcast. So to you I say a “ lioirai to ringa-riDga.” Enough ; f I have spoken.” j IT Aim Maxenoa, l